Temple Tour

With the completion of the Utah Draper Temple, we had opportunity to attend the open house. Jason's parents received a number of tickets for the entire extended family, so we enjoyed the experience together.

Because it was a Saturday evening, it was quite busy, and it was a long time of waiting, shuttling, and standing in lines through a length of tents before we even set foot into the building. All the young children did relatively well considering the lateness of the hour and the time spent standing on their feet, but a promise of cookies and miniature water bottles at the conclusion of the tour seemed to make it more bearable.

The temple itself was remarkably elegant, as all temples are. I was most impressed with the baptismal font, the murals in two of the endowment rooms, and, of course, the massive chandelier in the Celestial room. It was all so lovely!

As we neared the end, Brevin exclaimed, "That was the coolest tour ever!" I'm glad he seemed to enjoy it as much as I did!

picture taken at the reception in the chapel adjacent to the temple

This post authored by Amber

Will You Be My Valentine?

I think it's a well known fact that we love holidays at our home. Perhaps the festivities are made that much more memorable because of our family traditions. I like to think so, anyway!

We like to got out to eat as a family the night before Valentine's day in an effort to avoid the masses. This year, Jason and I couldn't decide on a location, so we narrowed it down to a list of nearby restaurants and allowed the boys to choose. The result: dinner at IHOP. It turned out to be an excellent choice, because they had this incredible Valentine special for two that was, well, incredible! The boys got pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. They couldn't have been more delighted.

For the actual morning of Valentine's day, we ate our traditional breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes and strawberry syrup. This was a favorite childhood memory of my own. My mother always did that for us. Another thing my mother did was make pink, heart-shaped Rice Krispy treats. That was what I always gave to my friends for Valentine's treats. I love that my boys now do the same for their friends.

A tradition that we have started on our own has been ordering heart-shaped pizzas. Usually we eat them for dinner with some sparkling cider, but we were making deliveries today that made it more logical for lunch. At the last minute, we decided to swing by McDonald's for dinner, because nothing says, "I love you!" more to my boys than allowing them to get a Happy Meal! I don't know if that's going to be a new tradition, though. I can just imagine Jason telling people, "Yeah, I took my wife to McDonald's on Valentine's Night." I wonder what their response would be.

With all of the gluttonous behavior and over consumption of sugared foods, I'm glad that Jason and I gave each other a treadmill for Valentine's Day. I think I've got a couple of laps to run!

This post authored by Amber

And Just Like That...

...Garrett Turned Nine Months!

At his doctor's appointment, Garrett barely tipped the scales at 16 lbs. 10 oz. which placed him in the 3rd percentile for weight. However, at 29 inches long, he can boast 76th percentile. When I explained that he is up to three meals, snacks, and continued nursing, Dr. Michalek simply stated, "He will just always be one of those boys who can eat anything he wants and not gain weight." That sounds like Nirvana to me!

So what is new in Garrett's life? His latest milestone is that he is finally sleeping through the night! (Okay, that is not really true, but I am trying to send a "message to the universe" as advised in some book that I haven't even read)! Here's what he's actually done. Not long after he hit eight months, he mastered sitting independently-my favorite stage of all time (not yet mobile, yet content to enjoy the world from a new perspective off of Mommy's hip). It didn't last long, though. Two weeks ago he started to army crawl. To compensate for this new development, I confine him to sitting in his high chair with the occasional handful of Cheerios tossed his way. That keeps him happy enough...until I leave the room.

Garrett loves to observe his brothers and has learned that their main form of communication in our household appears to be loudly voiced, so he squeals and screams and has occasional spastic outbursts (usually when we are all at the dinner table together), and that gets the rest of us in a fit of giggles. Other than that, he is still his quiet and contented self, and he is great when it comes to traveling in the car (an absolute necessity, with all the errands I run with him in tow). Yeah, he's a great baby...but seeming more like a boy every day!


This post authored by Amber