StichtFam

2010 Birthdays

2010-09-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Lucy's 4th Birthday

We celebrated her birthday at Disneyland. Unfortunately, we didn't take any other pictures, not even of the birthday cupcakes!

First friend birthday party (princess themed, of course!)

The Ariel birthday cake was a huge hit with the girls at the party.
Thanks Jodie! She can do a cake for you, too! Here's her blog:

http://beansylovescake.blogspot.com/

The birthday girl. I like to keep the parties simple. We invited a few friends to the park, played, ate, did a craft, and had a treasure hunt for gift bags. Easy and fun!

Look at that happy Lucy, I think she had a good first friend party.

Anna's 8th Birthday

We told Anna that she could get her ears pierced on her eighth birthday. This is her right after.

Birthday celebration with the fam. I did cupcakes because she was already had a cake at her friend birthday party.

Anna's Friend Birthday Party

She wanted a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. Nice freezer burn! It still tasted good.

We invited 15 girls to her party, it was loud. Wade was supposed to be there to help, but he got called out of town on a job at the last minute. I handled it pretty well by myself. It was loud and crazy, but they had fun. They helped make pizza (ate 5 of them), watched a movie (Bolt), ate loads of candy and popcorn, and had ice cream cake. Sorry if anyone came home with a tummy ache! I couldn't believe how much those girls ate!

View from our third level, so many girls.

The aftermath.

Spencer's 2nd Birthday

We spent the day celebrating at Disneyland (We celebrated for Anna, too. Their birthdays are two days apart).

Another Jodie cake! Spencer loved it!

This kid is always drooling, but he's still cute!

Look at how much he is enjoying that cake! He's so happy!

I love Lucy's pose in this one.

I love this cutie picture, a little cutie and a big cutie. I don't thnk I used cutie enough in that sentence.

Sorry, no Wade or Leslie pictures on their birthdays. Somehow we always forget to take them!

Anna's first day of school

2009-09-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

I think I just set the record for taking the longest to do my first day of school post.

First day of second grade

I just love that cutie!

Summer 2009

2009-09-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

I guess I never got back on the wagon. Blogging is hard for me! Our external hard drive crashed in August and most of our pictures are on there. It was devastating to me that we don't have our pictures anymore, but we are hopeful that we can retrieve the stuff on there. Anyway, it also made me realize how important it is to record what's going on even if it's just a few stories and pictures here and there. I AM going to post more often now.

We spent almost all of July in Utah. We went to the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone and stayed in a big cabin in Teton Village with my whole family. It was so fun and beautiful. I would love to retire there. Unfortunately those pictures are on the external hard drive. Here's some highlights of things we did that I actually have pictures of.

Hanging out with my sister's fam and their dogs in Springville.

Pretty Silver Lake with the Grandma and Grandpa Spencer

Having fun with cousin Mia

Visiting Friends

Shannan Keyes--we've been friends since 3rd or 4th grade.

Lindsey Van Ballagooie--friends for about 14 years! We met when we both worked at Wal-Mart.

My sister Amy's visit to California.

Aliso Creek Beach

Disneyland on Amy's birthday!

Amy's birthday dinner.

Spencer's first time licking the beater from the birthday cake batter. I didn't give it to him, he's got Lucy's leftovers. I just loved coming out and seeing him so happy licking the beater.

I had my 32nd birthday also in August, but no pictures to post. They were too hideous and they made me look 10 years older.

That's it for the summer. When we came back to California, I started teaching art lessons and that consumed a lot of my time. It was fun, though. We still managed to go swimming as much as possible and to get some fun times in before school started.

I fell off the wagon!

2009-03-13T15:43:00.001-07:00

I fell of the wagon, the blogging wagon, that is. But I'm back on it again. I have felt so busy with lessons and homework and taking care of kids that I didn't feel like I had time for blogging. But I want to keep doing it so I am going to give it another try. I don't know how you bloggers do it! It's sad that my last blog was in November and it was about Twilight.

I've got lots of pictures in this post, but not lots of writing so it shouldn't take very long to read! Have fun!

Halloween

This is when we first bought their costumes, I love this picture. Such cute girls!

Halloween!!! Wade is a greaser, I'm a poodle skirt girl, Spencer is a spider, Anna is Ariel (of course!) and Lucy is Belle.

Thanksgiving

We stayed in California for Thanksgiving and had a nice dinner with our little fam.

