Nathan's Post - Fire Marshall Will

Tonight for family home evening, Will decided that he wanted to a fire safety lesson for us. So he got everyone together (we had put the twins to bed as they were already losing it), and asked us to sit down to learn about fire safety. He then proceeded to say, "Hi, my name is William, and I am going to teach you about fire safety". He actually gave a really good lesson. He marched us through the house and showed us which items were a fire hazard and what things could also hurt us if not used properly. He also told us that lava and bombs could also cause a fire and were dangerous. He then proceeded to teach us what to do if a fire alarm went off while you were in your room at night (get on the floor, crawl to the door and feel if it is hot, if safe go out the back door, if not safe, open the window, punch out the screen and crawl out onto the ground). I then went through with the kids how to unlock their windows. He then taught us what to do if you catch on fire (stop, drop and roll). We realized that we didn't have a designated meeting place, so we established one. We also then went and tested the fire alarms in the house. The kids thought that was neat. We did the "test" button on them, and then I lit a little paper on fire to create smoke and tested that the sensor was working. They do, and Tracey got after us to stop as it was disturbing her and Kate. Apparently if one alarm goes off in our house they all do...who knew!

Will then asked me to give him a blessing as he was sick last night. He said that when he turned 10 and got the priesthood he could give me blessings when I wasn't feeling good. Technically incorrect, but his heart is in the right place. William really surprises Tracey and I at times. He doesn't seem to have much of an attention span, but many nights rather than a picture book he'll ask me to read the Book of Mormon to him. He calls himself William Nathan Stephan - Nephite from time to time. Also, today Tracey showed me a page of math equations that William had done. They were number like 38 + 38 = 76, etc. Tracey didn't see how Will had done them, so she asked him a few times. He just said things like, "with a pencil", or "I'm just smart", or "math is easy". We are going to send it to school for his teacher to look at with a note that says, "do you know how he did this?"

The top is before the reno, and the bottom is after with the new bed!

Its finally done!

I have been working on making a king sized bed frame as Nathan thought I should get a king sized bed for my birthday. With a new born it is a little hard to get things done so the bed has taken about 6 weeks to do, but I got to use power tools so its all worth it! Of course with a new bed frame I had to redo the whole room (haha) so here is the finished results (above).

Mike and Allison are 3!

I can't believe it has been three years we have had these little monkeys but it has.The first year of their life is like a black hole in my memory. On tuesday we celebrated the twins birthday by going to the zoo with all of the kids, then going swimming. The day went pretty well, it always does when we are more laid back and make the day just about having fun with the kids (and you let them have ice cream for breakfast). At the zoo it was about 28 degrees and so we got a screamer (ice cream and slush together) for a treat. The large size is pretty big so Nathan just bought one and when the kids saw him with it they swarmed him and finished the whole thing in about three minutes! I could only get quick glimpses of the cup as their heads were crammed together over the cup, each one diving for the spoon as soon as it was coming up with some ice cream/slush on it. Later, on the way home from swimming I was asking the twins if they had a good birthday, and Emma asked, "is Alli really three because she still acts like she is two?". I asked her how she thought a three year old should act and William said, "good", to which I explained that three year olds are seldom good, but it would be nice if you could describe them that way. I think the most frequent conversation I hear between the twins now is, "shut up" "no you shut up" "you shut up" "you shut up"... then it degrades even further to "you're stupid" "no you're stupid" "you're stupid" "Mike called me stupid!" (mom says)"stop calling each other stupid" (Alli whispers) "you're stupid!"

