iphone pics3

Time to play another round of "one sentence per picture," just for the sake of getting them recorded.

Remember all the way back in September when Marty had a birthday???

 Yes, these pictures are THAT old.

 That night we went on a date and got a free birthday meal from Joe's Real BBQ, and couldn't resist taking a picture of Joe's basic food groups.

 I almost never cook with red meat anymore, so imagine my surprise when my meat-loving husband requested this food for his birthday!

 Then we went to Jesterz improv comedy group where we laughed our guts out and Marty was slightly obnixious when it came to audience participation, which inevitably led to him being reeled in for one of the skits (that's basically one sentence, right?).

 Once in a while when Bryce naps in the afternoon we will let him stay up late with us that night because darned if he isn't just too dang cute and snuggly to send to bed.

Hilarious hair day at school.

 Last year she had a garden in her hair, this year it was a bird's nest.

 One day I got all these texts from Marty's siblings about his paper-cutter accident at school and I had a panic attack thinking he'd cut off a finger or something, but I finally got this picture from him and his poor tie...

 My absolute favorite picture of my baby Millie-May, and I mean that literally.

 Backwards day at school

 Shirt, necklace, vest, and pants backwards...I think you needed to see it in person.

 For a while Brynn was having a hard time with school, and I took this candid shot one night when she was spilling her guts to Daddy.

First pony-tail!

The annual planting of the winter grass....

 ...which always happens right around the October General Conference.

 And here are our traditional conference bags.

 They get easier every year, not having to remake the bags or reinvent the wheel.

 I don't exactly need four pictures of these bags...but I just love seeing the kids' personalities in all of them!

 I believe this was Camille keeping me comfy during conference.

We used Marty's projector and it was fun to have conference on the wall.

 The next week, Marty took just Gabe with him to Utah for his dad's 70th birthday party.

 He was under very strict instructions to take lots of pictures for us...

  and I am SO IN LOVE with these selfies!!

Long story short, on the plane ride home Daddy and Gabe got to be seated on the plane twice, sit on the tarmac for almost three hours, and basically be totally abused by this airline for a total of about 10 hours delay (but no pictures from that traumatic experience - this is from PHX to SLC).

 Our babies love to play with Marty's M-cubed band (he made them for his young men to represent mission, melchizedek priesthood, and marriage in the temple, and they actually wore them all the time!).

They met up with Marty's brothers that morning at McDonald's...

 and I hear cousin Landon took really good care of Gabe!

 So I guess this is the big party...

 Chillin' at Uncle Greg and Aunt Nickelle's house...

Generally at the top of our "things to do in Utah" list is to spend time in the mountains.

 And I can't believe we let this happen, but this is Marty's first BYU game he's gone to since we moved to Arizona!

 It was a big day for him, and Gabe got to spend the night with G&G O.

Here are the kid's painted faces from their bestie, Taylor's birthday party.

 Scary!

That was not nearly as painful as I thought it would be!  Now on to part 2...

The Gilbert temple dedication - an emotional weekend

This is an emotional weekend for me and one that I hope I will never forget.  Because of that, this is going to be a monster of a post, but I feel like it's important.  Oh wow, here I go from the VERY beginning....

On a dark and stormy night in 1984...haha, just kidding....

When Marty and I moved to Arizona, we were just a couple of blocks away from the Mesa temple.  It was hard for me to go there at first because I couldn't go an hour or two without getting really morning sick, and going that long without nibbling something was simply out of the question for me.  But I went a couple of times, and after I had the baby it was relatively easy to get there.  We got baby-sitters easily, swapped with friends once in a while, and whenever our family was in town we made it a priority that if they ever baby-sat we would go to the temple first.

Then after we moved to Queen Creek the temple was 50-ish minutes away.  The more kids we've had, the bigger the challenge in getting there.  That's a pretty long time to leave our four young'uns in the charge of another young'un.  Even when family has come to visit and offered to take our kids, it's still been tricky to block out that much time in a single weekend.  Not to mention the many times someone has been sick, or our baby girl refuses to be parted from Mommy.  We've still put a lot of effort into making it a priority, but it just seems to get trickier all the time.

The Gilbert temple was announced not too long after we moved to Queen Creek and of course we were so excited.  But I just assumed it would seem like an eternity before we could actually use it.  Well, it hasn't!  Time flies when you are having fun (and are too busy to think strait)!  Marty and I took the kids to the site, timed the drive, and walked around the dirt field a little.  We found a sewer lid that we figured most likely wouldn't change even while it's surroundings would.  We decided to take our pictures on it and come back periodically.  The temple has grown and so has our family!

Every time we came to our sacred little sewer lid for a picture, there was something really funny about  the whole situation.  But something really profound also, a feeling a non-writer like me can't describe.  I knew the weight and importance this whole temple-building process would have on our family.  It was like there was something with tangible eternal implications I could watch grow right along with our family.  I wish so badly I could describe that feeling every time we went there.  I hope Brynn remembers it.  For Bryce, it's a long shot, but I pray he'll remember something from this period of OUR temple coming to life.

