The passing of a great man.

Since we don't have a flagpole on which to hang an American flag at half staff today, I figured we would pay our respects to a great man, President Gordon B Hinckley, by posting a message about him here on our blog today, the day after his passing.

For those of you who don't know much about President Hinckley, he has served as President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints for approximately the last 13 years. He was 97 years old. Prior to serving the church in this capacity, he spent the majority of the rest of his life serving in different church capacities including Apostle, Counselor in the first presidency, and church media director.

Though we have never had the chance to shake his hand in person, both Christy and I have had the privilege to be present when he spoke on numerous occasions, both in person and through media. As we remember him, he was a man of wisdom and love, who always had great counsel and was most known for his ability to lead by example. He was and is truly the one person, whom we have personally encountered in our lives, that we can say has been atop the list of people we revere. If we could live our lives with only half the faith, wisdom, love, and true Christ-like charity that this man did we would deem our lives an extreme success. President Hinckley embodies the gospel of Jesus Christ as we know it.

Two specific things that come to my memory when I think of President Hinckley, that I think really act as symbols of his personality, are his love for his wife and his cane.

It seemed that on every occasion possible, President Hinckley praised his wife as the person who completed him. He explained that she was who held their family together and the refining fire that he met to help him mold his own character. There was a definite apparent sadness that came over President Hinckley at her passing nearly four years ago. I think I speak for the whole of our church when I say that we are all extremely happy that he has now been re-united with her in the spirit world awaiting the day that they can stand together before the judgment bar of Christ and be found worthy to enter into the celestial kingdom together.

The other thing that I remember about President Hinckley was his cane. When he first started carrying a cane (around the year 2000) he stood up in General Conference and made the comment, after jokingly knocking one of his first counselors in the head with the cane, "my doctor has told me that due to my old age I will need to carry a cane. I told him I would carry it, but could not guarantee how often it would touch the ground. He agreed that this was a fair compromise." After his address he walked back to his seat carrying the cane and setting it in his lap. On other occasions President Hinckley was known to lead the Mormon Tabernacle choir with the famous cane, wave to numerous people, and do numerous other funny things with the cane. What President Hinckley's cane represented for me was his ability to lighten a serious situation. President Hinckley was able to make anyone laugh and feel welcome, while still performing the daunting tasks of acting as President and voice of revelation for an entire world-wide church.

This picture I found on Salt Lake City's Deseret News website and I think it successfully embodies the two things that we remember about President Hinckley:

For more information about President Hinckley or our church you can visit the following websites:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,5143,695247765,00.html
www.mormon.org
www.lds.org

Why we will be supporting Barack Obama in 2008

For those of you that may not know me very well, you may not know that recently I have become quite a political junkie. I find myself watching CNN, listening to NPR, and reading the political section of the local newspaper for fun. I attribute much of the reason for this to the fact that my recent interests have been rhetoric and education.

That being said, Christy and I have been following this upcoming 2008 presidential election for some time and as we've watched it, we've become quite avid Barack Obama supporters. (I know, a white couple in rural republican Utah choosing to make an endorsement of an African-American Democrat... unprecedented huh...)

Some of my friends have recently asked me why we've decided to support Obama, and reading the transcript of his victory speech in South Carolina today I found that answer. Here are some of the highlights that I saw in his speech:

First: He started the speech out this way:
"Thank you, South Carolina.
Thank you to the rock of my life, Michelle Obama.
Thank you to Malia and Sasha Obama, who haven't seen their daddy in a week."

Later in the speech he had this to say:

"But let me say this, South Carolina. What we've seen in these last weeks is that we're also up against forces that are not the fault of any one campaign, but feed the habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation.

"It's the politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon, a politics that tells us that we have to think, act and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us, the assumption that young people are apathetic, the assumption that Republicans won't cross over, the assumption that the wealthy care nothing for the poor and that the poor don't vote, the assumption that African-Americans can't support the white candidate, whites can't support the African-American candidate, blacks and Latinos cannot come together.

"We are here tonight to say that that is not the America we believe in.

"I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina. I saw South Carolina.

"I saw crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children alike. I saw shuttered mills and homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from all walks of life and men and women of every color and creed who serve together and fight together and bleed together under the same proud flag.

"I saw what America is and I believe in what this country can be. That is the country I see. That is the country you see. But now it is up to us to help the entire nation embrace this vision.

"Because in the end, we're not just against the ingrained and destructive habits of Washington, we're also struggling with our own doubts, our own fears, our own cynicism.

"The change we seek has always required great struggle and great sacrifice. And so this is a battle in our own hearts and minds about what kind of country we want and how hard we're willing to work for it.

"So let me remind you tonight that change will not be easy. Change will take time. There will be setbacks and false starts and sometimes we'll make mistakes.

"But as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope, because there are people all across this great nation who are counting on us, who can't afford another four years without health care, that can't afford another four years without good schools, that can't afford another four years without decent wages because our leaders couldn't come together and get it done.

"Theirs are the stories and voices we carry on from South Carolina. The mother who can't get Medicaid to cover all the needs of her sick child. She needs us to pass a health care plan that cuts costs and makes health care available and affordable for every single American. That's what she's looking for.

