Two years ago my cousin Jackson left on his mission to Portugal. Since we moved to Colorado many of my cousins have left and returned form missions and gotten married in the temple. We have never made a trip out to see any of them. It never seemed very important to me - and of course were all at times when we had school, activities, and other things going on - never during our week long trips to Utah. Then my friend Veronica took her family for a quick 2 day trip to Utah to see her cousin get married in the temple - I kind of mocked her in my head. "You can miss a cousin's wedding" I thought. I thought it was about her. Then when they got home and I talked to their kids (comments from primary) and them about it I realized that it wasn't for Veronica. They did it becasue they wanted their kids to see them come out of the temple. All of the sudden I could see. My life flashed before my eyes of years and years of farewells, homecomings, and waiting outside temples. These constant examples and experiences kept me on the gospel path and showed me where to go. I could see my own future in the lives of my older family members and it seemed as though I knew where to go. I realized that all the talking and preaching to my children might not matter if they don't see it. They don't get to see it here. I realized I had wasted 6 years. No more. I made a commitment to that we would read Jackson's letters every week and go to his homecoming.
Two years later and my commitment wavered. We read his letters every week. But when it comes down to it I am just too practical to take a quick weekend trip to Utah. Satan starts whispering. It isn't fair to Dane. They shouldn't miss school. We can't make the trip that often with our cars: the gas, oil, and tires all need to be changed more. That is a lot of driving for just 1 day. Jason doesn't understand or want us to go. The weather will be bad. and on and on and on. To complicate matters Jackson came home on a Wednesday, had his homecoming the next Sunday, and then that Friday(nine days after coming home) his brother, Hayden, was going to get married in the temple to Savanna (who my girls LOVE and felt a strong connection too). There is no way we could go to both (that is what Satan tells me at the time, and logic, but now looking back - we can miss school, practices, and competitions - those things seem important then... but are they?). Anyways I knew I couldn't swing both. I had to choose. I am not great at choosing. The above reasons for not going to Jackson's homecoming came in full force as reasons to not go to Hayden's wedding. I wavered and wavered and ultimately decided not to go - it just didn't seem worth it. Then the spirit stepped in. While studying my scriptures one morning I felt a very strong impressing that one of my kids needed this. It would be an important moment in their life that they would remember and draw upon. I wasn't sure which child and I wasn't even sure what the "topic" would be. I didn't even know if it was spiritual (although I hoped). But over the next few days every time I thought I didn't want to go the spirit would remind me it wasn't about me, or Jason, or our car, or Dane, or the weather, it was about intentionally creating opportunities for my children to have experiences and feel the spirit and one, or a few, of them needed this. So on a hope and a prayer we went. The weather was supposed to be nice.
Jason couldn't come with us because he had class all day Saturday up in Boulder and for the same reason couldn't keep Dane. So we all packed in the van and left Thursday morning to arrive Thursday night - have the wedding on Friday and then leave Saturday morning - because a storm was moving in on Sunday. We have never made that quick of a trip to Utah. I decided that I was going to make the most of this trip. I had my young kids in the car for 8 hours - 16 if you count both ways. Since President Nelson asked us to study the restoration before conference I decided to take that counsel . We have done a few other things to heed his counsel - but this seemed like a perfect opportunity. So when we got in the car I turned on the audio of "Saints". I thought we would listen for like an hour and then they would complain enough and I would turn it off. How wrong I was. They LOVED it. We listened for a good 10 or so hours. They kept saying "one more chapter". We would pause and talk and they would ask questions. This becomes important later in my story - having "Saints" on in the background is the only thing that got us to Utah. I would have turned back. Even though the weather reports said it was clear - by the time we got to Loveland it was obvious the weather reports were wrong. It was snowy and icy and I felt afraid.
At work Jason was looking at highway cameras and assured me that once we got passed Veil everything was fine - but we just had to make it there. About 20 miles outside of Veil at Copper Mountain traffic slowed and came to a stop. I saw on my phone there was an accident. About 20 minutes later an officer come to the window and said they were shutting down the freeway due to an accident and weather. They didn't know for how long - probably 2 or 3 hours! We were only an hour and a half from home (although been in the car for over 2 hours due to weather). We decided to pull off the free way and asses our situation. I wanted to turn around and just go home. I felt irresponsible for taking my 5 kids into danger. At one point we got stuck and the car couldn't make it up the hill and I thought (I don't have any one to help me, I am alone with 5 young kids in the mountains - what was I thinking?" But all the kids wanted to wait it out. Seriously? sit in this car for 3 hours and THEN drive another 6 hours? And it was still snowing and only getting worse!?! We turned on Harry Potter, let Dane out of his car seat and waited for 3 hours. (the above picture is during this time). When the free way opened back up again I was still only 30% sure I had made the right decision. It was getting dark (it was 3:30) and we were still 6 hours away from our destination and it was still bad weather. But as I was driving we were listening to Saints and I remembered my prompting that one of my children needed this trip. Other mothers had taken a similar journey through snow to get to Utah - but not in a heated car. I know my little wedding was not gathering in Zion - but still... what are we willing to sacrifice to follow the spirit. I asked myself, "If we get in a car accident, and one of my children dies, will I be angry at God for telling me to go? Would I questions my inspiration and wonder if I got it wrong?" I came to the conclusion that I would not. I know how to feel the spirit, I know how to receive revelation and if that happened, I knew we were in God's hands and He was watching out for us - no matter what happened. Listening to their stories of persecution, faith, and sacrifice as I drove my little family through those snowy canyons all for a chance that one of them might have a faith building experience propelled me forward and the Spirit filled our car. It was one of the more sacred experiences of my life.
