Draper Temple Open House

Yippee! This was AWESOME! Sarah has always wanted to go inside the temple, and when I told her we were going, she could hardly believe it. She was pretty excited. Sarah's favorite part was the baptismal font. Mine, the brides dressing room. Made me want to get married all over again! ;o) What an exciting experience. I am so happy that my children were able to see inside the temple. Samuel wouldn't stop "talking" the whole time. He pointed at everything. They imported stuff from China, Africa, all over! It has African Cherry wood doors and frames. It was incredible. Beautiful! Jonathan had never been to an open house either. What an awesome experience for our family!

Raisin Filled Cookies...

Okay, they may sound pretty gross. But I LOVE them. Another tribute to My Dad. I wanted to make cookies the other day and was going through some recipes. Some I wouldn't make because they took too long, you know how that goes.... Well, when I came across these, I couldn't resist. They are a labor of love. The recipe made a whopping 24 cookies. ;o) My Dad loved these cookies. After I decided to make them, I realized that I haven't had one for about THREE YEARS! Dad seemed to make them a lot there at the end. Everytime I went up for a visit, there they were. I loved it. They really don't taste as bad as they sound. :o)

Who Knew?

We have a great little "kiddie" hill in our back yard. Check it out! I love it. The kids have a blast back there. Good Times

JURY DUTY

I have to be honest with you. I have actually always wanted to be on a jury. In December, I received my letter informing I have been chosen for jury selection. I was SO excited. So, this week I go to the court house for my selection. I see upwards of about 45 people there. They were only going to choose 9 jurors. At this point, I was disappointed because I thought I would never get chosen out of a pool of 45. They gave us a questionnaire that led me to believe the nature of the case. That's okay, I can DO this. After the lengthy process of introducing EVERYONE in the courtroom and telling who you are and what you do, children, place of residence, etc., we all sat down and waited while the counsel and judge went through the questionnaires and pulled people aside in the judges chambers for further questioning. I was one of those. That freaked me out. It wasn't so bad, when I got in there though. It took about 5-6 hours before they finally announce the jury. I was chosen. I had to hide my excitement. I was actually thrilled to be a juror. This is intense. This is a big responsibility. After having been a juror this week, I would gladly do it again. I'll admit, it was boring at times, and I definitely got tired of sitting. But overall, this was a terrific experience! No, I have no idea how much I'll get paid for this. Surprisingly, none of us asked.

Happy New Year!

So far, it's been great. The Year, that is! ;o) Jonathan was able to party with us for our New Years Eve party. It was crazy! All the kids (from four families) were up until midnight to count down to the new year! We had lots of yummy food and fun times.

Today, first Sunday of the year, was awesome. Of course, Fast Sundays, are always wonderful. Sarah came to me last month after Fast Sunday and said she wanted to bear her testimony in Sacrament. It came to me as a surprise, she's kind of shy in front of people. I told her that this is something she needed to do on her own. I couldn't stand up there and help her. So we talked about it throughout the month of December, about what a testimony is and such. Then I forgot about it. Well today, with no Jonathan because of his work schedule, she comes to me and says she wants to bear her testimony. I told her to just do it in Primary. She said that she wanted to have me watch her. Well, I thought Primary testimonies were during Sharing Time, so I thought I wouldn't have been able to see her because I am in Senior Primary. So I asked her what she wanted to say and it goes like this:

Sarah: I'd like to bear my Testimony, I know this church is true, "mumble, mumble" something about friends.....
Mom: Sarah, Testimonies are about what you believe or know to be true. What to do you believe to be true....about the church?
Sarah: Welllll..... I know the lights always come on.

This is where I started laughing so hard, tears came rolling down.
She, of course, got mad at me. I apologized and went on. Sarah practiced again, then RAN up to the stand to bear her beautiful testimony:

"I'd like to bear my testimony. I know this church is true. Jesus is real. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

It was awesome. I was heart broken that Jonathan couldn't be there to see her. However, Jonathan WAS able to get off work early enough to actually attend Sacrament today. So it was a good day today. :o)