Time to update

It's been way too long since I posted--but I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to download pictures. So I thought I would take some time today to download pictures and make a quick post about the last little while. I started my post with three pictures I got a week or so ago (back when it really was spring...) at Temple Square. It is so beautiful in the springtime, with the flowers and budding trees. I'm hoping it will be warmer this week so I can get some more pictures.

We had a great Easter this year. On Saturday our whole family got together at Mom and Dad's for the annual Easter Egg hunt. We had everyone there--all 19 kids--and it was so fun to watch them. Jan gathered them all around before they went out to find the eggs, and talked to them about the real meaning of Easter, and then told them the rules for finding eggs (we divided them up into three groups so the little kids would have more time). I didn't get very many good pictures, but here are some:

These two pictures are of all 10 kids gathered around listening to Janice. It was hard to get them all in one picture!

As I said, I didn't get too many good pictures of the hunting--but here' s a cute one.

Then here's one of the kids looking at their loot. It's so fun to have so many little ones together. I love my babies!! (Well, I guess a lot of them aren't babies any longer, but they will always be my babies).

On Saturday night we got together with Dave and Melissa to color Easter eggs. The kids were so cute, and had tons of fun. Here are some pictures. I especially love Mieka's "Ahoy Matey" face she's making below. So. Totally. Cute.

On Sunday I taught a lesson in Relief Society about Liberty Jail. It turned out really good--I was able to tie it into Easter by talking about how the Atonement of the Savior helps us to endure anything we have to suffer. I loved this quote by Elder Holland:

"Whenever these moments of our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us. He does love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry “Where art Thou?” it is imperative that we remember He is right there with us—where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep with us.”

On Sunday afternoon we had dinner at Dan and Emilee's house with Mom and Dad, and Dan's mom Tamara. Here are some darling pics I got of Matthew and Emma:

Work has been SO busy this last week. I am loving it, but these new responsibilitites I have keep me super busy. I worked yesterday from 6:30-5:00 (not counting commuting time). I am grateful for my good job though, and for all the great people I get to work with. Even though it is busy and stressful at times, I feel like I am able to do so much good at my job, and I love being right up on Temple Square. There is always such a great spirit there.

Jan, Ems, Mel and the kids came up to see me on Tuesday, and I was hoping to be able to walk over and see them at the "I Am a Child of God" exhibit. It ended up being too busy for me to get away, so I missed some really cute pictures (hopefully Ems will blog about it!) But thankfully I was able to get away to have some lunch with them. Mieka had a hard time during lunch with all the people around, but I did get this cute picture of her playing hide and seek:

These next two pictures are from Thursday, when it snowed 6 inches--where is spring?? I had to wait ten minutes for the bus, standing in the snow in my Sunday shoes. But there was a beautiful sunrise!

Last night we went to dinner with Mike and Janelle. We went to IHOP, which was really quiet--and I was grateful, since yesterday was such a long day at work. It was relaxing to talk and play with the girls. Kate told me a whole story today about when she got on the wrong bus, and how she went up and told the bus driver, and the driver took her to the right place. Later I took Lizzie and Brina to the bathroom. Brina just danced around while we waited—in her bare feet, since she had kicked her shoes off. Lizzie-Beth had to show me how if you waved your hand, the paper towel would come out. They were just so cute, and I don't get to see them as often as I would like, so I was glad to see them. I didn't get any pictures though...what was I thinking? I guess I was too tired to think about taking pictures. :)

Well, this post is getting too long. That's what I get for waiting so long to write. I need to go clean my house now--since Saturday is my only day off. I'll write again soon!

Conference

What a wonderful weekend! I love General Conference, and have been so grateful since I got my job that I am able to attend some of the sessions. It is just such a blessing to be in the presence of all the Brethren, and to get to feel of their goodness. I always feel such a gratitude at Conference time for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for His servants who so faithfully teach and testify of Him. Their messages are filled with counsel to help us get through the hard times of life, but also always so much hope and comfort.

This year for the Saturday morning session I took my nephew Ethan, who is turning 8 years old in a couple of weeks. It was so fun to be there with him. He slept over the night before (and had a migraine, poor thing. But thankfully he was well by the next morning). We went up early to get a good seat, and he was such a good sport. Janice was working as a nurse for the Saturday morning session, so we got to park under the Conference Center, which was so nice, since it was snowing Saturday morning.

As Ethan and I sat and waited for Conference to start, we did a little Conference packet a friend sent to me with word searches and pictures of the Twelve and First Presidency. It was fun as they started walking in, because I could point them out to him, and he would find their picture and make a note of what color tie they were wearing. In case you're wondering, it seems that red is the favorite color for the Brethren. They were all wearing red except for a few of them. Ethan took his paper home, but I think it was President Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar that were wearing blue ties, and President Packer was wearing a black tie. So now you know.