We got to Mapleton at about 9:30 at night and dropped Dane off - we would be staying at the Herbert's for the weekend (more on that later). And then to Sandy around 10:30. What should be an 8 hour trip was a 13 hour trip!! The next morning was the wedding. The boys wanted to go to baptisms in the Draper temple (where they were getting married) before the sealing. That meant we had to leave the Hanna's at 8:00 am. I was surprised after a whole miserable day of driving and getting to the Hanna's so late they still wanted to go. But they did. The baptistery was beautiful and we had a wonderful time. Then the kids sat reverently in the waiting room while I went up to the sealing. Through a family connection of Savannah's Elder Bednar sealed them. I won't say much here - other than it was amazing. He spent 30 minutes teaching us about ordinances and covenants.
Then we waited outside in the cold rain for them to come out. The kids were so excited and waited anxiously for them to come.
They were pretty cute!
We spent the afternoon at the Hanna's just relaxing, then went to the reception that night.
The reception was so fun. The kids danced the night away with their cousins. It was fun. I kind of fun we hadn't had in a long time.
Another sweet experience was Noah. Noah has really been into technical things lately and even taken some interest in music production - although it was more internal than external. Before this night i probably wouldn't have been able to quantify it. But not long after the dance had started Noah was loitering around the DJ table - watching closely to what he was doing. In the kind of awkward way Noah does.
This sweet, angel, of a 24 year old saw him and instead of being annoyed or telling him to go away he invited Noah into his "box" and taught him what he was doing and let Noah try. Noah spent the next 1 or 2 hours with him. I teared up a few times that night watching him and even know as I am writing. These little moments where someone "sees" Noah really mean the world to him. When someone slows down, looks at him, listens to him, validates him, teaches him, and lets him do it are what feeds his soul. And here, a stranger, spent 2 hours doing this for him. It was true ministering. I couldn't thank him enough afterwards. Noah was beaming the whole time. I wish I would have gotten a picture with him and the real DJ. I didn't want to "embarrass him" so I just took these pictures quick.
As mentioned earlier Jackson had just come home from his mission about 9 days earlier and the kids were pretty excited and curious about it - especially Brock. He actually didn't want to come to the wedding - he wanted to go to Jackson's homecoming - he cared way more about Jackson then the wedding. I knew that since we only had Friday in Utah and the whole day was busy with wedding stuff it was going to be hard to find meaningful time to talk about Jackson's mission and for Brock to feel validated with it. So I set up an "appointment" with Jackson after the reception. We stayed until the "bitter end" and we sat down with Jackson around the table - it was just us and him - and did a 15 - 20 minutes Q&A. It was so wonderful. We got alone time -full attention - the kids asked great insightful questions and Jackson gave great answers. We had a fun discussion about Portugal, the gospel, pros and cons of missionary service and he bore his testimony in Portuguese. The kids loved it! We got back to the Hanna's around 11:00 at night - went to sleep and woke up Saturday morning at 6:00 to leave 7:00 am back to Colorado. No one complained. It was amazing.
Well... when I say just us - Sam was there too. Sam spends a lot of time with us when we come to Utah - and he spent almost the whole day (and night) with us. Sam is great.
Then there are the REAL hero's of our trip - the Herberts!!! I felt so bad for taking Dane with us (he actually did GREAT and never cried in the car and was very happy). But Friday (wedding day) would have been either terrible for him - or useless for us to have come - the temple was during his nap time and the reception started past his bedtime. The Herbert's were willing to take him the whole weekend. I am sure he loved the one on one attention and I KNOW he loved all their awesome toys to himself. He had a grand time and I love that he got to bond with his grandparents while I did some intentional "big kid" parenting that is often hard to do with a baby. They sent me these pictures all weekend to show me how happy he was.
There are blocks in there - NOT laundry detergent.
The car ride home was drama free. The weather and roads were great - the kids - including Dane - were great. We listened to more of Saints and got home around 4:00, plenty of time to unpack and enjoy our Saturday night.
