Dad, I Need to Say My Prayer First....

Alma 37:37

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good: yea, when though liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let the heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

After a long day at work and life sometimes the last thing we want to do is one more thing. Crawling in bed is all that sounds of interest. I know for me that if I take two minutes out of my day to thank the Lord for everything that he has given me, my next day is so much better. This last little while we have been teaching Teec to say his nightly prayers. Sunday night as Kyle was tucking Teec into bed I heard this conversation:

Kyle: "Pick out a book and we can read it before bed"

Teec: "Dad, I need to say my prayer first"

Kyle: "That is right, you do"

To hear those eight simple words just melted my heart. If a little boy can remember that each night before bed a prayer needs to be said than surely we can remember. I challenge each of you to remember to say your prayers each night before you go to bed.

Love, Brittany

It Is That Easy!

It is that easy!

Mosiah 2:22
And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

I was sitting in the Bountiful temple with my Papa at the beginning of the month and as we were waiting for my cousin's sealing to beginning my papa and I was having a heart-to-heart discussion. I had made it my new years resolution to read the Book of Mormon from beginning to end. I had finished the week before we went to the temple and my Papa was going over all of his favorite scriptures with me, since now I was familiar with them. He looked me in the eye and said to me it is just that easy (referring to Mosiah 2:22).

I have been on both sides of the way of life; having the gospel in your life and living without it. A co-worker said to me last week "it can be hard living as a Mormon". Which at times it may, however I know for a fact that it is harder living without the gospel in your life. All that he required of us is to keep his commandments; It is just that easy!

Love, Brittany

Counsel for Life

Every time we read the scriptures with our kids they ask if there were important verses read that they need to highlight. In the last week we started reading some of the later chapters in Alma (36-40), which contains Alma's direction to his sons, more specifically Helaman and Corianton.

There are so many valuable verses in these chapters I have actually encouraged them to highlight a whole chapter with notes in the margin indicating what is being discussed. I wanted to share a portion of Alma Chapter 38 with all of you this morning that contains some excellent direction for all of us in our lives:

9 And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness.

10 And now, as ye have begun to teach the word even so I would that ye should continue to teach; and I would that ye would be diligent and temperate in all things.

11 See that ye are not lifted up unto pride; yea, see that ye do not boast in your own wisdom, nor of your much strength.

12 Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness.

13 Do not pray as the Zoramites do, for ye have seen that they pray to be heard of men, and to be praised for their wisdom.

14 Do not say: O God, I thank thee that we are better than our brethren; but rather say: O Lord, forgive my unworthiness, and remember my brethren in mercy—yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times.

15 And may the Lord bless your soul, and receive you at the last day into his kingdom, to sit down in peace. Now go, my son, and teach the word unto this people. Be sober. My son, farewell.

Setting a Good Example

Hi this is Patty again. In my message yesterday I spoke briefly about "teaching our children" and "setting good example's". Today I would like to share with you a memory I have of our family and of a time that stands out in my mind that we truly set a good example. As all of you know whenever you came to be with your dad and I for the summer it was ( and still is ) common practice to pray before every meal whether we were at home or dining out. I recall a specific time when we were dining out at one of your dad's favorite fast food restaurant 's. . . KFC . As your dad stood at the head of our table to say the prayer Kenton, Kyle, Toby and Trent automatically removed their caps as we all bowed our heads in prayer. At the end of our meal a man came to our table and said "I have never been blessed with children but if I had of been I would of liked to of had sons just like these boys". He stated it is very uncommon now days to see families pray together in public and he was very touched to see our families display of reverence. This made a everlasting memory for me. It made me realize how a simple act of prayer could truly touch someone's heart. How wonderful it would be if more people would take it upon themselves to set good examples by reaching out to others.

I just wanted to express again my love and appreciation for all of you ! I am very proud to be your stepmother. I know Heavenly Father brought me and your dad together for a reason....so I too could learn from your good examples. Each and everyone of you have touched my heart in a very special way and have made me into the person that I am today. I look forward to seeing you again soon. And I say this to you thru Jesus Christ. Amen.

An Announcement....

I am very excited for today's message! As some of you know kenton and I have been trying to have another baby and we found out last night that
I'M PREGNANT!!!!!

