A beautiful experience

Today Faith and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication. It was a special experience to share with my beautiful daughter. They talked a lot to the children there and how special it is that they are worthy to enter the holy temple, and how we as parents want with all our hearts to see our children stay worthy so that they can always enter the temple. It is true. I can't wait for the day that all my children can gather around me inside the temple. This was the 5th temple dedication I have attended, and the second I have had the opportunity to attend with my lovely daughter. It is such an amazing experience and only further strengthens my testimony of the sacredness of temples and how blessed we are to have them on the earth today. I never can get through the whole song "The Spirit of God" without tearing up and crying.

Mother Daughter Activity

Friday night we had a really fun mother/daughter date for Achievement Days. We did each other's hair and makeup and nails. Faith turned out to be a pretty good makeup artist. The nails needed a little work, but it was a really fun night!! I am so glad I have a daughter! A lot of drama, but so much fun!

Back to School

I thought I would post a few pictures of Faith and Gavin on their first day of school. They were both pleasantly surprised to find out that they each got the teachers they wanted. They started to get nervous Wednesday evening, but thank heavens for the power of the priesthood. I took the kids over to Grandpa's house and he gave them each a blessing to comfort them. They went to bed feeling excited and woke up with that same excitement, in fact, Faith (who we have to pry out of bed in the morning) was up at 7:00 on Thursday and couldn't wait to go to school. They were both pleasantly surprised to find good friends in their classes, and I was very grateful! They both came home happy. Gavin came home and when I asked who was in his class, he told me a few boys and then said, "and the girl I sit by is really pretty." He is growing up. I can't quite believe I have a 4th grader now, or that my little Brayden starts Kindergarten in a few days. He is so excited! He really wanted to go on Thursday with the older kids.

Teaching my kids to cook

It is an interesting experience teaching my kids to cook. I love that they want to learn how to develop new talents and have such an interest in learning new things. It is fun to see them cook though. Faith made breakfast a couple days ago and Gavin made dinner yesterday. They were so proud of themselves. I love being a mom!

Church

This past Sunday Faith was the reverent child in Primary. What this means is that they stand in front with a picture of Jesus as the kids come into Primary and then they have the opportunity to share their favorite story from the scriptures and then share their testimony. She got a little nervous, but it is always neat to hear your child share their testimony. It is a special thing.
Along the lines of church, a few months ago Gavin was struggling with wanting to go to church. He told me he didn't like going to church and then he said "Do you think Heavenly Father would help me want to go to church again?" He has been praying to help him to like church and thanking Heavenly Father for church, and a few weeks ago he told me that he really likes church and is happy when we go. He definitely believes in the power of prayer, and that is wonderful to see.

Pictures from our camping trip

Camping, swimming, fishing, boating and lost keys....good times!

We had a great time camping with our fantastic friends, the Hardy's! The kids all love the outdoors, so they were in heaven, and having their best friends with them just made everything better. We went up just past Strawberry Reservoir at Aspen Grove Campground. We rented a boat and had a lot of fun taking the kids out on the water. Doug tried to get out with the kids on an island, but there was a little problem with that, he left me to drive the boat back. Wow, bad idea. I freaked out! Faith turned out to be a better driver than me. She actually did really well. Still, we all had a lot of fun! It is always funny camping, because even with it being 102 degrees during the day, it was freezing at night. Thank heavens for warm sleeping bags, and lots of kids to cuddle with.