Provo Temple Open House and a Birthday Celebration

Yesterday was such a fun day. A few weeks ago, Dan procured tickets to the Provo Temple Open House. He texted the family to see who would be interested in going and of course, Alison and I were in. Dan and Kristin came and picked us up around 11:30 and we headed to Provo. It was good to drive together especially since it was a very snowy day. Alison and I sat in the back seat with Skylee. She was so excited to get to the temple. She kept telling us how much she wanted to go to the temple and see Jesus. It was really cute. She excitedly told showed us her dress, her tights, her shoes, and her painted fingernails. She is such an animated talkative little girl.

We met up with the rest of the family for lunch at Cubby's. This was Alison and my first time at Cubby's and we loved it. We both got the buffalo salad and it's delicious. After lunch, we headed over to the temple. We thought it would be busy so we parked in our assigned parking area, which was across the street and about a block away. It was a cold and snowy day so I gave Skylee my mittens to keep her hands warm. She thought they were silly since they were so big.

While we were walking over to the temple Alison told Skylee that during the summer we are going to take her to baseball games. I guess because it was so cold and snowy Alison wished it was time for summer. She reminded Skylee about how much fun it is to see Bumble and to ride the train. Skylee sang "Take me out to the ball game." Her root, root root for the Yankees was the best part!

Once we got into the temple they let us right into the open house. We were seated in a theater to watch a short movie about the importance of temples. Our group got split in half and we were seated in different rows. We put the shoe covers over our feet and put a pair on Skylee. She wasn't thrilled about covering up her shoes. She kept calling the shoe covers Mikey Mouse shoes. While we were waiting for the theater to fill up Skylee was singing, "I am a Child of God." It was the most adorable thing. When the movie started Skylee told us she need popcorn. It wasn't that kind of movie. I really enjoyed the testimonies that were shared about the importance of temples. Skylee was a little bored. She started on Blake's lap and ended up on mine. I kept her entertained with the flower on my watch. She loves to flip my watch around so that she can see the flowers open up. It is pretty cute.

After the movie ended we got to walk through the temple. It is such a beautiful temple. They really captured the heritage of Utah in a unique way. There were many paintings of wildlife from the surrounding areas. As Blake noted, they captured the spirit of a pioneer temple. The craftsmanship was so intricate and detailed. This temple is a beautiful tribute to the ordinances that will take place there.

Near the end of the tour, there was an area where you could get your picture taken in front of a backdrop of the new Provo temple. We got of course got a family picture. It was really special to be together in such a sacred place. Temples are all about families and the promise that we can be part of our families for all eternity.

On our way back to our car we noticed there were umbrellas that you could borrow. At this point, it was snowing pretty hard so Alison grabbed an umbrella. It turns out Skylee loves umbrellas. She can't really say umbrella so instead, she would say what sounded like gorilla or bubmrella. She wanted to hold it so Alison held her while she held onto the umbrella.

On our way home from the temple, we stopped to visit Alison's uncle Kim. He recently retired from the Provo Canyon School. He had worked there for 34 years - quite a career. Blake and Debbie got him a rocking chair to celebrate his retirement and his "old age." He loved the gift. We sat and visited with him and his wife, Gayle, for a while. Now that Kim has retired they are going to spend some of their time working on the new Provo Temple. Kim showed us some of the gifts he received for his retirement. He also showed us many of the cards he received. Alison was impressed by the number of students who mentioned how kind Kim was. That didn't surprise us at all. Kim is one of the kindest people we know.

Last night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate my friend, Scott Bennion's, 30th birthday. Scott and I become friends early on during the accounting program. His girlfriend, Liz, threw a surprise party for him. She coordinated to have us show up at Buffalo Wild Wings around 5pm. She and Scott came a little late. It worked so well - Scott was very surprised and grateful to see everyone on his birthday. We had a great time celebrating with him.