Church's official page for this temple.
Sun was in the kids' eyes here, but this is when we took our kids to see where the temple was going to be built. You can see the crane from miles away.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Kansas City Missouri temple- August 1st, 2010
Church's official page for this temple.
Sun was in the kids' eyes here, but this is when we took our kids to see where the temple was going to be built. You can see the crane from miles away.
Payson, Utah temple
Here is the site of the Payson, Utah temple. You can see the church building in the background.
The church site for the Payson, Utah temple.
We visited on our trip to Utah in April, 2010. An easy trip as this was less than 2 blocks from my parents' house.
LDS Temples
What is this focus on temples? Why are we so excited about the temple being built in Kansas City, Missouri, less than 10 minutes from our house? Well, let me tell you. The temple is one of the most sacred places on earth. We make promises to our Heavenly Father in temples. These promises stand forever, and our Heavenly Father blesses us when we keep these promises. We believe that families can be together forever, beyond the grave. This means a lot to us.
A temple is different than a church building. A church building is for weekly worship and activities. A temple is for special work that is for eternity.
Here is more of what you can learn about temples through the church's page of FAQ's... temples!
On October 4th, 2008 during General Conference our prophet President Thomas S. Monson announced 2 temples to be built. One was the Payson, Utah temple. We were so excited. This is where my parents live and I thought it would be neat to see a temple be built near them. The kids could see a temple built from start to finish as we visited them. Others announced included the Kansas City, Missouri temple, Calgary, Alberta, Rome, Italy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Cordoba, Argentina. We were very interested in the Rome temple and vaguely interested in the Kansas City temple for historical reason related to the history of our church, but wow, Payson!
When we visited Payson, Utah this spring we took a picture in front of the site of the temple to be built... thinking we'd take more pictures as the temple work was completed. We had learned that the Payson temple would be built less than 2 blocks from my parents home. While this is not a huge deal to some Utah members of the church, it's even closer than we'd imagined! How neat!
THEN. Tom accepted the job offer in Kansas City and we looked for homes... where? No, not close to his work. Not close to the church building. Not close to the best schools (remember, we homeschool :) best school is always right where we want it to be.). Not close to friends. Not close to family. Not close to shopping or whatever other people might look for. We figured out where the temple was going to be built and looked based on that information.
Our home in Kansas City is about 8 minutes from the Kansas City temple being built. And we are very happy about that.
Temples are very important in our lives. Right now the closest temples are in St. Louis, Missouri, about 4 hours away, and Winter Quarters, Nebraska, about 3 hours away. Also close is the Nauvoo, Illinois temple, about 5 hours away. We've lived in Pennsylvania, where the closest temple was Washington DC. We've lived in Ohio, where the closest temple was in Louisville, Kentucky or Columbus, Ohio. We've lived in Texas where the closest temple was Lubbock. Growing up we both lived in areas where the closest temple was at least a couple hours away, Tom going to Chicago and my family going to Los Angeles or San Diego. The closest we ever were to temples was in Utah and even then I don't think we were 8 minutes away.
I've decided to include our visits to the temple building sites on our family learning blog so you can share. Enjoy!
A temple is different than a church building. A church building is for weekly worship and activities. A temple is for special work that is for eternity.
Here is more of what you can learn about temples through the church's page of FAQ's... temples!
On October 4th, 2008 during General Conference our prophet President Thomas S. Monson announced 2 temples to be built. One was the Payson, Utah temple. We were so excited. This is where my parents live and I thought it would be neat to see a temple be built near them. The kids could see a temple built from start to finish as we visited them. Others announced included the Kansas City, Missouri temple, Calgary, Alberta, Rome, Italy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Cordoba, Argentina. We were very interested in the Rome temple and vaguely interested in the Kansas City temple for historical reason related to the history of our church, but wow, Payson!
