Busy colors of fall

Today is Camden’s 3rd birthday. Happy birthday little one. We sure love you. We already celebrated last week with his birthday party.

Stephanie and I were in charge of teaching Kolby’s primary class at church again. We have 4 very active little boys, so we have tried to think of activities to keep their attention. This week the lesson was on Jesus Christ’s love for us and how we can show our love to him. The lesson focused on 3 things the kids can do: keep the commandments, help to keep the meetinghouse clean, and show love to others. Steph took a picture of Jesus with the following written underneath: “Do you love Jesus? How will he know? Choose the right and it will show.” She had several magazines and we had them find letters from those to cut out and paste on a copy of their own to take home. They really liked cutting and gluing. Hopefully they learned and felt something important.

Today after church we took the kids out to Palmyra to the Sacred Grove. We had a picnic out front and then took a walk through the grove. While eating we talked about what took place here. It was here that the 14 year-old Joseph Smith said a prayer to Heavenly Father to ask which church he should join. He received a glorious vision from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and was told to join none of those currently on the earth. He would later become the first prophet of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, here on the earth for the last time before Christ’s Second Coming. It was so peaceful and beautiful in the grove. I hope my boys will remember these special experiences when they are older and remember how good they felt while they experienced them.

Last night was a 40th anniversary celebration for our congregation (the Rochester Fairport ward). It was only for the adults, so we got a babysitter, Allison, to watch them, and they had a good time together. There were close to 200 people there from all over the United States. About 8 of the men who had served as bishops during this time took turns speaking, sharing stories and memories from when they lived here. Even though we have only been here just over 2 months, it was still fun to participate. Maybe we will be able to return in another 40 years with similar memories.

Earlier in the afternoon we took the kids to Powder Mill Park, a beautiful place not too far from our house. We picked a place and just walked around for a while. Steph found some cattails and showed the boys the inside of them. Soon the boys were throwing it on each other and were covered in “snow.”

Yesterday morning Steph and I had been planning to go to the temple together. Some of the boys woke up with runny noses and little coughs, so we called the babysitter, who decided it would be better not to have her kids come in contact with ours, especially since she was having family in town this next week. So Steph went by herself this time and was able to do some baptisms for the dead for some of our ancestors.

We also noticed yesterday that Courtland has cut his first tooth on the bottom. No wonder he has been so runny-nosed this week. :) He has also been scooting and crawling around more and more this week.

This week has been a really busy one at work for me. Most days I was there from 8am-6:30 or 7pm, with a ½ hour commute each way. Monday night we have a lecture with one of the doctors (this week it was on post-operative complications and how to deal with them). Tuesday afternoon we had a conference in Buffalo (about an hour from here) with their dermatology residents. Wednesday we had a conference here in the afternoon, but there was just a lot to do afterwards. And Steph had her first Activity day with the 8-11 year old girls in our ward (she is the assistant). One of the residents, Urvi, had her baby that night, so clinic was a quite busy Thursday without her there to help. I went by with some others to see Urvi and her new baby, Riya, that night. Friday night we rented one of my favorite old classics: Sneakers. Steph hadn’t really seen it before, so it was fun to watch together.

Kolby is loving kindergarten. His favorite part so far is “everything.” Eli went and met his preschool teacher this week. He starts on Tuesday and will be going for 2 mornings each week.

Camden is working hard on potty training. He went almost a full week in underwear without problems. This week has not been as good, with lots of accidents. Maybe next week will be better.

Isaac continues to be a very active almost 2 year old. He is always vying for attention and can usually get it with his adorable curls.

The leaves around here have started changing colors, and it is really looking beautiful. I can’t wait for all of them to change.