Dedication of our Brigham City Temple!!!

I honestly thought this day would never come.  On Septermber 23, 2012 our very own Brigham City Temple was dedicated.  It was done in 3 different sessions.  Everyone in our family except Brinley was able to go.  She was not old enough so she stayed at the Smith's with several other kids her age.  Kylee attended in St. George.  President Packer said the dedicatory prayer.  He barely made it through it.  He is really getting old and his health is failing.  But he promised at the groundbreaking that he would be here to dedicate it...and he was. It is so amazing to drive down Main Street and pass a temple.  It has made such a difference in the feel of this little town.  I knew we were choosing a great place to live all those years ago.

What a blessing to have a temple to close.  We can see it's lit up spires from our back yard.  I am hopeful that this will mean we will go there often!  I love the temple.  Humbling to think this could be the temple where my children will receive their endowments and be married.  Kylee and Emilee are saying they will choose this temple when that time comes.  We love it!!

"Harvest of Faith" - Temple Cultural Celebration!

Wow!  That is all that I can say!  These pictures unfortunately do not capture even a fraction of what this day was all about, but I was helping and was not able to get pictures any other way.  What an inspired Prophet we have.  For President Monson to know what these cultural celebration events can do for our youth is absolutely amazing.  Knowing that I would have some youth who would be able to participate in a Cultural Celebration was one of the things I was most excited for with the announcement of our new Brigham City Temple.  It was such a great experience for everyone who participated.  I was so fortunate to be able to be one of 3 chaprones from our ward.  I loooved being able to be involved.  I love the youth!  They are so much fun and such a breath of fresh air for me. Each stake did a dance of their own and everyone together did an opening and closing number.  It was so inspiring to see nearly 4000 youth come together and pull this off.  So amazing!

Emilee and Kade got to participate.  They weren't sure if they were super excited in the beginning but they were both so glad they had chosen to be a part of it when it was all over.  The day of the Celebration they did a complete run through at 10:00 in the morning and then performed it to a packed stadium at 2:00pm and 6:00pm. For the evening performance Russell M. Nelson and L. Tom Perry were there.  I'm not going to lie, they were a little disappointed that President Monson wasn't there. It was fabulous though.  My favorite part...and I think theirs too...was the closing number.  The youth were all in Missionary attire, white button down shirts with black pants.  They all sang "I love to see the temple" as they knelt and faced the temple spires.  I saw it 3 times and bawled through the whole thing every time.  The spirit in that stadium was incredible.  It is something they will never forget.  

Emilee was asked for one of her Personal Progress goals to write down her feelings about the Cultural Celebration and then they displayed them at "Evening in Excellence".  This is what she wrote...

"My favorite part of the Temple Celebration was after we were all done and we knelt down, faced the temple and sang.  The spirit was so strong and it felt really good.  We put so much work into putting it all together and it felt amazing to finally perform.  At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it, but now that it's over I am really glad that I chose to participate.  It was definitely worth it."

My new calling...

I have debated forever about whether to even write this post...but this is my journal to be printed at the end of each year and this was definitely an event in my life that should probably be recorded.

Two weeks before the kids started school, and the exact Sunday that we were leaving after Church to take Kylee to school in St. George, I got asked during Sunday School if I could meet with the Bishop after church...with my husband!  You know it's bad when they tell you to bring your husband with you.  That means they need to ask for their support and approval of whatever they want you to do!  I started getting the clammy hands and nervous heart.  I had a little idea of what they might want, but I was pushing that idea waaaay out of my mind.  I knew we were due for a new Relief Society President.  But...I rationalized...I had known for weeks before they called me to be the Young Women's President...surely I would know again if this was what was coming.  I was pretty convinced by the time I was sitting in Relief Society that if it was anything, I would get to be a counselor. 

After church we arrived in the Bishop's office where he called me to be the RELIEF SOCIETY PREDSIDENT.  This was NEVER a job I thought I would have to worry about doing.  I was really shocked.  So shocked that when I talked to the Bishop a few days later he asked if I was feeling better and doing OK.  I really had not seen this one coming.  The only thing I can say that I had felt was a few months previous I had the feeling that I should make the most of my extra time now, because something would change and I would not have as much in the future.  At the time I was teaching Primary every other week!  That has definitely proven to be true!  I am grateful I at least got that warning.  I did finish up a lot of projects and did a lot around my house during that time.