Christmas in Utah

Christmas Eve--the kids are in their Christmas jammies. Sadly, we didn't take any pictures on Christmas morning. We did film them, though.

Cousins putting on their Christmas make-up. Lovely!

This is our bi-yearly visit with my Grandma Spencer (she's 99!!). We love my Grandma and look forward to visiting her when we are in Utah.

The cousins bringing in the New Year (at 9:00 PM)!

Valentine's Day

We took our kids to the Newport Beach Temple on Valentine's Day so they could walk around the grounds and feel the spirit there. It was such a beautiful day and special experience
for our fam.

I love my cute kids.

We bought the girls pretty princess dresses for Valentine's Day (Actually, I just happened to buy them around Valentine's Day so we gave them to the girls as presents.)

Tired. . . but it was worth it!

2008-11-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

Last night (or should I say this morning) I saw Twilight. A bunch of people from our ward went to the 12:01 showing of it. I loved it! There were some cheezey moments, but I think they did an overall good job. They kept the things that were important to the plot. I really didn't like the girl that played Alice, she looked like she was thirty and she couldn't act. And Jasper, come on, I thought the vampires were supposed to be good looking. I laughed when I saw him because he looked like such a dork. Also, there was some butt-rock guitar going on during vampire fighting sequences that I could have done without. And those baseball uniforms were cheezey. I want to see it again on a normal screen (I saw it on an IMAX screen--holy creepy close-ups! They looked like big monster faces!). Still, it made me want to read the book again and see the movie many, many more times, which is what they were going for, right? I can't wait to see New Moon!

Spencer is six months!! (13 days ago)

2008-10-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Spencer is already six months!! It has passed so quickly. I totally understand where it came from and why there is the phrase "mama's boy". I just love my little boy (I love my little girls, too); there's just something so sweet about little boys. Here are some cutie pictures of Spencer through his short, but fast lifetime. WARNING: this blog entry may contain lots of photographs and things that only a mom (or family members) would care about.

I could only find thumbnail size pictures of these ones, but I love them so I put them on anyway.

Look at those chunky cheeks!!! I think his cheeks were bigger at birth than they are now.

So sweeet!!

I love his little dimples!

I love how it looks like Lucy is strangling Spencer. Spencer looks like he's thinking, "If I hold really still, she might let go."

Spencer's first camping trip

Big boy in his big boy chair

Spencer's favorite things:

Playing with his toes

Chewing on his toes

Pulling hair

His sister's (even though they maul him)

He also loves crinkly sounds, anything that I am holding, playing with his toy chicken, splashing in water, going outside, playing on his tummy, rolling around and scooting backwards along the floor, and of course,his mommy (daddy, too).

My Favorite things about Spencer:

His big blue eyes

The Spencer face (he looks like this 90% of the time). A little girl in our ward even commented on the fact that his mouth is always open.

I love the squealy sounds he always makes; his backward scooting, his sweet little laugh, when I go to get him in his crib he buries his head on my shoulder and grabs some hair and starts chewing on it (gross to others, only sweet to a mommy); how he always stares at me
and when I look back at him his face breaks out in a huge smile; his chillaxin' personality; his cry that sounds exactly like he is saying waaa-a-a-a-a; the face he pulls when he gets hurt and the cry that goes along with it, and the chicken dance he does (he bobs his head back and forth--kind of like head banging). I could go on and on and on because I love everything about him so I will stop. I am so glad we have our little Spencer!

Mom Jeans

2008-10-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

Sad, but true...

(Use Internet Explorer if you have problems with this video. If the video doesn't show below, go here.)

Anna lost her 1st tooth (finally)!

2008-10-02T11:16:00.001-07:00

Anna lost her first tooth last Friday. She was very excited. All of her friends have been losing teeth forever. The Tooth Fairy came and left fairy dust on her pillow and Anna even saw some sparkling lights during the night.

Visits and first days

2008-09-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago. It was soo great to have them here. I really miss living by them and I love to have them see my kids. Sorry Mom for putting pictures of you on here, but I have to document your stay. Thanks for all of the help you guys gave me when you came to visit. I love you!

We didn't want to spend lot of money while they were here so we mostly went to the beaches. This is at Newport Beach by Balboa Pier. There's my dad in the ocean.

