Valentines Day

After a fairly eventful Friday the 13th, Von and I enjoyed Valentines Day totally to ourselves doing the usual Sat. things...laundry, weekly shopping, house cleaning. We did take in a flick of my choice this time..."Inkheart". I thought it was an interesting fantasy... a little on the dark side. Makes you want to read the book for details.
We fixed our own dinner and stayed away from the crowds. It was good to have a little time to ourselves. Dave called this evening to announce another little Buxton on the way! So a truly "lovely" weekend!

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th didn't start very well...I stubbed my toe on the foot of the bed, then almost fell on some black ice in a driveway delivering Valentine treats to friends. Thankfully, the rest of the day went well. But...the evening was totally awesome, as my grandkids love to say.
I was planning to tend Rosie's kids so she and David could go out for the evening, and decided to take them swimming at the indoor pool nearby. Sheila and babies came over to hang with Von, and I included Halie in the swim trip. What was I thinking?
I was nervous at first, not sure if all the kids remembered how to swim! They brought their life jackets, and were comfortable wearing those....Just getting them all into them and keeping track of 4 heads above water kept me busy the first hour. But then, the older two even took off their jackets and were fine. At least they were big enough to touch bottom. Camron(5) still can't touch bottom, and is still learning how to use his arms and feet to power around. Had to go retrieve him a few times, with Halie in tow, of course.
There's a good-sized water slide at this pool, so the 2nd hour all of us climbed and slid down the slide, until a lifeguard told me Halie(3) was supposed to go down alone! Right! She was devastated that we couldn't go down a hundred more times! All three of the older kids were getting real creative on their runs down the slide...Camron made me nervous with his run and flop at the top of the slide! Tyler was going down on his stomach and backwards, and together with Kristin several times. As always, they hate to leave a swimming pool. Must be the Twogood in them!
Back at my house, Kristin had a headache and crashed on the couch without supper. Von and Sheila went to get some pain pills, after a call to David R. Sheila and girls went home, and Rosie's kids spent the night. What a night. I slept out in the livingroom with Kristin, since she was wanting to throw-up. She eventually went back to sleep after taking and keeping down a pain pill, so I went to bed...only to hear her wake up. She was out of pain and hungry, so at 3AM she had breafast, and we finished watching "The Little Princess" that we started after swimming.
Camron heard us, so he came up from the basement where he and Tyler were sleeping, and sat through the movie with us. At 5am, we all went back to bed! By 7:30, all the kids were up and eager to play games...so we played UNO until Rosie arrived to take them all home. And thus ended a not so typical sleepover with my adorable grandkids!

Stake Conference weekend

Sheila and girls attended our Stake Conference with us this morning, so spent the night before. Jon had drill at Utah Air National Guard. Halie ready for bed.

Alexis getting ahead if us. Of course she (and Sheila) was up 3 times before the rest of us.

Sheila, Halie, Jon and Alexis this evening.

Alexis now 3 weeks!

I wound up playing organ for the adult session last night, as well as for the general session, and accompanied the choir on piano this morning. I rarely play the stake organ, so was glad I was at the church Friday night when I got the call, and was able to get in a good practice prior to the meetings. All the organs in our stake are different, so require some time to learn their best sounds.

Our combined 2 wards choir of about 40 did a great job. Several practice sessions since Christmas. They sang "Come Thou Fount" and "Beautiful Savior". Great talks from recent converts. One brother was an associate of Von's Air Guard days who recently had his family sealed together in the temple, after 30 years of struggling to overcome vices and join the church with the rest of his family.

Our stake president tackled the topic of gay marriage. The church respects individuals no matter what their life styles, but supports marriage between a man and woman as the only acceptable relationship that God sanctions. Many other religions and people besides the Mormons support this principle.

We especially enjoyed the talks by a bishop and wife who work with divorsed couples professionally. I want to get their 5 stages of marriage that were discussed. If all marriages just hang on until stage 5, divorse would not happen.
As always, a great Spirit felt throughout the sessions.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Feb. 7

After touring Rosie's house, we stopped by the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple still under construction. Looks like rocks in forground used to sure-up the hill.

The front entrance

From the back

Moroni statue on top.

A bench in front of chapel across the street from temple

Rosie and David's house Feb. 7

The front door, 3-car garage. Left side is deep for David's window shutters and trailor.

There is a full basement which will be unfinished. David will use an area for his office.

A view of the neighborhood.

Inside the front door, living, kitchen, pantry.

eating area and kitchen, back door.

Rosie and David's house Feb. 7

upstairs

looking from romper room into master suite

one of the doors.

master bedroom windows

down the hall to kids' rooms and bath

Update on Von

Von visited with his family doctor today about his continued pains...neck, groin, hip. Seems he's a likely candidate for hip replacement. He's been advised to have a follow-up with the doctor at IMC who treated him after his accident. So...stay tuned for further developments.

Draper Utah Temple

Rosie and children, Halie, a neighbor and I had a fun afternoon touring this new temple, up on a hill at the southeast end of the Salt Lake Valley, a community called Draper..named after the first LDS settler in the area. We drove to a nearby LDS chapel, where we viewed a brief video about temples, and this temple and area. We then loaded onto a bus to drive up to the temple...about a 6-minute ride. Kids loved it! A tour guide told us more about the temple.
We were dropped off right in front of the temple, and walked through a long covered ramp to the front entrance. We continued to be directed on plastic runners through the entire temple, stopping to see the baptismal font on top of 12 white oxen. There were 4 small endowment rooms, two with murals around the rooms as if you were in a grove of trees and garden. The celestial room chandelier was magnificent. A host directed Tyler and Kristin to watch how it moved slightly. We then were seated in a sealing room, where a couple told about their temple wedding experience. We were asked to look in the mirrors and see how many times we saw ourselves, relating to eternal families. We then were lead to an LDS chapel next to the temple, where we viewed displays of all the temples, about the church, had cookies and bottled water, and listened to a flute and string ensemble, played by high school students.
What was so amazing, is how reverent the children were. They seemed to know this was a special place...the House of the Lord.
After some refreshments, we got back on our bus and rode to our parking lot.
Because photo-taking was not allowed, I wasn't able to take any photos, except this one from the bus.
Our stake will be hosting the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House this summer. Public tours begin June 1-Aug. 1. I paid attention to what the hosts of the Draper Temple did, as we will be doing similarly.

Fun in the snow!

I had Rosie bring the kids to a favorite sledding hill behind the Skating Oval. Tyler got a new Star Wars saucer from me for his birthday. He LOVES the snow! He's on his way up to me first.

And the first one down the hill, of course.

Kristin and Camron before their runs.

Camron lost both boots on this run!

More fun in the snow!

Camron ready for take off.

Kristin ready to brake

All three going down together...Camron's feet up again, but at least his boots stayed on.

Tyler and Camron flying!

Running back up for more!