The One Where We Went To The Temple As A Family For The First Time Together

This was an earlier than usual Saturday morning.  I got up at 5:50 am so I could get ready for a very special day.  Kylie came over at 6:30 to babysit Autumn & Andrew.  Nick & I went over to Mom & Dad’s house to have some breakfast and then we all loaded in 2 cars and went down to the temple.  We did an endowment session for the first time as a whole family.  We’d never been in the temple all together before.

It was neat, b/c Mom has been working on some genealogy for our neighbor’s that we used to live next to in Germany.  We were able to do the temple work for their ancestors that have passed on.  It was such a special experience to be in the celestial room all together.  I am so thankful to know that Families Can Be Together Forever.

After all of the nice/serious pictures, I said we needed a silly sibling picture.  We started laughing so hard b/c it looked like Lexie was throwing gang signs outside the temple.  Even though I’m jokingly choking Lexie, I am so grateful to be a member of this family and to have such a close and loving relationship w/ my siblings.  I realize that not all families like each other, so the fact that I consider my family my closest friends is a huge blessing.

Lexie & Jon

I have the greatest parents.  I can only hope that I’ll someday be able to experience what they did today…having all my children together in the celestial room of the temple.

After the temple, we came home to relieve Jocey & Kylie, the babysitters.  Autumn & Andrew & I took Kylie home and as we were leaving her neighborhood, I saw some kids had a lemonade stand set up on the sidewalk.  I thought it would be fun to stop and support those kids.  It wasn’t the greatest cup of pink lemonade I’ve ever had, but it was good and I’m glad we stopped.  On the way back to Mom & Dad’s house the kids were asking why we did that and we were able to talk about how those kids were earning money and being responsible.

When we got to Mom & Dad’s house, we went swimming and had another shrimp boil.  We love doing those b/c the clean up is easy and it feeds a lot of people.  It was AJ’s first time ever doing a shrimp boil and he seemed to like it a lot.

We swam most of the afternoon, and then at 6:30 Autumn & Andrew & I headed out to the baseball field to watch Monsters, Inc on the big screen.  Before the movie started, we walked around and saw the different things there were to do.  The kids got a fake tattoo on their hands and right then Daisy the mascot walked up to the table.  I handed the camera to Dad to get a picture and kept my distance from the mascot.

They also had spray on art (Autumn got a unicorn on her arm & Andrew got a black spider).  They also had jump houses and the kids had a great time jumping.  They are so lucky to have such a wonderful Papa.

We finally made our way down to the field and set out our blankets to watch the movie.  Once the movie started, the staff went around and handed out these glow in the dark necklaces.  Autumn kept using hers as a hair bow.

Andrew said he was thirsty, so I sent him up to the stands to tell Papa so Papa could get him some water.  Andrew was gone for a while and came back w/ Papa and 2 orders of nachos and cheese.  I guess he had told Papa he was hungry and thirsty.  Once all the chips were gone, Autumn just laid down on Papa’s legs and ate the left over cheese w/ her finger.  Talk about spoiled and livin’ the high life!  We didn’t stay for the whole movie b/c I needed to take Andrew back to Mom & Dad’s, get Autumn home and into bed, and then go shopping at WalMart for some refreshments for the Single Adult fireside tomorrow night.  It was a spiritual & fun-filled day.