It is always so thrilling as grandparents to see your grand children making wise choices. Preston, who is John and Alison's son, chose to be baptized, so George and I headed for California to be part of his special day.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), we have been instructed by the Prophets that all worthy young people should be baptized at the age of eight years of age and then be confirmed to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
To watch a short video about the importance of this sacred covenant, click on the link below.
Preston is such a grown-up young man who always works his hardest at everything he does! Plus--he's a lot of fun to be around!
He is adored by his three oldest brothers.
Plus, he is certainly loved by his Grandpa and Grandma Copeland who came from Florida to be part of the special day and . . .
and his Grandpa and Grandma Wilde who came from Utah.
Preston, also, had some of his Wilde cousins, and of course, his brothers Parker and Tyson.
John and Alison with three of the four sons: Parker, Preston, and Tyson. The oldest son, Bracken, is on a Mormon mission to Australia Sydney North mission speaking Chinese. He surely did want to be here for this, but sent a beautiful letter to his little brother.
In his letter, Bracken told the story of a fox who had fleas on his back from wallowing around in the dirt. He went to the river and only dipped in the water up to his knees, but the fleas just climbed to his tail. So the next time, he went all the way under the water, and this time he got all the fleas off. This is the same way with our sins. We must be immersed all the way under the water to remove our sins. Such a great example of baptism by immersion and his cousin had drawn all the pictures which were just fantastic! While Parker was telling the story at the baptism, Alison held up the picture that went with the story. We all loved it!
Grandpa and Grandma Wilde
After the baptism, Preston hurried to change his clothes and many of us went to the gymnasium where he had a basketball game.
His team really runs hard and plays great defense. You can tell how hard they played. Preston's face is really red! Their team won!
Preston is a year younger than the other kids on the team, but he certainly can play with them. We felt so bad to miss the great opportunity this little team had of playing an exhibition game at the Warriors Stadium a day after we had to go home. This was like a dream come true for Preston who absolutely lives and breathes Warriors!
Preston with his two grandpas.
You can see that Preston really had a big group of fans watching him play!
After the game, we went back to John and Alison's home where John did his specialty of fixing yummy hamburgers, hotdogs, and salmon patties. Delicious!
While they were waiting for the food, the kids had an absolute ball swimming. The water wasn't the warmest, but they didn't care!
We then went inside for desserts and presents time.
This was sort of a belated birthday, plus baptism day celebration.
But the present that Preston was the most proud of was his scriptures which had his name engraved on them. . .
Plus the really cool case he got to keep them in. Yes, I would say that Preston had a day to remember!
Another day we were in California, we got to watch Tyson play a Lacrosse game. That is one mean sport! Grandpa and I are still trying to figure it out, but we love to watch our grand kids in all their activities, and slowly but surely, we are catching on to this sport by watching some of our grand kids play it. It's lots of action and very exciting!
On Sunday, we went to church and there hanging on the wall, was Bracken's missionary plaque with his favorite scripture. We are so proud of how hard he is working in Australia!
This is Preston's Primary Class at church, along with his teachers.
And here is Preston with his Bishop.
Another day we watched another of Preston's games. It was a heart-breaker because a kid on the opposing team threw in the winning basket with two seconds left!
We loved just hanging out with the kids at their beautiful home.
And for some reason, wherever George would go, Rosco followed! He has such a way with dogs! Hah!
When we were here in November, the beautiful fall foliage was out. But now that it was spring, we just ooohed and awed over the fantastic budding trees and flowering bushes everywhere!
John and Alison's yard was all decked out with so many beautiful spring colors!
On our final day in California, Alison, George, and I went to the Oakland Temple to do temple work there. It is such a beautiful setting, and we love it there!
After doing the temple work, we always like to eat in their cafeteria. The food is made fresh and of course, George loves to get the ice cream there!
Yes, we had such a wonderful time in California with the Wilde's and all we were able to do there. I will miss the wake-up call from all the turkeys that come down the hill in the early morning--you can hear the gobble gobble and quickly run to the window to see the spectacle! I think I counted 36 of them!
They just took over the street and yards!
They seemed to love the Wilde's yard the best! They just ate $50 worth of flowers!
And after eating all they could find and depositing all sorts of little residue on the yard and sidewalks . . .
they all headed back up the hill awaiting a new day to make their return! So funny and enjoyable to us, but not to those who live here! They are the ones who have to clean up after those turkeys and pay for all the damage they do!
Thanks, John and Alison, Parker, Tyson, and Preston! As usual, we loved our stay with you and appreciate all your many kindnesses! An again, we are so proud of you, Preston, on your baptism! Just keep making great goals!
