It's in Their Genes ...

Little Zach's middle name is Bryce, after my dad. We're learning more and more what a fitting name choice that was -- everything from the hair that flips in the back to his strong will, from his stance when he stands, to a new stance we discovered last week -- his golf stance! I grumblingly (yes, it's a word) obliged to a mini golf outing with cousins, not super excited or hopeful for how it would go based on past experiences. To my complete surprise, Zach was mesmerized by the experience!  He had a very "me do it" attitude the whole time, but let me show him how to hold the club, and he even made two holes in one! Seriously! Looks like he's truly his grandpa's namesake!

Eliot takes after his "Peppy" (Grandpa McEuen) in different ways. He shares Peppy's avid love of reading and devours books almost as quickly as my dad does. He also loves to ride horses, which probably comes from those McEuen cattle rancher genes, too! At Farm Country last week, Eliot unabashedly chose the biggest horse and grinned the whole time he rode. Looks like Lehi's getting into his blood!

And as for this inherited trait, I won't mention that my dad's spent a night (or more?) in jail ... I was of course referring to my Dad's and Grant's connection to helping keep people out of jail! Right?

 

No matter what ways my boys take after my dad, I' m proud to have them inherit some of his traits! We've been learning some really need things about family history in our ward lately, including this quote shared by our home teacher, "Hearts before charts," meaning that we have to turn children's hearts to their fathers before they will truly gain the desire to fill out pedigree charts and do the "work" of family history. Brother Brown has shared with us some very touching videos exemplifying how stories about our family and ancestors is what turns our hearts to them and plants within us the desire to perform their temple work.  I want my boys to know about their grandparents and relatives so that they can better understand themselves, even if it's the simple interests and skills they inherited -- their passion for golf, their love of horses, their interest in the law ... these are all things that have been passed down to them and make them who they are.