I Love To See The Temple!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

The best thing about where we live right now is that we can see the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple from our house. We can see the top of it from the front of our house, and from pretty much anywhere in our neighborhood. About a month ago they started lighting it up at night, and we see it from the playroom window each night. When we moved here about a year ago, it was well on its way. We've watched it over the last several months get closer and closer to being completed, and finally yesterday we got to go on a special "sneak peak" open house for our stake and the stake next to ours. (The public open house doesn't start until June 1.) It is a beautiful temple and has been a daily reminder of how we should be living our lives and teaching our children to live worthy to someday enter the temple. Our boys have been excited to watch the progress of the temple, and even Mason now regularly says, "I see the temple!" when we drive past it. Each night when I tuck him into bed, he wants me to sing "I Love To See The Temple." It has quickly become his favorite song, and now he even tries to sing it with me sometimes. There is a place in our neighborhood where we can see three temples--the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, the Jordan River Temple, and the new Draper Temple. What an amazing thing! Temples are literally starting to "dot the land." Although we are excited to move to a new house and new area, it will be sad to have to leave this beautiful temple just before it is dedicated. It has already blessed our lives though and helped our family focus more on the importance of God's Holy Temples, and luckily we will only be about 25 minutes away, so I'm sure we will make it back here often. 

The view from our playroom at night

We can see the Oquirrh Mountain Temple from almost anywhere in our neighborhood!

We were driving by the temple one day last July and saw a bunch of people gathered around outside the fence of the temple so stopped to see what was going on. They were getting ready to put the Angel Moroni on top, so we stayed to watch. We ended up waiting about an hour and a half, but it was cool to see. We've loved watching the temple being built and getting to see the progress over the last several months since we've been here.

July 11, 2008

Zack, Mason, Ethan

It's A Miracle!

Not too long ago when Zack and Ethan were having a bath, they brought a snorkel mask into the bath. Ethan put it on and put his face under the water and said, "I can see! It's a miracle!" Zack replied, "It's not a miracle. That's what goggles are for."

New Found Freedom!

Ethan has always loved riding bikes. He's been doing great with training wheels, and finally about a week ago we decided it was time to take the training wheels off. He just took right off like he's been riding a two-wheeler his whole life, and has hardly gotten off his bike since! Mason has also been riding non-stop (he's not quite ready to remove the training wheels yet though) and loves being able to cruise around as he pleases. (He most often cruises down to his friend Riley's house.) Last week we went for a walk/bike ride on the trails near our house. I wasn't sure how long they'd last, so I brought the stroller for Mason, but Ethan did great riding the whole way! Here's a few pictures from our adventure.

Bye Bye Birdie

Mason has a little friend named Riley who lives a couple houses away. They've been playing together non-stop the last few weeks. She's about 3 1/2, and he's 2 1/2. They ride bikes together and run through the sprinklers together and wear each other's flip-flops. They're like an old married couple, and she kind of bosses him around a little, and he worships the ground she walks on and does anything she tells him to. They also like to jump on the trampoline together. The other day they were in the back jumping, and I was in the garage. Riley came into the garage with a very disturbed look on her face and said, "I don't like that bird under the trampoline" and then she took off on her Big Wheel. Ethan had been out jumping too, so a couple minutes later when he came into the garage, I asked him what bird Riley was talking about. Ethan said, "I don't know. I think it was just a big wasp or bee or something." I dismissed it and didn't give it another thought until I went out back a little later and saw the suicidal bird dangling about a foot below the trampoline with a string around its neck and wrapped around one of its feet. How it happened, we'll never know. It looked like either a suicide or a public execution to me. All I did know was that I didn't like that bird under the trampoline so much either!

Cannibals??

Recently at dinner, Zack was pretending he was a frog, and he gulped down a green pepper. (Don't feel dumb--I didn't know frogs eat green peppers either.) This somehow very quickly evolved into the following "Would you rather eat ___ or ___?" game/conversation between Zack and Ethan.

Zack: "Would you rather eat a great white shark or a pirahna? I'd rather eat a pirahna."

Ethan: "I'd rather eat a pirahna too because great white sharks have more and sharper teeth. Now I'm a frog."

Zack: "Would you rather eat a fly, because that's what frogs eat, or eat your food?"

