once upon today

President Monson!

2010-11-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

President Monson is in town for the Laie Temple rededication on Sunday. We heard from a friend of a friend that he would be at the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) on Friday, so we headed over there with Rob's sister, Lisa. We found the show that he was at and went to see him. As you can see, President Eyring was there as well!

At one point, on his way to the next show, the prophet stopped and talked to Katelyn, who was being held by Lisa. He said "Hi sweetie! How are you?" to which she hid her head and said a soft "Hi." He looked up at Lisa and said "Shy is good," with a big smile. Here's the picture of him talking to Katelyn:

It was such an amazing experience. It gave a different perspective to see him interacting with all the people who were stalking him, doing a dance while everyone cheered, showing how he can wiggle his ears, and talking to a lot of the little children. Can't wait for the rededication on Sunday!

funny little girl

2010-11-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

After we put Katelyn to bed at night, she comes over to the door, lays down and peeks out under the crack. She talks to herself, sings, and calls out to us for a while before falling asleep there. It's kind of weird to walk by her door late at night in the dark and see these creepy little fingers sticking out.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

Sisters

2008-11-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

After 9 months, I felt like Kallie was finally starting to adjust to sharing Mommy and Daddy with a baby sister, but it wasn't until Katelyn started crawling last month that she realized she was going to have to share Mommy and Daddy AND all of her toys. So we've been having quite the adjustment this month. If anyone has any suggestions about teaching your toddler to share with a baby sibling, feel free to comment!

Halloween......better late than never, right?

2008-11-20T14:32:00.001-08:00

So this post is SO late in coming, but I figured people (especially the grandparents) don't care about the timing, so long as they get to see the girls in their costumes, right? Although I have a confession to make.....I never got a picture of Katelyn in her costume! (She wore the purple butterfly costume that Kallie wore a few years ago, but it turned out to be too much wire and lace for a 9 month old, and we didn't get her in at a second time). I guess that's the fate of the second child: lack of pictures. I'll try to do better in the future. :)

Okay, so we started out the Halloween celebrations a week early at our ward's Trunk or Treat, which is the ideal trick or treating experience for toddlers: minimum walking and maximum candy. Here's Kallie with her best friend, Riley (thanks to Jessica for the picture.....I can never remember to bring my camera along these days):

Next, a few days later, we had a Halloween party at our apartment complex's community center, but my hands were too full to even think about getting any pictures.

Then that Thursday Kallie's preschool class had their party. Kallie had a blast swinging at a pumpkin pinata, and here she is with Riley again sporting some spooky vampire teeth.

Has anyone noticed that Halloween these days has become HUGE? I never remember dressing in my costume more than once or twice as a kid, but Kallie got four opportunities this year! So finally we have the real Halloween:

And finally a cute Katelyn picture! (Better make this one big since there's only one).

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we decided to switch blogs and delete our old one just because of the whole safety issue with having our last name posted online. So we're taking that out, and hopefully moving on and being more consistent with our blog.....we'll see how that goes.

We went to a pumpkin patch called Fairbank animal farm last Saturday and had a blast. Definitely the best one of these that I've been to. We got to feed all kinds of ducks, chickens, and geese; pet goats, rabbits, and big fluffy chicks; see chicks hatching from eggs, see baby mice (or rats or something) that had just been born that day. It was amazing!

There was a mini cornmaze for toddlers, then we got to take a wagon up to the pumpkin patch and pick out our pumpkins. I would definitely recommend this place for anyone in the Seattle area with young kids...or anyone!

Katelyn was pretty fascinated, too, although she was kind of confined the whole time:

Kallie crashed on the way home with her pumpkin.

Seattle update 5/23/08

2008-10-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well it has been almost two years since the last time we posted. Maybe we'll gradually start to get better at this, but don't count on it. :) So we are now living in Seattle, WA, right next to the University of Washington. Rob is working as a resident director of UW family housing (after finishing his master's in "College Student AffairsAdministration", and I'm staying at home with the girls. We absolutely love it here. Family housing is actually not as bad as it sounds. Almost everyone is in our same circumstance...young, married, with small children. Except that we're the only family that isn't attending UW as students. We're actually making an income. Yay! We're hoping to stay here a couple more years and save up some money for a down payment on a house and the inevitable minivan.

Kallie turns three on June 14. She is doing really well here. There's actually lots of kids her age (as opposed to zero when we lived in the freshman dorm at U of Georgia). She's totally a Disney princess fanatic, and her favorite is Snow White. She's currently taking a cooking class with one of her friends, Riley. She absolutely loves to help out in the kitchen now. She's also taking her first set of swimming lessons. She has Daddy in the pool this time around, but this summer, it'll be just her hanging onto the wall for dear life.

