Draper Temple Open House

Last night we went to the Draper Temple Open House. I LOVE temples, and it is so much fun to go tour the whole building. This is the 4th temple open house I have been able to attend, but the first time I have had children to take with me. I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Ammon about temples and more than that, for him to have the chance to feel what it is like to be in a temple. We went from room to room pointing to the various pictures of Jesus that hung on the wall. Of course we always see that when we patron the temple, but it was nice to see the consistency of it and realize that He is represented in EVERY room and EVERY hall. Truly the temple is built as a House of the Lord.

We were not able to take pictures inside of the temple, but on the way in they had this example of what the exterier of the temple was made out of.

After the tour, they had some disaplays set up in the church next to the temple. Ammon enjoyed this map which had a pin representing each temple in the world.

I have so many wonderful memories and experiences involving temples. More than anything, I treasure the peace that I always feel when I am there. The movie they showed at the Houston Temple Open House had a song which has always touched me. It says:

I can feel the power of Heaven

As I stand on holy ground

And the Spirit whispers what I long to learn

Eyes are touched with understanding

I have strength beyond my own

It's a place I reach for Heaven

And it reaches in return

I can't think of a better explanation of the temple than that.

Geo Trax and Nap Time

A few weeks ago Andy mentioned that it would be fun to combine our Geo-Trax set with Grandma's and make an amazingly HUGE track. Ammon got wind of that idea and literally spent days begging to do it. So last week when Andy came home early from work due to a dentist appointment, we decided to pool our resources and see what we could come up with. It is an undertaking I will not volunteer for again anytime soon. It took over an hour to construct our track! We built a triple level bridge, though, and that was cool. And, as always, even though it was such a huge job, we wished for more track - I especially wish we could have built more underneath the big bridge.

In the middle of all of this, it was time for Peter to go down for a nap. Andy volunteered to take him down. It was quiet, but after not hearing from Andy for a while, I went looking. This is what I found:

Usually I enjoy playing Geo-Trax with the boys, but I have to admit, I felt a little but gyped. I was so exhausted and would have loved a nap like that. Oh well, to be fair, it seems like Peter pretty much hasn't slept since then - and Andy is the one who has taken the brunt of that. I guess I can't complain after all.

The other day Ammon brought me one of his transformers so I could help him get into "vehicle mode" and I just had to pause to relish in the fun of having boys. Although my heart sometimes longs for a daughter, I sure do enjoy my two boys. If not for them I wouldn't get to play Geo-Trax and Transformers all day. And seriously - those are some fun toys!

Last Week

The holidays are over and it seems that the camera was put away with the decorations - I haven't gotten it out much. It has been a fun and busy week.

Ammon is back to school, which is fun, although I enjoyed the break this year.

Andy is back to working days, which is nice. It's great to have him around for dinner and bedtime again. It changes my day, though, and I am still getting used to it. I clean a lot more and blog a lot less. I am up earlier in the morning, and more tired at night.

Peter has been struggling to sleep well this week, which has also been exhausting. Fortunately he hasn't really gotten sick - he has just seemed to be on the brink of illness all week.

My days have flown by with Ammon spending the mornings in school, afternoons of visits and play-dates, and then Andy home by 3:30. It's been fun.

I was hoping to start school tomorrow, but it didn't work out - a major devestation to me. That is definitely the low point of the week. Oh - and remember me talking about how horrible it is to call the mom of the nursery child in as the nursery leader - well, I'm her co-teacher. That happened today. There are three teams of teachers so it will only be once or twice a month. And since there are only two kids on the roll, it should be easy. Although there are two other kids that will be joining us in the next couple of months and I am thinking we should just tell their parents to bring them in now.

Have a great week and hopefully I'll post again sooner than later.

Awesome Grandma

My Grandma is awesome and inspiring. She is an amazing woman that is everything good a Grandma should be and more. Part of the "more" is her awesome love for technology. Several years ago she strengthened our extended family unity by introducing us to the concept of a family website. And as an fantastic digital scrapbooker, one of the fun things on that site is that she makes us all scrapbook pages that she uses as banners on the site. We ALWAYS get a page for any special occassion such as our birthday or anniversary, and even on some random days when she just wants to make a cute page like this one. It is something that we all look forward to and are constantly impressed with the newest technique she has learned or is trying out. She is a great example to me that it is never too late to learn more and enjoy what you do. Thanks Grandma!