When we visited Payson, Utah this spring we took a picture in front of the site of the temple to be built... thinking we'd take more pictures as the temple work was completed. We had learned that the Payson temple would be built less than 2 blocks from my parents home. While this is not a huge deal to some Utah members of the church, it's even closer than we'd imagined! How neat!
THEN. Tom accepted the job offer in Kansas City and we looked for homes... where? No, not close to his work. Not close to the church building. Not close to the best schools (remember, we homeschool :) best school is always right where we want it to be.). Not close to friends. Not close to family. Not close to shopping or whatever other people might look for. We figured out where the temple was going to be built and looked based on that information.
Our home in Kansas City is about 8 minutes from the Kansas City temple being built. And we are very happy about that.
Temples are very important in our lives. Right now the closest temples are in St. Louis, Missouri, about 4 hours away, and Winter Quarters, Nebraska, about 3 hours away. Also close is the Nauvoo, Illinois temple, about 5 hours away. We've lived in Pennsylvania, where the closest temple was Washington DC. We've lived in Ohio, where the closest temple was in Louisville, Kentucky or Columbus, Ohio. We've lived in Texas where the closest temple was Lubbock. Growing up we both lived in areas where the closest temple was at least a couple hours away, Tom going to Chicago and my family going to Los Angeles or San Diego. The closest we ever were to temples was in Utah and even then I don't think we were 8 minutes away.
I've decided to include our visits to the temple building sites on our family learning blog so you can share. Enjoy!
Trip to Utah :) lots of pics... but just an overview.
We had a vacation this year and went to Utah to see family and friends, give Michael a taste of college, and just enjoy time away from Texas. We hadn't been to Utah for any amount of time in the last few years so it was a good time. (in 2005 we came to see family, Samuel was 1 year old... he's 5 now... in 2006 we bought a house and had Timothy... in 2007 we stayed home... in 2008 we went to California and came home through Utah... in 2009 we went to Illinois via Arkansas and later had Liberty... so it was time to see Utah with Tom, too.)
So on April 9th we left early in the morning, drove through New Mexico (with a phone interview somewhere in the middle of the state as previously stated lol) and on to Utah. We stayed with Jeremy and Monica and their kids Zane and Myla at the house in Provo where we lived when we were first married. Saturday was spent on BYU campus seeing Tom's brothers and their wives and boys... Anton, Ashley and Jack, and Adam, Meredith, and Gregory. Christopher, Gregory and Jack were all born the same year so it was kind of fun to get them all together. We also saw Amanda and her fiance, Cameron. Along the way Timothy got lost once and we got to explore a bit. We also drove to Payson to see my parents and some of my other brothers too. (Tim, Misty and Tayla as well as Steven, Nicole, Jace and Lerek.) We got to celebrate Emilie's 10th birthday at Tim's house with a cookout (which moved indoors with rain!) and visited Temple Square, BYU campus again, Tom, Jeremy and the kids hiked to the Y, we visited family a lot and got to just spend time away from home with family and friends. It was very nice. Great weather, not too cold, but not too warm yet. (that's what's great about homeschooling, or at least another thing... we get to take our vacations when the weather is perfect!)
Enjoy the pictures of highlights of our trip!
Testing... Happy Halloween
Post sent from my phone. This mask was free at CVS and he insisted on wearing it home.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
How on earth did we get to Missouri?
Well... Tom had a phone interview while we were driving to Utah for a vacation/trip there to see family. We got home and there was a message waiting for him to do a second phone interview. He then was invited and flown to Kansas City, Missouri for an in person interview. He was offered the job the Wednesday before they broke ground on the Kansas City, Missouri temple.
We decided the best plan was to put our house on the market in Texas but get us all out of it first. So, he started work at Russell Stover on June 7th, but the rest of us were in Washington, Illinois with his parents who were kind enough to let us stay til we found something to live in closer to his work. Tom was able to come to Illinois on the weekends (or I went to Kansas City to look for houses, twice, while my mom had the 7 oldest kids, or I went there with the kids one weekend to see Dad). It was rough but not nearly as difficult as it could have been, thanks to my patient inlaws and little sister in law.
