Started my new Stake calling today.  I'm the YM Stake Sports Director.  We sat through 7 hours of basketball this morning.  It is a fun calling but it takes a lot of time.  It is not hard watching a bunch of basketball games.  it is challenging trying to get the Ward Athletic Directors to care enough to complete the Ward rosters.  I have many calls to make to find out where the rosters are.  I also coached Hyrum's basketball game today.  I'm an assistant coach for his team and needed to step in to be the main yeller.  It was very frustrating.  I went from watching 12-18 year olds playing to 9 year olds.  It is hard to make the transition and not have big expectations for the 9 year basketball skills. 

I have a new Primary class.  I get to teach the 7 turning 8 year olds.  i always considered this class to be the best class to teach.  We have had a hard time releasing teachers from this class int he past.  we had one sister refuse the release.  she told us we got it wrong and refused to leave.  we had to involve the Stake Presidency.  I still teach with Nate Rigby.  He has been a great partner and has been very consistent.  Teaching Primary has been a fun calling.  we have some new challenges with this class.  Last year I taught kids that i coach soccer so it was very easy to teach them in Primary.  This year I have many of thier younger siblings.  I have two boys who have been problems for past teachers.  I'm hoping we can have success with them without having to try and break them.  Last sunday as a bit of a challenge.  I think we need to change our teaching options.  Thye responded very well to video not so good to questions and testing for understanding.

I took Tiffany on a date tonight.  We went to go the a movie, "Saving Mr. Banks".  It was about the making of the movie Mary Poppins.  It has changed how I see the movie.  I have always seen it as Mary saving the children but it is about Mary Poppins saving a family by helping the father recognize his true role.  Tiffany was sobbing at the end.  I wondered if it hit a little close to home.  She has had some challenges of having her parents unload their problems and challenges on her.  they call and complain about their situations and leave the conversation feeling better.  Tiffany tries to help them and internalizes their problems.  I try to help her to not do that but it is hard to hear those problems and not get bogged down a  bit by them.  Tiffany is extremely kind to her parents and takes some abuse because of it.

We have just had a wonderful Christmas.  We have some consistent traditions we do on Christmas.  After the Christmas Eve celebration at Mom and Dad's we let the kids all sleep in one of the bedrooms and watch a movie we let them open that night.  Tiffany get the food ready for the breakfast on Chrsitmas morning.  We always have a breakfast cassorle and sticky buns.  We have set up two Christmad trees.  We set up a "Family History" tree in the front room and thekids get to decorate a tree in the basement.  We have homemade ornaments for the tree upstairs.  we have framed some pictures of our ancestors.  the kids get to decorte the tree downstairs with the ornambnets they have collected over the years.  we set up the presents in the basement and spend most of our time down there playing with whatever and watching movies.  Tiffanys Mom and grandma come over for breakfast and my Mom and Dad visit when they make it.  they travels to all the homes and visit the grandkids.  Our living in Tooele started the process of having mom and dad travel rather than having us travel to them.  We celebrated Joseph Smiths Birthday (the 23rd) with a big turkey dinner and have leftovers for Christmas dinner.  This way Christmas is relaxing for everybody.

I have completed the Seminary process.  I'm still waiting for the feedback they have promised to provide me.  I taught for 30 min a three different occassions.  It went OK but was rough.  It was so rough I had considered quitting and not coming back.  they let me teach a complete class period for 2 weeks.  they observd me at the first and last class.  In the last class they had the students take a survey about my teaching attempt.  I thought they were not as favorable as I had hoped.  Tiffany thought they were OK.  One of of the students thought I was tacky.  Some thought I over prepared others thought I did not prepare enough.  I'm not sure what this will lead to but I have learned a lot.

Tiffany was reassigned from primary to the YM Presidency.  She is now the secretary.  She is very excited.  She has been in the Primary for 3 years.  it has been fun being in Primary with her.  I will miss having her around.  She gets ti be in Young Women with Emma and Eve.  I consider this a tender mercy.  She has a great group of friends that she is serving with.  They will do a lot of good.

I had another opportunity to teach in seminary when the teacher called in sick.  They had me teach until a sub could be available.  I taught 2 Nephi 26.  I was not prepared.  I had a feeling that I should prepare a lesson to compare my lesson with what the teacher would do.  That is how I started the lesson is talking about following promptings.  It went better than my first attempt.  The Principal  took over after a while.  He did not say anything.  I hope it went as well as I thought.  I get to teach Enos 1 and Words of Mormon/Mosiah 1.  I feel confident about Enos not so confident about the others yet.  I have not spent much time on the other lesson.  I hope this goes as well I as I see it happening.  the Seminary experience and work challenges have all been very humbling to me.  I hope I learn whatever I need to from these experiences. 

Emma and eve have challenged me to get my Young Women's Personal Progress award with them.  I have already started the book when I was in the BIshopric so I could get more fmailiar with the program.  I'm working on Faith right now.  all the journal entries will hopefully get me in a habit of right in the journal more.

