Its tree-shearing time

With some help and direction from Alison, our fruit trees are now again in shape to produce wonderful peaches and apricots this summer.  For peaches remove all suckers, keep the middle open and cut off 2/3s of the new wood on bearing branches.  Thanks to Heidi for calling her mother down to Utah County, just at the right time for pruning.

Our big apricot tree is full of blossoms and we got it under control for another year.  On our little, new apricot tree, we left one 15 foot limb at Wendy's insistence, to see what might come of all the blossoms it is carrying.

Family overnighter at a yurt at East Canyon reservoir

Thanks to Quin for arranging to rent a Yurt (pus a small cabin) that State Parks has at East Canyon Reservoir for last Friday night.  We had 14 there--Quin and 6 of his boys, Paul, Daniel, Eric, Jonathan, Aaron, Chris, plus Steven, plus a neighbor boy named Anthony.  I brought with me Nathan, plus Ethan and Adam, and also Jack.

The facilities included electricity, a propane grill, enough beds for all, and heat for the two places, not requiring too much "roughing it".   We had barbecued chicken and rice for dinner, and eggs, sausage, oatmeal and more for breakfast.

We tried fishing in open water along the shore without much success.

Kansas City Temple visit

Wendy and I routed ourselves through Kansas City on our return home from Chandler's so that we could attend attend the new Kansas City Temple.  The positioning of the temple is right along a freeway, and has a similar effect as in DC or Boston, where you round a curve and all of a sudden the temple appears in a dramatic way.  The temple interior reminded us of the new Brigham City temple, beautiful, spacious, lots of paintings, in this case focused on prairie and big river scenes.

We had a little time before we needed to return our car, and so made a quick visit to the Liberty Jail, which reminded us of how far the Church has come in this area of the world since the early days of Missouri persecution and hatred.

Sunday snow storm

Sunday’s snow was so odd.  It was like granulated sugar.  It rolled off the roof without sticking and formed piles where it landed especially below the valleys and gutters.

It was perfect for making ICEEs or slushes.  The boys could open the patio door slightly and scoop up a cup of this snow, then poured in fruit punch.  Yum.

It was slippery to walk in,because there was ice underneath.  The temperature was near zero. Church was cancelled and and the kids had another snow day vacation today (Monday).

Three basketball games

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While in AR, we got to see a basketball game for each of Jamison, Trenton, and Holden.  They all are coming along in their athleticism and their commitment to playing this game well.

Jamison’s team got way behind, and he helped stage a comeback at the end.  With less than a minute to go they were ahead by 1 point and their point guard brought the ball across the backcourt line and passed the ball to Jamison who appeared to have been playing a shooting guard.  Then he took over the game.  He dribbled the ball down in to the corner, and you could hear the coach urging him to get rid of the ball.  Instead he dribbled past two defenders back out in front, then reversed himself and dribble back into the corner.  Now there was only about 15 seconds left, and his defender deliberately fouled him.  He calmly sank two free throws, which put the game out of reach.  He had 10 points for the game, 4 out of 4 free throws and 2 3-pointers.

I thought it was odd that Holden’s coach had him playing had him playing center in their zone defense.  He was shorter than some of his team-mates and the other team had a kid at least 6 inches taller playing in the middle.  Then I saw why he was playing in the middle.  He was a fierce and relentless rebounder.  At every shot, he planted himself in the middle of the floor just in front of the basket and contested for the ball.  He had numerous offensive and defensive rebounds and scored 8 points, all on put-backs from rebounds.  His team won 18-15.

Trenton was disappointed in his game.  They were playing the best and biggest team in their league, and one with a smart and competitive coach. Trenton was playing something like 2-guard, but didn’t see much of the ball.  The opposing team used a full court press and also had his players double team whoever was the dribbler.  Trenton’s team could not generate any offense and lost big, scoring only 7 points.  Trenton had 3 of these, hitting 3 out of 4 free throws.  He was obviously a fast and good dribbler and seemed to be one of the players the other team concentrated their defense upon.

Preparing a young man to be a worthy husband and father

The Proclamation on the Family lists three roles or responsibilities of husbands and fathers.  These are to preside, to provide, and to protect.  One of the purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood is to help young men make preparation to effectively fill these responsibilities.  Here are some preparation ideas:

Preparing to Preside:

• Is beginning to know doctrines of the Gospel
• Able to act, and not be acted upon
• Can discipline self
• Can set and achieve goals
• Can recognize the Spirit
• Keeps himself worthy to have the Spirit
• Knows how repentence, forgiveness, and the atonement work
• Can articulate his experiences with the Spirit
• Is developing teaching skills
• Is developing leadership skills (servant leadership)
• Is strong, but uses his strength to benefit others
• Is learning how to help others do right things 

Preparing to Provide

• Is staying in school
• Does his best in school
• Has a beginning plan for a career
• Is developing an enjoyment for learning
• Is a responsible worker
• Can manage his own money
• Is developing some communications skills

Preparing to Protect

• Is respectful of women, girls and children
• Has developed basic courtesies and manners regarding women
• Treats girls as equals
• Girls are safe with him, even foolish ones

[Thanks to Wendy, Greg, and McKay for ideas]

Holden's baptism

It was nice to be in Arkansas for Holden's baptism, which was held on Saturday March 1st, also his birthday.  Greg did the ordinance, but at the last moment had me do the confirming because he had laryngitis.  I also gave a talk o the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Wendy gave a prayer.