We haven't sold our house in Amarillo yet but things are working out. Still praying for a buyer and doing as much as we can from several states away. It's good to have friends there looking out for us. We found a house in Kansas City the first weekend I visited, and started the process of buying it. Some snags were found in the financing and we decided to have me come out again to see if we could find something else. We actually worked things out with the original house and here we are! We moved in on July 30th and it's great to be together as a family again. Our moving truck came on the hottest day of the year, when it hit 115 degrees.
I will update again with pictures from our Utah trip, our Illinois adventures, and life in Kansas City as well as fun stuff about the Kansas City temple. I just wanted to bring everyone up to speed on how we ended up, after six years in Texas, picking up and moving to Kansas City, Missouri.
Come on, it's Russell Stover. Who wouldn't? CHOCOLATE :)
We decided the best plan was to put our house on the market in Texas but get us all out of it first. So, he started work at Russell Stover on June 7th, but the rest of us were in Washington, Illinois with his parents who were kind enough to let us stay til we found something to live in closer to his work. Tom was able to come to Illinois on the weekends (or I went to Kansas City to look for houses, twice, while my mom had the 7 oldest kids, or I went there with the kids one weekend to see Dad). It was rough but not nearly as difficult as it could have been, thanks to my patient inlaws and little sister in law.
We haven't sold our house in Amarillo yet but things are working out. Still praying for a buyer and doing as much as we can from several states away. It's good to have friends there looking out for us. We found a house in Kansas City the first weekend I visited, and started the process of buying it. Some snags were found in the financing and we decided to have me come out again to see if we could find something else. We actually worked things out with the original house and here we are! We moved in on July 30th and it's great to be together as a family again. Our moving truck came on the hottest day of the year, when it hit 115 degrees.
I will update again with pictures from our Utah trip, our Illinois adventures, and life in Kansas City as well as fun stuff about the Kansas City temple. I just wanted to bring everyone up to speed on how we ended up, after six years in Texas, picking up and moving to Kansas City, Missouri.
Come on, it's Russell Stover. Who wouldn't? CHOCOLATE :)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Our new deacon... Benjamin turned 12!
Turning 12 in our church is a special time. You get to go to Young Men's or Young Women's weekly activities, you are no longer with the younger kids in Primary, and as a boy, you have a special opportunity to receive the Priesthood. To learn more, click here and visit Mormon.org for a short explanation. He is very proud of his accomplishments and is being very responsible.
Benjamin is our 2nd son. He seems to have to follow in Michael's footsteps a lot. However, he is definitely his own person. He was the first to learn to ride a bike. He was also the first our children to visit the ER as a result of an injury. (his face is looking loads better.) He tans easily, and has done so since a small baby, so he looks a little different than a lot of the other kids who take after me in sunburns.
He loves babies and is a huge help with his younger brothers and baby sister. He loves to read, and his favorite books are the 39 clues and anything by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series). He is also reading Eragon and the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini. Rangers Apprentice books are also something he enjoys.
He saved his money and bought a used Gameboy on eBay earlier this year and has had a lot of fun with that.
He is a Boy Scout, and while he hasn't earned any ranks yet other than Scout, the upheaval with moving and such should have settled down soon and he'll be recognized for his work.
He is in 6th grade and doing well in his homeschool work. He and Emilie are preparing for the upcoming Geography Bee in December.
His birthday was fun... he asked for (and somehow received... still under protest from Dad who thought the present should have been fed to the snake) a dwarf hamster who he has named Cedric. The picture is of him opening the tank and all the stuff for said hamster. Fun addition to the family and he is very responsible in caring for Cedric.
We are very proud to have Benjamin as part of our family. I don't know what we'd do without him.
For those of you who might be wondering, I'm trying to catch up on the blog and I'm trying to post SOMETHING every day. Some of my friends are truly inspiring me.
