Provo City Center Open House

 This is the fifth temple my kids have been able to tour (Draper, Oquirrh Mt., Brigham, Ogden).

All of the amazing woodwork, the beautiful Gothic and Victorian touches, and the great history of this building and this place may possibly make this my favorite temple--

other than the one in which I joined with my best friend for time and all eternity.

When we entered on the bottom floor, and looked up at this staircase, 

Ben said it reminded him of Hogwarts.

Sweety said his favorite part was the Sealing Room (below), because our family began in a sealing 

room, and now we will be bound together forever.

Smarty's favorite part was the baptistry (below), because he will be eligible to get his own 

recommend and participate in these ordinances next fall. 

This incredible art glass window of the Savior just blew me away. It is so incredible!  When I visit this temple again, I will need to carve out time to enjoy this window properly. 

As with all temples, even now, before it is dedicated and work begins inside, the peace of God and the Holy Spirit is so prevalent. This was a lovely experience, and I hope and pray that my boys will hang on to what they felt and learned here. I hope and pray they will want to come back.

Ogden Canyon

School got out today!!!! Woo hoo! The boys and I are extremely excited and eager to commence with summer frivolities. Please join us for our celebratory trip up the canyon:

All of the rain we've enjoyed for the last 6 weeks or so, has brought Pineview's level way up. I think we're only about 6 feet below the high water mark at this point.

We stopped at the Oaks for fries, ice-cream, and the incredible views. 

I love how vivid everything becomes in the rain. Why is that?
It's so beautiful.

 We stopped to check out the lime kiln. I can't remember ever doing that before. 

It was about time, don't you think?

The boys were pretending to shovel coals or something.

Here's the info if you're curious:

Climbing up on top:

Here's the chute where they would drop alternating layers of wood and limestone. We didn't have any wood or limestone on hand, so Sweety dropped some rocks.
A few of them actually made it through the grate.

Smarty stood on top of the kiln and said, "I can see the whole world!"

Here's the school-is-out celebratory dance:

 Apparently, the best way down is the good 'ole denim slide:

 Sweety wanted to capture the fluffy cloud behind the temple spire. He couldn't decide if it was Santa's beard or Olaf the Snowman. What do you think?

First Day of School and A Very Impressive Burn

In an effort to get myself blogging regularly, I'm just going to throw some stuff on here, for a little while. Maybe, with time, I'll get back into doing more thoughtful posts.

Here's Sweety's first day of first grade and Smarty's first day of fourth grade. 

My cute boys were too excited to get to class. They were having trouble focusing on getting a nice picture. :) Silly boys.

They've been at school for two and a half weeks now, and so far so good!

We're seriously hoping that Smarty has a pleasant experience this year. He was excited to be able to sit by his best friend, Rylan. And I hear they've done a decent job of paying attention, even though they're right by each other. Good boys!

And here is Sweety with his very impressive sunburn.

Woops! My mistake. That's not Howie, but it was kind of hard to tell the difference last weekend.

Here he is now, one week after the fateful day.

Last Friday the entire school closed early and walked over to our local aquatic center. I sent my boys in swim shirts, but Sweety opted to leave his at school. He was without sun protection from 12 until 3, that day. It was a ROUGH weekend, but thanks to a priesthood blessing, a gallon or so of aloe gel, and a little medical intervention, he is healing well. Phew!

Halloween Costumes

 Here's Sweety as, Diego--the animal rescuer. This is probably the easiest costume we've ever been called upon to create! Throw some iron-on patches onto clothes we already had, add some brown hair, and voile! 

I was having trouble convincing him to let me spray his hair with brown hairspray. He kept telling me that hairspray is for girls. But, as soon as Dad told him he thought the brown hairspray was cool, Sweety was on board.  

A few days later, when we were getting ready for a family picture, Sweety was not in the mood to wear the required shirt, so we compromised by letting him control his hairstyle. His request? Brown hairspray. Luckily it's a pretty subtle look for him. ;)

Smarty's dream, for a few years now, is to grow up to be a fighter pilot. So this year, when this fabulous flight suit was handed down to us, the Halloween costume choice was obvious...at least it was to me. Smarty needed a little convincing, but he finally came around.

Smarty's pilot outfit went through several different variations. He went back and forth between sunglasses, ear coverings, helmets, and masks. But he had a good time imagining himself saving the day. 

Ben chose to embrace his unruly hair and inner quirkiness...

Not bad, if I may say so myself!

I'm so wishing I would have put together Newman to go with. I can totally do short and stalky!