Another Fun Weekend

This weekend, we went down to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We didn't leave until after dinner at In-N-Out (Miriam's favorite restaurant...she eat fries and a shake, no wonder it's her favorite.) We got into La Habra before 9pm though. Since we had a busy day coming up, we pretty much put the kids to bed and then put ourselves to bed. Jim and I left the house around 7am to head down to San Diego. A couple in our ward went through the temple for the first time and then were sealed to their son. It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad we were able to go. It was nice to be in the temple with friends from our ward and to continue that companionship in a holy place. Experiences like that get me excited for the spirit world and the millennium when we will all be working together for the same purpose in love and harmony.

After the temple, we drove out to the Ankeny's to hang for awhile. They were nice enough to feed us dinner (Justin makes an awesome pizza!) and we had a great time visiting, eating and rocking out to Rock Band. Again, I was really glad we were able to stop and see them, so fun! We made it back to my folks' by 10pm and pretty much fell into bed. My parents were great babysitters though; the girls stayed in their PJs until noon, colored, stamped, played, had a tea party (after they got dressed), watched movies, ate pizza and finished the evening with a bubble bath!!!

Sunday morning, we went to church. It was the 45th anniversary of the dedication of the ward building. The man who was bishop at the time the building was constructed, Bishop Taylor, had lived in the ward most of his life. He was much older when we moved in the ward, but we would visit him and his wife and sing for them often. He built model trains and he would turn on all his trains for us. He took up knitting as a hobby as he grew older and I still have a pair of socks he knitted for me and doily his wife crocheted for me. They have both passed on, but his son and wife now live in his house and are in my parents' ward. The son spoke in church and spent part of his time talking about the construction of the building. In those days, the ward was responsible to come up with the funds for the buildings; every activity he remembers was a fundraiser. They had dime-a-dip dinners, and sold Christmas cards during the holidays; when the land was purchased, they felled the trees on the property, chopped them up and made $300 to contribute selling it as firewood. So much time and effort by so many was put into this building. It held a special place in Bishop Taylor's heart and I have always loved the building because of that. He left a great legacy in the love and care he put into the construction of the building. I'm so glad I was able to hear some of those stories again, it touched my heart.

After church, we relaxed at Grandma's for a little while. I helped Jules with some of her math homework (I know I'm weird, but I miss math and it was fun to help her.) Lizzie put together a little program. She finally got us all gathered and proceeded to whisper our part to each of us. Basically, we were each supposed to sing a phrase from "Families Can Be Together Forever" but something got lost in translation. We managed to end by singing together and I think Lizzie was satisfied. Then we had the girls recite their parts from the program. Then Lizzie sang her verse from "Follow the Prophet". Then Mimi wanted to sing a song, so she sang, "The Night Before Thanksgiving" that she learned at school. Then Rachel wanted to sing a song. She got up there and just started singing, "I Am a Child of God" almost the whole way through!!! I had no idea she knew so much of that song. I had to prompt her once or twice (she has a short attention span) but she knew the whole song. It was beautiful and so sweet. A major thanks to Tara, who does singing time in nursery every week!

Grandpa (with some help from Grandma) cooked us a beautiful Sunday dinner of roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, oven baked carrots (my favorite), and salad. Then it was time to head home. Since I dozed most of the way home, we made good time. It was a great weekend!!! A huge thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for watching the girls for us. We really appreciated it!!