Learning to walk

Learning to Walk: Lessons on Potential

Tonight our son, Kreed, took his first steps. He’s been pretty close for some time now. He’s a professional furniture surfer and enjoys grabbing our legs and following us as we walk. His balance has always been pretty good and he’s pretty tough when it comes to taking tumbles.

What was particularly fun to watch was after he’d taken a few steps, the excitement he got when he realized what he was doing and that he was capable of doing it.

Rewind to earlier today: I was beginning to look at Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith manual that we’ll be studying in priesthood and relief society in 2014. Chapter One is on our Father in Heaven. Among other points, President Smith taught,

“I feel most assuredly that our Father in heaven is far more interested in a soul—one of his children—than it is possible for an earthly father to be in one of his children. His love for us is greater than can be the love of an earthly parent for his offspring”

Connecting the two experiences, my thoughts have turned to what it must be like for our Father in Heaven when one of us as His children, start to get it. We’ve been crawling around for so long, and we start to stretch our legs. We start to stand up straight, and we start to take steps toward Him.

And as we do that, we come to the realization that something new and exciting is before us. There’s a world of possibilities unlocking before our eyes. And with each step, our Father watches on, ever encouraging and extending His grace and support.

Understanding that, a few applications come to mind:

  • Never be discouraged. Weakness and struggle is part of the growing up process.
  • Don’t be afraid of failure. As children of God, we have the potential to do what God asks us to do, it just might take us time to grow into that which we’re promised.
  • The Lord will provide opportunities and experiences that will help us grow but it’s ultimately up to us to take the steps.

Thanksgiving Vacation [Family Blog]

Wow, it’s been over nine months since the last post. Oops. It’s like we had a baby or something…
Kreed is now 10 months. Holy cow!! Does time get faster with each kid? He is a crawling and climbing machine and wants to walk with help but isn’t to keen on the walking solo concept. He babbles a lot and loves to stick out his tongue, furrow his brow, pucker his lips, and all other kinds of facial experimentations. He is tough and is already impressive holding his own when playing with Olivia.

Olivia turned TWO in October. She is so energetic and talkative these days. It is such a hoot to be her mom! She loves entertaining, being the center of attention but still holds some reservations around those she doesn’t know well. I know everyone says it’s the “terrible two’s” (and true there are some terrible things about it: tantrums!) but all in all, this is my favorite age so far. She is such a sweetheart and I love seeing her imagination grow and talking with her. She makes me smile and laugh every day.

Two Thursdays ago, I drove the six or seven hours alone with the kids to my parents house. Olivia didn’t nap once and kept me pleasant company the whole way! My kids are awesome. We drove through snow, rain, fog, and hail. It was pretty exciting. Even Kreed handled the long ride like a champ even though we only stopped once.

We got to play with cousin Chloe and Grandma a lot. Olivia and Chloe did amazing. They would bable to each other and share toys. Two 2 year-old girls don’t usually do that. We went to the shark reef and had a blast. Even Kreed loved to be against the glass trying to catch the fish. We played outside in Grandpa’s amazing backyard a lot (after the first three days of straight rain that is). Olivia did “Grandma’s School” and impressed me with her listening and following direction skills. She was quick to answer questions and loved listening to a book and learning about triangles. Olivia and Kreed liked riding the train and playing at the mall too.


 I was very excited that I came when I did because I also got to babysit my cousin’s three kids when they flew in from South Dakota for a day. I loved visiting with my cousin Josh and his wife Jordelle. It made me homesick for Rexburg and the extended family we were around there.

I loved being around my family in Henderson: playing games, eating good food, and telling stories. We met up with James in Toquerville for Thanksgiving and had some amazing food. Olivia got a fan club right away comprising of Valentine’s and Crappa’s and at one point she was playing Hungry Hippo with six teens and adults around/with her. We made a dirty snowman in the back yard. I loved going out to lunch with the girls (if only Nikki were still in Utah…) and getting to know my future sister-in-law better.

I can’t find a lot of my pictures, especially from Toquerville. Hopefully I can track down where I saved those. It was a blast and the kids handled the new rooms and people like champs. It was such a great vacation!

Here are just some random pictures from the last nine months.

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