Summer Weekend

Our last one. And 101 degrees to boot! Try setting up a tent (or taking one down) in that...we were quite sweaty :)


To test out Joseph's new birthday tent we had a backyard camp-out on Friday night. By the time the tent was up on Friday evening, Caroline was at her wits end and simply wanted to climb into her own bed and fall asleep. So we let her do just that. And then Joseph and I stayed up late with Bentley to watch Horton Hears a Who projected on to the backyard fence. Then the boys slept outside and the girls slept inside (worked out better that way when Olivia woke up at 5:30 the next morning :)



I love Utah summers. Triple digits at the end of the day but once the sun sets, dropping steadily and cooling right down. We loved being outside and seeing the stars and feeling the crisp air on our skin.

Saturday evening we headed up the canyon where, surprisingly, it wasn't all that much cooler. We met up with some friends for Cafe Rio ala Park City, and then hit the cabin for some games, a walk, and Jim Gaffigan's new DVD. That was a beautiful thing to watch at midnight--my tired hubby laughed uncontrollably, with tears and body shakes and everything. He made me laugh more than the comedy act--but I still enjoyed old Jim too.

Bentley and Caroline with their new friend Kate

smiley-pie "chub LeBub"

On Sunday we came back down to my in-laws house and they babysat the kids so we could attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication. It was such a lovely part of my day. I wept during each talk. I have never felt the power of eternal families more strongly. I heard of many who sacrificed so very much: a family who traveled with 2 small children to make it to the temple to be sealed together only to have their little ones die on the journey home--but feel so much peace that at least they had gained the sealing blessings beforehand; a family in Tonga who had only been sealed to 4 of 10 children because they couldn't yet afford to take the others to the far away temple in New Zealand. And what do I have to sacrifice? Nothing compared to those fine saints. They are incredible examples to me.

Elder W. Craig Zwick spoke specifically to the youth who were in attendance. He was very tender and heartfelt as he invited them to come to the temple as soon as they were 12 and to stay worthy to go there for baptisms in their youth and then receive their own endowment and other ordinances as adults. I hope it hit those young ones as much as it did me--and it made me excited to take my own kids to the temple when they are of age. It was a beautiful meeting and I am so glad I had the chance to participate in it.