Tiffany and I recently had a discussion that I hope will help her.  She sees the world very differntly tyhan I.  She is always concerned with doing enough and not offending.  i offend people all the time and feel like I'm doing good things.  she will wonder while she is doing something that is good if there is something that would be better to do.  this makes her exhausted and always feeling like she is not doing enough.  I dont know anyone who does more good than Tiffany.  I also dont know anyone who is more critical of herself.  I think our discussion has helped her some.  She seems to be able to relax a bit more and be happy with what she has accomplished.  Some day she will see how great she is.

I'm taking the institute class "Teaching Seminary".  The classes are great.  I have been assigned to do my pre-service teaching at Herriman high.  I was hoping I would be assigned to teach at Riverton High.  That is where they were teaching last semester.  Chad Bailey was trying to get me assigned to teach in his class but they have changed how they want the teachers to teach.  He feels like he is out of date.  it didn't matter because Herriman is the school they are teaching at in the South end of the valley.  I had the option to teach at Kearns or Olympus.  I chose Herriman.  I have been assigned to Cole Neilsen.  This is his second year.  He moved down from Logan.  He makes teaching look very easy.  I had my first attempt last Thursday.  I thought I was prepared.  I created a few PowerPoint slides like Bro. Neilsen had done with his class in the past.  AS soon as I got up front I found out I had not prepared the correct way.  I prepared for a Sunday School lesson.  Seminary is very different.  The transition from Bro. Neilsen to me was very rocky.  I stuttered, I did not have the best questions for the kids, I did not use the best object lessons.  It was a very humbling experience.  I get observed in 3 weeks so I have time to fix a few things.  All the suggestions Bro. Neilsen gave me came directly from the handbook we have been studying all semester.  I don;t know why I did consult the handbook before I taught.  I think most of what the handbook teaches seems obvious but I didn't apply the handbook so maybe it is not as obvious as I thought.  I don't know what I will learn or if I'm expected to learn much from this experience but I hope I'm able to figure that out before it is over.

We had a fun experience at the last BYU game.  I took Hyrum to see the BYU v Boise State.  AJ and Jacob were there so Hyrum had more than the game to keep him entertained.  Hyrum is starting to understand football more which makes it all fun.  I normally sit by Mark and Lincoln on the same bench Dad but very far down the bench.  At least it feels like this.  Normally Mark is so commited to talking to Lincoln that I feel a bit isolated.  This time Kimberly came so Mark did not hav anyone to talk football so we were able to discuss the game.  It was great to have that experience.  I don't get a chance to talk to MArk often.  Our relationship is not a strong as I wish it were.  Any opportunity to stregthen it is welcomed.

Hyrum is participating in a 100 years of scouting celebration.  He is part of a Cub Scout choir.  They have been practicing downtown at the Conference Center.  It has been a large time commitment.   They have been practicing a few nights a week for 3-4 hours.  they perform this coming Tuesday.  hyrum had an accident at the last practice yesterday.  they were running off the stage and Hyrum tripped on a fog machine and feel and hit his head on some pipes.  Tiffany went downtown and picked him up.  They were very concerned about him and wheeled him out on a wheelchair.  He came home and we played XBox for a while to make sure he did not fall asleep.

Tiffany is a wonder woman to be around.  she gets inspriation all the time of ways we can be of help to others.  We were driving a few days ago and she decided we needed to call our Stake President and offer to help with his backyard.  they are going to have a wedding reception in the backyard and needed some help getting it ready.  We went to their home for FHE and spent 3 hours cutting, pruning, removing all sorts of debris.  the kids worked very hard.  I was proud of them.

I'm still struggling a bit with giving Hod to Adam.  He loves it and can;t wait to be able to work on it when he returns from his mission.  he came by a year ago asking about the truck.  He was planning on the truck being his Senior gift.  the Lever's have started a tradition of taking large trip once the kids graduate High School.  Rather than take a trip he was going to fix up the truck.  he did not tell me this.  he just sheepishly asked about the truck.  So I told him i would sell it to him for $3000.  They declined and I later found out what he wanted to do.  I've thought about selling Hod but I could never bring myself to do it.  Tiffany has been anxious for years to try and organize the garage.  I always told her we can't really organize the garage until we figure out what we are going to so with the truck.  Now that they truck is gone we started getting the garage organized.  we are bringing in a guy to build shelves.  Same guy who built the Lever's shelves.  To prep, Tiffany wanted to paint the garage.  That is what we did today.  we did a decent job.  I'm ready for this project to be done.  every time I look to the East side of the garage I think of that blue truck.

So far so good with the soccer season.  We tied our first game.  We normally lose the first game.  the kids forget how to play but they remembers in time to tie the game towards the end.

