I've been one blessed man for forty years. Like anyone, life has had its share of ups and downs. There have been a lot of great days and a few really bad ones. In an effort to try and be more grateful, I've been creating lists based on my first 40 years of life. Weird, I know. I'm just trying to better remember the goodness of God in my life. My first list contained the eternal truths I've learned thus far. This list contains the top ten things that have happened to me. After numbers 1 through 3, they come in no particular order. I hesitate to post this because I'm a painfully private person and don't want to appear to be engaging in self-aggrandizement.
1. Courting, sparking, and marrying Kimberly. I don't need to say much more than that. She is the strength and inspiration of my life. I'll never forget the spiritual experiences we had together after dating for a short time. I vividly remember sitting in her living room when I realized we'd be together for eternity. Anything that is good or praise worthy that has happened in my life the past 18+ years can be traced back to her directly or indirectly. (As a side note, another great event that won't make the top 10 is the remodel Kim and I did of our kitchen and bathroom. We gutted and put it back together ourselves...and stayed married in the process!!!)
2. The birth of my children. I don't get emotional about many things. Issues related to my family and BYU football are about the only things that bring tears to my eyes :) Holding each of my children for the first time was a profound, spiritual experience. I remember talking with Dallin on the phone to tell him he was a big brother to a little black-haired baby named Zachary. I bawled like the ship was going down as I talked with Dallin, who was only two years old at the time. I couldn't speak I was blubbering so much. He kept telling me, "It's okay daddy, it's okay." Priceless.
3. Getting candy bars with my dad and being read to by my mom. If it was appropriate to worship mortals, I'd worship my parents. They're simply amazing. Although I was very young, I still remember my mom reading books to me. I don't actually remember what she read or how often, what I remember is the feeling I had sitting next to her. That feeling is forever planted in my heart. My greatest memory from childhood with my dad is the occasions when we'd go to put gas in the car, just the two of us. He'd always come back to the car with a candy bar of some kind. I loved the opportunity to have my dad all to myself. I was grateful he'd let me tag along. It's true that for children love is spelled t-i-m-e.
4. Preach My Gospel. I had the blessing of being asked to help with the writing, development, testing, and implementation of the missionary manual Preach My Gospel. It was a remarkable experience to work under the direction of prophets, seers, and revelators. I have profound respect and love for the men with whom I labored on this project. I doubt I'll ever have a chance again to help work on something that will have such far reaching impact on God's work. With the support of my family, I'm grateful to look back on that experience without any regrets. Kim and I gave it all we had. It's been a blessing to continue traveling to missions and help the continuing implementation of Preach My Gospel. President Boyd K. Packer was recently quoted in an Ensign as saying that Preach My Gospel was created on the other side of the veil and assembled on earth. I can attest to that. The whole experience was remarkable.
5. Traveling with an Apostle of the Lord. A couple of years ago I was invited to travel with Elder Ballard, Elder Cook (then a Seventy) and Elder Sorensen to a mission in the Northwest and a mission in California. The trip was amazing on a couple of fronts. First, we went on a private plane that is generously made available to the leadership of the LDS Church. That's the only way to travel! Second, it was remarkable to spend several days with an Apostle of Jesus Christ. It was fascinating to be a fly on the wall while traveling, eating, and in meetings with missionaries and Church members. Elder Ballard and his associates are mortal men just like any of us (unless you are a mortal woman, of course), but I left this experience with a perspective that the leading Brethren of the Church are all I envisioned them to be, and more. I'll never lose the mental image and associated feeling of landing in Washington state. Before any of us could do anything, we saw Elder Ballard loading our luggage into the back of our van. Simply amazing.
6. Hitting my first solid iron. This one's kind of weird, but it was a great event! I remember the first time I hit a golf iron flush. I was with my dad and an uncle on the 5th hole of the old Brigham City golf course. My dad had Gene Sarazan irons. If you didn't hit the ball flush, the club was great at providing instant feedback. You golfers out there know what I'm talking about. It was a great feeling to hit his 5 iron dead-on. Ever since then I've been addicted to golf.