"The teacher who works another shift at Dunkin' Donuts after school just to make ends meet, she needs us to reform our education system so that she gets better pay and more support and her students get the resources that they need to achieve their dreams.

"The Maytag worker who's now competing with his own teenager for a $7 an hour job at the local Wal-Mart, because the factory he gave his life to shut its doors, he needs us to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the pockets of working Americans who deserve it and put them in the pockets of struggling homeowners who are having a tough time and looking after seniors who should retire with dignity and respect.

"That woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breath since the day her nephew left for Iraq or the soldier who doesn't know his child because he's on his third or fourth or even fifth tour of duty, they need us to come together and put an end to a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged.

"So understand this, South Carolina. The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich vs. poor, young vs. old. And it is not about black vs. white.

"This election is about the past vs. the future. It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.

"There are those who will continue to tell us that we can't do this, that we can't have what we're looking for, that we can't have what we want, that we're peddling false hopes. But here is what I know. I know that when people say we can't overcome all the big money and influence in Washington, I think of that elderly woman who sent me a contribution the other day, an envelope that had a money order for $3.01 along with a verse of scripture tucked inside the envelope. So don't tell us change isn't possible. That woman knows change is possible.

"When I hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and Latinos can't join together and work together, I'm reminded of the Latino brothers and sisters I organized with and stood with and fought with side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of Chicago. So don't tell us change can't happen.

"When I hear that we'll never overcome the racial divide in our politics, I think about that Republican woman who used to work for Strom Thurmond, who is now devoted to educating inner city-children and who went out into the streets of South Carolina and knocked on doors for this campaign. Don't tell me we can't change.

"Yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can."

After I read this speech I read another article stating that Caroline Kennedy (the daughter of JFK) endorsed Obama today. In the New York times article she wrote entitled, "Like My Father" she said:
"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."


I think that that statement really describes how I feel about Barack Obama and I wanted to share that with all of the readers of our Blog.

P.S. Both of these excerpts were taken from CNN.com. From the following websites respectively: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/26/obama.transcript/index.html

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

Classic Gabbie!

Our little Doodle Bug (Gabbies favorite nick-name) is definitely starting to get a solid personality. We've been lucky enough to catch some of that developing personality on camera to share with all of you.

Here she is getting ready for church... as you can see she's sleeping...

What we love about this picture is how alert Gabbie's eyes are. This was also a picture of the first time that she held her rattle all by herself... well, daddy helped her get it in her hand.

She was pretty intrigued by the rattle, but her favorite pass-time lately is just to lay on her back and kick and flail her arms. She has so much fun doing it.

One day last week she got a little sick. She had a really stuffy nose and her temperature got a little higher than normal. She wasn't high enough to go to the doctors or anything, but we decided that it would probably be a good idea to put a wet washcloth on her forehead.

At first she didn't really like the washcloth, as can be seen by her irratated but not enough to cry about it face above, but after a while she kinda liked it. This is her "I'm kinda sad, but I'll get over it face." You can tell this one by the straight lips and slightly scrunched up forehead and nose.

When she got into her basinett She started having some fun with the towel. She would slowly grab it with her hand and sneakily pull it off when she thought Mom and Dad wouldn't notice.

In the end she would usually just start annoying herself because she would get it off of her forehead just far enough to get it on her face.

Mom's favorite thing about that night was making Gabbie look like an Ancient Egyptian princess. Doodle Bug was just interested in the camera. (You can tell that she's interested in something when she sticks her tongue out like that... it means she's trying to figure something out... she gets that from her Daddy... he used to do that a ton when he was a little kid.)

Here's classic Gabbie bed time. She has to be in her C-pillow lately... we think it makes her feel like she's in someone's arms. If you notice, she also has her Binki right next to her mouth.

Another fun thing that she does when she is sleeping is put her arms in funny positions. She'll either put them on her tummy like the picture above, or she'll put them up next to her head as if she is trying to put them behind her head... but not quite under her head.

Mom caught Dad sleeping on the couch the other day too... he woke up right as she took the picture... he must have been pretty tired... (don't know why... Mom is the one who usually gets up with Gabs at night... It's quite possible that Dad has selective narcolepsy between the hours of 11 and 6 a.m.)

These last pictures are some great pictures of Gabbie's giggles.

We really have a great baby. Truly, I don't think that there has ever been a time that she has cried without there being an easily discernible legitimate reason.

In fact, another fun thing about Gabbie's personality is when she is irritated with you... instead of crying really loud, she will start this pouty... Hm, I'm mad at you, hm... cry where her lower lip will curl up and quiver, not a whole lot of noise will come out, her eyebrows and nose will scrunch up, and she will make a sort of njwhu, njwhu, breath, njwhu, breath, njwhu, silence, Njwhu... almost as if she were trying to say, "I'm mad at you Dad... hmf. I'm just mad and I'm gonna pout about it until you do something to change it... Hmf." ... anyway, I wish I could record it so that you could hear what it sounds like... it's pretty cute, and really it shows her smart and passive personality... she definitely got a good mixture of genes from Christy and I.

