Exercise Update

Well, it's good to know we're not in last place! We have only gotten in 2 days of the past 4 with our excercise, but in our defense we've had a winter storm and cancelled school...

Dorothy called me tonight and asked me to let you know that she and Tristian have chosen a name for their team:

THE TRISTIANATORS (Kind of like the "terminators" but cooler)

Also, as of earlier this evening they had gone 16.5 miles, but Dorothy hadn't gotten on the treadmill yet.


As for me and Ben, we now have to come up with a cool team name, but we've gone 12 miles so far. Only 788 left to go!

done for now

well, we finished up our last temple prep class on Tuesday! We are so excited to be getting ready to go to the temple really soon. We are excited to see Mom and Niel and Julie. Mostly I am excited to go get sealed in my dream castle.
We have not really gotten a chance to start up on our exercising challenge yet, but we are excited to see that everyone is working hard, and also excited to start ourselves. we have been so busy with classes and interviews and work and everything else we haven't started yet. don't worry, though, we will get there.
anyways, sorry this post is so short, but we are busy bees and we have to get to an interview with our bishop. we love you and miss all of you!

Exercise Challenge Kick-off!

This is our first annual Walk To South Carolina! Just to recap, here's what we're doing:

Each team will "walk" a total of 800 miles before our reunion this summer. A mile can be earned in a number of ways:

• 1 mile walking or running
• 2 miles biking
• 20 minutes of moderate exercise
• 15 minutes of intense exercise

Does else anyone want to come up with team names? I think it'd be fun! The teams are:

Ben & Anita; Dorothy & Tristian; Mom, Beth & Gwen; Niel & Julie; Danny, Jessica & Rich

Happy exercising! And don't forget to post your progress!!

Winter Weather - South Carolina styel

We have no school today because it is snowing this morning. We are only getting a dusting, but I understand Camden may get 1-3", and Rock Hill 4-6". Downtown Columbia may be getting an inch or so. City offices are closed, USC started 2 hours late, and all schools are closed. Of course the biggest problem is the not snow, it is the icy roads in the country that the school buses have to drive. The TV says with freezing temperatures tonight, we may get "black ice," so, who knows? We might have late start tomorrow. By the way, our temperatures ranged from 20 something last night to 36 today . .

Also, it was 7 degrees Friday night, and the church left the sprinklers on. So when I went to clean the building Saturday morning, I could not resist breaking off an icycle or two and sucking on them . .

Mom

Marriage Counsel

Hello, my dear family. Ben and I are taking the marriage and family relations class at church in our ward. They are offering it on Sunday nights once a month, and this past Sunday was our first! There was some doctrine taught that was new to me, so I wanted to share it with you all. It's from the book, "Strengthening Our Families: An In-Depth Look at the Proclamation on the Family" pages 65-66. Here's the quote:

Family stewardships should be understood in terms of their responsibilities - obligations to one's spouse, not power over one's spouse. Moreover, contrary to scripture and the teachings of latter-day prophets, some have interpreted presiding to mean that after equal counsel, equal consent is not necessary because the presider (or husband) has the right of final say. A noted LDS marriage and family therapist, Carlfred Broderick, reports that he received pointed instruction from President Boyd K. Packer on this matter when he (Broderick) was sustained as a stake president: "When there is a [family] decision to be made that affects everyone, you and your wife will together seek whatever counsel you might need, and together you will prayerfully come to a unified decision. If you ever pull priesthood rank on her you will have failed." On a later occasion, President Packer explained: "In the church there is a distinct line of authority. We serve where called by those who preside over us. In the home it is a partnership with husband and wife equally yoked together, sharing in decisions, always working together."

