Temple, Candy Canes, & A Hockey Game

I haven’t been to the temple in a few months.  I try to go on Saturday mornings, but Autumn had cheer games all season on Saturday mornings.  Then, the temple was closed for about a month for cleaning.  I have ACHED & LONGED to be back here, and am so glad I got to go this morning.  There is just nothing else like being in the temple!

When I got home, I got Autumn and we went to Mom & Dad’s to pick up Andrew & Jackson.  We went to the Candy Canes For Kids event.  It was so much fun last year that we wanted to go again this year.  However, they had to move it inside a big empty store b/c it was supposed to rain today.  We got candy cane sticks and the kids glued them to the tree.  Then we walked around, looked at what the vendors had set up, and then listened to some accapella carolers.

Donna & Abbey met us there, and we went over to say hi to the local hockey players.  We even scored free tickets to tonight’s hockey game!  There wasn’t anything else to do, so we went around the corner to a playground area and let the kids run around and have fun while Donna and I caught up w/ each other.

Mom called and said to come meet her at McDonald’s and she would buy the kids lunch.  So, we all went over there and ate and the kids played while us adults talked.

After all of that fun & excitement, it was time for some quiet/down time.  We went back to Mom & Dad’s house and played a kids version of Monopoly.  I think Autumn won both rounds!

We decided to watch a movie, and I was popping popcorn in the microwave when all of a sudden we heard a huge explosion sound.  I opened up the microwave and found this!  The glass had cracked, and we had no idea why!  Scary, dude.

The grandkids had so much fun wrestling w/ Papa.  I try not to think about the fact that this won’t be happening this time next year b/c Mom & Dad will be on their mission.  It’s bittersweet to think this is their last Thanksgiving at home for a while.  It helps me to just treasure & appreciate moments like this even more.

After dinner we went over to the arena for the hockey game.  After our team scored their first goal, a bunch of stuffed teddy bears started flying out onto the ice!  I feel bad that we didn’t know it was a donation game, b/c we could have brought a teddy bear to donate.  It was so cool to see how many stuffed animals they took off the ice.  They filled up at least 12 shopping carts FULL of stuffed animals.  I love how generous people are at Christmas.

Here’s our crew w/ Donna & her family too.  It was fun to sit by them at the game.  We had fun dancing to the music, cheering for our team, and eating nachos.  Olivia even made it on the big screen b/c Nate was holding her up & shaking her around during one of the breaks.

Dad came over at the beginning of the 3rd period when he got done w/ work.  Poor Olivia had so much fun that she wore herself out and fell asleep on Papa’s lap.  So stinkin’ cute!  It was a super fun game, especially since the tickets were free.  Autumn & I came home and went right to sleep b/c it has been a really big day!