Katelyn is doing great. She's already four months old, and is starting to get really social and smiley. Still no relief with the night wakings though: two feedings a night every night. Although I guess you could consider it once a night if you like getting up at 5am. But she is such a sweetheart. We can already tell she has a great sense of humor, and is always laughing at Daddy's silly games. She loves her big sister and is very content to just sit and watch Kallie climbing and running and screeching all around her.

Current pictures 9/26/06

2008-10-21T19:38:00.002-07:00

Here are some current pictures of Kallie. Sometimes I wonder if she gets bored without other little people to play with so I often find myself crawling under furniture and pretending to be a little person in an attempt to entertainher. Usually she's interactive and fun, but sometimes she gets a little bossy on walks. When she decides to go a direction outside, it's her way or no way! It's a good thing for her that she got Shellie's cuteness...I usually fold and let her go wherever because I can't say no to those big blue eyes and button nose.

Important Update 9/18/06

2008-10-21T19:38:00.001-07:00

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Mike Barton was actually my original inspiration to blog. However, due to a very painful splitting of ways between Mike and I, and frostbite sustained to my brain while taking the picture above, I had previously forgotten. I was reminded that Mike has been blogging for years and I knew that. I am sorry for the confusion and now Mike will be my friend again.

Shark Talk 9/17/06

2008-10-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

Photo of the Day: Dad and I

The following is a talk I gave in church a couple of weeks ago. It's based on a shark experience I had recently. Furthermore, I was watching Shark Week earlier this summer and I saw a special on the place where the shark story in my talk happened. The special had an overhead view of the sand bar where we sunk the Kayak and there were about 50 bull sharks that are allegedly always there that time of year!!!! I'm so dumb:)

Before I get started I would like to introduce myself and my family. My name is Rob Lechtenberg and my wife’s name is Shellie. We have a 14 month old daughter named Kallie. I am attending the University of Georgia and studying College Student Affairs Administration. I also have been asked to speak on repentance, and to do so, I would like to share with you one of my personal passions . . . . . SHARKS. I love everything about sharks. I just find them so fascinating.

About a year ago, my extended family and I were vacationing in the Florida panhandle. In talking with some of the local residents and fisherman, we learned that a shark attack had taken place at our beach two weeks previous to our arrival. We learned that a young man had been fishing near a sandbar about a quarter mile offshore, and had been using shrimp as bait which he kept in his pocket, when a 6-foot bull shark attacked him. Supposedly, this sandbar was infested with sharks on any given day. Now for most people, a story like this would throw up a red flag of caution. In my case, I spent the next day looking for a boat because I wanted to see one of these sharks. Because our budget was limited to about $25, a flimsy plastic sea kayak was the best we could do. By flimsy, I mean it was small, didn’t have walls, and we floated about three inches above the water. The plan was, my cousin (who will remain nameless: Brother Van Sant) and I would get in the sea kayak and paddle a quarter mile to the allegedly shark-infested sandbar. We would take a bag of shrimp, poke holes in it, put it on a string behind the kayak, and wait for a shark to come up and bite the bag. Now do you all see the absolute idiocy of this plan? Despite several warnings, we didn’t see a problem with our plan: so we did just as we planned. We should have noticed something would go wrong the moment we set foot in our vessel. Due to a significant weight discrepancy between Jesse and I, the Kayak sat in the water at an angle about like this. About the time we reached the sandbar, Jesse asked me if there was supposed to be water coming into the kayak. I turned around, and saw that in between us, the middle part of the kayak had sunken under the water, leaving Jesse in the water and I about two inches above. Additionally, the boat had begun to rock violently, as we struggled to maintain control. A split second later, the boat flipped and we found ourselves floating next to our sinking capsized Kayak in dark gray murky water above a shark-infested sandbar with our shark bait floating next to us.

I don’t know how many of you have ever really felt like your life has been in immediate danger, but what I felt at that moment was a sort of deep primal fear. We had gone against multiple warnings and had taken various steps that had escalated a seemingly innocent idea into a potentially life-threatening predicament. Now obviously we made it back safely and all is well. And you must be asking what does all this nonsense have to do with repentance?
Today I would like to talk to you about spiritual sharks. And to explain what I mean by spiritual sharks, I would like to read to you a passage in the Teachings of David O. McKay:
Take this rule: Now note—whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.