Ethan: "I'd rather eat my food."

This went back and forth for a bit, with each one trying to outdo the other.

Finally Ethan asked Zack: "Would you rather eat a human or drink all the oceans in the world?"

Zack: "I'd rather eat a human."

(Hmmm...That sounded a little cannibalistic to me. Should I be worried???)

I guess that was the trump of all "would you rather eat this or that?" questions, so the conversation then turned to the sense of smell. The last one I heard was: "Would you rather smell a skunk or smell an ogre's breath?" Now that would be a tough call.

Sneak Peek!

OK, for all those of you who have been begging for pictures of the new house, here's a sneak peek. (Actually not much else will change on the outside before we move in except they'll take the cardboard and wrapping off the front door!) But you'll have to wait for the interior pictures! Our final walk-through is this coming Friday (May 29) and then we just have to wait around until Underwriting finishes our loan so we can close. I can hardly stand it! I have most of my interior paint and am going crazy waiting to sign those papers so I can start painting! We should be closing sometime in the first half of June, then we'll paint and do a few things and slowly move in through the month of June, and probably move the big stuff towards the end of the month. The kids are in year-round school and are now off-track until June 16, then they go back until July 2. I guess we could actually move as soon as we close, but I don't want to be doing that drive (30 min. each way) 3 times a day (we have 1/2 day kindergarten) for 3 weeks, and the kids don't want to miss all their end-of-the-year partying. So that's the plan. More pictures will be coming in the next month or so!

Mother's Day

I got to share Mother's Day this year with Greg's birthday. What a perfect day to remember how thankful I am for my family! I love being a mom (although I admit there are those occasional moments when I'm not so sure!) I love all my boys--my 3 little boys, Zack, Ethan and Mason, and my big boy Greg, who is not only the love of my life, but also my best friend. And where would I be without my own mom (and dad too), and all my loved ones and friends who have taught me that our families are one of the greatest treasures we will ever receive. And the best part of that is that we can keep them forever! I love Mother's Day and am so grateful for the kind of love I never knew existed until I became a mom.

Pinewood Derby

Zack finally got to be in his first Pinewood Derby back in April. He wanted his car to be a great white shark, so we did the best we could! Zack helped design it, and Mom cut it out, then we painted it together and Dad put the wheels on. It was our first Pinewood Derby car experience, so we weren't very experienced in all the ins and outs of making the fastest or heaviest or most streamlined cars, and when we got to the church and weighed in, Zack's car only weighed 2.8 ounces (they can weigh up to 5 ounces!). We added some weights and pennies and quarters on the bottom and got it up to 4.9 ounces, but I think all the extra stuff ended up causing a bit of drag because it certainly wasn't the fastest car on the track! And the first time down, the tip of the fin on top was a little too tall and got it stuck in the timer thing near the end of the track! We clipped a bit off the tip with some wire cutters (it's amazing how prepared all the other scout families come to Pinewood Derbies! I guess you learn from experience!) and then the Great White was back in business and could at least get to the end of the track. Zack got to race about 6 different times. He came in 4th place (out of 4) every time except one, when he came in 3rd place, and he was as thrilled about that as if he had come in first! Maybe he didn't have the fastest car in the race, but he certainly had the coolest and most unique! It was a fun night, and I think we've even learned a few tricks for next year!

Slacker 2

OK, I know. It's been almost a month since I posted an entry about how I was a slacker and had been neglecting my blog and was going to update it and all that, and then I only did one more entry. Despite my good intentions, I guess I must've gotten distracted by something else. Sorry! This time I'm really going to try to play catch-up though, so here we go.

HOPPY EASTER!

MY THREE SONS

ZACK

ETHAN

MASON

I've Been A Slacker!

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've become a slacker at my blogging. I knew this would happen eventually. That's one of the reasons I never started one in the first place! And it's not even because I've been spending all my time on Facebook. I've been neglecting that one too! Life is just busy, as usual. And, well, I've had a broken camera. I finally got a new camera though and have a few minutes while the kids are in the bath, so I guess it's time to play catch-up!

Finally Some Excitement!

This past weekend we came to check out the house and it was all completely framed up!

The corner tub in the master bathroom

It had been raining earlier, so the house was full of puddles! Hopefully they'll get that leaky roof fixed before we move in! Ha!

