Member Spotlight: Sprowls Family

                    Hello HB4th Ward!  We are the Sprowls Family.  We have lived in the Ward for a little over nine years.  Wow I can’t believe it’s been that long!  It just means that I am getting really old, haha!!! But I am!

                Matt and I met in October, 1987 a few months after we both graduated from high school. 

                        After just six months of dating, Matt asked me to marry him. I said yes but my dad’s only request was that we wait a year to actually get married because we were, in his eyes, very young so we tied the knot on September 16, 1989. 

                        We were married in a “totally 80s” civil ceremony complete with big hair, pink and purple eye shadow and even floral bridesmaid dresses with matching hats! Ugh!  Matt and I settled into married life by moving into our newly purchased condominium in the San Fernando Valley.  We were both working full time while attending school.

                         I was not a member of the church and Matt was less active at that time.  We were happy and enjoying married life together.  We did a lot of traveling and enjoyed spending time with family and friends.  About five years into our marriage we started talking about having kids and a year later William was born on March 19, 1995. 

                        I was working as an Assistant Manager for Express at the time and my parents were recently retired and living in the Palmdale area.  So when the opportunity came up to be transferred to a store in Palmdale, Matt and I moved and my parents became William’s full time daycare providers. This was a great time for Will and my parents.  He kept them young and he built a bond with them that is very special to this day.  We lived in Palmdale for about five years before moving to Orange County in 1999. 

                        We were very excited to move because we had purchased our own business. This was such a thrilling time for our little family.  We settled down in Westminster where we purchased a home.  Little did I know how thrilling this move would be.  It all started one afternoon when Matt was outside, I thought,  taking care of some household repairs.  But to my surprise he was out talking to these two boys on bikes dressed in suits.  I didn’t know who they were and what were they doing talking to Matt.  He invited them in and introduced them to me as missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

                        I knew that Matt always had a testimony of the church even when he was not active and all it took for him to jump back in with both feet was this meeting with these two young men.  They could not have ridden by during a more perfect time in our lives.  We were both ready for a change.  I had not been attending the church in which I grew up for quite some time and Matt was ready to begin making some improvements in his life, as well.  He started making positive changes and encouraged me to begin taking the missionary lessons, so I did. 

                        I look back on those discussions with such fondness.  This was a wonderful time in all of our lives!  William absorbed everything we were taught. This is where he developed a love for the Nauvoo Temple and began a special friendship with our Stake President, David Lewis whose daughter was taking part in the building of the temple.  We even took a trip for him to see the temple during the open house before the dedication. 

                        I decided to be baptized while I was pregnant with Amanda. She was born on February 10, 2001 and I was baptized on April 28, 2001.  It was a great day! But an even better day came a year later when Matt and I received our Endowments and were sealed to our children in the Los Angeles Temple.  I will never forget the joy I felt when Will and Amanda were brought into the room and we became an eternal family.  A year later I was pregnant again!  We needed more space, so we made another move to Huntington Beach.  Joseph was born on October 8, 2003 and we have been here ever since!

                        William is 17 years-old and a senior in high school.  He has always loved playing sports!  He has played football since he was 8 years-old and has played baseball since he was five.  He holds a Utah State Baseball Record for throwing 21 strike outs in a seven inning game!  He is an Eagle Scout and it has been a pleasure watching him grow into a fine young man despite some difficult times.  He has a strong testimony of the gospel and it has been a blessing to see his growth in the gospel over the past year and-a-half.  He is looking forward to serving a mission sooner than we all thought, haha!!!

                        Amanda is 11 years old and just started middle school, yikes!!!  She loves to cheer and has been cheering for Huntington Beach Pop Warner since she was five years old.  Right now she is working very hard on landing her back handspring!  She also does hula and her favorite dances are the ones that involve using Poi Balls.  She can’t wait to begin in the Young Women’s Orgainization next year and is looking forward to going to girls’ camp in the summer. 

                        Joseph is 9 years old and is in the 3^rd grade.  He loves to ride his skateboard and is working very hard on landing his “ollie”!  He drops into the big bowl at Volcom Skate Park and if he could be anywhere, it would be there! He loves going to Cub Scouts and enjoys anything that has to do with Legos. He likes to build his Legos and then send videos of his creations to his brother in UtahJ