Temple Sealing

What a day.  Today our boys were sealed to us for time and all eternity in the Columbia River Temple.  The feeling was unbelievable.  Emily and Brian even drove up from California and Oregon to be here for our special day.  It was so great to have our family here.  When I was married I didn't think I would feel anything so amazing, and then our boys were sealed to us.  What a spiritual experience to know we have these kids with us forever.  I am so grateful for the sealing power and for the knowledge that we are together after this life.

Jon and I had to be there early to do paperwork and stuff, and so my dad came with us so he could watch the boys before they had to come in.  My dad escorted the boys to help them get dressed.

It was able to wear my wedding dress even being 8 months pregnant!!

Everyone that was there for us

After the sealing we went with Jon's Family to Texas Roadhouse for lunch to celebrate.  We had such a good time, and it allowed the boys to be able to get to know Jon's side more.  We don't get to see them as often as we would like.

We had such a wonderful day.

Baptism Day

This young man is so excited. He has chosen to become baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He has been waiting for this day for so long.  Now that he is officially ours he can be baptized.  We are so proud of him for his decision. 

Nicer weather is on the way

The weather was so nice this week Malachi wanted to run thru the sprinklers.  So we let him.

James was student of the month for Character word...which was curiosity

Saturday was such a special day.  It was Penny's first time going to the temple to do Baptisms for the Dead.  I was so excited for her.  As her mom I was able to go to experience it with her for the first time.  She loved it.  When we left she asked if we could go back.  It was such a neat experience for me.

Baptism

Today was such a special day.  Penny has decided to be baptized.  Her parents recently signed away their rights, so Penny was able to be baptized.  We are so proud of her decision.  Jon was able to baptize and confirm her.

Elder Christensen and Elder Allen taught her the discussions

Great experience

I had the wonderful opportunity to be an escort for my friend who received her endowments in the Columbia River Temple.  Norma Saunders has become such a good friend to me.  It was such an honor for me to take her thru the temple.  She went thru on December 19, 2015.  I didn't get a picture of me with her, but this is a picture of her Parents, Norma & Brian Saunders.

Thank you Norma for such a wonderful experience.  

Ch-ch-ch changes!

Jon and I have been making a lot of decisions lately that have impacted our lives forever.  We have been going through a lot to be able to be parents.  We have been going through the process of getting licensed to be foster parents.  We are doing the foster adopt program.  We are hoping we will be able to expand our family permanently by adopting one of these kids.  It has been a long process.  We are done with all our paperwork, and the whole report should be submitted this week.  The foster agency we are going through said we should be licensed before Christmas and we should have a kiddo to celebrate Christmas with.  We are really excited to be parents.

This weekend was a special weekend.  When Darin married Christy, she had a little girl.  Shortly after they were married Darin started the process of adopting Makaela.  It has been a long time, but the adoption was finalized in October.  So yesterday November 21, 2015 Makaela was sealed to Darin and Christy for eternity.  It was such a special experience seeing this sealing take place.  Makaela is such a sweet little girl and I am so excited to have her officially part of our family and to be sealed with her forever.  Congratulations Darin and Christy!!!

Family Discovery Day

I was on the Family Discovery Day committee this year.  I was surprised at how much fun it was.  We had such a great turnout and the decorations were awesome.  Our theme was Learn it, Live it, Love it.  We decorated like Old London. It really got me excited to do some kind of family history work. We had all kinds of displays and classes that talked about different ways to do family history.

We had this guy dress up like an ancestor and talk about a story that happened to the ancestor he dressed up as.

We had great food and help that made it so we didn't even have to worry about the food.

The opening of the New Family History center

I worked at one of the registration tables

Carol was our chairman.  She always does so great.

Different displays

I had people write stories and testimonies down that they had received from doing family history.