I am coaching the Diamondbacks again this year. I am a little hesitant about it because of the time commitment, but Sam and Ammon are playing on my team this year. My entire team is pretty raw, I have 3 returning players, but you can tell the off season has not been good to them. We had an exhibition game yesterday against the Mets and were spanked hard by them 11 to 4. Our pitching was horrendous and our infield allowed way too many runs. We had a player steal 3rd base right in front of our shortstop who happened to be holding the ball as she ran past him. Our 3rd baseman threw the ball to home plate for a hail mary play while a runner was bearing down on him from 2nd. Our catcher was watching the visiting team bench while the pitcher was pitching to him. I was jumping up and down like a madman yelling at everybody trying to call plays and position players. It is going to be a long season. I guess I shouldn't complain too much they've only had 2 practises so far and we were wanting to see how they fared in a game scenario. Sam didn't catch the ball but he made two plays. Both him and Ammon struck out at the plate. I need to work with them more.
I tried getting out of the commitment, but was unable. I have so much on my plate right now it is a little nerve racking for me. Maybe it will help me relax a little, who knows. At least I will be able to spend a lot of time with the boys helping them hone their skills.

Product Testing!

Most people don't know that I recently started loading my own ammunition. I decided to take another thing that I love and make a business out of it especially since ammunition is very difficult to find these days. I listed it on KSL.com and within 1 hour I had a hit for someone wanting to buy everything that I had. I got another guy who contacted me and told me when I had another 1,000 rounds that he was willing to buy them. I've been asked about making other calibers than those that I listed. I went out today and tested my first rounds and they are some of the best rounds I've ever fired! I couldn't believe the smoothness of the firing of the rounds and their accuracy was amazing. I was shooting the .380 with the rounds that I loaded, which were 100 gr rated at 825 fps with the charge loads I was putting in them and at roughly 75 feet I was placing them in a grouping of about 2 inches on a target that was moving with every shot that hit. The recoil was minimized the accuracy was spot on. I will never go back to store bought rounds again. I had a blast, and I was very pleased with the product that I created. I can't wait to go back out on the 28th! Those of you who are going out with me, be prepared to have a blast (literally).

America!

This video says everything! I know it doesn't have anything to do with my family, but I wanted to put it here any way.

Joshua turns 2

Joshua was born March 9th 2007
8lbs 3oz. What a cutie!

































Joshua at 4mo.


Joshua has such a bright smile. His whole face lights up. We are so happy to have Joshua as part of our family.
Joshua loves to be around his older brothers and sister. He especially likes it when Bella will play with him. As long as he is involved with what they are doing he is happy. Joshy loves PB and Jelly sandwiches, grapes, and just about anything sweet. His favorite toys is his stuffed bears. He likes to say no, but he does it with such a cute smile. He likes to play ball and wrestle with dad.

Happy Birthday Joshua! We love you!
p.s. Sorry I didn't have pictures of his party because we forgot the memory card to our camera.

Turning the hearts of the children to the fathers

Many know that I love genealogy work. I started a few years ago and have literally found hundreds of names going back several generations to the early 1700's. I've enjoyed the thrill of the hunt and the tremendous spiritual experience it is for me.

It all started a few years back, I had been trying to find some information, and had spent hours going through micro film. I found a name, but it was the wrong person, so I continued to advance through the film and I heard a voice say go back that was me. I went back and read the name and it was not the name I was looking for, so I continued to go forward. Then I heard it again, "go back, that was me." I went back and went through the entire record and sure enough it was him! My great-great-grandfather, Severo Marin. From that one name I was able to uncover generations of ancestors who were waiting for their temple work to be done.

Then after a couple years I started again and I was having a hard time finding information on my grandpa Garcia's line. No information was available. The Church that was in his hometown was burned down during the Cristeo War because his town was very active fighting against the federales during the war. I was lost, and I started searching some areas, and one day while looking I found some records with his family name in another town. I checked and the town was next to my grandfather's home town and the records were located there. I checked on the town originally because I felt an impression to check there, even though I didn't know where it was. Following that impression helped me find literally hundreds of names and several generations.

This week I've spent some time looking up some information on Monica's dad side. I found a ton of stories for her about her ancestor Ute Perkins, and the entire Perkins family. I found Ute's Will and it was witnessed by none other than Abe Lincoln (he died in Illinois). He got his endowments out in the Nauvoo Temple and they gave the land for the church to start the town of Ramus. He was a Revolutionary War veteran and the first in his family to accept the gospel, and he has quite the massive posterity. I found some other information and stories for her, and I started thinking that I wanted to know about my ancestors as well. Unfortunately my ancestors didn't keep journals or have volumes written about them. I do know that my ancestors fought in two Revolutions and most importantly they fought for their religious independence in the Cristeo War. I found a story last night about the men who fought in the north east portion of Jalisco, and that is where my ancestors are from. They played a major part in the war, and I am proud to be a descendant of someone who would recognize the need to fight for something as important as the right to worship God. They had endured the liberal Mexican government taking everything from them and when they took their religion they had enough and would take no more.