7. Daddy-daughter dates with Maddy and b-ball/golfing with the boys. In addition to the primary-Church sponsored dates, Maddy and I make it a point to attend the Utah State Fair together every year. I'm not sure why we picked the state fair, but I look forward to every September. She's a special, special girl I'd do anything for and I hope the day never comes when she quits calling me "daddy" and doesn't want to hold my hand. I also love being with my boys. I look forward to the Spring when we can play basketball and golf together. I have this wager with each of them. If they beat me in b-ball before their missions, they each get $20. I think my money is safe :) They are remarkable young men and my best friends.
8. Gaining a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I remember as a prospective Aaronic priesthood holder and deacon being asked by my bishop if I had a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I'll never forget the spiritual feeling that overcame me. I couldn't speak. Fast forward to 2007. I was assigned to do training in one of the missions in upper-state New York. I made time to visit the Sacred Grove near Palmyra, N.Y. I remember parking and turning off my car, looking towards the grove, and having the same spiritual feeling overcome me. I'll never forget either experience.
9. BYU Miracle Bowl, 1980. Something related to BYU sports has to be in my top 10. The Holiday Bowl of 1980 is the best event thus far. The way BYU got down big time early in the game, my mom refusing to watch the game after the first quarter and going to take a bath (she always did this if BYU wasn't doing well), the amazing comeback, the jumping up and down with my brothers and dad. It was all great!
10. Your name isn't Fred? Members of the Quorum of the Twelve are assigned to the Missionary Department to oversee missionary work. Currently, Elders Perry and Holland are assigned. Before I was given different job duties a year or so ago, I had the blessing of being in meetings on a somewhat regular basis with Elders Perry and Holland. Somehow, Elder Holland thought my name was Fred. He called me Fred for a couple of weeks. I'm way too timid to correct an Apostle, even with something as simple as this. If he wants to call me Fred, I'm fine with it. Besides, if I ever did something wrong Fred would get blamed and Greg would still have a job. During a meeting, someone called me Greg and he said, "You're not Fred? Who is Fred? What have you done with Fred?" He then apologized. My wife thought this whole experience was hilarious. To this day all I have to do is say Fred and she'll laugh.
There are so many other great events I could list. Most of them are in someway connected to the wonderful people in my life. You know who you are and I'm grateful for each of you. I hope the next 40 years are as fulfilling and fun as the first 40.
Zachary preparing to canon-ball it up.
Jake doing one of his 1,000 dives.
Coop doing his famous chicken-lickin' dive.
Feature model?
Sadie running and jumping.
My brother Mike and I looking at aluminum foil.
Oops. My brother Mig missed a spot when applying his spf 2,000 sunscreen.
Dallin. Look, no braces!
Jeff and his wife Amy back from a waverunner ride.
Maddy, Jeff, Josh, and Samster (on the floatee).
Jacob taking it easy.
Really excited about something. It's probably lunch time.
Kimber and her daughter Sadie.
My dad and Zach back from a ride.
How embarrassing. Twiner swimming suits. Maddy and Kenzie.
My dad and Zach on a tandem bike.
Kenzie adding a little extra water to the lake. I think she gets the desire to do #1 in public from her dad.
Dad and Mom catching some rays.
Mike, Cooper, and Kimber Thompson.
Jeff has his kids trained well.
Mike and Kenzie building a sand castle.
Mike T. waiting for a ride.
Maddy posing it up.
Jake on the lake.
Josh on his floatee.
Lucy. Looks like she's had her picture taken before.
Ty did his best to fill up the lake with sand. He did this scores of times.
Samster dreaming of being in the water all by himself.
My wife and boys. I added this pic to prove my wife was there.
One of the funniest moments of the trip was Cooper sneaking up on his dad and dumping a pale of water. No picture of that, but I got Mike's payback to Coop.
Dallin was an awesome oldest cousin. He gave his younger cousins raft rides and pretty much did anything they wanted him to.
Me and Dallin on a wave runner. You can tell it's day one because of my great whiteness. It was all red on day two.
Kim and her friends at the pool.
Sunset at Ideal Beach.
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