Welcome to the world Mason!

Alright! I have already found the time to post our latest and most exciting change! Mason was born on August 27th! Let's start with some pictures shall we?

Mason is such a beautiful boy isn't he? Our family is so grateful that he was able to make it here safely, especially after the scare he gave us at birth. Kelli and I went to the hospital at 10:00 on Tuesday night to get things started. Then we settled down to try to get a little bit of rest before things really started.

At 3:00 Kelli woke up and said that she was starting to have a lot of contractions. I stood up to look at her monitor and she said "I think my water just broke". So we called in the nurse to check things out. She looked down and said "I need to get the doctor" and left the room. That made us a little nervous. The doctor came in and told us that she thought that Kelli had a partial rupture and she was going to continue bleeding. She said that we would be able to wait for a little bit, but that they would prepare the OR in case we had to do a C-section. Well, things went fairly well for the next few hours with the nurses checking in periodically. At about 5:30 the nurse came and said that Kelli had dilated to a 9 and went to get the doctor. She came in and checked Kelli again and decided to break her water.

Almost immediately Mason's heart rate dropped to about 60 bpm and the doctor looked very concerned. She said that we needed to get this baby out right now and prepared for the delivery. She told Kelli that she would have to push really hard and so she did and out he came. They placed him on the table and began to clean him up, but he wasn't breathing! So, they grabbed a bag and helped him to breath. Kelli and I were very worried as it seemed like minutes passed. Kelli asked the doctor if he was breathing, but we could see that he wasn't even moving. The doctor told us that they were helping him breath, but his heart rate was up and okay. Finally, he started to cry and we were SO relieved and we finally got to hold him. We are so thankful for the doctor and the nursing staff that worked so well with Mason and with us. Daniel loves his little brother and told us that we can keep him.

Our Temple Day and misc...

Okay, so I have a lot to update on, but first and definitely most important, we went to the Idaho Falls temple to have Daniel sealed to us. He was pretty good in the temple and spent most of the ceremony in a broad, goofy smile. All of the mine and Kelli's siblings and parents were able to attend the ceremony which was also very cool.

Daniel has also reached another milestone! The other night, Daniel begged and begged me to take off his training wheels on his bike so that he could learn how to ride it without. So, I took off his wheels and before I could even set down the wrench, he was on his bike and out the door! As you can see in the picture, I spent a few trips down the street running beside him, but he did just fine without me. He can now ride a "two-wheeler"!

The faith of children

The other night I had gone with the Young Men's President to visit a young man that has recently been inactive. When I came home, I was subsequently interrogated by Daniel about what I had been doing and the nature of our Savior. The conversation went something like this:
"Where did you go?"
"I went to visit a boy that hasn't been going to church lately."
"Why him not going to church?"
"I don't know, buddy. I went over there to remind him that Jesus wants him to be there and to learn."
"Is Jesus big, big, bigger, than the whole city??"
"Well, kind of. He can always see us and is watching what we do."
"Is he way bigger than you?"
"Well, I don't know. But he probably is pretty close to the same size as me. We look a lot like him."
"Where hims at?"
"Right now, he is in heaven with the people that are there."
"Why?"
"He is teaching them about the gospel and about church."
"Oh...(pauses looking thoughtful) Do you remember, when I was a baby, and Grandma Fisher died?"
"Yes, I remember that. Do you remember going to her funeral and seeing her in the casket?"
"No. (Another thoughtful look). And she lives...um"
"She is in Heaven."
"Oh, yeah, she live in heaven. Why is she there?"
"I think she might be helping Jesus to teach the other people there."
"Why do they need teached?"
"Because they don't know about Jesus or about church."

He then turned around to sit down at the table for dinner. I am often impressed about the faith that children seem to have in our Savior and the healing power of the Holy Ghost. Daniel often wakes in the night and asks Kelli or me to help him say his prayers if he didn't before he fell asleep. I am so grateful to have an example of unwavering faith from an innocent child. I feel so blessed in my life to have Daniel and Kelli and our baby who will be joining us soon. Kelli and I are also going to the temple this weekend to have Daniel sealed to us. This warms my heart and fills me with an indescribable sense of peace. The church is true!