I left the Bishop's office and went home to change clothes and spend the next 5 hours driving to St. George.  I ended up in the suburban with a few kids in the back doing their own thing.  Chris was also driving the other car and had a few kids with him.  I think I cried most of the way there.  It was beginning to sink in and I was overwhelmed and scared!!  I had grabbed an ensign and my scriptures and the list of all the women in our ward that the Bishop had given me.  He needed names for my counselors and secretary by next Sunday. I was to be in St. George for the next 5 days getting Kylee settled so I knew I had some work to do.  

Chris was only in St. George for a couple days until he left and went home to get back to work.  So I had a little time to myself.  I knew the first thing that I needed was a confirmation from Heavenly Father that this was truly what He wanted me to do and that this call had come from Him.  Amazingly, as a tender mercy, I received that very quickly.  I opened the Ensign one afternoon while the kids were downstairs watching TV in the condo we had rented and there was the First Presidency Message from President Monson.  It was all about serving the Savior through our service to others.  It wasn't necessarily only what the article said that meant so much to me but how I felt as I read it.  I knew it was my confirmation that this call was from our Heavenly Father.  Now I felt like I could move forward.  And I needed some helpers!!  I went over and over the list of sisters names trying to find out who was to become my Presidency!

When I got home that weekend I chose to fast on Sunday for help in finding my Presidency.  Chris also gave me a blessing.  I had what I felt was an amazing experience.  As I sat in Sacrament meeting I looked around the room and as I got to certain sisters I could feel the impression..."she is a great sister, and could totally do the job, but it's not to be her this time".  There were 3 sisters that I knew as I looked at them that it was to be them.  One of them I had not ever thought about before, but as soon as I saw her in Sacrament meeting I knew she was the one!  That was such a comforting witness to me that we would be OK and would have divine help as we would proceed over the next several years...that sounds like a looong time!!

I called the Bishop the next day and had a second witness that the sisters' names I was giving him were right. He told me that they had discussed each of these names as great possibilities.  One sister in particular...the Bishop said they had really wanted to have be in the Presidency but decided not to mention anything to me and just see what happened.  She was who I asked for to be my 1st Counselor.  I love it when things work out this way!!

The rest is history in the making.  I loooove the sisters I serve with in my Presidency and I am coming to love all of the sisters I get to serve.  We have a great ward.  I know that I will learn much and that this is definitely a stretch for me.  This is not in my comfort zone, but how do we grow if we never get out of our comfort zones!!

I am just grateful for the opportunity to serve the Savior through serving others around me.  I guess I am lucky really, because now the service opportunities come to me without me even seeking them out.  I know it's a brief time in the whole scheme of things...I hope I can say at the end of my turn that I tried my very best.  If I give it my best I know the Savior will make up the difference.

Hike to the Wind Caves

On Labor Day Chris had to work so we decided to go with the the Quayles to the Wind Caves in Logan Canyon.  They had been there before so they knew how to be our guides.  Quincy was so excited to finally be able to hike "up a hill".  She didn't want to just walk around on flat ground.  It was quite a long hike for us.  We don't hike often so we all realized that we were a little out of shape.  It was beautiful though.  The leaves were all turning colors and the views were magnificent.  We were pretty high up when we finally reached our destination.  Brinley was a trooper.  She made it the whole way up and back down by herself.

We rewarded ourselves with Aggie Ice Cream in Logan at USU before we headed back over the mountain. It was a fun day!  

Apple Pie!

The only bad thing about having your own apple tree is that the apples are all ripe and ready at the same time.  So we have to find ways to try to use as many of them as we can.  This was one of the tastiest!  We made homemade apple pie.  We even got fancy and crisscrossed the top of the crust.  This was Em's idea.  She definitely brings the artistic flare to our family!!  It turned out sooo yummy!!