Camera Tricks

This past weekend we had our niece and nephew come up and spend some time with us. If I have time later today I'll write about the fun stuff we did but for now I wanted to show a fun picture we did.

I was trying to do something else here and this is what ended up happening.
Our nephew is playing pick-a-boo ~ with him self!

So then we took another.
The kids had a lot of fun doing this one. I think Uncle Paul did too!!

Paul is going to be such a great dad. He loves spending time with these two and is so patient with them. I have so much fun watching him when he gets to hang out with our niece's and nephew, he is just a big kid at heart. This weekend he even got that little stubborn one to say his prayers...it was so cute!!!

Temple Cleaning Service

Many of you may know that Paul has found a job working security at the Temple. He has come home with some really neat stories and has been able to see almost every inch of the magnificent building. Before Paul got this job he was hired as a temp for a couple of weeks to paint the room on the 4th floor {that's right, the fourth floor is one entire room}.

This past month the Temple has been shut down for some renovations and cleaning. Stakes and wards from around the valley are invited to volunteer to come in and help during cleaning. When it is time to clean the chandelier in the Celestial room the spouses of the Temple employees are invited to help clean.

After mutual on Wednesday I headed up to the Temple. Before everyone else got there Paul asked if he could show me the room he painted and take me around a bit. On the picture below there is one window that has open window treatments, the big window above it is the 4th floor. While we were up there I peaked out the window and saw a family down by the water fountain. I didn't think they would notice me but I started waving and sure enough, they all waved back, the little kids were putting their whole bodies into it. We also went up to the very top left window. This is a room that has access to the rafters. I got to peek in and see the original hand work done by the pioneers. The trusses were huge and to think that it was all placed by hand was crazy. You could see the markings from the hand tools used. The brick work was more rough than the exterior of the Temple, you could see where the stones were chipped to make the bricks.

The chandelier was all the way down in the middle of the room and all the furniture was moved out. It was such a neat experience to be in the Temple and doing service for all those who will be going through. Going to the do a session will never be the same again. Paul hopped in the genie and vacuumed the drapes from top to bottom and also did all the mirrors. I worked with a group of others who have been doing this for years. You could see the time and care they put into cleaning every inch.

I can not even express what a great experience it was to be in the Temple and have the chance to see the handcrafted work of those who spent so much time building the Temple

The 4th on the 3rd!!!

We had decided to stay up at home for the 4th of July weekend and invited Pauls family up. We went up to the Minnetonka Cave and luckily got up there where we only had an hour wait. If we had gotten there even 20 minutes later the wait would be 2 hours or longer. I also invited a friend of mine who is here from Romania. This was her first 4th of July and she is only two weeks shy of being here for a year.

After that we stopped off for Raspberry shakes then headed home for a BBQ. It was a great time and when it was all over Paul and I had decided that one of the best parts was that we got to stay put and didn't have to drive an hour to get home like usual.

This is the only one we are allowed to touch.
So many people already had so it was dead.

The Wedding Room!!!

The group of us at the end of the cave.
Then we had to turn around and head out the same way we went in.

Here's the group of us waiting for our turn to go in.

Thanks everyone for coming. We had a great time!

Youth Conference

The weekend of June 25-26 our stake had Youth Conference and I had the chance to spend time with some of our young women and new leaders in the Presidency.

They had some great activities for the Youth including a faith walk. The kids were blindfolded and walking along a path while holding onto a rope. They had to listen to people along the path and decide to follow them or not. Some choose the wrong way and ended up out in the field wondering lost. The Devotionals were great and I think the kids got a lot out of them, I know I did.

It was fun to be able to spend some time with our Young Women and get to know them more. They are such great YW and have strong testimonies. I am so grateful for the chance I have had to get to know them.

To pass some time waiting for the next activity our ward played still the flag!!

Faith walk

Games in the field.

Minute to win it. Our Girl won, she's the one with the pink!