Grandma's house

Gabbie's Great-Grandma Robbins (Kyle's Mom's Mom) has been wanting us to come and visit her at her house for quite some time now, so we decided that we would make the trip up to Salt Lake.

Grandma loved holding Gabbie while we were there.

Grandpa Marv was just happy to have visitors I think. (He told us all about how his Pop Machine Business is going)

One Cool thing that Grandma Robbins has on her wall is this "family tree." She basically has a branch for each of her kids where she has a family picture of them, and family pictures of all of her married grandkids and their families.

The roots of the tree are pictures of her ancestors that she's found pictures of. It's a really cool wall.

Another fun thing that we did while we were there was to look through some of her pictures that she has from while my mom and I were growing up. I've taken some digital pictures of some of the pictures that she gave us while we were there. I've since cropped and made the quality better as best I could. I posted them here for all to see.

Here is a great one that came straight from my parent's wedding invitation. Pretty cute couple eh!

The rest of the pictures are mainly pictures of me when I was really little and family pictures from we started adopting kids (hence why my older sister Megan and my younger brothers and sisters are not in them.)

This next one I never could get to take without being kinda fuzzy.

My grandma still has this license plate cover that we gave her.

The funny thing about this next picture is that the chair that I am sitting in my mom still uses. Last summer Gabbie's cousin Maddie sat in it to eat dinner while camping. I want to get one like it for Gabs some day.

One thing that I was known for when I was little was my love of Hot Dogs. My mom always talks about how the only thing that I would ever order at restaurants was a hot dog. It didn't matter what kind of restaurant it was (chinese, buffet, etc.) all I would ever order was a hot dog. When we came across this picture you could imagine my excitement.

This is an interesting picture. It was taken around easter at my Great grandma Baker's house in Draper, Utah. Our family used to have a big tradition of going to Grandma Baker's house for an Annual Easter Egg hunt. We kids loved it because it was probably 4-5 acres of fun places to hunt for eggs with our cousins.
My brother Matt is the kid with the Blue and Yellow vest. I'm the little one on the ground in the front. As far as I can tell, the rest of the kids are our cousins, and the lady next to Matt is my uncle Scott's first wife.

We had a lot of fun at Great-Grandma Robbins' house!

Gabbie's Baby Blessing

Gabbie's baby blessing was this last Sunday. It went really well. I think that the most fun part of it all was that we had so much family there with us. All of Kyle's brothers and sisters and their families were there, as well as most of Christy's family. We ended up taking up almost the entire side of the chapel with all of us.

Here's some pictures from that day:

This picture of Gabbie is hilarious because of how cross-eyed she is.

Here's another one where she isn't very happy.

Finally a happy girl (once she got her Bink!)

Here's Christy's old roommate and friend from Virginia Meredith

A happy Daddy

We are a happy family

All of Christy's sisters:

All of the Campbells (and Christensens) together.

Some more random pictures

You'd think that Christy's family hadn't ever seen snow.

Here are some pictures with Gabbie and most of her Christensen side girl cousins:

That's all the pictures for now.

After Christmas with the Campbell family!

One of the great presents that we received this year for Christmas was that of a visit from Christy's family from Virginia. A few weeks before the holiday, Christy's Mom, Dad, and little sister (Taylor) decided that they would brave the weather and drive out here. On a last minute decision, her older sister Jackie also decided to come out.

They left from Virginia on the 26th and got to our house, after driving through terrible weather, late in the evening of the 27th.

It was good for Christy and Gabbie to have a chance for her to meet her "other" Grandpa and Grandma and be able to spend some time with them.

Gabbie loved being watched by so many people who cared so much for her.

Both Aunt Jackie and Grandma loved holding Gabs while they were here. There never seemed to be a time when someone didn't want to hold her.

Gabbie fell in love with her Aunt Gabbie. On a future post we will show you some more fun pictures with Aunt Jackie.

Gabbie loved Grandma, cause finally someone would burp her until all of the burps were out. Usually Mom and Dad lost patience after the first or second burp. Sometimes Grandma could get 4 or 5 good burps out.

For part of the Campbell's trip out here, we decided to take some tours of the local sights... You know, I've lived in Utah for a long time, but didn't realize that, unless you are going to go into nature, the majority of our sights are religious in nature.

On one day we went to visit the Krishna temple that is close to our house. On another day we decided that we would take Christy's family up to temple square. We really had a lot of fun on these excursions, but I think that the most fun that we had was when we went to BYU to go bowling. It's become a new family Christmas tradition:

Grandpa decided that he wasn't going to bowl... After Jackie's hand started hurting, he finally conceded to finishing her game. Then we understood why he didn't want to play with us... he got three strikes in a row... I guess he didn't want us to all feel bad cause he was such a good bowler.

After the Campbells left on sunday afternoon, they hit a big snowstorm and some serious accidents on the two ways that they had to go home. They ended up getting stuck and having to come back to our house for another night. We know that the trip they took ended up costing them a whole lot and having a lot more stress than they probably would have liked. We were so happy that they came though. We were seriously glad that we could spend the time with them and that Gabbie could meet them in person.

We love our Campbell family!