Utah: Payson Temple

After church one Sunday the kids and I decided to go check out the new Payson temple.  We often go to temple grounds on Sunday - so we were shocked to find the gates closed and locked!!  We were so sad.  We walked around the perimeter of the fence - took some pictures and headed back to grandma's.  To ad injury to insult I got in a car accident on the way back!  My fault!  Well - if we are placing blame - I blame it on the three year old who took off her seat belt and refused to put it back on.  I turned around for one second to yell at her (I mean sternly reprimand) when I hit the person in front of me (we were coming to a stop - so no real damage - but enough).  I ended up being angry that we even went to the temple.  

But now that all is said and done - I can't ever regret taking my kids to see the temple, they will always remember this trip - even more so because of the accident.  It teaches that bed things happen even when we are trying to do good things.  And I love the pictures we got.

It is devastating to a child to be locked out of a temple.  I hope its not symbolic :)

The temple is SO BEAUTIFUL.  It might just be my new favorite

Later in the week my sister-in-law and I went to go do a session.  When we got there all the sessions were full until closure.  So we went to do sealings - we were the last people to get in to do sealings because they were full until closure too.  Looks like the temple is already too small.  Not a bad thing!

This temple has the most beautiful Celestial Room!  It is worth the drive - I promise.  Even if you went to the open house.  The spirit there is amazing.

The girls before church.

Utah: Park

We love going to the Herbert's because they always have special things planned for us.  Even if it is something simple like going to the park in the evening.  She finds the BEST park and makes sure that we go.  All my kids look like homeless children because we just got back from swimming.  But it was just one of those days that I had to take picture - the kids were being so cute and I just had to try and capture the moment.

Utah: Movie

Grandma Herbert took us all to watch Inside Out one afternoon.  I LOVED it - and so did the kids.  It was the first time the girls had been to a movie theater.  We have truly deprived our children of most childhood joys.  I am grateful to grandparents who are willing to make up our slack.

Utah: Splash Pad

The city of Springville just put in an AMAZING park and splash pad.  Seriously the best one I have ever seen.  We went there 2 or 3 times in our 7 day stay.

I deeply love Brock and Noah's friendship.  In truth I can't figure it out.  They are 2 totally different people - they don't have much in common - and yet they love each other deeply.  They can just talk for hours (I have no idea about what) and they play together perfectly - I mean perfectly.  The ONLY time there is a problem is when another friend is also around - then usually Noah feels left out.  I love watching them be together.  I love hearing them play in their room after we put them to bed.  I hope it always stays this way.

Megan has quite the imagination.  She is ALWAYS playing with imaginary friends and has all these stories in her head.  She has always kind of been that way - but this last spring her and I read Anne of Green Gables and she has now found a bosom friend in Anne and has all sorts of friends in mirrors, ponds, reflections etc.  This splash pad had a lot of children statues playing and Megan truly made them all her friends and played with them as if they were real children.

And this girl is such a ham.  This is her pose for all pictures.

Utah: Swimming

The kids LOVE going to Grandma Herbert's house - for LOTS of reasons - but one of the best is their neighbors swimming pool.  Almost every evening after dinner we ended our night swimming.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.  The kids and grandpa played in the pool, Debby and I sat under an umbrella and chatted.  It was wonderful.

Grandpa (who is an excellent swimmer) gave the kids swim lessons.  It helped a lot!

See the goggle marks?  This is how they all looked by the end of the week.  We swam a lot!