best 4 hours of my week

What a great Monday we had this week. We were up at 6 AM to be to the dentist by 7 -- which was really 5 AM due to time change -- ouch. No major issues at the dentist -- kids ate cinnamon rolls on the way to school, (dentist = cinnamon rolls?) anyway, then we were back at school to pick them up for the day at 11:15.

On to our second sack meal in the car for the day, we were off to the temple. What is it about heading to the temple? To do work for yourself, for someone else, to clean, to tour, it always seems to make me anxious -- thinking about all the other stuff I need to be doing. I always make a conscious effort to remember that it's the adversary trying to stop us from doing what it so important -- keeping families together. After my snide comment that we could make the choice to just go to IKEA since we hadn't been there yet, we made the choice to continue toward the temple.

Side note: I have a blogging friend who has a word for each year. This year her word is "choose." Isn't that what our lives and the gospel of Jesus Christ is about -- it's up to us. k- back to the temple.:)

We arrived at our designated Chapel barely on time and changing the boys clothes in the car, only to find that we were going to sit in the cultural hall for about 30 minutes before we got to go to the chapel and watch a short video on temples, specifically the Draper Temple. Gavin insisted that he had done this before. We were so frustrated with him, telling him "no you haven't, we haven't even done this before" He insisted, so we caved. "Okay, Gavin, yes you have done this before" Maybe he remembered something we didn't? Wouldn't be the first time. What a great opportunity to learn more about temples and why and how they are built. I felt the spirit just as we were sitting there with our amazingly quiet children. They were feeling the spirit too -- although Garrett refuses to admit it--it's all good, we know he felt peace.

Another side note: Gavin remembered touring the conference center in SLC, close, and sorry Gavin -- you really weren't lying.

Soon as the movie was over we were off --- oh, no wait, there was more waiting at that point -- we waited for the Sister Missionaries to come back in and direct us to our bus. Philip ran to the car to get our camera so we could take a picture of our family outside the temple because we knew there was no photography allowed inside the temple. Our kids got restless, I was worried.

Okay, now we were off on a bus to the temple. It was a cold snowy day and you could barely see the temple through the clouds on the mountain. It was beautiful from afar -- I couldn't wait to see it up close. The excitement grew, we continuously told our children about what they would see, feel and experience and for them to pay close attention. They were slowly grasping that this was a temple that was brand new, had not been dedicated to the Lord yet and the public was allowed to tour it for a short while. We were herded off the bus and into a outdoor tent/tunnel to the temple -- you guessed it, no view of the temple, I was grateful to be sheltered from the weather, but sad we didn't get a picture. Oh well, another day.

Once we were inside, the tour was a silent tour -- yeah, right we have kids -- but, to our pleasant surprise, they were wonderful! There were so many people and what would have normally been a very unpleasant and loud crowd. It was so quiet, nice and so very Heavenly -- to be in the temple with our children. We followed the directed route throughout the whole temple. We saw all the rooms, the baptismal font (Garrett's favorite), sealing rooms(Gavin's favorite) and the Celestial Room (Libbie's favorite) The light fixtures were amazing, as usual. They noted that the chandeliers were assembled by the Young Women of the area. What a wonderful experience for them! When we got the Celestial Room we had time to stop and look. Our kids got on their knees, looked up, and with open mouths whispered -- WOW! I couldn't have said it better. The spirit was there and we experienced it as we should, a family.

I won't get into the part where we lost Gavin --- okay I will. At the baptismal font, we stopped to explain a few things to Garrett, meanwhile, the rest of the people we were walking by kept on walking, including Gavin. When we realized he was gone, we saw him through a window heading on with the crowd. I was proud that he didn't get scared, just had his hands in his pockets and was discreetly looking ahead for us. He was too far ahead to catch, we hoped he'd stop. After a short while of panicking, I quickly started to pass people...just as I found him he was with a woman I hadn't seen in 12 years. My old employer from Draper, Melodee Rasmussen, that I was a nanny for 12 years ago. WOW - now I knew why I was supposed to be there on that day and why our Gavin wandered ahead. What a joy to see her, a joy to know her boys that I was a nanny for have served missions and are doing great. It gave me hope for my cutie, awkward, and sometimes frustrating boys. It was so wonderful to reunite with her in the temple as well.

I'm so happy to know that, simply stated, as I make good choices, the blessings will come. Like my Mom says "Megan, you are not lucky, you are blessed." I agree.