I had to put this one in to document that I did actually go on all of these outings. I am just usually the one taking the pictures. I'm the one in the shadow under the umbrella.

Having fun with Grandpa!

Lucy was fascinated by this boy that was buried in sand. The only thing poking out was his head. She kept going over there and staring at them.

Aliso Creek Beach--this is my first time at this beach and I love it because you can park right there. You don't have to walk up any stairs or down any steep hills lugging all of your beach items. You can leave things in the car and go get them if you need to. There is also a park for kids to play at and it's pretty! I think I found my favorite place to go.

Anna's first day of dance. Doesn't she look like a pretty ballerina?

Lucy's first day of preschool. She was so excited to wear her backpack and to be going to school like her big sister.

There's my cutie coloring at preschool.

Spencer with Grandpa Spencer (can you guess where I got his name?) at Dana Point. Spencer looks huge!

Grandma and Grandpa Spencer with the kids at Dana Point.

We went to dinner at our friends' house, the Lakes, and Lucy accidentally got hit in the head with a baseball. Can you see the stitches? Poor girl. She recovered quickly, though.

The Great Southern California ShakeOut!

2008-09-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

Mountains and Forests

2008-09-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

I recently travelled to Washington for work. What a beautiful place! I was fortunate enough to catch a job just north of Olympic National Park. I flew into Seattle and drove south through Tacoma and then north to Port Angeles. Here are some photos from the trip.

And yes, Leslie was jealous.

Token tree photo, taken at 65 mph.

Here's a picturesque "stick-out" near the ferry landing (yes, I rode the ferry).

Evidence of man's destruction of the forest, i.e. the place where your house came from.

Mt. Ranier from 30,000 feet.

1st Day of 1st Grade

2008-09-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Picture #1, Anna the happy!

Picture #2 and she's already sick of me taking pictures of her.

Too bad I am going to take a million more.

A happy one!

Outside of her classroom. It's weird because they do

everything outside here. They eat outside, their backpacks

and lunches stay outside, they line up for school outside.

Also each grade has it's own building so they have to go

outside to get anywhere else. I guess that's California for you.

Anna had a good first day despite someone taking her lunchbox on accident and getting into an argument with another girl. She made a new friend that just moved here, too. They both like Littlest Pet Shop and had little animals attached to their backpacks. We missed Anna while she was gone (especially Lucy, she asked me all day long when we were going to go get her), but we are excited for her to be in school. Anna loves school and really thrives when she is in it.

Super Lucy...TO THE RESCUE!!!

2008-08-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

We had a "fun" experience today. Wade and Anna were out on the balcony and I went out there to ask Wade a question. I shut the door behind me so that I wouldn't let out all of the cold air and somehow locked the door behind me. Lucy was sleeping downstairs and Wade, Anna, Spencer and I were locked outside!! I felt like I was in of those sitcoms when everyone is watching you shut the door and thinking, "Don't shut the door, it will lock!!" Too bad I didn't have a live studio audience to warn me with their astonished gasp.

At first I felt a little panicky and I seriously contemplated making Wade jump off the balcony and walk around to our garage to let us in. Then I realized that Lucy would wake up soon and we could tell her to open the door. So we waited out there for about 15 minutes or so and along came Lucy. She had just barely woken up so she was a little groggy and probably confused that we were all out there, but not coming inside to see her. She came over to us and we convinced her to unlock the door (she had to push it up to unlock it), but she immediately pushed it down again. We all said, "NO! Push it up!" and some of us started laughing. I think we hurt her feelings or scared her because she started crying and ran across the house into my bedroom. Eventually, I convinced her to come back and unlock the door. Hooray for Lucy! I don't know what we would have done without her! I guess Wade would have had to make that jump. I have learned my lesson to never shut a door that locks behind me. Or at least to make sure that it's not in the locking position. Now we have a good story to tell and a silly memory.

Born to be a Scout

2008-08-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

Wade got called to be the Bear leader for scouts. He was soooo excited! Having a calling in scouts has always been his dream. He bought his shirt the other day and sewed on all of the patches (yes, he did it himself). Then he stood in the mirror smiling at himself and saying things like, "I'm a good lookin' guy" or "You gotta love a man in uniform." When he said, "I was born to be a scout", I knew it was blog worthy.
The Bears are lucky to have such an enthusiastic leader! Go Wade!!