Now just as Jesse and I endangered our physical safety by not heeding warnings and not respecting the danger that sharks can present, we can put ourselves in danger spiritually when we allow ourselves to become vulnerable to spiritual sharks. Something that I acutely remember about that day is how terrified I was for my physical safety. The question that I have come to ask myself and challenge you all to ask yourselves is this: Do I feel that same sense of urgency for my spiritual welfare? By that I mean, is my spiritual well-being as real and as palpable as the concern I feel for my physical well-being?

To further illustrate this point, we can read from the prophet Joseph Smith:
We should take this warning and not wait for the death-bed to repent, as we see the infant taken away by death, so may the youth and the middle-aged, as well as the infant be suddenly called into eternity. Let this, then, prove as a warning to all not to procrastinate repentance, or wait till a death-bed, for it is the will of God that man should repent and serve Him in health, and in the strength and power of his mind, in order to secure his blessing, and not wait until he is called to die.

I’ve read that quote a few times in my life, but I’ve never felt, and when I say felt, I mean deep down in my heart, felt what death-bed repentance might feel like. Over that sandbar, those sharks felt very real, and all of my poor decision making that day had culminated to this point, a point where we had lost complete control leaving us utterly vulnerable to attack. So, how is it that two seemingly intelligent adults could end up in such a pitiful position? Likewise, how is it that a person with a strong testimony can fall prey to the spiritual sharks that lead to serious transgressions or even spiritual death?

The scriptures are riddled with great men lurking in treacherous territory who, on occasion, fall prey to their spiritual sharks. One of those men was King David of the Old Testament. Let us read from the Old Testament manual about the kind of man that David was:
Certainly David must be viewed as one of the greatest royal administrators. He never took to himself authority that was not his nor practiced unrighteous dominion. He never lost his perspective, as Saul did. His refusal to lift his hand against Saul because he was the Lord’s anointed is one of the finest examples of loyalty anywhere in the scriptures. Perhaps Jesus, in His office of Messiah, is constantly tied into David and his reign because David did three things for temporal Israel that typify what Christ will do for spiritual Israel. David united the twelve tribes into one nation under the ultimate leadership of God. For the first time in history, David succeeded in winning the whole extent of the Promised Land for the covenant people. And David established Zion or Jerusalem as the spiritual and political center of Israel.

Further we can read:
Nevertheless, no success can compensate for failure in our personal lives or in our families. Consider that David was destined for exaltation, destined to rule in heaven forever and ever as a Creator and a God to his future children. As the Lord said, there is no greater gift that He could offer a man than eternal life. David had it within his grasp, and then, in a foolish attempt to hide his sin, sent a man to his death. Had he even come to himself after his transgression with Bath-sheba and sought repentance sincerely and earnestly, there is every indication that he could have come back and received forgiveness. It would have been difficult, but not impossible. But he did the very thing of which so many are guilty—he compounded his sin by trying to cover it up.

So back to our question: how is it that a person with a strong testimony can fall prey to the spiritual sharks that lead to serious transgressions or spiritual death? This tragic story shows us that small sins, when left unchecked by repentance, leave us vulnerable to greater transgressions, which ultimately compound and lead to our destruction.

President Spencer W. Kimball furthers this point in The Miracle of Forgiveness:
Sin, like a journey, begins with the first step; and wisdom and experience teach that it is easier to resist the first temptation than later ones, when a pattern of transgression has begun to develop. This is demonstrated in the story of the lark. Sitting in the high branches of a tree safe from harm, he saw a traveler walking through the forest carrying a mysterious black box. The lark flew down and perched on the traveler’s shoulder. “What do you have in the little black box?” he asked.
“Worms,” the traveler replied.
“Are they for sale?”
“Yes, and very cheaply, too. The price is only one feather for a worm.”
The lark thought for a moment. “I must have a million feathers. Surely I’ll never miss one of them. Here is an opportunity to get a good dinner for no work at all.” So he told the man he would buy one. He searched carefully under his wing for a tiny feather. He winced a bit as he pulled it out, but the size and quality of the worm made him quickly forget the pain. High up in the tree again he began to sing as beautifully as before.
The next day he saw the same man and once again he exchanged a feather for a worm. What a wonderful, effortless way to get dinner!
Each day thereafter the lark surrendered a feather, and each loss seemed to hurt less and less. In the beginning he had many feathers, but as the days passed he found it more difficult to fly. Finally, after the loss of one of his primary feathers, he could no longer reach the top of the tree, let alone fly up into the sky. In fact he could do no more than flutter a few feet in the air, and was forced to seek his food with the quarrelsome, bickering sparrows.
The man with the worms came no more, for there were no feathers to pay for the meals. The lark no longer sang because he was so ashamed of his fallen state.
This is how unworthy habits possess us—first painfully, then more easily, until at last we find ourselves stripped of all that lets us sing and soar. This is how freedom is lost. This is how we become enmeshed in sin.

