Ethan's First Primary Talk

Last Sunday Ethan gave his very first primary talk. His subject was "The temple is the House of God" which was great because we had just been talking about temples a few days before that. I think he was a little nervous about the prospect of doing it at first but once we came up with a talk he was pretty excited. They assigned him the talk a week in advance, so I figured we had plenty of time. Well Wednesday rolled around and I realized we hadn't got anything ready yet. Oops. So I found this little book called Tiny Talks and they have a whole bunch of different subjects but the one I got was all about temples. We chose one and made some adjustments, then I typed it out and added some pictures.

He was able to memorize the entire talk by Saturday morning with only practicing it a couple times a day. That kid has an amazing memory! (He had to do the 7th Article of Faith last month and memorized that whole thing in a couple days.)

Of course I couldn't film him in church so I made him practice right before we left. He, of course, wanted to have no part in me filming him which means his back is to me so you'll have to turn it up a little to hear him. And Olivia is playing with her toys in the background (so loudly that at one point I had to stop him for a second), then she starts yelling,"Church! Church!" but you'll get the idea.

I was going to go watch him give it in primary but I missed all but the very end. Jake was there and he said he did really good and only missed one word so the primary president helped him.  The primary presidency was so impressed that they asked me to save his talk so that he could give it during the the primary program in October. I mentioned it to him and he said no way, but I think if/when the primary president asks him he will probably say yes to her. I guess we'll see!

Wildflowers

One of the benefits of living in the middle of nowhere is that we have plenty of open space and dirt trails to play on. Ever since Ethan learned how to ride his bike without training wheels, he and Jake like to go out exploring on the trails near our house. One evening Olivia and I decided to join them, although we were just walking not riding, so they were way ahead of us. All of a sudden I see Ethan stop, hop off his bike, run off to the side of the trail, and then start walking towards me. He was far enough away that I had no idea what was going on until he got up closer.

He had seen some wildflowers off the side of the road and just had to pick them to give to me and Olivia. He said he had to pick them because they were beautiful, just like us. Aw, that kid is going to be a lady killer when he grows up!

 Olivia showing off her flower from Ethan

Once she saw that Ethan had picked some flowers she decided she needed to as well, and kept picking more flowers to give to me.

She even found some that look like the ones we put in her hair sometimes and proceeded to try and put them in her hair, then got mad when they wouldn't stay!