Sustaining a Prophet

Easter was especially wonderful this year. Of course we did fun things like dying eggs, crafts from Gram, and an egg hunt on Saturday. Having a whole acre to hide the eggs was awesome! It took well over 20 minutes to find them all, and a week later we're still finding random eggs in the backyard. 

Conrad even got in on the candy hunting action. Michael had left a bag of candy near him on the bed. The next thing we know, he'd dumped the bag and was trying to eat the candy!

But what truly made this Easter wonderful was that it coincided with a very special General Conference. During the Saturday morning session we were able to participate in a Solemn Assembly to sustain our new prophet President Russell M. Nelson. It was truly special, and the spirit strongly witnessed that he is the true and living prophet on the earth today.  

Hazel dutifully watched each session and took notes. It was incredible to see her becoming more exciting and engaged in Conference. Her notes from the Solemn Assembly were beautiful and with her permission I'm recording them here. 

"Sustaining our new Prophet Russell M. Nelson. All 12 apostles say yes. Daddy says yes. Mommy says yes. I say yes. Everyone in our family says yes. Most say yes. I don't know about elsewhere in the world but I know by the TV. I know he is the prophet. I feel the spirit say yes Once again, I say yes. This is so special. This is called a Solemn Assembly."

It couldn't have been a better Easter weekend

6 Months!

 Conrad has already been bringing joy to our family for 6 months! He's such a sweet, happy guy. He loves: baths, his feet, sitting up, watching his siblings, chickens, life. He doesn't like: baby food (he prefers regular table food in tiny bites instead), sleeping in the pack and play (he's doing much better now that we moved him to the real crib), or when we take away things he's trying to chew.

Conrad had a minor urology surgery two weeks ago. He was his happy, smiley self even while fasting. The surgery went really smoothly and besides a bit of tenderness the first day, it barely phased him. Within a few days he was nearly 100%..

He's a pretty little guy at only the 5 percentile for weight (14 lbs 6 oz). But knowing how small some of our kids are, it's not surprising.

 We love you Conrad! People literally fight over holding you ALL, THE, TIME. At home and at church, you're everyone's favorite. It's not hard to see why!

We'll Always Love our Farmmutt

 On March 10th we had to put our sweet farmmutt Kiara to sleep. She was Michael and I's first baby, the inspiration for this blog, and an incredible, loyal dog to our family.

Our poor girl had a large mass on her back hips that has been growing for over a year. We assume it was some type of cancer. Once we began noticing her losing balance and showing signs of some pain we knew it was time. We didn't want her to be in a pain nor did we want to let it go on and on to the point where she was very sick. Instead, we spent a wonderful Saturday doing all of Kiara's favorite things, taking pictures, and celebrating the incredible 10 years we've had with her. 

Michael took Kiara for a drive. They picked up a bone for her then parked to watch cows. Then the kids spent time playing in the yard with her. She was feeling pretty well that day and went down to the creek to swim. Kiara LOVED swimming, and I'm glad she could enjoy it that day. 

That night we had a fire, another thing Kiara has always enjoyed. It was a hard day for the girls and there were many tears shed. But we're so thankful we could take the day to celebrate her!

We chose a beautiful spot in our yard right by the creek for her grave. It is perfect given how much she loves water! The kids all picked out rocks from the creek to paint as decoration for her grave. We also planted some wild flower seeds.

Kiara was a wonderful dog who lived a wonderful life. She was so loyal to our family and we will always remember her with love. We love you Farmmutt!