That is one tall building...

It's been way too long since I posted, so here is a long post to summarize the last week...

The title of my post comes from my niece Jenni. Last Monday, May 4 (Steve's birthday), Steve, Chelle, and the kids came up to visit me at work. I met them in the underground parking lot, and we went and had lunch in the cafeteria, then they came to my office, and we went to the 26th floor and looked at the view. When we came back down and went ouside, Jenni finally got to see the building (since we had been inside the whole time). Jenni looked up and said, "Wow. That is one tall building!" I thought that was so cute. I'm so glad they came up. Jenni and Joey were so cute, and Chelle had never been to the Church Office Building, so it was fun to show her around. Here are some pictures from that day (and happy birthday, Steve!)

The next two pictures are ones I snapped when I was walking to work from the bus stop the other morning. The flowers and temple were so beautiful in the morning light! Temple Square is just so pretty in the spring!

On Friday night Jan and I went over to Adam and Stace's house. We haven't been over with just them for a long time, and it was really fun. The kids were so excited to have us there. Stace made us dinner, and then we played games at the table. Here are a few pictures. I love how it looks like I have a halo in the first one:

Brady really wasn't stabbing Camden with a fork, but it sure looks that way!

Janice got this picture right as our dominoes were falling down. Cool!

After dinner, we sat and talked in the living room for a little while trying to decide what movie to watch. Adam played with Brady and Camden on the floor, and they loved it! Then we watched part of Cars and part of Sleeping Beauty--but Josh wanted it to be dark like a movie theater, so we had to watch it all laying on Adam and Stacey's bed. Thank goodness they have a big bed! It was really fun.

These next three pictures are from Saturday. We went to breakfast with Lisa and JoAnna, our friends from our last ward. On the way back, as we were coming from the freeway, we saw a huge column of smoke. We saw that there was a big building on fire right near our church. We went to a field aways away, and watched it together for about 45 minutes. We were so sick to think that it might be a condo complex--there are tons of them around there. But we found out later that it was a firefighter drill, and they were burning an abandoned house. It was such an awesome sight to see the power of the fire as it just consumed the whole house in such a short time. I had to snap a few pictures:

Finally, tonight we went to visit Mom for Mother's Day. It was really nice. We had Jan and I, Dan and Ems, Adam and Stace, and Steve and Dave came a little later. It was really nice to talk and joke, and Dan was teasing about playing the Ungame. We gave Mom her gift--it was actually a combined Mother's Day/birthday gift, so she already knew about it. But I thought it turned out so nice. I got the idea from my friend Debbie (thanks Debbie!) to do a picture pedigree chart. It took us awhile to find all of the pictures--we almost didn't find one for Dad's father's parents. Thankfully, we were finally able to find the pictures we needed, and Emilee spent hours making it all look nice. I love how it turned out--it gives me such a family feeling to look at it, and think of the legacy I have. It makes me realize that these were real people, who were once young like me, and had hopes and dreams and worries.

I'm so grateful for the gift of family, and for the love I feel for them--even those I didn't really know. I'll end my post with the picture pedigree:

**I decided I'd better take this off, since it has full names and birthdays. :)

Ethan's baptism

Today was my nephew Ethan's baptism. What a special day! I just felt so blessed to be a part of it. I went to their house a little early, and got to hear Seth giving Ethan last minute instructions, and making sure they had everything they needed. We got this picture while his Dad was talking to him. What a sweet boy!



Then we went over to the church, and once he and Seth changed into their clothes, we got a bunch of pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

I love this last one with him and his brothers and sister. In his confirmation blessing today, he was told that he was chosen to be a leader by his Heavenly Father, and that his brothers and sister would look up to him and would need his guidance and love. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...

I snapped this picture right before we went into the Primary room. My Dad was giving Seth some last minute instructions about how to hold Ethan while he baptized him. What would we do without our parents to support us at special times?

I didn't, of course, take any pictures of the baptism. But here are some of the kids lined up waiting for it to start. It was so fun to have so many of them in front.

I was so privileged to be asked by Ethan to speak at his baptism. I spoke about baptism, and I think it went well. I just felt so grateful to be able to testify that Heavenly Father asks us to be baptized so that He can bless us and so that we can someday return to Him. I also told about when Jan and I were baptized, and lived in North Carolina, so had to drive for an hour, and then there was only one dress, so since I was older, I got to wear the dry dress, and Jan had to wear a wet dress. The kids got a kick out of that. At the end I got really choked up, talking about how ever since Ethan was a baby, we've been talking about the milestones in his life--when he is baptized, gets the priesthood, goes on a mission, gets married, etc. I felt so proud of him that he has reached one of those milestones, and has made the choice to be baptized. It was just really special to get to talk at his baptism.

The baptism was really sweet--to see all of my other 18 nieces and nephews (well, more like 15 or so, since the babies were being held by their parents) leaning up against the glass, so excited to see what was happening. I couldn't take a picture, but "my heart took a picture." Then Seth got really emotional as he said the baptismal words. It was just a really sweet experience. Next year we will have four kids baptized. That will be so neat!

The confirmation was really special as well. I always get a little glimpse when I hear confirmation blessings about the true nature of the person being blessed--who they really are. One of my favorite things about the blessing is that Ethan was told that he was blessed with great faith, and would be an example to others of pure faith. I can't wait to see the young man he grows up to be.


We went afterward to Seth and Karla's house and had a little luncheon. It was fun to get to talk and spend time as family, and Jan and I gave Ethan a little present--a journal and a "Future Missionary" tag. He loved them, and was so cute about it.

What a wonderful day! I love my Ethan, and I'm so grateful he has always wanted me to be such a part of his life!