Story

There once was a land where everyone baked yummy food for the whole city.  Many families were good at baking different things.  People would travel from all over the land to this city and buy the yummy treats.  there was a family that lived on the very far edge of the city that was known for making the best cupcakes in the area.  They made many different cupcakes.  The cupcake they sold the most was a strawberry cupcake with strawberry frosting.  it took a lot to make the cupcakes.  This family had all the boys go the wheat fields every day so they would have enough wheat to make flour for the cupcakes.  all the women would make the cupcakes and also had to do all the berry picking.  On day one of the daughters, Mari, went to the strawberry bucket and noticed they were almost out of strawberries.  It was her job to organize the girls and for a strawberry picking party.  They decided that they would go tomorrow and pick strawberries.  The got their berry picking cloaks, baskets, and brought their violins so they could sing the berry picking songs.  They went to the place that they normally collect berries and notices that there were no berries in the strawberry fields to be picked.  Someone picked at the strawberries and did not leave any behind.  This worried Mari and her sisters but it did not worry Mari's mom.  Mari's mom remembers hearing her mother talk about strawberry fields in the forest.  They normally did not go to the forest for two reasons.  The always had enough strawberries closer to the city and the forest has always been a scary place.  There were stories about people going missing in the forest.  Mari's mom was not afraid so they went into the forest looking for strawberries.  The traveled deep into the forest.  They traveled farther than she every had before.  Mari was scared of all the different shapes and shadows that she saw in the forest.  She held onto her mother's hand and kept walking.  After a long journey they came to an opening in the forest.  The opening a small part of a valley.  When Mari looked into the valley all she saw were strawberry plants.  they covered the valley floor.  All the women began to pick strawberries.  The strawberries were some of the biggest, reddest, and sweetest strawberries Mari had ever tasted.  As they were picking the strawberries some of the women began to scream.  Soon all the women were screaming.  Mari could not tell why they were screaming until she saw him.  From among the strawberries rose a man.  He was thin and tall and had dark skin.  His skin was rough like a tree bark.  He had mean looking eyes.  All the women were very afraid expect for Mari's Mom.  All the other women were ready run away from this man but Mari's Mom walked towards this man.  The man told them all that they mist stop picking the strawberries.  They must go home and never return.  Many of the women began to leave but Mari's Mom asked him why they must go.  The man told her that he is a Wood Fairy and guardian over the forest and especially these strawberries.  They must go home a never return.  Mari's Mom asked him why he was so mad.  The Wood Fairy glared at her and Mari's Mom smiled back.  Mari's Mom was known throughout all the kingdom for her smile.  She was friends with everybody and found ways to help everyone feel good and special.  Normally all she had to do was smile.  Mari's Mom's smile caused the Wood Fairy to stop being mean.  She asked why he was mean and Wood Fairy explained that he was sad.  He could see from the edge of his forest all the fun the family was having in making cupcakes and using strawberries.  He was always sad to see them having so much fun with the strawberries because they are a favorite of his and the cupcakes look so very good.  Mari's Mom explained that he was always welcome to come and help in any way he can.  This made the Wood Fairy smile but he was still sad as he explained he can't leave the forest.  Mari thought for a moment and then asked her Mom if they could come and visit the Wood Fairy and bring some strawberry cupcakes.  They all thought that was a great idea.  They decided that they would come back every year and have a strawberry party.  The Wood Fairy was very happy and suggested they take some strawberries home to bake into their cupcakes.  They began to pick strawberries and the Wood Fairy stopped them again.  he had a better way.  He flicked his wrist and a wood flute appeared in his hands.  he began to play his flute and the strawberries plucked themselves from the bushes and began to dance there way into the waiting baskets.  The women danced while he played his tune and the strawberries bounce and danced there way to the baskets.  they left with more strawberries than they could use and handed out fresh strawberries to anyone they saw on the way home to the kingdom.  They all kept there promise and returned every year at that time to visit with the Wood Fairy and have a strawberry party.  the men would take the day off from the fields and come to enjoy the Strawberry Party.  They developed a long friendship with the Wood Fairy that lasted forever.  The family and Wood Fairy had these wonder parties for many year thanks to Mari's Mom.  When the Wood Fairy tried to scare them away Mari's Mom stopped, smiled, and asked why he was sad.  She wanted to try and make a friend..  Her kindness and her friendship made all the difference.

Soccer season has begun.  I hope the season goes well.  We have a few new kids this year.  we held our first practice and it went well.  I had to remind the kids that I'm a loud coach.  we have our jerseys and we are missing one.  I have yet to have a season where we get all the jerseys we need to have.   I hope we get the jerseys before the season starts on the 22nd.  I hope we can get through the season without an event with the parents on either side.

We had our youth conference reunion.  We had fun making up games int he backyard.  the kids ahd fun, we only had a few kids not make the bbq.  We had fun and our kids seemed to enjoy our youth conference family.

We took the Bryants and the Ludlows to the cabin with us this past weekend.  We had fun.  The kids were very active when we were trying to get them to bed.  they were trying to tell each other ghost stories.  I took control and made up a story loosley based on Monty Python and the search for the Holy Grail.  It as very long and did the trick.  in the morning we went down to the river.  the Lever's had started a dam in the river earlier this year and we spent about an hour building to it.  It has made part of the river very swift.  Mari fell into the shallow slow part of the river nad struggled a bit.  She could have stood up but she tried to swim.  She was very imbarrassed and wanted to go back to the cabin.  Tiffany took her back and let her take off her shirt becasue she was cold.  Mari was concerned about be