Fantastic Contraptions

2008-08-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

I just found this weirdly challenging flash game. The object is to build a michine that will transport an object to a specified area using simple wheels and rods. There's a short tutotrial to introduce you to the game and then you're on your own. Give it a try the next time you've got a few minutes (or more).

http://www.addictinggames.com/fantasticcontraption.html

Thanks to the Woot! blog for this discovery.

Wade

Water Olympics

2008-08-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Our ward had a water Olympics activity. Look at how many kids came! It's such a change from our Texas ward, everyone here is so active and involved. It seems I need to clarify that last comment. We loved our Texas ward, there were some great members. But we all know that there was a definite lacking in members attending ward functions (especially primary activities). Also there were a lot less kids in that ward!

That's our Bishop that the kids are squirting in the face. Good thing he's wearing that mask!

Classic water squirting face!

Lucy was afraid of the water balloon toss so Anna helped her.

This game had something to do with missionaries.

As you can see they had lots of fun!

Lucy's went to her first birthday party

2008-08-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

Lucy went to her first birthday party (Anna came, too). It was a Dora themed party and they got to go on a Dora adventure. Swiper the Fox stole the Dora pinata and they had to go through the musical garden, star catcher's pond and over bubble bridge to find the pinata. The kids loved it! Thanks, Melissa! We had fun.

Lucy, Cheyenne (Lucy calls her sunshine), and Anna at the playground

My favorite picture ever! I couldn't get Anna to try the glasses on. Thankfully, Lucy is young enough to not feel self-conscious and to believe you when you tell her how cute she looks!

Those are the backpacks they took on the Dora adventure.

Sweet sisters!

31 is lots of fun!!

2008-08-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

I had my 31st birthday, it was fun. Wade tried to make it special for me. We actually went on a date together. We played tennis (my choice). Wade doesn't like to play tennis with me because I always hit the ball too hard and he has to go find them. We had fun and I think I have convinced him that we need to keep playing together. The better we get, the more fun we'll have!

Spencer's First Taste of Cereal

2008-08-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

My doctor told me to start Spencer on rice cereal. I thought it was a little early, Anna and Lucy didn't start until 6 months and Spencer is 4 months. I did it, though and of course I had to post pictures with his cute reactions.

I love this face. It looks like he's thinking, "What is this nasty paste your putting in my mouth?!!"

Another good one.

Anna and Lucy thought Spencer's reaction was hilarious. They laughed the whole time we fed him.

More Beach Fun

2008-08-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

We went to a Foothill Ranch Ward Reunion (our ward when we lived in California previously) a couple of weekends ago. It was great to see our old ward members. A lot of them had no idea that we had moved to Texas and back. Friday night there had a talent show and Saturday there was a beach party. Wade and the kids had lots of fun playing in the sand and water. I took it easy and hung out with Spencer and my book.

This is what Spencer looks like at the beach, all bundled up. It gets cold at the beach, it's not like they show you in the movies. At least not in Orange County. It gets hot when the sun comes out, but it's usually overcast.

Burying Anna

This is how I spent my time at the beach: reading Breaking Dawn. I think Spencer enjoyed it, too.

Burying Lucy

Sisters With Bangs and Desitin Hands

2008-08-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

Lucy never keeps her hair fixed and I got really sick of looking at the food-crusted hair in her face all of the time, so I cut bangs. Anna also wanted bangs because Lucy and I had them. Now we are all girls with bangs.

One of the many joys of finding Lucy when she has been quiet for too long! I guess I shouldn't take pictures of these things, she's going to think she's doing something good because mommy's taking her picutre. I just wanted everyone to feel the joy I felt when I found her this way.

Back to the Beach part 2

2008-08-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

For some reason I couldn't post this picture with the rest, but I just had to! She's so stinkin' cute.

Back to the Beach

2008-08-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

This was our first trip back to the beach, it was COLD that day. The girls didn't seem to mind, though.

Sandcastle fun with Dad

Anna's sandcastle creation

Serious contemplation at the beach.

Lucy drinking ocean water, I wish I got a picture of her face after she drank it.

Cutest Kids EVER!!

2008-08-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent-ish pictures of my kids. My sister took these when she was in town for Spencer's baby blessing in June. I love these pictures of my kids, they look like child models.

Spencer- you've got to love his dimples!

Lucy- she's so photogenic!!

Anna- she's pretty even with messy hair!

