A Special Day for Ellie

As I mentioned in this post, Ellie's mission call took a while to arrive.   When she realized that the timing was likely to be close to Adam's return home, she made a decision that she wanted to  attend the temple for the first time in that window while we were all together in Idaho.   She was hoping that we could attend the Rexburg temple together on the way home from Island Park, since, after a year at BYU-Idaho,  Rexburg is now a place that is meaningful to her.  Unfortunately the Rexburg temple was closed at that time.   She debated about what to do, but decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so she decided on the Idaho Falls temple instead.  It was still on the way home from Island Park AND it's the temple my parents were married in 52 years ago, so there's some special familial significance as well.

So, on the way home from Island Park, we stopped in Idaho Falls for the night.  We rented an Airbnb, which meant we all got to stay together, however we had not noticed in the description that there was only one bathroom.  That seemed like a bit of a stretch for them to advertise a place that sleeps 12 with only one bathroom, but it was only for a night, so we somehow made it work.   Ellie and I got up bright and early and WALKED to the temple (one of the  big perks about the Airbnb).  As her escort, I got to be with her while she met with the temple matron and went through the pre-endowment process.  

Later, Glen, Adam, Cami, Emma, and my mom met us for the endowment session.   Garrett stayed back to take care of Lucie and Oliver.  It was a wonderful feeling to be together in the temple and I loved being a part of Ellie making those  covenants that will bring her closer to the Lord. 

My mom had taken the shuttle up to Idaho Falls the day before, so she could be a part of this special day as well.  As I mentioned previously, her and my dad had been married there 52 years ago, but weirdly, she'd never been back.  The Idaho Falls Temple was the temple for where she grew up in Star Valley, Wyoming, but after their wedding, they never lived near it again.  The Idaho Falls Temple has some unique features to it, which made it an extra special first experience for Ellie and extra special to have my mom there for it. 

We are so proud of Ellie and the decision she's made to serve a mission and to covenant with the Lord in the temple.  

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Are you familiar with the temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?  If not, you may have questions about terminology and other things I've mentioned in this post.  

Here is a little synopsis that may help you understand a little more:

WHAT ARE TEMPLES? 
"Temples are places of reverent worship where members strive to commune with God. Members are taught important gospel truths, such as the plan of happiness offered by our Heavenly Father, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the divine nature of each person and the great blessings offered to all of God’s children. The primary purpose of temples is for members to participate in sacred ceremonies rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ."   Source

ABOUT THE ENDOWMENT:

"The word endowment means gift. Those who receive the temple endowment receive various blessings, such as greater knowledge of God’s purposes and the power to resist temptation and follow Jesus Christ.

The endowment ceremony teaches of God’s love for all of His children and His plan for their happiness. Participants make special promises with God called covenants. They covenant to obey God’s commandments and follow Jesus Christ. In return, God promises wonderful blessings in this life and the opportunity to live with Him as eternal families after this life." Source

 

Surprising Nate

Well, it's been a few weeks and I guess it's time for a little catching up here on the blog.   I know you have all been waiting on pins and needles to see what excitement has been going on to keep me away. This time it was a little trek to Tennessee to surprise my brother for this 50th birthday.   His birthday was actually back at the end of May, but he was off trekking the world on his birthday (visiting his 100th country!!!), so we opted for the end of June to surprise him instead.   

All seven of us siblings gathered in from 4 different states (Utah, California, Virginia, Maryland) to surprise him at his home in rural Tennessee (about an hour and a half from Nashville).  

My mom and I arrived several hours earlier than anyone else, so we did a little exploring in Nashville, while staying close to the airport, so we could do runs to pick people up. 

Opry Mills Mall fit the bill perfectly.  It was only 10 minutes to the airport and had air conditioning, comfy places to sit, and whatever kind of entertainment we could think of.   Here we are in the Bass Pro Shop.

We found a good place to get some food...

And found some yummy cupcakes to try, one of which, was even gluten free! 

AT one point, we even sat in some massage chairs and took naps, since we'd been up since 3:00am!   😂

The Grand Ole Opry is right next door, so we also walked across the parking lot to check that out as well. 

Eventually we picked up Kristina and Matt.  Pete and Tim arrived later that night.   We all stayed in a hotel near Nashville that night, since we had to wait until Nate was done with work for the day before surprising him.  

On Friday, Tim, Matt, Kristina, Mom, and I visited the Hermitage--the home of Andrew Jackson.

  It was a beautiful home on gorgeous grounds, but we found the tour a little simplistic, focusing more on the home decor than anything to do with Andrew Jackson.  

After that we made our way up to Nate's house where Pete and Heather met us separately (but not AnnaLisa, since she couldn't take any time off of work and her flight was later that night).  I think he was quite surprised to see us all!