We are so happy and excited and Ryan you couldn't have picked a better week for me to do messages because I love being able to tell you all like this!

Being a mother is amazing! I feel so blessed to have the three beautiful children we have and I am grateful for everything they teach me each day. I know that teaching them the gospel and being a great example to them is one of the most important things I will do in this life. My patriarchal blessing says- Recognize that your role as wife and mother is the most sacred role you will ever play both here in mortality and in the eternal life to come.

I am so grateful that I can be a mommy. There are definitely hard days but the joys and rewards are so worth it. And we can't wait to meet this new little Gulley in April! Love you all!

Family Shout Out

For today's message (sorry it's so late BTW) I wanted to tell all of you how much I love being a part of this family. I am so grateful for each and every one of you in my life. I have loved group me because it makes me feel closer to each of you even though a lot of us live far away from each other.

Sometimes when I tell people how many siblings are in Kenton's family and how many of us there are when we get together they say "wow isn't that crazy?" and I say "yes it is crazy a lot of the time but I wouldn't have it any other way." I love having so many brothers and sisters to look up to and when we get together it's like we've never been apart.

I appreciate every one of you for always accepting me and loving me. I have known a lot of you since I was sixteen and I have always felt like one of the family. Thank you for that. This is a very special family and I am so blessed to be a part of it. I love each of you very much and I am always looking forward to when we get to be together again and make more crazy memories! :) love you Cass

Ask, and Ye Shall Receive....

Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.
D&C 4:7

I love this scripture. It has always been one of my favorites. It is so simple yet so profound. It reminds me that our Father in Heaven is always there and it is up to us to reach out to Him. He wants us to knock on His door and invite Him into our lives. I know if we do we will be blessed. He is always there for us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I love you all!

❤ Cassi

Charity

“You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want.”
― Zig Ziglar

My theme is about truly being grateful and charitable.

It is human to complain and wonder why you can’t have this or that in life, but all of us have been truly blessed in our lives. I need to remind myself to be truly grateful for what I have, and not be bummed that I don’t have more in general or when times are tight. We have ALWAYS been provided for despite some hard times. I also believe the above statement – and think that blessings beyond measure will come by helping others. These may not be temporal blessings – but instead the peace and feelings that come from sacrifice and helping others in need. I know that I am willing to help others when asked – but I have been thinking lately that I should seek out opportunities to help others. I know we touched on this early on in the GroupMe chats, but it would be good to revisit it again.

This may seem like a silly example but it was something that came to mind as I was thinking of all of this; recently we had been talking about my neighbors little sinkhole and subsequent dead patch of grass (about 7 foot full circle) in their yard and how we should see if he needs help. Next thing I know he has paid a crew to go do it. It really made me feel bad. We have the skill and know-how to have helped him with this and other things in the yard and we did not act in time and then he had to pay for help. I know the family is struggling a little as many are. He has always been a successful real estate agent – but the last few years as with many has been slower than usual. His wife has had to go to work to help with the bills. This little gesture may have gone a long way for them – and I am sure they would have not asked, nor known we would be willing to help. It is a reminder too that you do not have to be wealthy to be philanthropic! We do not have much money to spare but we have plenty of time and skill to offer others J

I want to challenge myself to put my busy life aside and seek out ways to help others – even with the smallest things such as this! I think this may be a way to show true gratefulness too. I think we may say we are grateful many times – but do we show it? I am not sure that I do – and would like to work on this more!

“Because I have been given much, I too must give…”

Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words

Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words

"Let us oft speak kind words to each other
At home or where’er we may be;
Like the warblings of birds on the heather,
The tones will be welcome and free.
They’ll gladden the heart that’s repining,
Give courage and hope from above,
And where the dark clouds hide the shining,
Let in the bright sunlight of love.

Oh, the kind words we give shall in memory live
And sunshine forever impart.
Let us oft speak kind words to each other;
Kind words are sweet tones of the heart. "

The kind words (& deeds) we give shall in memory live..... Let us make them happy moments worth remembering! Let us lift each other up instead if tearing down. "If you want to share light with others.... You have to glow yourself!"

Love, Deidi