Nathan's Post - Sunday Fun

Sundays are always interesting for our family. Mikey got a batman t-shirt the other day, and doesn't ever want to take it off. When I got back from my morning meeting, all the kids were dressed, but Mike was having a meltdown because he couldn't wear Batman. So I decided it wasn't worth the battle and threw it on over his Sunday shirt. When we got to church (just as the meeting was starting of course), the 3 older ones sprinted into the building as we got the twins and Kate out of their seats. As Tracey and I walked into the chapel, we looked for our kids, and to our dismay they were sitting down in the center row at the very front of the chapel. Oh great, said Tracey, echoing my thoughts, as we walked up to the front. Will then proceeded to get a fabric Potato head doll that Tracey made out of the kids activity bag and race it on the top of the seat and make crazy noises, much to the amusement / distraction of the people behind us. Mikey looked around and when he saw someone he knew he would stand up and smile and show off his batman shirt. They were actually pretty good for sacrament, but then Katelynn started to cry, and Tracey had to leave. Allison and Mikey then wanted to follow her, and I ended up having to take them out, leaving the 3 older ones on the bench by themselves. When I got back I sat down and tried to finish my talk that I had to give, while Will and Emma kept asking me if I was writing my talk, just so the people behind me knew I wasn't quite done preparing. Then I went up to the front, and of course Tracey had to take the twins out the back as they wanted to follow me up to the front. The 3 older ones were actually pretty good by themselves, as the Gregson's helped occupy them from time to time while I spoke. After I was done speaking and the closing hymn was being sung, William ran up to the front to sit on my knee. Which wasn't too bad, except his nose had been running a little, so he had shoved a whole kleenex in it (apparently it had been in there for quite awhile, so the Bishop and others got a small chuckle thanks to William looking around the meeting room). So I had to smile a little at the sight of him and then took the kleenex out quickly and put it in my suit pocket (note to others: don't be shoving your hands in my suit pockets). Ahhh the Sabbath, a day of rest.

Nathan's Post - Friendship

The other night Laurel, William and I were talking about missions (they had just watched "The Other Side of Heaven" which is a Disney movie based on Elder Groberg's mission to Tonga). The conversation got me thinking about my mission in France and Switzerland and the great experience it was. I was blessed to be able to teach and participate in the baptism of a young man named Dario when I served in the city of Grenoble. Dario was introduced to the church by his future wife, Sandrine. We became friends while I was on my mission, and continued our friendship afterwards, with Tracey, Laurel and I staying with Dario and his family twice when we visited Europe. Over the last few years I hadn't kept up my contact with Dario, even though I had thought about him and his family many times during those years. So last night I looked him up on the internet and found what I was pretty certain was his address and phone number. This afternoon I called him to say hi. It was great to talk with him and catch up on what was going on in his life. He talked about how his oldest son received the Aaronic priesthood a couple of weeks ago, and how he is serving in his branch presidency, and his wife is the stake young women's president. I think I understood a little how Alma felt when he met the sons of Mosiah after their mission to Lamanites, in that he rejoiced in having met his friends, but his joy was even greater that they were still his brethern in the Lord.

The snipe

I am sitting here watching the movie UP with the twins and I was reminded of our trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. There are always peacocks walking around the zoo, and one walked past Mike and I as we were going in to see the hippos. Both Mike and Allison got really excited and tried to pet it. Then as it walked away from us Mike pointed at it and said "Kevin!". It took me a minute to realize he thought it was the 'snipe' bird from the movie UP. He obviously related the colour of the peacock to the colourful bird in the movie. I love glimpses into the mind of a child.

Katelynn

I just have to say I love my new little girl. I love her smiles the most and she is so very generous with them. I am very grateful for my children, even though many days I do wish for some uninterrupted time to myself. I really can't wait to learn more about this sweet girl's personality.

Nathan's Post - Winning isn't everything...

So the kids had their 2nd soccer games today. I coached Emma's team and though I don't think the kids are really aware of the score, and it is really just a mosh of kids chasing a ball that occasionally goes into the net, they still asked me who won at the end of the game. So I said to the kids, "Well you did actually, but the more important thing is that you had fun and played hard." To which I asked them did you have fun, and they all yelled "Yeah!!". We then went to Will's game and watched as Will scored a goal, and as his team trounced the other team 7 -1 (Will has a couple of really good players on his team). Before the game, we told will that we wanted him to work on not "crashing" into people. In practice we had to talk to Will about bodychecking people as he would go more than just a little out of his way to run into his teammates he was scrimmaging against (i.e., halfway across the field in the opposite direction from where the ball was going). To his credit he did a great job of that this week. However, whenever his team would score he would continue to recite the score to his teammates, coaches and opposition, with an enthusiastic "we're winning!!" tacked onto the end. So we started to talk to him during the game about how it's more important to try hard and have fun. Later on at home, Tracey talked with Will about good sportsmanship and how it was more important to have fun and play hard, and that it really didn't matter what the score was. After getting this drilled into him for a couple of minutes Will said, "Right, it doesn't matter if you win or if you lose....but it's really good if you win." Later on tonight at bedtime Will said, "We scored 7 and the other team scored 1...so what was the loser's name again?" So Tracey had another talk about not calling the team the lost, "losers" and that he should only be happy in his head and not be too verbal about the victory. After explaining why this was important (i.e., if you lost how would you feel, etc.,) Tracey said he could be happy in his head about winning and scoring a goal, to which Will said, "Right", and proceeded to get a funny little smirk on his face. We'll have to work on that one a little more with him.
Laurel's team got beat, but I was really proud of her effort. I probably coached a little too much from the sidelines, but I was really just trying to get the concept of spacing and positional play into Laurel's mind, because I don't think many people on her team understand the concept. Tracey said I should just "coach" her at home and shut up at the games.

