We Had The Most Perfectly Wonderful Day!!

Well since yesterday was a LONG one, I waited a whole night to post about it, sorry I made you wait Hila but since you were HERE I don't really consider it "waiting."

Our day started off at about, oh lets say...6:00A.M. (At least for me) I had butterflies in my tummy and couldn't go back to sleep...so I sat there until about seven thirty when I actually got out of the bed. (Its so warm under those mink blankets from Korea.) Anyway I think the kids were super excited because they were totally talkative and would not let Brad and I converse at all!!! They enjoyed getting their new clothes on (well Saria and Samuel got new outfits) I had braided Saria's hair the night before and so her hair was a little crimped (I personally think she looked a little too much like Hermione so I put it up in a pony tail in hopes that by the time we got to the temple that it would be a little less poofy.) So we all get our church type clothes on and call Mom to tell her we're going to meet her somewhere to make it easier to get on the ferry together so that we could follow her once we were in Seattle (because we've never been to the temple and have no clue where it is.)

Surprise #1 happens here!!! We get to the bank parking lot and are waiting for Mom to get there so I start applying my lipgloss and Brad's like "Here they are," so I look up and start waving because everyone in the car is waving at me, and I see it's full of people so I just assume it's the people that are coming with us from Mom's ward and I just wave at them, and look back down into my container of lipgloss to apply some to my upper lip when it hit me, that gosh that girl in the backseat looked a lot like Hila, so I look up again and I can only imagine what my face looked like (it musta been epic because everyone in the car was in stitches) when I realized that it WAS Hila!! She hopped out of the car and Brad was kind enough to roll down my window (why I didn't open the door I dunno) and we hugged and I cried into her pretty shirt haha and I thanked her for tricking me and for coming and it just made the day soooo much more special to have her there!

So we start standing in line for the ferry and the kids are totally engrossed in this set of fountains off to our right, and everytime one of them blew (like a whale,kinda I guess) they'd shout "OoOOoOO" or something to that affect, so the 10 or so minutes we waited in line was full of "OoO's" and other excited kidisms and it really helped the time go by a little faster (Brad and I both loved watching them too, we were making kid noises with them I will admit.) SOOO we finally get on board the ferry and the kids absolutely loved that experience, I think Ben had his head out the window the whole trip! They attempted to eat their lunch at this time (Bologna and cheese sandwiches and Capri Sun with fruit snacks and graham crackers) but really they ate the fruit snacks and graham crackers and left their sandwiches for later.

So we get to the temple and get our things that we need from the distribution center and head into the temple, and (I know I'm skipping here, but I am not sure what I CAN say and what I'm not supposed to so I hope I'm being safe heh) my intial reaction to entering the doors to the temple and seeing all the people in white and just sooo happy, it really really made me KNOW that what we were doing was the right thing to do. I really, really wish that everyone could have been there to see and share the day with us! Surprise #2 The kids coming into the room to be sealed with us....dressed in white, sooo beautiful and handsome...It was just absolutely wonderful. I have never felt so at peace and happy as I did when we were sealed together. Anyone that knows my kids knows that they are hyper and very talkative and active and LOUD, but for those few moments, they were absolutely perfect. They were reverent, and quiet, and obedient and it was wonderful!

Surprise #3 The kids were very busy in the youth center having their handprints drawn on paper that says "My hands are this big and today I was sealed to my parents for time and all eternity" and they also colored, and played with the assortment of toys they had there. When I opened up their folders and saw their handprints, the waterworks were once again activated (of course I'm a mom right) And I decided I'm going to frame all three of their handprint papers along with a family shot and a picture of the temple and our certificate (lots of frames needed here) and arrange it on the wall in the house. I am just so proud that after all this time, all these years of waiting and trying to become worthy, we finally did it!! I am so proud of my "little" family and I couldn't be more blessed then to be sealed to the most wonderful man I've ever met!

Ok so later that night we all went out to eat at Shari's. Christina and Desiree met us there. We had a blast! I love getting together with Brad and his family, the memories always are refreshed and we all have about a million chuckles over them. It's soo fun ;)

They all wanted pie right away of course! (The oreo one was especially liked by Saria)

Yesterday's outdoor excursion

Ben playing in the dirt from the mole hill. :)

Saria swinging

What a cutie!!

So dirty!!

Got up there all by herself!

Stick was bigger then him...

Yes, the sun peeked out at us yesterday, and really was totally awesome so I took the kids outside and they played in the mole hills (haha)and on the swing, and with sticks and rocks and other outdoorsy kinda things. They totally had a ton of fun and I hope that we get to do it again soon!!

Birthday Party

We had a little party for Desiree/Ben today.

We woke up and finished cleaning the house a bit and then went to Toys R Us and bought the bday presents for the kids and then went to Walmart for lunch at the McDonalds and then Safeway to get the cake (we surprisingly saw BIG Ben at both these places) and then went home and wrapped the presents. Christina, Nick and Desiree came over about three thirty and Mom came over just a few minutes before that, and we let the kids play for a little bit and then sang happy birthday and let them open their presents and then ate cake and icecream...gonna put some pictures up I hope;)

needless to say, they had a blast!