Fast Sunday

These cookies make my mouth water any day of the week, but I can't believe that my crazy husband (and his devoted assistant) made these on Fast Sunday - during the fast! I could never have done it - I would have popped a bite of something into my mouth. But Andrew - he has discipline that I cannot comprehend and did not eat them until after church when we broke our fast.

The cookies were made for Peter to take in the treat bucket in nursery. Now that we've started the new year, Peter's nursery class has two people in it. He is the older one as the second person in the class had her first official day today. With the new year, however, came lots of primary changes, and somehow nursery fell through the cracks and no teacher even showed up! That made church more adventurous than necessary! Oh well, more cookies for us at home. Oh, and did I mention that one of the new nursery leaders is the mother to the little girl who started nursery today! Poor woman! She spent 18 months counting down the time when she could go childless at church, only to get called to continue to take care of the child during church!

After church we had some snuggle time and Andrew tried yet again to convince me that football is worth my time. Hmmm... Still not buying it. But Peter had a fun time snuggling up with Daddy and watching the game. Peter is getting so good at so many words these days, but I love that one of his best and first words is snuggle! He loves to snuggle and will often bring a blanket and tell you that is what he wants to do. So cute!

When Ammon was a lot younger, he slept in this Fire Truck toddler bed. He was a very claustraphobic baby which is why we put him into a toddler bed as young as we did (vs the crib) and he wasn't much older than two when we put him on a twin because he got claustraphobic in this bed. So I have no idea what is going on here! Last night Peter slept on the "big bed" (Ammon's bed) and Ammon slept in the Fire Truck bed. And now tonight I find them both piled on this tiny little toddler bed together! I kind of get it, though. Siblings can be a security blanket. When I was little I remember most nights sleeping with at least three other people on my twin bed, and sometimes not only were Katy, Joey, and Danny there, but the golden lab was there too! So, I guess my boys come by it naturally.

All Sorts of Fun

Peter stirred the soup and Ammon helped me make the Patty Melts after Andrew grilled the hamburgers. I LOVE cooking as a family.

Today was a day where we all went our separate ways and we all enjoyed what we did (even Andrew who got the F350 stuck in the snow and had to dig it out). I had the chance to hang out with my awesome friend Amanda. We spent several hours together just chatting, but I felt like I still needed hours more just to catch up. I took my camera over there determined to get a picture of us together, but got so wrapped up in talking with her that the thought never even crossed my mind. (And seriously, when do I not remember to pull the camera out?)

Andrew was helping get some things moved from my mom's house to Katy's house. He took the boys with them and they were able to play with the cousins while he got the truck stuck, unstuck it, and eventually even accomplished the original task of unloading things.

The fun thing about getting stuck in the snow was that Andrew had no idea how long it would take him to get out of it. So he called in to work and just told him he would be out for the entire day. Whoo hoo! In the end, he got called in to close the call center tonight since the other manager isn't there, but he only has to go in for these last two hours, so I'll take it.

We were still able to play all day in our various activities, have a nice dinner, get the kids to bed, and go out on a spontaneous date before Andrew had to go. Now I am ready for bed and my husband will be back by my side before I know it.

He's a Morning Person

In my last post I failed to mention that we finished the night off by inviting Katy over to be our 4th player, and Andrew, Dad, Katy and I played a couple of games of hearts. She brought two of her kids with her (Kylie stayed home sick) and we had a great time. Hearts is my all-time FAVORITE card game and I LOVE playing with my family. We got so wrapped up in the fun we were having that we forgot to worry about bedtime for the kids (something Katy and I are both pretty strict about). The kids were up a good 2+ hours past their bed time, but as usual, Peter was awake bright and early. This morning he wanted a bath. And even though he is running on less sleep than normal, his smile is brighter than ever!

New Years Day

I started the year off right - sleeping in while my husband made me a fantastic breakfast! How spoiled am I?


I then lounged around the house in my pajamas all day getting killed at Gin Rummy. (Kind of sad, but it's a tradition - I always lose when I play my dad. It's ok - I win everyone else...)

I enjoyed watching as the tradition of holiday puzzles with my Dad turned into my son enjoying holiday puzzles with Grandpa. That was a sweet moment.

And of course we finished the day with another great meal from Andrew. I love it when he is around to cook. It's what he loves to do with his time off, and we all LOVE it when he has time off.

I'm well fed and relaxed and excited for 2009!

Learning to Grill

Andrew is an awesome griller. I especially love his chicken! It works out for us that not only do we love to eat what he grills, but he loves to cook on the grill! So much that he will brave the snow to do it. Ammon enjoyed the opportunity to study under the master griller and learn the art of amazing terriaki chicken. It was delicious!