One really neat thing--while we were sitting there waiting, President Dahlquist of the Young Men (who was released later in Conference) came up and talked to Ethan. He had him stand up so he could see how tall he was, and shook his hand. Then when we told him Ethan was being baptized soon, he was very excited for him, and said, "That means that soon you will get the Aaronic Priesthood and then get to go on a mission." It was really neat to have him pay such kind attention to Ethan.

Ethan was so reverent during the session--even though after the second talk he asked me if it was almost over. Thankfully I remembered that we had a conference bingo sheet in our conference packet, with a bunch of topics for him to mark off. He loved listening for the topics. Then after Conference was over, we watched together as the First Presidency and the Twelve walked by with their wives, right in front of us, and he got to smile at them. It was just such a neat experience to be there with my precious nephew. Also, since Janice was working as a nurse, she got two tickets as well, so Seth and Karla got to come too. Here are some pictures:

Ethan and I before Conference started

Ethan, waiting patiently for Conference to start.

Here is a note Ethan wrote to me while we were waiting. It says, "Dear Jenny. I love you so much. This is [the best] sleepover ever! Love, Ethan. XOXOXOXOX." Isn't that sweet!?

I love the Conference Center!

Here's Ethan with Seth and Karla after conference. I'm so glad they were able to come.

And here he is with Jan and I after Conference. Notice her official nurses badge...

On Sunday afternoon I was lucky to be able to get a couple of extra tickets, so I took Jan, Ems, and my Dad. It was fun to have four of us there, although we wanted to have Chelle with us, but she got sick. But I loved getting to spend time with Dad, and to have Ems and Jan with me. The three of us all love watching for the Brethren and seeing how sweet they are with their wives and each other. The picture above shows how close our seats were. I loved being able to see the expressions on the faces of the brethren, and to watch their wives, who were sitting right across from us.

Here's a picture of us after conference with one of the ushers. We met Gwynne way back in 2001 on a Church History tour, and she has been a great friend ever since.

And finally, here we are walking back to the parking terrace after Conference. Dad didn't want to be in the picture, but he took one of us.

I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to be able to attend Conference, to feel the spirit so strongly, and especially for the love and goodness of the Brethren. With the world getting increasingly darker and more evil, I am so grateful for the light of the gospel that shines to show us the way to go. I know that if we follow the Brethren closely we will find safety and peace in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.

Briana's Birthday post...finally

So I have now repented for not getting this post done in time to have it posted this morning. But at least I will still have this post done on her bithday, even it if is almost over. So, to make up for being late, I put a lot of pictures in. I'm so grateful for my sweet Briana. She is such a beautiful little girl, with so many darling personality traits. So, enjoy the pictures!

Here I am holding Briana and Josh on Bri's birthday. On the day she was born, I went to visit during my lunch hour, but then decided to take the rest of the day off work. I'm so glad I did, because I got to hold Bri all afternoon, and could already feel her sweet spirit. What a special baby!

I love this picture, right after she was born, with Stace, Josh and I holding her.

Here is one of Aunt Jan holding her. She was just such a cute baby that I just have to include a lot of pictures. And, Josh sure loves his sister!

Here she is with her two cousins that were born within a few months--Lizzie and Truman.

Here she is at Adam's 30th birthday party

This was at cousin Emma's baby blessing. We found a bunch of the kids sitting under the table eating candy corns. So cute!

This was the night before her baby brother was born, doing bubbles on our porch. I love her smile in this one!

This was in the hospital after visiting baby brother Brayden. I love that she and Josh are holding hands.

And here is one of me holding her on Christmas day 2007. I love that she still sucks her thumb.

Here she is with Aunt Jan and Emma last year, dressed as a Princess for Emma's birthday party. She looks so pretty in pink!

I love this picture of me reading a story to the kids--her eyes are so big and beautiful in this one--and she loves Puff the Magic Dragon.

Here she is with her tea set she got last Christmas

And finally, these last two pictures are from the family birthday party we had a week ago. I can't believe my little Bri is already 5 years old. It's been so fun to watch her grow up. I love you, Binana!

Happy Birthday Binana!!!

I am such a slacker! My little Briana turns 5 years old today, and I just realized this morning that I didn't get my post done in time to have it ready for her birthday! So please forgive me, Binana! I have a few pictures here at work, so I'll put those up, and watch for a post tomorrow morning with lots more pictures of my sweet baby Binana. (I just have to call her that, because she's such a little pixie girl, with her sweet voice and dark eyes). I love you, Binana!