Happy Birthday

Happy

Birthday

Christina and Desiree!!!!

The Temple

We're going!!!!
Tuesday February 26th @2 is our session
going to receive endowments and sealing all in one shot
Gotta be up there by 12!!!

WOOT!!!

why this date is important you may ask? well....it marks 8 years Brad and I have been a couple to the day!!!

I am tired.. hehe

OK so Benjamin....I dunno WHY, but he took a really really late nap yesterday and Brad went to work around nine thirty to go do a barge and he got back around one something in the morning and I had JUST gotten in bed because BEN was sooo hyped up he wouldn't go to sleep. He started to grind his teeth last night (on purpose) and when I told him to stop and spanked him thereafter for doing it, he just giggled and giggled and giggled some more. (Right at the moment he's eating breakfast and blowing on his cereal) I think I have two children that are wild and rebellious like I was, and ....one very very mild laid back kid like I keep HEARING Brad was.

We're going to be doing a double birthday party this weekend (for Desiree and Ben), and thank goodness we have finally gotten over the flu like bug we had!!! I can't believe Desiree is three and Ben is two. Time flies!!! But I can believe that of all the children I've had, Ben has been the MOST full of life and the happiest. I think it's because he's got an older brother and sister to beat up (which he regularly takes advantage of)

Taken Feb. 5th, 2008

Feelings

So with the Prophet's passing last week I've been kinda emotional and teary lately, and I was thankful on Saturday that Brad was asked to give Michelle a blessing because I was watching the funeral broadcast with uncontrollable tears. There was mentioned in funeral broadcast somewhere (I think more than once) about how there was some 46? temples when President Hinckley became Prophet and then there's 135? now (I may have my numbers mixed up please don't quote me ;) )and I believe it's 1/3 of the members of the church have converted since his becoming Prophet. I thought about that statement really hard and I honestly felt like they mentioned ME in saying that and I really felt blessed. I joined the church in August of 2001, was confirmed a member the same day my daughter was blessed, and it was honestly to the displeasure of some of my family, and the other part really is happy. It's hard to have part of your family not like what you believe in, or rather, in this case I think honestly just not understand it or care to understand it. When I was baptized, I didn't think much of it, really. I didn't feel any different, I didn't act any different, I really didn't even fully live the gospel and what I should have been doing. It was just a couple of years ago that I began to build a testimony. Brad got deployed to Turkey...and I was soo bored one day I picked up this book that a sister in the church had given to me 2 years before while I was in the hospital having Samuel, and I started to read it. and I couldn't put it down. I read that book, and went to her house as soon as I was done to see if she had the others in the series (turns out she had all of them) and I began reading the second and third ones and so on. I had the entire set of books done by the time Brad's four and a half month tour ended (not to mention when he left I was reading Harry Potter-I read a lot when he was gone). In case you're wondering, the books were The Work and the Glory set. I know some of it was ficticious, but when I read those books, I WAS there with that family. It was a neat experience and it was on such a level that I could understand, and I gained a huge testimony from them. I started to read other books about the church (I can't remember what they're called) and it's amazing what Joseph Smith went through to get the restored gospel back on the earth. I am just really grateful that I have met someone in the church and have been given the opportunity to learn about it. I honestly don't think I'd have ever learned about it if it wasn't for Brad.
So getting back to the point about the funeral, I've had a great grandmother and a grandmother die but I never went to a funeral, and honestly, I remember crying, but it was nothing like what I felt Saturday, and I don't think that it's because I was SAD persay, so much as I UNDERSTOOD more, and I was reminded of our temple recommends sitting on a shelf in our bedroom and about how absolutely AWESOME it is that we have the chance to be an eternal family. I honestly can't imagine my life without Brad in it, without my children in it.
Thinking about the comments about how the Prophet missed his wife dearly, and how now they can be together again really made me happy. I pictured them (as old as they were they still got around rather well) like those silly commericals or bits of movie where they're on the beach and running towards each other to embrace and it's in really slow motion.. I'm just really thankful that no matter what, we will always have someone to lead and direct the church on the earth and it's awesome that we won't stop or fail because the Prophet died, the church will go on, it will not fizzle out and die. I know this is a bunch of randomness, but really it's how I feel at this moment, and since SOMEONE really wants to read new posts....I figured I'd share..'Love you guys.

Things only Brad would understand...

chocolate dipped icecream cones, sweet and sour chicken sauce, persian, yahtzee dice in the wrong cup, the thong song, diablo, iCQ (haha), ZooOoOOm, Faith Hill-Breathe, junior prom, chewy runts, Sonic coney dogs, "bleH", Return to Pooh Corner, Juicy, Gink, lasagna, Superman-ON ICE) toppling snowmen, Papa John's garlic sauce, SweetTarts, short shorts, ice in a cup, Bowfinger, Fritos, diaper coupons, Voila!, our "box" table, runaway poodles, Seaworld, RO-RO-RUCKY.
There's tons more but I can't think right now, which is depressing :/