Independance Day

2008-08-04T14:59:00.001-07:00

OK, so we're a month behind on the Holidays-big whoop! That's how we roll now that we're back in Cali.

Here are some pics from our Fourth of July parade:

Lucy = 2 cute 2 B 4 gotten!

Spencer was rather nonplussed by all the hubbub. He opted for "naptime" most of the day.

Anticipating Anna

Smiles on the kids' faces are what it's all about--right? Oh yeah--candy, too!

The parade took place on the street in front of our house. I could have thrown rocks from our balcony to our parade spot (I didn't, but I could have). The candy-tossing-kids in the parade were treating all the spectators like targets. There was a group that even had marshmallow blowguns, and some of those kids were aiming point-blank at our heads. Kids...

The town threw a huge shindig all day long at the park across the street from us, complete with classic rock cover band and all! The day ended with an amazing fireworks show that we watched from our balcony. The girls were terrified, and I was ecstatic. It was a super day.

Dollar Store Fashion Show

2008-08-04T14:22:00.002-07:00

On the day we moved from Texas, I took the girls to the dollar store to get some fun stuff for the trip to California. We found these lovely hat-wigs, and the girls were more than happy to try them on and pose for the adoring camera. I love that they just happened to be wearing shirts that matched the hair color.

Aren't they the cutest?

Spencer's first (and hopefully ONLY) mug shot

2008-04-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here's our little man. If he's like his dad, he's probably thinking about food. Or TV. or a nap.

Wade's Sacrament Meeting Talk, 1/13/2008

2008-01-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

A story is told of two sister missionaries who were delivering supplies to the local hospitals. They hadn't been watching their gas gauge and, as you can guess, they ran out of gas. They were only a block away from a gas station, however, so they walked to the station and told the attendant of the problem.

The attendant asked if they had anything that would hold liquid. The sisters replied that the only container they had in the car was a bed-pan. The attendant answered that it should hold enough gas to get them back to the station and that he would fill their tank so they could be on their way.

The sisters walked back to the car, got the bed-pan and returned to the gas station where the attendant put gas in it. They then very carefully returned to the car. Just as they were pouring from the bed-pan into the gas tank, two elders rode by on bicycles. One said to the other:

"Now you see, elder, that's faith!"

It takes faith like this to share the gospel.

Two Keys of Sharing the Gospel

1. Open your Mouth

Faith is demonstrated by your actions, and what action is easier than opening your mouth? I suppose the concept is based on the assumption that words will come out. The question is, who's words?

It goes without saying that to share the gospel, we must first receive it for ourselves. We must learn the basic, simple doctrines, or as Joseph Smith put it, "the first principles and ordinances of the gospel". These, of course, are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion by the proper authority, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. One of the first things missionaries discuss with investigators of the church is the Restoration of the gospel. We would do well to be familiar with Joseph Smith's experience and why and how the church was established anew in these latter days. Many people of the world that already have testimonies of the first principles and ordinances; teach them of the Restoration and see how the Spirit touches their hearts.

The phrase "open your mouth" and many similar phrases occur frequently throughout the scriptures. Notice the implications of this simple phrase and what role it played in these well-known scriptural accounts:

Alma 12:1: "Now Alma... opened his mouth and began to speak unto [Zeezrom], and to establish the words of Amulek, and to explain things beyond, or to unfold the scriptures beyond that which Amulek had done."
Alma 18:18: "King Lamoni did open his mouth, and said unto [Ammon]: Who art thou? Art thou that Great Spirit, who knows all things?"
Hel. 7:13: "And it came to pass that [Nephi] opened his mouth and said unto [the multitude that had gathered near his garden]: Behold, why have ye gathered yourselves together? That I may tell you of your iniquities?"
3 Ne. 26:16: [At Jesus' appearance to the Nephites,] "even babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things".
D&C 24:12 [To Oliver Cowdery:] "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men."
D&C 28:16 [To Joseph Smith:] "And thou must open thy mouth at all times, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing."
D&C 60:2: But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.
D&C 71:1: Behold, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants..., that the time has verily come that it is necessary and expedient in me that you should open your mouths in proclaiming my gospel, the things of the kingdom, expounding the mysteries thereof out of the scriptures, according to that portion of Spirit and power which shall be given unto you, even as I will.
Moses 6:32: And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good.