Nathan's Post - Youth Activities

It has been a very busy month and a bit with my calling in the ward. In April we had a Book of Mormon reading night with the youth at the Cooper's home in our ward. The youth spent an evening having a BBQ, reading the Book of Mormon (in 1 hour blocks) and playing games (in 1 hour blocks). Almost 30 youth and leaders showed up at the activity, and the Priest's quorum planned the meal and the evening. At the end of the night we had a testimony meeting. I was really impressed with the youth in our ward. They all had a good time reading and many of them at the end of the hour long reading blocks were surprised that the hour had passed so quickly. The Bishop thought that it would be a good activity to hold each year in the spring.

Later that month we did yard cleaning at a member's acreage, where the wife is suffering from cancer. The youth spent a couple of hours moving dead branches and raking the large yards. One of the youth, Brett Williams was sprinting in between his tasks so that he could get as much done as possible in the time given. A trip to the cannery to can home storage goods for ward members, and a trip to the temple rounded out the month.

This last Tuesday, the Priest's quorum made a meal for their mother's, the young women, and the young women's mothers. All I can say is that it takes a long time to prepare and cook that much meat (shishkebabs) for almost 40 people. It's a good thing my employer let's me take time off of work, because it took me most of the afternoon to do my part of the meal. The Priests were all given a part of the meal to prepare (spinach dip appetizer, a mango salad, a potato salad, carmelized carrots, skor cake, apple crisp, and strawberrry pina colodas (virgin). One of the best things was that we were able to get 4 of the young men out to the activities that we hadn't seen for a long time. For two of them I talked to the Father who probably thought it was a good idea and likely encouraged his boys to participate. For two others who were a little "iffy" about attending I asked if they would see if their mother wanted to attend. When I phoned back the mom answered the phone to which I asked her if her boy's had invited her yet. The mom wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but once she heard about her boys making here supper, it was basically a done deal. The boys of course couldn't back out because mom was going. A little subterfuge goes well at times to help the young men do what they should. All the young men had a good time, so I hope that we will see a little more of them in the future.

FHE

Tonight we had a fun family home evening with the kids. Nathan and I were talking about how we often dread it because there is always someone crying, hitting another person, yelling at someone, etc. Well Nathan thought we should just make it fun and play most of the time as opposed to sit first and do songs as we normally do. So Nathan picked up some foam swords at the store and we had Book of Mormon wars in the backyard. Will got to be Ammon cutting off the robbers arms, and then we covered strategy on how to take back a city from the lamanites. I told the kids to hide around the corner of the house as I went up to taunt dad the lamanite from the trampoline city he had just taken. I said I would lure him out and when he came after me, they could all attack. They loved this plan and had so much fun with the 'surprise attack' that we did it a few more times, taking turns who was the bait. One time as I stood hiding with William, he looked at me and said while gripping his foam sword, "if we die, we die with honor", then he ran out to attack the enemy. Overall a great family night.