And maybe once I get that underway I will work on our family website... according to which I'm still pregnant with Christopher.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
New adventures for our family... this school year
A lot has happened since we last posted. I posted at the end of the last school year. This school year, we're in a new state, Tom has a new job, and we're adjusting to an entire new set of circumstances. However, we're still homeschooling. (we moved to Kansas City, Missouri... Clay County... more about that later!)
We decided to talk to Michael about skipping 8th grade because all his friends were starting high school (and Seminary) and since the seminary class was the only difference between his courses and theirs, we asked him if he'd like to start as he was only a few months younger than the rest. He was interested... then everything changed... but he was still interested in starting high school courses plus early morning seminary. So... Michael is a 9th grader. He is taking Seminary at 6 am at our church building with the other high school students in our ward. He says sometimes there are only 3 kids there but so far he is doing well and has perfect attendance (lol... after 3 weeks... and that's thanks to Tom, not me.) He is also taking Geometry with Life of Fred, AP Biology with UCI's open courseware program and my help, 9th grade Literature and writing, art, typing, Spanish, finishing up Italian, and U.S. history. We're also supplementing with other things as we find them :) He's active in Scouting, almost to Life rank, earned 9 merit badges over the course of the spring and summer including several required for Eagle. He likes messing around on Facebook and is getting interested in new hobbies and ideas.
Benjamin is in 6th grade this year. He was kind of confused why Michael was so many grades ahead of him but if he's in the same position in 2 years we'll do the same thing, as his birthday is a late year birthday too. He is 3 weeks away from turning 12 and being able to go to all the Young Men's activities as well as the Scout activities. He is in Life of Fred's new book, PreAlgebra with Biology. (there's a new one available for the 2nd half of the year once he's done with this one... Pre Algebra with Economics... excited about these :) ) He's doing 6th grade grammar, lit, vocab and writing, need to start his Spelling program still, Sonlight Science and loving that, finishing up his Italian and starting German, typing, cursive, and US history with the rest of the family.
Emilie is in 5th grade. She's definitely turning into a preteen girl... I say boys are easier to deal with. She's working on a program including Spelling, Vocab, Literature, Language arts, Science, and we're including Life of Fred math starting with Fractions. History with the family. She likes some of it but not all of it. She loves Activity Days with church and reading anything. She also loves art and crafts. She's also working on French, still, and will have the option of starting another language if she likes when she finishes the French program we have.
Nathanael is in 2nd grade and just busy as can be. He has a 2nd grade math book we used for Benjamin, a spelling book that seems to be too easy for him, and we're starting to look at a program called http://www.theheadoftheclass.com along with Samuel and Timothy. So far they are having a blast with it. It includes Math, Spelling, Writing, Reading, a little Spanish and some "Fun" too. Nathanael is also learning Greek with the same program the older kids are using.
Samuel is the age of a normal Kindergartener but he's well past that and we say he's in 1st grade so we have stuff more at his level, however, this computer program is way too easy for him but it's been good for him to practice writing and such. He reminds me so much of Michael. He's also got a spelling book he's working on.
With everyone we read a lot, watch movies, play computer games, play outside, learn about the local flora and fauna (including the Poison Ivy in the backyard...). Later this year we'll be at the zoo, the discovery center, a local farm, art museums, and learning more that way too. This area also has a lot to offer in the way of Church History as well. (Michael will get field trips related to this year in the seminary course of study... Doctrine and Covenants and Church History). Being only 15 minutes from Liberty Jail has been neat... we're in the Liberty Missouri stake.
We're also watching the Kansas City, Missouri temple being built and making sure we go see it at least once a week. This is teaching about construction as well as just the amazing process the church goes through when it builds a temple. The groundbreaking was the week we found out we were moving to Missouri for sure.
