My favorite "Hymn is Jose!"

This month our not so little boy was ordained a deacon. I just cannot believe that this extrordinary young man has turned twelve and is now passing the sacrament to the congregation of our wonderful church. How proud his dad and I were of him as we watched him nervously sit with the other boys on sunday and willingly pass the sacrament when we knew that he was unsure of how to do it. No complaints. Not one. Just happy to help the other boys share the bread and water. Garrett has become such a wonderful young man. Now given the priesthood by his father and so excited to be a part of scouting. I love this kid so much. He is so loving and patient with his four sisters. Especially Rysa. How she adores her big brother. He allows her to crawl all over him constantly and gently persuades her to do what is right. I loved having a big brother to grow up with and share my life with. She is so lucky, as is her other sisters, to have this particular young man as her brother. Right before his ordination our Bishop asked Rysa if she had a favorite Hymn. Her reply was simply, "Yea, my favorite HIM is Jose." (Pronounced Ho-say for all you non-spanish folk). We were a little confused my this answer so we asked her which Hymn 'Jose' was. She told us it was the boy in her class. "My favorite HIM is Jose!" Oh, now we get it. Alright, can we pick another person to choose the Hymn?

This is Family Night?

Sunday night is the night we have Family Home Evening. It may not be your traditional FHE. Here is what Kenna and Rysa showed up wearing. We aren't too sure what statement the goggles were, but we did have to ask Kenna to remove them while we watched Elder Holland's talk. We thought it might be a good idea for the kids to watch it once more. I highly reccomend it by the way. We are so proud to have Garrett able to finger his way through the primary hymns now, but the costume choices were a little bit distracting. But, at least they showed up happy to have FHE and be together. Family night for us is not too scheduled. We are lucky in our home to get the girls to sit still long enough to learn anything. Between Kenna wanting to take control of everything, and Rysa needing snacks the entire evening, and Garrett hoping to fall asleep as quickly as posible, its pretty challenging. But, maybe a little creative attire is the way to go. Livens things up a bit, don't you think?

The sweet smells of FALL

Ahhhh, the sweet smells of FALL. Some states have that just before it snows smell, others have that smell of rain in the air. Joann's fabrics has that cinnamon smell that is heavenly when you enter the store. I just love fall. I love putting up decorations and having a little bowl of candy corns by the door. Of course, at our house, one of the sweet smells of fall is the heavy scent of STEER MANURE that invades your senses when you walk out the door. My dear hubby is ready to plant our grass and my parents grass. Hence, the large bags of cow plop in my back yard. Don't get me wrong, I love that he is willing to do it because I eventually want an English garden in my front and back yards. But just because my father-in-law says that cow poop is actually the smell of money, doesn't mean that I am as excited to smell it as he is. But, it is one of the smells of fall here at the Despain household. So, I will light my pumpkin scented candle in the house and poor some more candy corns for visiting folks and get ready for FALL. YEE-HAW!!