February moments, mostly in pictures

Samson is a great cuddler!

Wade ate a cookie that had walnuts in it, which after about an hour required an Epi-pen shot and a follow-up to emergency room.  He was doing great after about an hour and a half.  I was the one who told him the cookie was okay.  :/

Spoiled by Jason on Valentine's Day!  Later that week we had a delicious dinner at Bahay Kubo, a new Filipino restaurant in town.

Me, after pulling weeds in the garden for 3 hours yesterday.  Felt so good to feel some warmth outside!

Wade and his friend Katie got a Superior rating at an Ensemble recital at the high school.  They did a fantastic job!!

Part 1 of a note Rhiannon left for me to find in my journal!  Love!

Part 2 of love notes from Rhiannon

Great quote that I read this month.  I love that--"gratitude is the gentle power that restores courage."

Rhiannon had some fun on Valentine's Day up at school.  She handed out cute Valentine's to friends that had tattoos in them. 

Rhiannon with her friend Marisa.  These two beautiful girls get dinner together every week.

A few other big highlights to mention this month:

--Jason, Wade, and I enjoyed a ward temple day last weekend and spent time in the baptistry with our youth group.  We had such a huge turnout that we could only do 2 or 3 baptisms per person.  My favorite part was watching Wade and four other new Priests perform baptisms for the first time.

--Wade has really packed it in this month.  I asked him if he was worn out, and he said, "Not really, because they are all things I want to do and I'm having fun."  Some of those fun things this month included a band trip to Disneyland, a trip to Six Flags with a friend, and starting golf at school and going to 4 practices a week after school.   Just yesterday alone his day looked like this:  lawn jobs, golf clinic, gun shooting with Dad and a friend, board games at another friend's house, birthday party after that, and going to a late 9:15 showing of Green Book with me that night.

--Rhiannon got a new roommate and also found a new job this month.  She has two more shifts at the cafeteria and then starts her new job as an office assistant in the College of Education next week.  She was SOOOOOOOOOO happy to get that news!  The cafeteria job has not been fun, but we are sure proud of how she's given it her best.

A very memorable family temple trip

Memorial Day weekend was a special one for us.

That Friday afternoon we drove down to the Los Angeles temple, stopped for dinner at In 'N Out on the way and stayed the night in the temple patron apartments for the first time.  Many of our friends make family trips this way and said the temple apartments were the way to go--they were right.  The apartment was simply furnished and a little snug, but it was inexpensive, clean, and had a great shower.  We smiled at the giant picture of the Savior in the kitchenette and the Family Proclamation posted in the apartment complex elevator.  It was peaceful and perfect.

The next morning we woke up very early and started in the temple baptistry at 6 am.  It was the first time we had family names to do work for, that Jason and I had found on our own.  (Next step:  encourage the kids in this endeavor!)

After some time there, the kids went back to the apartment, and then Jason and I did initiatories and then an endowment session together, followed by several sealings.  We both agreed it was a neat experience to do that--we hadn't done initiatories and sealings in a very long time.  Rhiannon and Wade said they had a fun time together, too, hanging out in the apartment, walking the temple grounds, taking pictures, and checking out the visitor's center.

We were all finished before noon!  And our family was able to do temple ordinance work of some sort for 13 family names (plus several more in the baptistry and sealing room).  It was a lovely day, finished off with a pleasant drive home and lunch at El Torito in Palmdale.

Will we do it again?  Yes!

I've had a goal for a really long time to personally find a family name to take to the temple.  We're talking years.  Each year would go by and I'd say, "Well, maybe next year."  Over the past few months things came together for me--I felt urged on at some stake meetings, there was an article in the Ensign magazine about what to do if all your family history work seems "done," and a cute Laurel in our ward also gave me some hints.  So one day in February I just started clicking around and there it was.

That one name.  Martha Handford.  With only one single temple ordinance left, to be sealed to her parents.  Jason was also very successful that morning--I was encouraged to give it a try after he'd found several names in a matter of minutes.

I was pretty excited when I found that name.  Really, I was more than excited--I felt a jolt of electricity and happiness when I found it!  But that feeling was nothing compared to how it felt to be in the temple a few months later completing the work for Martha Handford.  It was a powerful, exhilarating, and emotional moment.  I felt profoundly happy and honored to be there for her, to do the work with Jason, and thankful to the other people in the sealing room helping us make it happen.

It was awesome.

Our first family temple trip--2015 Highlight of the Year

In January we set a family goal to go to the temple together to do baptisms for Wade's first time once he turned 12.

During our Utah trip, we took off to the LDS Bountiful temple one morning and had an amazing experience serving in the temple together.  It was so sweet to be back in the temple where Jason and I were sealed, and even sweeter to have both our kids with us there.

We did many cool things this year, but this trip made it to the top of our 2015 family moments.  We were so happy to be there together.  And it was cool to see Wade do 42 baptisms in a row, haha!

Families are forever!