That night we just got his house set up for all of us to stay (we brought air mattresses, pillows, and blankets) and mostly just talked, ate, and watched funny youtube videos.   The next day, Nate took us to one of his favorite hikes. 

Later we did a little picture shoot at Fort Donelson National Battlefield...

The number of selfies I took on this trip was a bit obnoxious. 

Perhaps really obnoxious...

Later we actually dressed up in semi-coordinating clothes and did a real photo shoot with Nate's camera and a tripod  at a park in Clarksville. 

We didn't do too badly, if I do say so myself.  Definitely better than getting a closeup of my gray hairs and wrinkles! 

Of course we had to do a silly one too!  

After that, we went to a restaurant in Clarksville called the Mailroom.   I may or may not have partially chosen it because of the name, but it did have very good reviews as well.  

The food and service was good...and they gave us a free postcard!   My type of restaurant for sure! 

After that, we found a cute ice cream shop in town...

This cool fountain was nearby and was perfect for some photos! 

All in all, it was a great trip and I am grateful for a family that gets along  and enjoys spending time together.

Plus they tolerate my incessant selfie taking.  😂

Our time all together was less than 24-hours before some of the siblings had to start heading home, but it was a great long weekend celebrating Nate and I'm glad we were able to make it happen.   Here are a few more random pictures: 

Tim and Mom

Nate with his "hot potato" birthday gift that he is supposed to regift as soon as humanly possible.  It's been floating around the family for over a decade now!   The animals live on a cute farm right across the street from Nate.   He really does live in the boonies. 

Speaking of the boonies, check out his church building!    That's it right over next to the Subway...

It's essentially a refurbished warehouse that just his little branch meets in... (everyone else had left by the time church rolled around)

The inside was small, but quite nice...

Apparently we were all a bit tired! 

Here are the birthday goodies we got for Nate at a cute little bakery in Clarksville.

This Piggly Wiggly was the most backwoods grocery store I'd ever been in!  

Yet another selfie...

This was right before heading out...

The view from Nate's backyard...

We may have been a little obsessed with the view (and all the fireflies)!  

All in all...a great time together with family!   💗

What I'm Doing At Church

 Before I get to the meat of this post, I want to preface it by telling you about  a problem I have.   

It's something I've struggled with my whole life and I thought I'd outgrow it someday, but, alas, I have not.   

I have a deep-seated desire to not be normal....but not so abnormal that I'm too weird.  I just want to be  original and a little unexpected.  You know, totally an easy balance.     

That  may or may not make you laugh based on how well you know me, but it perhaps does explain a little of my quirkiness.  

So, if you were to peek at my LDS Tools right now, you'd see I have three callings....

One of those callings was extended to me by a member of the bishopric, the other two I volunteered for. If you've been following along here for very long, you know that making church programs  is something that makes me super happy.  It's not work to me; it's something I just weirdly enjoy doing and consider a creative outlet for myself.   And it's good that I don't usually have to lobby too hard to get this job, since it's not one that's in high demand! 😁  

I try really hard to make the programs beautiful, informative, and unique--though the church copier often leaves them looking less beautiful than I'd prefer.  Here is a glimpse at the inside of this week's, though I admit, it was an off week for me because I'm working on a different (much smaller screened) computer than usual.  

I am very proud of my back page, which spotlights all the missionaries serving from our ward!  

So every week I create these paper programs, update an online ward bulletin, where I include many more details about the items mentioned, and create a kids' activity sheet to go with the Come, Follow Me lesson for that week that gets handed out in sacrament meeting.  All in all, I probably spend 3-5 hours on all this in a week  and mostly love every minute of it....though it's not my favorite thing when I'm traveling.  

My other calling is *still* Relief Society Activity Coordinator (going on almost 2 years now).   It's  a calling I struggle with, but I'm doing the best I can with it.  We had a few month lull without an activity, because of some stake and other Relief Society things that I had nothing to do with, and I think that lull got me out of my routine and made this last activity  a little extra hard to plan.  I had the hardest time lighting a fire to get buy-in from the sisters on it and I literally had 5 baby pictures collected for it two days before.  So when sending out my last minute email (something I do at least once a week for the online ward bulletin), I wanted to make it more than just a boring old email.   Here's what I ended up sending....

Somehow my goofy email worked and I got 24 more baby pictures in the two days before the activity started.  The turn-out was great...

The food (prepared by a member of my committee) was  delicious and beautiful! 

And people loved the baby picture game!  I had them hanging up like this, making them a gathering place in the room. 

I made worksheets  and had copies for everyone, so they could guess.   It was such a fun conversation starter and I loved watching all the sisters discuss among themselves who was who.   Totally a hit! 

Apparently I made my picture too easy and people guessed me right away...

So that's me right now.  Just plugging away, doing my thing, and {mostly} loving every minute.