The stewardship of priesthood does not superimpose a hierarchical relationship over the God-ordained equality between husband and wife. President James E. Faust taught that "every father is to his family a patriarch and every mother a matriarch as coequals in their distinctive parental roles." We emphasize that the patriarchal priesthood is not so called to imply a hierarchy between men and women. Instead, as President Ezra Taft Benson taught, it is called patriarchal because in ancient days it was handed down from faithful father to faithful son, and today frequently still is. President Benson also taught that the patriarchal order is the family order of government, presided over by mothers and fathers. One of the most revolutionary aspects of the restored gospel is its ability to help us envision difference without hierarchy, distinctiveness without inequality. This is what the Proclamation calls upon us to hold as the ideal relationship between husbands and wives.

The instructors for the class further went on to discuss the way the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve reach decisions concerning changes in church policy. I always figured that the Apostles and First Presidency could give recommendations, but that the President of the Church had the final say. Not so. They counsel together until a consensus is reached. They often start out with very different opinions, and things may not be resolved in one meeting, but before it is resolved upon, every member of that body has received confirmation from the Spirit that the action to be taken is what the Lord has determined they should do.


I guess this means I'll have to stop bossing Ben around! (Just kidding!!)

Uncle Tom's Address

Here's the address for Uncle Tom:

Tom & Kanya Crews
1511 Apple Drive
Concord, CA 94518

Also, if you want it, here's Ann's:

Ann Briggs
4535 Manacor Drive
Sacramento, CA 95823


Also, Ann called again last week to tell me that Tim was doing better, and was going home.

A Kelsey Funny

OK, this one is just too good not to share. Yesterday in church while we were singing the sacrament song, Ben nudged me and pointed to Kelsey. She was sitting Indian-style on the pew with her arms out to either side. Her palms were turned up and her fingers pinched together. She was going "ummmm..." Well, if there was ever a good time to meditate...

News from California Crews'

Hey, all! I just wanted to let you know that I got a call from cousin Ann this morning in California. (Note to in-laws: Ann is the daughter of Tom and Kanya Crews in CA). She called to tell me that our cousin, Timothy, is in the hospital with broken ribs and a punctured lung. He apparently got jumped last night on his way to a friends house. He'd doing alright, but we need to remember him and his family in our prayers!

78 degrees and daffodils

Guess how hot it was today and what kind of flower I saw a yard full of on my to church today? Can anyone say JANUARY?

Mom's Visit

Hey, folks! I just wanted to post a few pics of mom's visit. We had such a good time, and miss her already. I told mom today that she has bragging rights - Ben boasts to our friends that he would love to have his mother-in-law live with him and the only way we'd even know she was here was that our laundry would be folded! We love you, Mom!

We went to the OKC zoo on Monday (free admission!) and took the following:

Mom, Olivia, and Kelsey celebrate the Year Of The Frog!
(Note: Kelsey is covering her eyes because "the sun's too bright!")

Olivia was stylin' on some statues of the lions

Kelsey was chillin' on a statue of a gorilla


Then on Mom's last day here, we went outside to get some pictures of Kelsey and Olivia on their scooters. Here's some I took of Mom with the grandkids:

Grandma snuggling with Connor

Grandma with Connor, the girls, and their scooters

Temple Square

I don't have a lot of Christmas pictures to post yet, however I do have some of temple square for now. The pictures from Christmas are on our camera and I am at work, so that makes things a little difficult!

Me and Danny went to Temple Square a few weeks ago, and it was pretty much amazing! we got some pretty good photos with our new camera (most of them Danny took, so all the credit goes to him).

I really am impressed with how the first one came out...although I think that might be my head in the bottom left corner:) ha

The thrid picture is of Me and Danny in front of the giant Christmas tree inside the Joseph Smith Building, and the last one is of Me, Brian, and Addision outside the Conference center.

It was pretty cold outside that day at Temple Square, and somehow I magically got the hiccups and we ended up spending the rest of our time there hunting for a water fountain so I could get a drink of water. When i finally got a drink of water, it did not make my hiccups go away:( !!

Anyways, I wanted to share some photos of us, since I'm like the only one who hasn't posted any pictures yet:)