These pictures of the digging and pouring the foundation were from just 2 weeks ago. They move pretty fast! (By the way, these two pictures were taken on my computer, so they are in mirror image. The outhouse is really on the opposite side!)

My blog has been kind of boring lately. Life has been just going along pretty normally, and, as always, way too fast. My camera is still broken, so the only pictures I end up taking these days are on the occasional weekends when we borrow the camera from Greg's work, or when I take pictures with my computer, which of course is only a mirror image of reality, not to mention it's a little awkward for some things. Anyho...this may not be so exciting to anyone else, but it's exciting to us! Our house is moving along fast, and is already all framed! When I was over there 2 weeks ago, they were in the middle of pouring the foundation. We drove over to the house this past weekend (and borrowed the camera from the office), and the whole thing is framed already!! It was pretty exciting to wander through it and see it finally coming together. We're getting pretty antsy, and I spend most of my "free" time obsessing over paint colors and decorating ideas and all that good stuff. It should be done sometime around the beginning of June. YAY!!! Here's pictures of the progress so far.

Alien Birthday Adventures

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO OUR FAVORITE ETHAN!!

All the little aliens (they had to "earn" their alien eyes by doing things like carrying alien eyeballs in a race without dropping them,moon-walking, and picking up moon rocks with their eyes closed)

The UFO cake, complete with Ben 10 alien figures (we haven't actually ever seen the show, but Ethan loves the action figures!!)

Time to eat!

The alien pinata (my first attempt at making a pinata--I thought it turned out pretty good for a beginner!)

The alien pinata was getting bashed in all the right places, and for several blows it kind of looked like it was throwing up! We put the treat bags in the pinata and had balls in them that light up when they're thrown, hit, etc., so the kids were pretty amazed as they saw all the glowing lights coming from the alien's mouth!

Ethan will turn 6 this Tuesday (March 3). He's got the very cool birthday of 03/03/03! He has been asking for the last several months to have an alien birthday party, so we had it yesterday. It turned out to be pretty fun! There were some pretty shy kids in the group (which I think made it turn out to be the quietest birthday party ever) but everybody seemed to be quietly having a great time!

We Dig It!

The digging for our new house finally began on Friday (27th)!! It's been a long wait and a little hard to be patient, but the house is officially under construction now! YAY!! The official timeline for it is 120 days, but they've been finishing houses a lot faster (probably because they don't have so much going on with the fabulous economy). Hopefully we'll be able to close sometime in June!!!

Zack's Baptism

ZACK on his baptism day

DECEMBER 14, 2008 in O'Fallon, IL

Here's a few pictures we just got back from Zack & Aly's baptism. We went back to Illinois in December to baptize Zack so he and his cousin Aly could be baptized together. They turned eight only 3 weeks apart, and when Kim and Brent and family moved to Illinois, we lived only a block away from each other for about a year before we moved to Utah. Needless to say, the cousins got very close. So of course we had planned all along that we would have Zack & Aly's baptism together. So going back to Illinois for the baptism was one of the conditions of me moving to Utah. (Besides, Shelby was already planning to bring brownies to the baptism, so we couldn't back out! By the way, those peanut butter brownies were the best!) Grandpa and Grandma Johnsen (me & Kim's parents) got to come out too, all the way from Oak Harbor, Washington. It was so nice to have them there! We had a wonderful trip out to Illinois, despite the freezing cold and a few people ending up with the stomach flu. (I don't miss the bitter cold Illinois winters, although Utah is not exactly the warmest winter place either!) Everyone was healthy on baptism day though, and it actually ended up being the warmest day the whole time we were there. Greg baptized Zack and Brent baptized Aly, and Grandpa Johnsen confirmed both of them.  The whole baptismal service could not have gone more perfectly. It was a wonderful day we will not forget! (And thanks for the pictures, Shelby!)

Luana, Greg, Mason, Zack & Ethan

Zack and his cousin Aly, who also got baptized that day

Greg, Zack, Aly & Uncle Brent (Aly's dad)

Greg, Luana & Zack

Grandpa and Grandma Johnsen with Aly & Zack

The family: Grandpa & Grandma Johnsen,

Greg & Luana and boys, Kim & Brent and girls