366 Laughs- January 30, 2016

1/30/16

A really really good day.


Families are forever.
Tom's parents and one of his sisters in law were able to come to the temple with us, as well as many ward members and other friends.




We've been thinking about and looking forward to this day ever since we had Michael.



And this is where Benjamin gets it from.

365 Joys- October 13th, 2015

10/13/15


Michael looking a little startled.  He took this himself... and this is BEFORE he checked his messages on his phone and found out he got accepted to BYU!

(he found out a week before that he was accepted to BYU-Idaho, but wanted to know about Provo before telling anyone!)




Silly kids.


Pictures of the temple.  We were up at the church for the evening taking kids to Scouts, Young Women, Prospective Elders class, Cub Scouts, etc.  Tom usually takes everyone but he was in Pennsylvania for 3 days...

The rest of us walked around the temple a few times, talked to the temple matron, enjoyed the sunset.  It was a nice evening.


Enjoy!




Here's your faith promoting story for the evening.  Christopher is wearing a CTR ring here, right?  This was early in the walk. Well, right after Timothy was done with Cub Scouts but we were still waiting for the other kids, Christopher suddenly realized he didn't have his CTR ring anymore.  You can see it's dark, right?  I thought, there is no way we are going to find it.   However, we went over every inch of gravel he says he lost it in.  Twice.  We walked up and down the sidewalk 4 times.  I was about 50 feet away checking one place with the girls in the stroller and Timothy, Christopher, Liberty and Samuel were just losing hope but still trying.  I looked at them and said a prayer.  I literally, just stood there and said, Please, if it's possible, Heavenly Father, let them find the ring and know you helped them find it.  As I said Amen, they looked down, literally right then, and jumped up with the ring.  And I told them that this happened.  So there you go.  Faith on behalf of my children and their faith can work miracles.  The CTR ring is found.




 

365 Joys- July 14th 2015- Cow Appreciation Day!

7/14/15

Today is the 7th time we celebrated "Cow Appreciation Day" where we dress up as a cow and get free food at Chick-Fil-A.

Sadly, we were missing 5 members of our family but 7 of us still participated.

Enjoy!


Samuel and Ginny.


Timothy.


 Liberty.


Christopher.


Jules, with Liberty helping her with shoes.

HOT day, and we somehow got the booth with no shade and I seriously got sunburned standing there helping the kids... and the two cow outfits came OFF the two hot little girls.

We then hurried over to the church for Cub Scouts and got to see the temple, too.

365 Joys- May 19th 2015

5/19/15

I love to see the temple!  It is such a blessing to have this so close.

365 Joys- May 2nd, or, day 8 of our 2015 Epic Trip of Epicness

5/2/15

Day 8 of our trip to Utah


Goodbye, Payson temple, that greeted us every day of our trip!  We always knew when we were back in my brothers and parents' neighborhood after a day of exploring or seeing family and friends...


Colorado!


Beautiful sights.


We got home realllly late (or really early Sunday, depending on how you look at it...), but we are so glad for this trip and thankful for all that we were able to do as a family.

365 Joys- April 30th, or, day 6 of our 2015 Epic Trip of Epicness

4/30/15

Day 6 of our trip to Utah

As we were nearing the end of our stay in Utah, I made sure we didn't do our "touristy" or "drive a lot" things on the last two days so we could spend more time with local family and just NOT be in the car... to prep for the 19 hour stretch ahead of us.


So here we are, hanging out at Tim and Misty's house for the most part.  (who were awesome hosts and let us completely take over their basement for a week!)


This is the view from their upstairs reading nook.  We didn't covet... much.  At night it's even better.


Ginny finally let Aunt Misty hold her. I guess it took electronics, haha.



We did go to American Fork to see other cousins.




And one more temple.  Mount Timpanogos, to be exact.

365 Joys- April 29th, or, day 5 of our 2015 Epic Trip of Epicness

4/29/15

Day 5 of our trip to Utah

We went to BYU campus.  We got pictures at the BYU Museum of Paleontology, the building where Tom and I met, and elsewhere, but our favorite story is about having lunch on campus.  We were at a table near the library.  Tom and I were noting that there were students looking at us all around.  Kids would say hi to random strangers, and most of them said hi back.  One couple looked particularly amused and Tom said, yeah, they're just seeing themselves in 20 years... we all had a good chuckle.


Dinosaurs!  How many kids fit on a brachiosaurus femur?


Studio C!  If you haven't seen this, you're missing out on some funny stuff.  Look it up!


Provo City Center temple.  This was neat to see every time we were in Provo.  The kids loved seeing SO many temples each day, but especially Payson, which was right within view of my parents' home!



All my kids next to a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull.  Yes, this is at BYU.


Are we feeding Ginny to a dinosaur?  She's the one who wanted to be closer.

365 Joys- April 28th, or, day 4 of our 2015 Epic Trip of Epicness

4/28/15

Day 4 of our trip to Utah

Today we went to Salt Lake City to see Temple Square as a family.


We got to see family there (John and Kathy were visiting Utah, too, but we got to see them at Temple Square)


We went to the Conference center and took the tour and got our picture on the roof again.


In the Conference Center is a beautiful painting called, "She Will Find What is Lost".  You can read the description, that it is mostly about our ancestors helping us find them from beyond the grave, but I think they help us in other aspects of our life as well, and this painting really spoke to me about how I have been uplifted on even my hardest days, finding that hope, or that peace, that I have lost somehow.  Someday I'd like a copy of this painting in my home to remind me of what I cannot see.




My children by the Salt Lake Temple.  I love my kids, and the temple allows us to be connected for eternity.



My two little daughters looking up at their Savior.  No more words.

365 Joys- April 27th, or, day 3 of our 2015 Epic Trip of Epicness

4/27/15

Day 3 of our trip to Utah.


Today we visited the Payson temple Open House as a family.


SO beautiful!  Don't miss it if you are close.


It is also very large!  One of my brothers worked on it.


Lots of stained glass and woodwork.


The kids tested a lot of the chairs in the marriage waiting room and the celestial room...

Oh, and later on, we visited Tom's sister who lives close, along with her two little girls.

365 Joys- April 10th 2015

4/10/15

Tonight we had the privilege of bringing Nathanael to the temple for the first time to do baptisms for the dead.  Benjamin was supposed to come with us but our babysitter fell through.  So Tom, Michael, Emilie, Nathanael, and I all went to the family priority time at our Kansas City temple and performed baptisms together.  It was a neat experience, and I hope we'll be able to go again soon.

Why baptisms for the dead?

365 Joys- April 7th 2015

4/7/15

Today we took the opportunity of a beautiful day combined with needing to be at the church waiting for a Cub Scout to be done to walk around the temple.

365 Joys- March 31st 2015

3/31/15

We were looking at Facebook and there's a feature called "On this day" and on this day last year Nathanael and Samuel were making the temple out of dominoes... so Juliana wanted to make one, too!

November 5th 2014- A Daily Valencic

11/5/14

I still love to see the temple.  Tonight we were admiring the almost full moon as well as the temple, while we were waiting for Cub Scouts, 11 year old Scouts, Young Women, and Boy Scouts.