When we open our mouths, we are essentially saying to our Father, "Thy will be done, not mine." We give ourselves to be his mouthpiece, his messenger, his shepherd to some lamb that is lost.

Do you find yourself hesitant in this? What have you got to lose by opening your mouth and declaring the gospel? You will not offend others if you are sincere, respectful and led by the Spirit. The worst that can happen is that a hard-hearted person (who would not accept your invitation anyway) may mock you or reject what you have to say. The best that can happen is that you become a means of proclaiming salvation to one of our Father's children who accepted the Savior as Redeemer and Savior long before the world was created and had been kept from the truth until you showed it to them.

When the Lord gives us a commandment, he prepares a way for us to accomplish his command. He is constantly at work behind the scenes, so to speak, assisting us, guiding us, clearing our path so that we may do his work. Some paths are clearer than others, but the Lord is always by our side; in fact, he has promised to be on both sides:

D&C 84:88: "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

Have you noticed how much heavier a child is when she's asleep than when she's awake? It takes greater effort to move "dead weight". Although I don't doubt the strength of the Lord's angels and their ability to bear us up (even when we put forth little effort), I believe that neither they nor the Holy Spirit will spend much time carrying around "dead weight". In fact, we need to be spiritually awake before they will even get near us! We must exercise that particle of faith that's required to get us off our duffs and into action. I believe that if we exercised our faith unto the opening of our mouths, we would witness firsthand many mighty miracles and be the means of bringing sheep into the fold of the Lamb of God.

2. Planting and Harvesting

We often hear of someone "planting a seed". Maybe a friend of yours received a Book of Mormon from another friend long ago, and it's been sitting on a shelf for years. Maybe your neighbor sees you leaving for church with the entire family every week. Maybe, one of your coworkers passes by the temple or a meeting house on his way to and from work. Seeds are everywhere. That's why the Lord said that the field is white and ready to harvest. Some seeds were planted by you and me. Have you ever considered who else is planting seeds, even as we speak? Alma the Younger testified:

Alma 13:22, 24: "The voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare [salvation] unto all nations... that they may have glad tidings of great joy; yea, and he doth sound these glad tidings among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon the face of the earth; wherefore they have come unto us.... For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word."
- What are they being prepared for? to receive his word; that is, to accept the gospel and receive it's ordinances.

Picture yourself as a farmer with a bag of seeds. What farmer would obtain seeds but never plant them? What farmer would plant seeds but never nurture them?
What farmer would nurture the crop but never harvest? What farmer would harvest but never gather those sheaves into the garner?

At which point did you or I give up on the crop? Those who have been baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have obtained their seeds. Have you planted yours yet? Are you nurturing those plants? Have you harvested any? Are you protecting your harvest?

Alma 26: 5: [Ammon recounted to his fellow missionaries:] "Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted."
D&C 18: 15-16: [The Lord spoke to Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer and said:] "If it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul..., how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

This great joy is also offered to us. In fact, it is the design of our existence. The Book of Mormon teaches that "men are that they might have joy" (Alma 2 Nephi 2:25). Equating these truths indicates that one of the purposes of our existence is to bring souls to Christ and receive that joy.

What do you feel right now? Do you have a desire to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ? "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work" (D&C 4:3). May we each answer this call and discover the joy of bringing souls to Christ.

Lucy's Look-alikes

2008-01-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

Mixed chromosomes

2008-01-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

Wade's Wombmates

2008-01-12T19:28:00.001-08:00

Separated at birth...

2008-01-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

C'mon now, you can't be serious...

2008-01-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

Anna's Celebrity Twins

2008-01-12T19:14:00.002-08:00

Leslie's Celebrity Twins

2008-01-12T19:14:00.001-08:00

Wade's Boarding Again?

2007-10-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I've officially enter the political arena. I was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for my home owners association. I won by one vote (I knew I should have voted for the other person!). Oh well, I suppose if I don't like it, I can always move...

Wade

2007-07-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this drawing Anna made for Wade last week. Leslie was in Utah with the girls and Wade was home alone. I guess Leslie couldn't wait to share the news.

How It All Started

2007-06-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

'Twas the 21st of May, 1994. I had spent the whole day with my friends, sakteboarding all around Salt Lake City. We were joined by a pro skater who was a roommate of one of my friends visiting from Cali. My friends were showing off for this pro all day long, and eventually I became the target of jokes and ridicule for being LDS. Needless to say, I was completely upset with my friends (who had never before seemed to care about my religion). I had no way home so I had to stick it out.

