Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Rexburg Temple


new Rexburg Temple. Dad got us tickets quite a while ago and yesterday was the last night it was open to the public. Dad actually got extra tickets incase our neighbors the McConeghy's wanted to go. They had already gone with her family so the three of us went up. It was a great night and a wonderful experience. Alisha couldn't remember going to the Open House of the Medford Temple so it was all new to her.
It's a beautiful temple inside and out but I was stunned by it's appearance from a distance. It sits high on a hill above Rexburg and you can see it for miles down the road. It's amazingly bright and shines like a striking "white, ice castle". I'm sure it will be regarded as a constant reminder of the closeness of the Lord to all who see it there. I tried to take some pictures before we got there but was having trouble. I don't know if it was the cold or my camera but mostly the pictures were blurred and although it was still beautiful you could define what was temple and what was light. However, I was able to get a few that give you a better idea of how beautiful it really is.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Two In a Row

I hate to brag but when you have two days off of work in a row, what can you say? Yes, I'm actually sitting in my bed with my laptop on my lap checking my emails, etc. Now, don't get too jealous. I was up at 5:30 with my bed made and my hair and face done before I got the call. It was -18* with a slight wind making it -32*. People who love little children declared it "too cold to go to school" and so you have it. We had to stay home today. That is, Alisha and I are home although Alisha did have her piano lesson at 7:00. Dad took her and then brought her back home and she's been asleep ever since. Poor Dad, he had to go to work at the Family History Center. I guess they don't have too many little children standing around outside their doors. He'll be home at 1:00 and then we'll all play again. It's still -12* but it's sunny and looks beautiful out there.

Will, don't do anything drastic. Working for the government is not always a wise choice. And Sitani can you come dance with me?
PS. Tomorrow and Thursday I'll have to work until 8:00 PM. No, not to make up for the day off but because it's Parent/Teacher Conferences and yes, then I get Friday off. Oh well, I'll just have to deal with it. '-)

Monday, January 21, 2008

A Great Day Off



It's mid January and I awoke this morning to a day off of work. I'm using one of my two comp days that I worked in August to have this very special mid-January day at home. I have to say that I didn't wake up as early as usual and I didn't get up right when I woke up. That's half the fun of a day off. I was planning to take the Toyota into the dealership and get the oil changed etc. However, Dad offered to take it in for me so I could stay home for the morning. It was a wonderful surprise that I throughly enjoyed and appreciated.
Even better when he came home he had another surprise for me. I'll try to add a picture but just incase I can't do it without Grace around, I'll tell you. He brought me home a dozen red roses and a bottle of diet Pepsi. Now, could you even ask for more?
We went to Home Depot to look for some good weather stripping for the kitchen door and then to Macy's to visit Tessha. We're home now and just waiting for the others so we can have some dinner.
But, you have to admit, it was a very good day off. '-)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Cheers

I have to admit I'm feeling much better. I came home from work and sat down to pay a few bills. It was not very fun nor fulfilling so I switched to reading blogs. Now I feel much better and can finish the task at hand. Ain't it grand? Thank's for the lift everyone.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Just keep trying

I LOVE your blogs. It's Sunday morning and since we go to church at 1:00 now, I use this time to catch up on all the blogs. I've done this for a couple of weeks and I've actually written comments to each of you but for some silly reason I can't remember my username or my password in order to post the comments. I think I may have worked it out just now but we are promising anything.
Anyway, I just couldn't close out of the internet again and not tell each of you how proud I am of you; how impressed I am with you; how I admire and appreciate each of you; how I think of you each day; how you make me laugh and cry at the same time; and how much I LOVE you. So..
I resorted to my own blog just to tell you that. I do love you and I hope you know it. Everyone of you!!!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

West Yellowstone Trip

The Last Day of Vacation

Ok, on the first day of vacation I started a blog so on the last day of vacation I think I'll try to add some pictures. (Don't tell anyone, but I already tried to add pictures and lost the first 2nd blog). I'll try again. I may not be as smart as the rest of you, but I don't usually give up trying. Even Dad says I'm a very "trying" person.

Enough of that. Back to adding pictures. We had such a blast at Christmas with Haini, Kristi, Sitani and Marley here. They came up on Sunday night and we got everything ready for Christmas Eve dinner with Penny and Dave's family and then Christmas morning. Hopefully, you'll see a few of those pictures with this blog. Hopefully, this blog won't disappear when I try to add them. I'll become more confident as I find success with this.




The most different thing about Christmas morning this year was that we were all awake and up before the children; meaning Marley and Sitani. Alisha had a hard time waiting for us to start. After all, she's been the baby of the family for quite a while now. However, we were able to unwrap almost everything before Seth called home. It was wonderful to speak with him again and to find out for real that his Christmas gifts didn't make it for Christmas. We did find out though that one of them was sent to his old Mission Home and was probably sitting in the PO there since they couldn't deliver it to that address. The other package is probably on a slow boat to China. That's going to make it a bit harder to get it to Germany. Let's just hope they send them both back here and then we can start again. After all, he'll have a birthday in April.


On Wednesday we packed up the cars and headed north in a blizzard. Sounds good, doesn't it. Actually, the blizzard had come on Friday night around 5:00 and didn't stop until around 5:00 Saturday night. With the wind blowing we had to wonder if they'd cancel Church on Sunday but nope it was was a beautiful, crisp Sunday morning that greeted us. However, the roads were so deep that it was hard getting around. They didn't plow our area until after Christmas so we felt "snowed in" even though we weren't. The roads to West Yellowstone were snow packed and very slick. Dad took the lead in the Old Faithful van and Haini followed with Big Blue and we made it just fine. Daniel and Dalynn came in later and although it was dark when they got there, they were all safe, too.



So we soaked in the hot tubs, did some window shopping, bought some french fries and sunglasses, hugged a bear and froze off our noses and had a blast!! We had so much food between us all that there was no getting rid of it quickly. We did have a big dinner all together on Thursday night which put a slight dent it it and then we played in the pool and hot tub again.

The sad new was that on Friday Haini and Kristi had to head home. The good news was that Daniel & Dalynn would be staying a few more days. They actually were able to come to Church with us and Mika came to the nursery with Granma. They headed home on Tuesday and right off I can't even remember Monday.

I've visited with Kelly, Julia, and Granma as they came up for New Years Eve. We all went to a show (National Treasure- The Book of Secrets- or something like that) on Tuesday and I'd be lying if I told you that we all stayed up to welcome in the New Year. I will admit to waking up several times waiting for the Apple to fall in New York and than again as they celebrated 2008 in our own time zone. However, it is all a bit fuzzy at this point.

Now, for adding pictures to this monologue. Perhaps I should save this first because I'll never be able to re-creat it again. I realize that this alone could easily delete any possibility of actually adding pictures but what I have is better than having nothing at all, so here goes.