The Newlyweds

You probably thought we fell off the face of the earth. We kind of did. We have had so much fun this past month (can you believe it's almost been a month!?) just spending time with each other.


Here are a few pictures for your curiosity's sake. Our photographers were great! These are a few photos from the sneak-preview they gave us from our wedding day.

(You can check out more of their work or contact them through their website: hatchphotography.blogspot.com)


We enjoyed a WONDERFUL honeymoon to San Diego. We'll be sure to include more photos soon.

Thanks for all your love and support during our wedding festivities. We have grown and learned a lot and are grateful to have shared in our special day with you!

Shout out

To cousin "New Mom" Jill Facer who won $50,000 on Wipeout last night.


Congrats, Jill!

(Photo taken from Jill's Facebook profile pic)

The Nearly Weds

So, I went to the store...

...and I bought one of these.


And I gave it to this girl.


She accepted it and said she will marry me.


I know, I am the luckiest man alive. Isn't she the most beautiful girl you've ever seen?

Considering my recent graduation from BYU-Idaho and my near-graduation from single life, I guess I'll have to change the name of my blog, won't I. I couldn't be happier.

The Family is of God

Have you ever heard this song? I heard it for the first time tonight and love the words. Check them out:

1. Our Father has a family. It’s me!
It’s you, all others too: we are His children.
He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,
To live and learn here in fam’lies.

2. A father’s place is to preside, provide,
To love and teach the gospel to his children.
A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share
Their love for Father in Heaven.

3. A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,
To nurture and to strengthen all her children.
She teaches children to obey, to pray,
To love and serve in the fam’ly.

4. I’ll love and serve my family and be
A good example to each fam’ly member.
And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,
I’ll help my fam’ly remember:

[Chorus]
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

Words and music: Matthew Neeley

Click here for a PDF of the music
Click here to hear the song

I know the family is of God. Each person in the family has a divine role and, yes, it's all part of helping us become what our Father in Heaven wants us to become so we can return and live with Him someday.

Book of Mormon YouTube Challenge

If you get a minute today, please watch this video: Testimony of the Book of Mormon




I received this Facebook message a few weeks ago:

Dear friends,

On May 3, 2010 (perhaps as part of your Family Home Evening program) if all reachable members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints--and any non members interested-- would follow the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkKblIMfmjI and watch the YouTube video of Jeffrey R. Holland bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, we could potentially achieve promoting that video to the YouTube homepage, based on volume of views.

TIPS ON HOW TO ACHIEVE THIS:

1 increased views - multiples views by one viewer count
2 comments - the more comments, the more valuable Youtube sees your video. Comments almost carry as much weight as views.
3 favorites - everyone needs to "favorite" the video.
4 thumbs up - **please take special care to do this as a group of individuals have banned together to "thumbs down" and this can negatively affect the popularity of the video.
5 subscriptions - daily subscriptions have a major impact on popularity. This also has longterm impact on the future videos coming to the channel because they will get emails from Youtube letting them know when MormonMessages posts new stuff.
6 reshare - the more things are shared on Facebook and Twitter the better the video's rankings will be.

The repercussions of this could be great. YouTube reports:

YouTube Stats (US)
(comScore MediaMetrix April 2009)

"The YouTube Homepage is the highest-profile placement on the site... eleven million unique visitors a day in the US [and] 89.7 Million unique monthly visitors."

The exposure that the Book of Mormon could receive in one day is astronomical. Please keep in mind though, while it is ideal that this video be promoted to the homepage, it is the spirit felt from the message wherein the success lies.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints blessed with the knowledge contained in the Book of Mormon I seek to share with the world what I know to be true; what I know to bring happiness and hope in the times of travail; what I know to be the word of God.

For this challenge May 3 is calculated anytime in the 24 hour time period between 12 am to 11:59:59 pm Eastern Standard Time (for those participating from different time zones), but viewing before and after the event is helpful as well. Please invite both member and non-member alike to feel of the Spirit this message carries, mark your calendars and gather round in your families, wards and stakes and join me, May 3.

Temple Worship

Love this quote from Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Just had to pass it along:

"Service in the temple brings blessings to us in this life as well as in eternity. Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said that 'temple work is not an escape from the world but a reinforcing of our need to better the world while preparing ourselves for another and far better world. Thus, being in the Lord’s house can help us to be different from the world in order to make more difference in the world.'"

Russell M. Nelson, “Prepare for Blessings of the Temple,” Ensign, Mar 2002, 17
From Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Not My Will, But Thine,” 133

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

I saw this performance live in the Conference Center in Salt Lake last July. I found it on YouTube and had to share. This is my favorite organ arrangement of all time. One day I just might learn to play it. Maybe. If I can just learn actually play the organ first.

Hope you enjoy!

Project 1: Self Portrait

I'm learning some new skills in my classes this semester. And I'm brushing up on some old ones, too.

I took Visual Media (the beginners course) before I served a mission. That was Fall 2004. Here we are, more than five years later, and I'm brushing up on those skills with the Advanced Course. Oh boy! What a ride. And tomorrow is Day 2.

Here's my project I'll turn in first thing in the morning.

We had to submit a self-taken portrait and then combine it with another image. The colored image you see is a picture of a picture I took on a mission in Southern France. (Another requirement: all pictures must be taken this semester--it is legal to take a picture of a past picture.)

I put a cross-hatch filter on the self-taken photo, then I cloned the wall (it had a thermostat on it before). And I used a mask to put the beach picture on.
So...here's to a new beginning. There will much more (and much better) than this one. I promise!