Nathan's Post - Blessings

So as I was getting ready for bed this evening, I remembered that I hadn't written down anything about Katelynn's baby blessing that happened a few weeks ago. As the young man who held the microphone didn't have the strongest arm, most people, including my wife, didn't hear the blessing. So this is as much for her benefit as it is for those who weren't there, or are to young to remember it. I'll have to review my journal to see if I have written down anything for Will and Emma (I know I did for Laurel and the twins). Emma's blessing was the most memorable, because she was screaming the entire blessing. She screamed from the time I carried her up to the front to when she was taken out by Tracey afterwards. It wasn't because she was hungry either. During the blessing, as she was screaming in my face, I thought, well since she isn't happy I'll bless her that she'll have a "Cheerful disposition". I heard quite a few people chuckle when I said that, but the funny thing is, as I said it I felt that it would be a true characteristic of Emma. I think any of you that know Emma would say she is one of the cheeriest children around.

Giving blessings in general has always been a difficult thing for me to do. I always am concerned about whether what I am saying is what the Lord would want me to say. I thought about what I was going to say in Katelynn's blessing for a couple of weeks, prayed about it, and talked to Tracey about what she thought would be important in the blessing. I also thought a lot about Katelynn and tried to envision what her life had in store for her, and what things our Father in heaven would want me to bless her with. I've found that as I have blessed each of my children, that the blessings have actually become much shorter with each child. Perhaps, that's because I feel that there are very few things that really matter, and that the child has a life of decisions ahead of them, that they will make, but that course they choose for their life will be primarily driven by the few things that really matter.

In Katelynn's blessing I recall the following:
- She was blessed that she would be able to recognize the Spirit, and through that gain a strong testimony of Jesus Christ, and of the restored gospel.
- She was blessed that she would be able to develop a strong relationship with her Father in Heaven and with Jesus Christ.
- She was blessed that she would have a kind disposition, and that she would love others and be willing to serve them.
- She was blessed that she would be cheerful through the trials in her life.

The last one is the one that concerns me the most, as it is also the one that I felt the strongest about as I was blessing her. One of my fears is that my children will have to endure hardship and pain. To this day when I look at my immediate family (My wife, 6 children, parents, 4 brothers, 4 sister-in laws, 1 brother in-law, mother in-law and 15 nephews and nieces) I am amazed at how blessed we have been. There hasn't been a significant illness or tragedy in any of the families, and at times I wonder when it will happen. I realize that Lord has power to preserve and bless us, but I also know that "who the Lord loves he chastens". It wold be foolish to expect that my life and the life of those I love would be without hardships. I suppose the blessing that I would ask of my Father in Heaven is that when the trials do come, that, as I have blessed my daughter, that he would bless me and my family that we can endure it cheerfully and with glad hearts, recognizing the blessings that God has given us.

Busy day

Saturday morning we had our first soccer games of the season. Of course we were running late leaving the house as someone is always unable to find their shoes, and someone pees her pants as we are all in the suburban and ready to go. So Nathan, the man that rarely speeds, sped all the way to High River, as he had to coach Emma's game. We got there to greet all the parents who were beginning to wonder where the coach was! I went to Spitzee school with laurel and Will for their games. Will actually didn't want to play when we first talked to him about soccer, but once he was there he was all over that ball like a fat kid on a candy, and when he couldn't get the ball away from another kid he just picked it up and threw it (his first practice was snowed out, so we'll give him a break on that one). At the end of the game when his coach said "lets give a cheer for the other team", Will said, "why? we won." I guess we'll work on the 'play for fun' motto for him. Laurel did great and almost scored a goal. Emma was a little disappointed she didn't get to kick the ball more.

Later that night we had a reception for Bryan and Christine Tagg to go to which started at 6:30, so of course we left the house at 6:50. Nathan said it was at the stake center (another church building) in Calgary, so we drove there and hurried in the building. As Laurel set down the gift in the pile and I discreetly looked for a seat I heard the final words of the toast, "Congratulations Mike and Hailey!". Aaaah we were at the wrong wedding! It turns out the reception we needed to go to was at a different building. So I whispered for Laurel to grab the gift (while a few people were starting to turn around I'm sure wondering who the heck I was) and we left as quickly as we could...even though the food smelled really good! The real reception was fun and we knew a lot more people at that one!

Snow day

So this week we had a snow day on thursday. I was all looking forward to having a day with just my little ones, then our friend called to say school was cancelled. So we had a loud play day. Laurel baked cookies, Allison and Emma had a dance party, and the boys played with toys here and there. My house looked like a tornado went through it at the end of the day.