My heart has truly turned to my fathers. I love them and want to know them. I have a strong desire to see them and talk to them and get to know them as people. I look forward to the time that I can sit with them and talk to them. When I was 12 years old I had a dream, where I was walking through the ruins of Mexico. I went into one of the temples and I remember looking at some pictographs on the wall and saying I wish I could know my ancestors. Just then I heard a voice behind me and sitting on a rock on the other side of the room was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, He said would you like to know them and raised his hands and the wall behind him opened and I saw numberless spirits coming forth and falling at His feet and worshipping Him who is our King. I could see that their hearts longed to be with Him and they were bathing His feet with their tears. As I saw this scene my heart ached for them, and I woke up. Then a couple of years ago I thought I was doing pretty good. I was actively doing my family work in the Temple and finding names. One night as I was asleep I had another interesting dream. In my dream I was with the Prophet Joseph Smith and he was walking me through the aftermath of the saints being expelled from Independence. He was describing to me their privations and their sufferings. He was telling me that they were doing all that they could to help these saints, but that there was one that they couldn't help, only I could. He turned and pointed to a person standing in the corner, and it was my Grandma Ramirez (grand-daughter of Severo Marin who originally helped me with my initial family work). She looked so sad and was crying and saying that nobody cared about her. I insisted that I did, but she kept repeating that nobody cared. All of a sudden I realized that I had not done her work in the Temple yet. I woke up crying, realizing my sin against her and my family. Needless to say I've done her work and she is now sealed to her family.

I will continue to do the work for my ancestors, and I will continue to expect their help in the process. I love them and I know that they love me. I made promises before coming to this earth and I must keep those promises. I love genealogy!

Optimism, Faith and a Determination to Prevail

I am going to break away from my normal posts of informing what I've done with Monica or the kids and talk a little about what pushes me forward and motivates me.

It is pretty simple really, what pushes me daily is a knowledge that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and that we have living Prophets, Seers, and Revelators on the earth today. How does this help? Well, it helps to know that God knows me, He knows the current situation in the world, and that He speaks to us through His prophets and always has. The scriptures and writings of the Prophets are jam packed with prophecies and revelations of what is going to happen in the last days. None of it is coming at us unawares. In Amos we are told that the Lord will do nothing save He first reveal His secret unto His servants the prophets. Nothing that is happening scares me, it doesn't shake my faith, nor does it dampen my optimism. I have faith that God will help me and that His will, will be done. That gives me comfort! I know through personal experience that you can loose everything and none of it matters because it is all irrelevant in the eternal scheme of things.

I am optimistic about my future because although things are dark and uncertain in life, I have faith, and as Joseph Smith said, "should we not go on in so great a cause?" My answer is yes! I will push forward with a firm determination to prevail in the end, that is in the end of life, in the end of our current financial struggles, in the end of everything. Every day we arm ourselves for a battle, the battle that has been waging since the dawn of time. Satan wishes to destroy us and to tear down our faith. God has given us our armour, our weapons, and our protection. Just as the children of Israel when they were preparing to go forward to take over the land of Canaan, we have God on our side and we will prevail. We should not be counted with those spies who came back from spying out the land of Canaan and gave an evil report and weakened the resolve of the Israelites. Let us be as Caleb and Joshua and know that we have our Lord on our side and if He has decreed from the eternities that we His people shall prevail, then we shall.

That is why nothing is causing me to change my direction, I am preparing for tougher times ahead, because I know the prophecies which have been given, but I do not let them cause me to fear and shrink before my Maker in paralyzed fear. God will bless those who believe in Him and make Him their God. He is in our midst, we just have to open our eyes and recognize His loving arms extended toward us beckoning us to come unto Him and our burden will be made light.

Temples

Monday my family was able to go to the Draper temple open house. My kids were so excited to finally be able to see the inside of a temple. They enjoyed it. Their favorite rooms were the ceiling room and celestial room. Even Joshua kept pointing to things and telling dad to look. He some how understood the importance of what he was seeing and kept his voice down to a whisper. All my children were reverent and respectful. It made Sam and Ammon excited for the day when they can go to the temple. They can't wait now for the Oquihr Mnt. Temple to be completed so they can go through that temple.

Tuesday Al and I were able to get the work done for 8 of our families names. We went twice, once in the morning and then again in the evening. It was our wards temple day so we had help from people in our ward to get those names done. I love being able to go to the temple. The spirit is always strong there. I also love doing the work for our ancestors who have passed on. It makes me feel connected to them. How grateful I am for temples!