Serious sin enters into our lives as we yield first to little temptations. Seldom does one enter into deeper transgression without first yielding to lesser ones, which open the door to the greater. Giving an example of one type of sin, someone said, “An honest man doesn’t suddenly become dishonest any more than a clean field suddenly becomes weedy.”
It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the devil to enter a door that is closed. He seems to have no keys for locked doors. But if a door is slightly ajar, he gets his toe in, and soon this is followed by his foot, then by his leg and his body and his head, and finally he is in all the way.

This situation is reminiscent of the fable of the camel and his owner who were traveling across the desert sand dunes when a wind storm came up. The traveler quickly set up his tent and moved in, closing the flaps to protect himself from the cutting, grinding sands of the raging storm. The camel was of course left outside, and as the violent wind hurled the sand against his body and into his eyes and nostrils he found it unbearable and finally begged for entrance into the tent.
“There is room only for myself,” said the traveler.
“But may I just get my nose in so I can breathe air not filled with sand?” asked the camel.
“Well perhaps you could do that,” replied the traveler, and he opened the flap ever so little and the long nose of the camel entered. How comfortable the camel was now! But soon the camel became weary of the smarting sand on his eyes and ears, and he was tempted to ask again:
“The wind-driven sand is like a rasp on my head. Could I put just my head in?”
Again, the traveler rationalized that to acquiesce would do him no damage, for the camel’s head could occupy the space at the top of the tent which he himself was not using. So the camel put his head inside and the beast was satisfied again—but for a short while only.
“Just the front quarters,” he begged, and again the traveler relented and soon the camel’s front shoulders and legs were in the tent. Finally, by the same processes of pleading and of yielding, the camel’s torso, his hind quarters and all were in the tent. But now it was too crowded for the two, and the camel kicked the traveler out into the wind and storm.
Like the camel, Lucifer readily becomes the master when one succumbs to his initial blandishments. Soon then the conscience is stilled completely, the evil power has full sway, and the door to salvation is closed until a thorough repentance opens it again.

Spencer W. Kimball reminds us:
Since all of us sin in greater or lesser degree, we are all in need of constant repentance, of continually raising our sights and our performance. One can hardly do the commandments of the Lord in a day, a week, a month or a year. This is an effort which must be extended through the remainder of ones years.

Repentance is an on-going process by which we not only raise our sights and our performance, but also restore the protective armor of which the Lord spoke to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Doctrine and Covenants Section 27 verse 15:
Wherefore lift up your hearts and rejoice and gird up your loins and take upon you my whole armor, that you may be able to with stand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand.This protective armor is what protects us from the endless bombardment of potential spiritual sharks. My prayer today is that we may all recommit ourselves to continually raising our sights and our performance through repentance. Just as it was far too late for Jesse and I to alter our plans when our Kayak failed offshore, there will come a day in everyone’s life when it will be far too late to commit ourselves to the Lord. Additionally, I hope that each of us realize that we are never to far gone to begin the repentance process. King David had so many chances to turn to repentance before it was too late. Inversely, we should never feel that there is not need for repentance. No matter how innocent something seems, if it blunts our capacity to feel or reason righteously, we are need of repentance. I testify that repentance is a true principle, a strength, and a safeguard to spiritual sharks that might harm us. I bear with you my testimony that our Savior lives and that he loves us, in the ….

Welcome 9/17/06

2008-10-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of our long lost friends and welcome to our family! Inspired by Cole Yarrington and Chad Blodgett, we will engage in monthly blogging activities. We are currently residing in a residence hall at The University of Georgia, and we love it! If you are not aware, this is home of the #9 Football team in all the land...GO DAWGS! I don't want to discuss basketball, their old coachwho was LDS and broke lots of NCAA rules which ruined the program...bad missionary work. We are enjoying the deep south. We will be going to Savannah in the next couple of weeks and that should be very fun. I will be finishing my Masters in about 8 months when we hope to move to Washington (State) and work at Western Washington University (gorgeous hillside ocean-view) or The University of Washington.

On a more seasonal note, our favorite time of year is Fall. Halloween is coming up so you can expect a picture of my annual styrofome witch carving! Other wonderful things you can expect in future blogs are:

Robs athletic accomplishments
Shellies Recipe of the month
Kallies ridiculously cute pictures