Temple, Temple, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

My sister's and I would sing this chant whenever we would drive by the Salt Lake Temple. I remember wondering what it would be like to go inside. This past week we were able to go to the open house for the Rexburg Temple. The weeks preceding our visit we spent our Family Home Evenings dicussing what the boys would be seeing and the purpose of the temple. We also discussed the dedication, and explained only those who had been baptized could go. Poor Jared was so sad that he couldn't go but we explained to him the reasons and that when he turned 8 there would be another temple he could go to the dedication for.(Oquirrh Hills) As the days came closer Isaac and Bennett were getting excited but Jared kept saying, "no, I don't get to go." Now as most of you know Jared is a big teaser, so I know a lot of this was teasing, but I was still concerned he thought he didn't get to come to the temple. Finally on the night we were to go Jackson told him we would take him blindfolded if we had too. Later on as we started up the walkway towards the temple I smiled down and said, "See they let you in." He just smiled that smile of his back. What a wonderful experience, I tried to point out the colors and different pictures so they could remember some of the things they saw. It was nice to tell them that this was where dad and mom would be when we went to the temple. The best part was in the celestial room, it was amazing to have all of us there together, we stood in a group and hugged each other. Later I contemplated the experience with Jared. What a great responsibility we have as parents to teach our children that Heavenly Father does want them to be with him and that by making right choices we can. I haven't been to a temple dedication since the Jordan River temple so am very excited to go with the boys and Jackson. How lucky we are to be able to be apart of this.

Bucket List

So my sister recently wrote on her blog about her bucket list. I don't know if you've seen the commercial for the movie called the bucket list, but when I saw it got me thinking about my list. When I saw my sisters list I thought it was a fun idea to share mine. I think I'll be a copy cat though and tell some of things I've done first (like my sister did)

Seen King Tut's tomb and Pyramids
Volunteered for 2002 Olympics
Mom of 3 great boys
survived growing up in a house of 5 girls
Rode first class to England (where Boy George almost walked in on me while I was changing in the bathroom)
Swam with 6 foot stingrays
have been 10 feet away from a humpback whale and calf watched as they breached out of water Went Salmon fishing on the Kenai (Alaska)
Have seen the Northern Lights
Met President Kimball
have had frozen hot choclate at Serendipity's (new york)
Rode on a trolley down St Charles st (New orleans)
Helped build the Heber C Kimball house at This is the Place
Was a Ma on a pioneer handcart trek
Have been in the top of the Washington Monument
Went to San Francisco to have lunch on the bay for a day
Have seen Pungent Sound in Seattle



My Bucket List

Learn how to play the piano
go on safari in Kruger park, see the penguins in Capetown South Africa
See the Indian Ocean
Learn how to photoshop
Go on a girls trip with my sisters and mom
Go on a cruise
See the Eifel Tower
go to Israel walk where Christ walked
Go on mission with my husband
Be in a play
Be in shape
go to every continent (have been to 4)
Help support a charity
Do some Humantarian work
Be a fun mom/grandma
See as many of the Temples as I can
Go on a Hike with my husband
Pay off my mortgage by the time I'm 55
Learn how to cut hair
Do a tree for the Fesival of trees as an Adult
Go to the Oprah Winfrey show
Make a difference in the life of a child (other then my own)

We're Back!!!

We just got back from a great holiday vacation. We were able to spend Christmas and New Year's in Utah. It was so nice being back in familar surroundings. It flew by so fast. The boys were spoiled by Santa and other relatives. It was nice being able to visit. We also went sledding at Sugar House park and just had fun spending time together. I was worried about how my Christmas would go because it is the first year I've been without my parents, but as much as I missed them we really had a nice day, it was fun carrying on traditions and adding a few from Jackson's family. We spent Christmas Eve at Jackson's parents house, where the kids had a great time waiting for Santa with their cousins. Jackson's poor sister was awakened at 4:30 a.m.by the kids begging to be allowed to go upstairs, where we were sleeping peacefully. We were awakened at 6:00 a.m. by a loud yell of "WAKE UP." After presents we had our yummy ham puff and french hot choclate. We then went to my sisters house where I kicked her butt at the Wii game boogie. We then were able to visit with my aunt and then went to the hospital to visit with Jackson's brother and wife who gave birth to their little girl the day before. Well I took down Christmas decor yesterday (what a sad day) but have some great memories. Enjoy the pics!