For Whom the Bell Tolls

Last night, our goldfish Pepe left us.  He was a fair fish, and right after we got him he had some traumatic experiences, which included flipping out of his bowl, being nearly boiled alive, and falling probably four feet to the floor.  He revived from all of those, so we were pretty sure he could live through anything.  But yesterday he got stuck inside a hollow porcelain statue in his bowl and even though he was alive when we broke it to get him out, he died a couple of hours later.  Neil just found out...and is quite distraught to say the very least.

EXCITEMENT!!!!!!

Big news...my new French horn came today!  I've had the same one for 5 1/2 years and this more advanced one will help me play so much better :)  It's a silver Conn 8D (not that that means much to any of you).  Anyway, I've been waiting for this for months and months!  Here's my baby:

The Sacrament

The sacrament is a sacred ordinance.  It is the only ordinance in our church that you do over and over for yourself.  You're baptized once for yourself and sealed once for yourself- but we take the sacrament every week.  I took a class at EFY (church youth camp) and the teacher said that Jesus drank the BIG cup of sin (Matthew 26:39) and is asking us to drink the small one (literal cup).  Of course the sacrament reminds us of the Atonement, as the bread and water symbolize the body and blood given, and it reminds us of baptism as we renew those covenants we've made.  Romans chapter 6 brings baptism and the Atonement together: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (v. 3-4)  I have a testimony of the sacrament and its power.

"No more sacred ordinance is administered in the Church of Christ than the administration of the sacrament."
David O. McKay   

Finally today I couldn't handle it any longer...

and duct taped Grant's mouth shut.

“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.”

-Einstein 

Love-Hate: the Orthodontist

Normal people with braces have appointments every 6-8 weeks.  I have them every 3-4.  I've had my braces on for 2 1/2 years...and have up to a year to go.  Yippie.  Anyway, I had an appointment today and decided to tell a little about the goings-on in my mouth.  Once upon a time, the dentist told me I'd never have to have braces.  You now see how far that hope got me.  After having my braces for about a year and a half, I had to have oral surgery.  They went fishing for one of my canines that was stuck way up in my gums and sideways.  They opened me up (thank goodness I was asleep; when I got teeth pulled they only gave me laughing gas), glued a little bracket to the tooth, attached a gold chain (yes, legit bling), sewed me up so that only the chain was coming of my gums, attached the chain to my braces, and over the next year cranked the chain until the tooth came down into its spot.  Mind you they then had to rotate the tooth (maybe the worst part), close the space they opened to let the tooth in, and tuck the root.  It took a year to get here (worse than a baby) and caused me the most physical pain of my whole life.  I will be more thankful for my left canine than probably anyone else in the world.  I also have a molar that decided never to exist, so when the baby tooth fell out, there was nothing there.  There is still nothing there.  They will soon be driving a stake into my gum to move all my molars and my wisdom tooth over one spot.  At least then I'll be able to chew again-- and someday, somehow I will have a beautiful smile.  That's the love part of the relationship :)

Hill Cumorah Pageant #2!

Our family recently got accepted to be part of the Hill Cumorah Pageant for the second year in a row!  We're super excited.  It's the 75th anniversary of the pageant, so it might be a big to-do!  Last year we had fun and met lots of wonderful people and we're still quoting lines from the show :)  Anyone that hasn't ever seen it definitely should come see us!