A simple testimony

Dreck the halls

I dunno — some of those lockers get awfully scary!

The squash is the thing

Just in case you were wondering how I feel about squash...

Sketchbook: Memorial Day

Whenever I think of Memorial Day, I remember walking through the cemetery in Spanish Fork with my dad. We'd stop at headstone after headstone, and he'd tell the story about the person who was buried there. I was amazed at his knowledge and memory. To him, they weren't just markers and memorials — they were people with stories, who lived real lives. He made them come alive.

I wished that I had paid better attention. He's there amongst them now, and I hope that his story won't be forgotten.

Remember your ancestors this Memorial Day. After all, they worked together to bring forth you!

Getting them ready

It strikes me as interesting that we say "getting names ready" for temple work. It's not just about names, numbers and documentation — it's about actual people who lived and died, laughed, loved, worked and worried just the same as you and me. 

The time is far spent

Seminary: it's serious business.

Advanced notice

Wouldn't it be great if kids came with gauges or dashboards to let you know right before they get too tired, hungry, bored or restless?

Warning! Warning!

They get a different kind of warning at our house, especially if I'm the one cooking!

Reading the signs

There's one in every Primary.

Sketchbook: Bo Peep

This seems more like something that would come from the Mormon Cartoonist. I couldn't find it anywhere in his collections. But just in case, I'm leaving it in the sketchbook.

And it's approved by the ADA

C'mon, don't tell me that you've never used a substitute when you've run out of stuff!

A night at the movies — with a purpose

The missionaries in our area were faced with a couple of concerns. One, there's a great misconception about what the Book of Mormon is and what it teaches, and two, members have had a challenge knowing how to share their testimonies of the Book of Mormon.

The elders were inspired. They came up with an idea to have ward members take a verse or a passage from the Book of Mormon and create a short video about it. The video is something that would be easy to share on social media. Showing a compilation of all the completed videos would also be a great excuse for a ward social!

Here's one that I did, repurposing an old cartoon. See what you think, and feel free to share!

I'm gonna let it shine

Actually, I think that Salt Lake City International Airport has specially calibrated sensors to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

And don't forget — you can follow Sis. Kerry Jo on Instagram @siskerryjo. It's relatively painless!

When a choice is placed before you

All you need

Maybe the number for the local Chinese take out?

Sketchbook: Thanks, Mom!

The missionaries for our ward came to our house to make their Mother's Day phone calls, plus we got our call from our missionary. It was like a great big family reunion!

Support your mother

It's not a Mother's Day cartoon (although I have many of those), but I think this shows the importance of loving and supporting one another through all of our trials. Just like a mom would do.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms — and to anyone who had a mom. You're awesome!

You think YOU have it rough...

I mean, that cuts out about half of our material! At least we still have the missionaries!

Pictured here (in clockwise order) are representations of the styles of Arie Van De Graaff at the chalkboard, Val Chadwick Bagley, Ryan Stoker, me, and "Honest" Jon Clark. Before you say anything (like, "What about Brian Crane?") there are many more Mormon cartoonists, but this is the gang of five who appear most often in the New Era.

Getting ready for Mother's Day

Only when necessary

Guess who didn't get an email this week?

Plus you get special plates

As I sent my boy out to the mission field, he asked me this question. I found it just a little bit unnerving.

Sketchbook: Choose wisely

There are those who judge people by where they sit in Church. Good thing the Lord doesn't!

One of those days

We all have them from time to time. And they're often better with ice cream!

We forced some of these

Yeah, it's Star Wars Day! Once again we've taken liberties with the latest Star Wars movie and turned them into messages about being safe in work zones (because May is Work Zone Safety Awareness Month, don't you know).

That should do it with our public service messages for now. We'll return to our regularly scheduled program tomorrow! Be careful out there, and may the force be with you!

I may add one of the videos as well...

A rose by any other name

One of the other holidays that came and went was Talk Like Shakespeare Day!

While we were out...

So we missed a couple of major holidays while we celebrated our 10 years last month. Perhaps foremost amongst these was Haiku Day. Rather than use just plain ol' haikus, however, we gave ours a little "Princess Bride" twist!

This never happened with home teaching!

With home teaching, it was pretty much straightforward: in the home once a month, Boom! You're done. With ministering, it may not be so clear cut. Of course, even with home teaching some people still got the wrong message.