Grow Board

**I have meant to get this posted for over a month but finally I had enough help to get some good pictures. **

Mark is amazing at word work. One of the gifts you get when you get married is a piece of woodwork from him. For the last six months or so we had been bugging him getting ours. While we were visiting in October Matt started to pester again. This is how the conversation went.

Matt: "Dad, when are we going to get our wood piece?"
Mark: nothing
Matt: "Meg wants a grow board, like Heidi got but I want something cool."
Mark: smirks "I'll be right back, don't tell Mom."

Mark returns with this masterpiece.

It was suppose to be our Christmas present but we bugged him so much he finally gave in. Needless to say it is a grow board and extremely "cool." It is a Roberts tradition to have grow boards so I'm excited to have that for our kids as well.

A little history behind the details on the grow board. The idea is inspired from the Book of Mormon. There is a story about the tree of life which is the direction that we should direct our lives to return to Heavenly Father. If you hold to the iron rod then you will be able to get to the tree of life. So, the rod on the side is the iron rod and the globe is the Urim and Thummin which is a compass that only worked when it held by a righteous prophet. Here is the link to the story if you are interested in reading it. 1 Nephi Chapter 8

Now it is hanging and has the first mark on it! (This is Keeley's new face that she makes and I love it!)

Thanksgiving Week

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mom and Dad came from Idaho and spent the week working their butts off on our house and spoiling all of us. We got more done in one week than we could have in 6 months alone. I'll post house pictures once I get everything finished up this week.


Thanksgiving day was a little eventful. Mom started dinner in the morning and we were about 20 minuets from putting the turkey in so she put the last of the casseroles in to finish up. It wasn't in two minuets and sparks and flames start shooting all over in the oven. Sure enough the heating coil blew! So we did the turkey on the grill and it turned out great. Fortunately Mom had baked several of the the other dishes the night before. It worked out fine but it makes for a good story. I mean seriously of all days to go it choose Thanksgiving day when all the stores all closed and you have to use it. We are still waiting on parts before we can use the oven again. Don't mind the string in the middle of the picture. Keeley jumped in the Johnny Jumper during dinner and I didn't want to disturb her. Matt with the feast.
Keeley thought Pappy's beard was pretty great!
Mom, Dad and Keeley in front of the house.
Thanks Mom and Dad! We appreciate all of your help. We can't wait to see you again in January (Dad, first thing Keeley did this morning was look to the fan to see if it was spinning!). We love you!

$1.84

Yes that is what we paid for gas in Richmond last weekend! While we paid over $4.00 a gallon for most of the summer it is hard to believe it has gotten so cheap. I can't remember the last time I paid less than $2.00 for gas.

An article for thought

While we lived in California I had the opportunity to serve as a temple patron. What that means is I went to the Temple at least once each week. It was one of the many tender mercy that I was granted after I lost my job. It helped my get through as I found peace and comfort by going and doing sessions every week. I even enjoyed the hour and half commute through traffic as I listen to church music. So, as I watched the protesters defile that sacred ground it was difficult to bear. Gail recently sent me an article about the protests from an LA police office who is also LDS. What I liked most about this article is that it mentions how we should be acting and examples from the scriptures that give us clear direction on enduring persecutions. While I don't fear for my family here in NC many friends are losing business at their work and having property damaged by people who are upset with the LDS stance on the issue of same sex marriage. If you have a minute please read this article.
LA Temple Protest

The Results are In

We made it back from the race this weekend; barely but I'll explain later.

Matts Time: 41min
Marks Time 46 min
Megs Time: ohh, I didn't race.

I mentioned early that we have been sick. Well the sickness hasn't stopped. Friday night as we drove up to Richmond Keeley started throwing up. Not just a little bit but enough to soak her outfit, the car seat and still drip through the bottom of seat. We pulled over and changed her and just listened to her scream the rest of the way. By the time we got there Matt and I were just a little stressed out. When I put her to bed she started waking up every 30 min! This lasted until 1:30 before she woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep. Seems how all four of us were sharing a room I didn't feel right about just letting her cry or about staying in the room while she fussed and giggled intermittently. So I hauled Keeley out to the car. It was pouring but warm so we watched the rain until 3:00. She continued to throw up a few more times and eventually feel asleep on my chest. I didn't want to wake her so we just slept (or mostly she slept, it wasn't very comfortable) in the car the rest the night. We had to be up at 5. So, with nothing more than an hour sleep and my cold moving to my chest over the night I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to run in the rain. So I watched! Just so you know I finally went to the doctor and they put me on medicine. He said that after you have had the cold for 5 days they will give you antibiotics (too bad I waited until day 13).

On a lighter note, Matt and Mark both had personal best runs. I was very excited for them and the weather cleared just 30 mins before the race start and it turned into a perfect running day. It was a very cool atmosphere and got me all jazzed for our next race, which is a story for another day.

The gang before the race.
Matt and Mark among the thousands of runners.

Matt crossing the finish line.
Medals after the race.