Timothy, Christopher, and Liberty are just busy keeping the rest of us busy and smiling... they love the new house, they all learn new stuff every day, and we enjoy teaching them new things. (and new words... sigh!!!)
Well, more later, but this is our update for the beginning of the school year. Though we're a month into it now, it's still 'new'.
We decided to talk to Michael about skipping 8th grade because all his friends were starting high school (and Seminary) and since the seminary class was the only difference between his courses and theirs, we asked him if he'd like to start as he was only a few months younger than the rest. He was interested... then everything changed... but he was still interested in starting high school courses plus early morning seminary. So... Michael is a 9th grader. He is taking Seminary at 6 am at our church building with the other high school students in our ward. He says sometimes there are only 3 kids there but so far he is doing well and has perfect attendance (lol... after 3 weeks... and that's thanks to Tom, not me.) He is also taking Geometry with Life of Fred, AP Biology with UCI's open courseware program and my help, 9th grade Literature and writing, art, typing, Spanish, finishing up Italian, and U.S. history. We're also supplementing with other things as we find them :) He's active in Scouting, almost to Life rank, earned 9 merit badges over the course of the spring and summer including several required for Eagle. He likes messing around on Facebook and is getting interested in new hobbies and ideas.
Benjamin is in 6th grade this year. He was kind of confused why Michael was so many grades ahead of him but if he's in the same position in 2 years we'll do the same thing, as his birthday is a late year birthday too. He is 3 weeks away from turning 12 and being able to go to all the Young Men's activities as well as the Scout activities. He is in Life of Fred's new book, PreAlgebra with Biology. (there's a new one available for the 2nd half of the year once he's done with this one... Pre Algebra with Economics... excited about these :) ) He's doing 6th grade grammar, lit, vocab and writing, need to start his Spelling program still, Sonlight Science and loving that, finishing up his Italian and starting German, typing, cursive, and US history with the rest of the family.
Emilie is in 5th grade. She's definitely turning into a preteen girl... I say boys are easier to deal with. She's working on a program including Spelling, Vocab, Literature, Language arts, Science, and we're including Life of Fred math starting with Fractions. History with the family. She likes some of it but not all of it. She loves Activity Days with church and reading anything. She also loves art and crafts. She's also working on French, still, and will have the option of starting another language if she likes when she finishes the French program we have.
Nathanael is in 2nd grade and just busy as can be. He has a 2nd grade math book we used for Benjamin, a spelling book that seems to be too easy for him, and we're starting to look at a program called http://www.theheadoftheclass.com along with Samuel and Timothy. So far they are having a blast with it. It includes Math, Spelling, Writing, Reading, a little Spanish and some "Fun" too. Nathanael is also learning Greek with the same program the older kids are using.
Samuel is the age of a normal Kindergartener but he's well past that and we say he's in 1st grade so we have stuff more at his level, however, this computer program is way too easy for him but it's been good for him to practice writing and such. He reminds me so much of Michael. He's also got a spelling book he's working on.
With everyone we read a lot, watch movies, play computer games, play outside, learn about the local flora and fauna (including the Poison Ivy in the backyard...). Later this year we'll be at the zoo, the discovery center, a local farm, art museums, and learning more that way too. This area also has a lot to offer in the way of Church History as well. (Michael will get field trips related to this year in the seminary course of study... Doctrine and Covenants and Church History). Being only 15 minutes from Liberty Jail has been neat... we're in the Liberty Missouri stake.
We're also watching the Kansas City, Missouri temple being built and making sure we go see it at least once a week. This is teaching about construction as well as just the amazing process the church goes through when it builds a temple. The groundbreaking was the week we found out we were moving to Missouri for sure.
Timothy, Christopher, and Liberty are just busy keeping the rest of us busy and smiling... they love the new house, they all learn new stuff every day, and we enjoy teaching them new things. (and new words... sigh!!!)
Well, more later, but this is our update for the beginning of the school year. Though we're a month into it now, it's still 'new'.
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