We ended up cruising the parking lot of a popular dance club (Confetti's for those in the know), "looking for chicks". A red car drove by, and the four girls in it shared a few words with my friends and drove away. We soon left and headed to a nearby gas station (the Chevron at 13th East and 21st South). The red car arrived soon after, and my friends, recognizing the car, headed over and started conversing with the female occupants once more. The girls were invited to follow us to another skate spot to watch us skate.

I was still very angry, so once we arrived at the spot (the old Salt Palace parking garage), I just started skating without talking to anyone. The four girls were sitting out of the way, and whenever one of us would land a trick, the girls would applaud and cheer. This went on for a while, so I decided to go over and introduce myself, just to show that I was nice. This was when I first met Leslie Ann Spencer.

After skating a little more, I sat down for a rest and started talking to Leslie and her friends. We discovered that we had a few things in common (favorite bands, movies, lived in the same city, etc.), and we hit it off pretty good. I flirted a little by tossing small pebbles into a tiny rip in the knee of her jeans (yes, that is how I flirted, apparently). After a while, we exchanged phone numbers and went our separate ways.

To Leslie's surprise, I called her the next day (a Sunday) to see if she could get together to hang out. She declined because it was Sunday (good for her!). We probably ended up talking on the phone for a while anyway. We quickly became good friends and spent a lot of time with each other.

Leslie's friends would often ask me, "What do you think about Leslie?" I knew what the question meant: "Leslie likes you--do you like her?" I was flattered, naturally, but kept reminding myself that she was three years younger than me. After about six months of this, I realized that I should just ask Leslie out on an official date. I did, and she accepted.

Our first date was to the Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. We had a great time. It seemed a natural extension of our established friendship to continue dating, so we did. We dated for about two more years before I went on a mission.

We decided before I left that it would be best for Leslie to date as much as she wanted while I was gone. I wasn't concerned until the weekly letters stopped coming. I should say that having a girl back home was an enormous distraction for me, and I don't recommend it to anyone. I couldn't fully concentrate on the work of a missionary while worrying about a relationship at home. It was a stumbling block for me at times.

Regardless of this, Leslie waited for me. As my full-time mission was coming to a close, Leslie suggested that we not rush into anything when I got back and that we just see how things would progress. I reluctantly agreed. However, according to Leslie, once she saw me in person at the airport, all her feelings for me came back (naturally). I feigned shyness, and asked her out while we were still at the airport. Love took it's course, and a week later we were shopping for a ring.

I proposed to Leslie on Christmas Day, 1998, in front of her family. I will never forget her response. When she opened the box with the ring inside, after the hoots and teasing of her siblings subsided, I got down on bended knee and tenderly asked the love of my life, my forever friend, my sweetest Leslie if she would marry me. She sheepishly replied, "Yeah." Her brother-in-law then shouted, "Kiss him! Kiss him!" Leslie's response: "NO!" After some coaxing, she stood up and gave me a teeny little kiss.

After a semi-short engagement, we were married on March 11, 1999 in the Salt Lake Temple. So began the Sticht Fam.

Our official engagement photo.

It looks as if we're sharing a happy moment, but we were really talking about how cold we are!

P.D.A.! Get a room!

What do YOU have to say?

2007-06-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I have now provided the ability to comment. There should be an area below this text that says "1 COMMENT" or something similar. Just click on that, and a separate window should pop up where you can read existing comments and leave your own if you'd like.

What the blog?!?

2007-06-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Like me, you may have heard the word blog a lot lately. And, like me, you may wonder what a blog is. Well, you're at one. Apparently, "blog" is a web-savvy, overly-technical synonym for journal or diary.

This journal will give a running history of the Wade and Leslie Sticht family, or the "StichtFam". We'll start with a brief history of ourselves and how we got mixed-up together and then try to bring you quickly up-to-date on our lives. We'll also post photos and videos (if possible) of our lovely daughters, Anna and Lucy. Our intention is to keep it updated regularly so that despite whatever distance separates us and you, you'll still feel like a part of our lives.

This is a private blog, available to family members and friends only, so please help us keep it that way. If there's someone that you want to share this site with, please let us know and we'll send an invitation. And of course, if there's anything you want to see, read or hear on this site, let us know! Happy blogging!