A Sad Good-Bye To A Favorite Place

It is official. The Ogden Temple has closed it's doors for major renovation. I have heard many stories of what is to be done to the temple. I have heard it will be totally torn down. I heard all but the baptistry will be taken down. I heard just the outer walls will be taken down. I also hear they are building a huge room inside the temple to house all the rumors of what will be done. I guess for the next 2 1/2 to 3 years we will all be in great anticipation to see the final results. Thursday morning I went to the temple to do work for the last time in this very structure. I know other temples are open, you can do the same work, feel the same spirit, enjoy it just the same, but, I still felt a great sadness. I had decided to use my new camera and take some fantastic pictures. I can't say the pictures are fantastic, but, for me, it gave me a chance to spend some extra time on the temple grounds enjoying the feel and taking some pictures to help my memory. Many people had the same idea. I saw so many taking pictures. I saw families strolling around, sitting down and looking and pondering and I saw a woman looking at the temple with her journal in her lap with a pen in her hand.

I think the closing of the temple is hard because the Ogden Temple has been my temple. I have gone there many times for many reasons. It is always a place of quiet, peace, reflection, work, prayer, and acceptance. I am grateful I was able to go Thursday to reflect and say good-bye and to thank some of the temple workers for their service.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying a book. Is this with my husband in a few years? Hopefully we won't be statues.

I love seeing clocks like this one. I want one in my yard! Maybe I need to tell Tim I want one, really bad!

The Ogden temple was known as a work horse temple. For the last couple of years it has been incredibly busy. I don't know how many times I went and had to wait for quite a while to be able to begin my work.

I can't wait for the temple to be finished with it's remodeling job. We'll be off to enjoy other temples while we wait! And so for the next few years...so long. Can't wait until it opens again!

January and February Events

Hayden went to Chuck-E-Cheese for his birthday. Some of his cousins joined him. Tim and I watched the kids play, too. It was very entertaining.

At our Super Bowl get together Tim won the trophy from Marja. She got to grace the trophy for a whole year. She had to pass it off after the game was over. Marja, you get more and more beautiful every year. When you turn 80 years old you need to begin your beauty pageant tour. You will win Mrs. America...hands down! I would say Miss America, but, you are married!

This year our prediction sheet was a t-shirt that was purchased from Fanzz in the mall. Tim gets to wear this all year long, too! Next year who knows what we'll write our predictions on!

Alex will have his choice of many beautiful women to marry in 20 years. Which one do you think he should pick? We all love Alex and love giving him a rough time. He takes it and is very cute with all the little ones.

Some of the women gathering in the kitchen during the game. It was a very cold January. February began the same way. What is better to do in the cold months than to hibernate and make cookies with some cute little ones? Brielle and Isaak came over one day to make me happy and cook me some cookies. I have to have the traditional cookie baking carry on for several generations. We are well on our way!

One day I got to watch "Despicable Me" with three grandchildren close by keeping me warm.

Here we are goofing off at Rylee's birthday party.

Hayden showed us his dance moves.

Birthday girl, Rylee.

Isaak helped me clean by getting out the vacuum one day, without being asked, and began getting up all the dirt. Danika ran by the cleaner as often as she could! This post is so out of order. But, there it is anyway.

Lana's Dance

Lana is in a little dance class. I have been able to go see her a couple of times. It is so cute to watch the little girls practice and learn dance steps, tumbling and following instructions. The pictures are way out of order, but, you can see her have a lot of fun.

Lana jumps as high as she can...

this time she has to jump wide...

then she leaps and looks to see if grandma notices...

then she takes a water break and gives her grandmother a smile...

and she does a great kick....

she dances her learned song....

but, before she does any of this she does her warm ups. That includes learning how to do the splits. I remember trying to do that. OUCH!

Service Missionary

It is now official! I have a new calling. I am a service missionary working in the Bishops' Storehouse! This is such a wonderful thing for me to do. It was really hard for me to commit to anything that would take me away from being with grandchildren and giving up my time. I know it sounds selfish, but, there it is. I love being there with wonderful people and meeting new people every day. Plus, I get to work in a dedicated building, and, I am on a mission without leaving home!

...and, here is the proof. I even get to wear a name badge. Pretty cool, wouldn't you say?

Rylee Turns 10

Happy Birthday to Rylee! Hilary makes a mean birthday cake. So yummy!

As soon as we got to Rylee's house I made some people get into a group shot. Tim's mom came with us to wish Rylee a happy birthday.

We had fun eating dinner, playing games, eating cake, dancing, and being real loud! Rylee drew the picture above, Hilary had it framed, and Hayden was excited to show it to me. Rylee can draw quite well. Love the print.

Human pyramid! Dads, Uncles, and Grandpa as the base. Thanks for the support.

Rylee letting me give her a birthday hug.

Rylee letting her uncle, Andrew, lift her up and balance her. Uncle Mike and Grandpa were there to catch her if she fell.

Tim (grandpa) spun her around and around. They are both looking good!

Hayden playing one of the "Minute To Win It" games. All the kids loved playing the game.

Mike and Bill played a couple of the games, too. Bill won, Mike...well he tried.

The Birthday Girl did a game where you were given a set amount of time to wind a roll of toilet paper around you before the timer went off. Simple game, and way fun!

Rylee playing another game of shooting the soda cans over with a rubber band.

Sara playing "Johnny Applestack". So Sara!

...And the birthday girl blowing out her candles. With 10 on top it only took her three tries to get all the candles out.

Eating cake and ice-cream is so yummy!

Kate loves her cake, too!

But, then again, so do the rest of us. It seems like Bill always gets the job of dishing out the ice-cream. No complaints coming from this mouth!

Doesn't it look like Rylee got to do everything she wanted on her birthday without getting in trouble? I mean really, would you get to eat out of the ice-cream bucket? Actually, I made her pose for the picture.

After eating cake Rylee wanted us to do the spanking machine. Here she goes through it!

Lana and Kenzie got caught telling secrets! Do you want to know what they said? Me too!

Dancing to finish the evening off. Whew! What an eventful birthday. Lots of fun

Brielle had to try one last game. Stack the dice on a tongue depresser. Way to go Brielle.

I love this family! What a great gift to be given.

Saturday is the Day We Get Ready For Sunday

On Saturday Tai and Mike came over to grab my Tom Tom to use for the week. While here the children begged for pancakes. They didn't want to go out to eat at Cafe Rio. They love pancakes (and so do I.) I asked Kailie to stuff a pancake in her mouth so I could take a silly picture of her. Thanks for complying!

Danika looks properly scared. Why? Because...

...Isaak thought my house was dirty after the pancakes were made and eaten so he went to get the vacuum and started to vacuum my home. What cute kids!