My Draper Temple miracle

Tonight I went to the Mount Timpanogos temple with some girls in my ward. We met Jan for dinner, and then did a session. It was so fun to see all of my friends from my former shift! I love them so much, and miss working at the temple, but I love my job so much that it is worth it. Still, I love seeing my friends again--everyone is always so nice to me and excited to see me. It was also fun to see Jan in her "Assistant Coordinator" role. I love the temple, and felt the spirit so much.



Which brings me to the title of my post. I realized tonight at the temple that I never blogged about the little miracle I had Sunday at the dedication. It's just a little story that shows that Heavenly Father does hear our prayers. I got tickets to go to the temple for the dedication because of my job. I was going to take Jan, but she had to work, so Emilee came with me. Emilee was willing to put up with my leaving really early because I wanted to get a good seat. I've never been able to attend a dedication inside the temple, and was really excited.

Well, since we had to take the buses, and were assigned to one of the farther away churches, even getting there early didn't help. Ems, thankfully, helped me to overcome my obsessive worrying about not being close enough--especially when we had to wait until the third bus to even get on. Then they asked us to move to the back, and I said, "Maybe we should just sit in the front," but she reminded me that we would be blessed for being obedient. Thankfully she's patient with my idiosyncracies.

We ended up being way far back in the chapel waiting to get into the temple. As we were sitting there waiting, I said a little prayer to Heavenly Father, just asking him if it was His will that maybe someone would come up to us and say, "Oh, there's only two of you? Why don't you come over here," and take us to a better place so that we wouldn't have to sit in a closet. Of course, I would have been grateful to be in a closet because it would still be in the temple. But I just thought I'd ask Heavenly Father in case.



As we walked into the temple lobby, I smiled at one of the ushers, and he smiled back, and then stopped me and said, "Are there only two of you? Come with me. I've got a really good place for you." I couldn't believe it. I looked at Emilee in amazement. He took us to the chapel and said, "This is a really good spot, because the Prophet and others will walk through here on their way to the Celestial room, and then will walk back through here on the way back after it's over."

It was such a beautiful place to be for the dedication, with a picture of Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the front (I tried to find a picture of it online, but couldn't). But, as the usher said, the best part was when the Prophet, his daughter Sister Ann Dibb, President and Sister Uchtdorf, and Elder and Sister Bednar walked in, smiling, waving, and shaking hands with the kids. We were on the other side of the chapel, but could still see them, and on the way back out, President Uchtdorf waved and smiled in my direction. I love our leaders! What a blessing to get to see them! I also felt the spirit so strongly at the dedication. I love the temple! (Obviously, since that is the name of my blog). What a blessing to be able to go to the temple and feel so strongly how much God loves us and wants us to return to Him.

I'm just so grateful that Heavenly Father answers even little prayers. I know sometimes the answer is no, but sometimes the answer is yes, and He is so good to give us the desires of our hearts.

Well, this post is long enough, and I need to get to bed.

This and That

I realized tonight that the last few posts I've done have been about Grandma--which is great. But it's probably time to update on what has been going on with me. So first of all, I have to say Happy Birthday to my brother Jon! He turns 36 tomorrow (March 26). I'm guessing he probably won't read this, but I'll say Happy Birthday to him anyway! He is such a great brother--always kind,laid back, and funny, and will do anything for anyone. He is so cute with the babies--here is a picture of him holding Emilee's little Matthew.



The main thing I thought I would write about is work. I've had a big change at work, where they decided to move one of my co-workers over to a different part of the office, and combine our jobs, so now I'm doing both jobs. I understand why they did it, and totally support them, but it has made me MUCH more busy at work, and I miss talking to Melody every day! I can already tell that it is going to be a good thing though, because I wasn't always as busy as I would like to be, and it is helping me to be much more involved in what is going on in the office. And I love the other two men I am working for. I certainly won't be bored at work!

There were three of us secretaries that worked closely together, me, Melody and Donna. The three of us went to lunch at the Garden restaurant last Friday to say goodbye. Even though Melody is still in our office, I won't get to talk to her all the time.

The lunch was really nice. We walked over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (remember last week when the weather was nice?) I had my camera and got some pictures on the way over. I love the sun shining through the water in the fountain. We got to sit right by the window overlooking the temple, and had a really nice lunch. The last picture is the three of us (actually, the last picture is one of the flowers--watch to see more pictures of the tulips when they come out. I love spring)! I'll miss you Melody!









Well, I got up at 5:00 am this morning, so I'd better get to bed! I'll try to post more often.

Grandma's brag book

I finally finished scanning in the pictures from Grandma's brag book, and decided to put the pictures to music. I think it turned out really sweet. I uploaded it to You Tube, and hope it will work to put it here on my blog...I'll write more soon!