May 2011

October 2011

January 2012

(Missing - a hilarious picture of newborn Gabe held precariously by his two older siblings - WAAAH!)

October 2012

May 2013

January 2014

Ta-da!!

Breathtaking, no?


The drive to the new temple will be about 20 to 25 minutes.  The hour-ish it is going to shave off for us is Heaven-sent.  YES.  I know we have had it so good to travel less than an hour (usually) to the temple, but when you are on the clock for a baby-sitter or know that your baby has now been screaming for two hours without you, every minute counts.

This temple is so personal to me and always will be.  I'm not sure if we'll be in Queen Creek, or even Arizona for forever, but this will always be one of OUR temples.  These feelings were culminated this weekend by the Cultural Celebration on Saturday and the dedication on Sunday.  First the dedication:

Marty is in his eighth year teaching seminary here.  And one of us (for a time, both of us!) has been in the young men/young women presidency since around Brynn's second birthday.  I'm happy to give it, but that's a lot of time in the form of Tuesdays nights, scout camps, and a million other responsibilities.  It's been a huge period for a family - three babies while serving the youth!  Sometimes it's busier than others.  The youth cultural celebration has been one of those busy times for sure.  There were times I wished Marty would have just passed along his "Captain of 10" assignment on to someone else.  There were a lot of long hours and a ton of administrative stuff that he could have "gotten out of."  But now I'm soooo glad he was able to be involved.  And I know he was able to do so much good where he was and I'm so proud of him and grateful to be his.  He's such a good person, I hope he rubs off on me someday.


The cultural celebration was a program of song and dance (think the Manti Pageant) that went through different heroes throughout time (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Captain Moroni, the pioneers, Native American and Latin heritage, etc.) and ending in Arizona.  There were literally 12,000 youth performing in it from the stakes around our area.  So factoring in all the adult participation, I don't have any idea how many thousands of people it ended up being.  As much as I cringe using this newly popular word, it was epic.  Two Saturdays ago they planned to rehearse at Discovery park across the street from the new temple from 7 am until 10 pm.  They finally had to shut the operation down around 7 pm because of the dust.  A cloud of dust so huge (think of 12,000 kids in a field of mainly dry, dead grass and AZ dust) that many of the youth were sick and coughing for days.  Some wound up in the hospital, and I know one of Marty's students was in the ICU and never did make it back for school last week.  So everyone prayed, and as I've mentioned before, Heaven has a sense of humor.  The rare winter storm made an appearance that night and dumped on Discovery park.  Our youth were soaked to the bone and freezing cold, but they did it and I was so darn proud of all of them.  ABC15 broadcast the event, but our digital TV antenna is a little funky so Brynn and I were able to watch a live stream of it online.

Bryce made it about 30 seconds into it before he was out on my shoulder. Yummy boy.

Again, the whole thing was just so emotional.  Because of Marty I was able to get a glimpse of how much blood, sweat, and tears have been contributed over the last few months.  I felt the testimonies of these youth and felt the sacrifices they have all made.  They will certainly never forget it.  I feel Heavenly Father gave them an opportunity for a real sacrifice that just often isn't required the way it used to be.  I feel how meager my tithing and time are as sacrifices to the temple when I compare it to, say, the pioneers who gave everything they had and then went without food for a few days.  Or broke their fine china to make the walls of the temple sparkle.  But what these youth went through was actually right up there with those types of sacrifices you just don't get opportunities for anymore.

Here is the dusty Saturday:







And here is the rainy Saturday:


Some parts of the field they were wading through while performing.  You can see it better here as it's being taken down.



Then Sunday morning we had the temple dedication that was broadcast to our stake center.  Another emotional morning.  The spirit was so strong and I felt so grateful to not only be here in Arizona, but to feel at home here in AZ, which I didn't know I'd ever feel when we first moved out here.  I feel like the Lord is gathering his people here in the Gilbert/Queen Creek area and it's incredible and exciting to be part of it.

The open house was an amazing experience as well.  I missed seeing it with the family (including Marty's dad) because the babies were sick.  But right before they closed the open house, I left the babies with Marty and took BandB with me.  They were happy to go a second time.  However, being one of the last days of the open house it was wall to wall people.  We waited in line for hours before actually making it into the temple.  I kept waiting around for the kids to whine or want to be held, but it just never happened.  They were so darn good-natured about the whole thing.  Especially considering they didn't get dinner until around 9:00 that night (I had no idea it would take so long!).  But the temple was the most spectacular one I've seen since the week I got married.  In one week, I went through the Timpanogus, Salt Lake, and San Diego temples - all considered some of the most spectacular ones.  But this temple was right up there with those. The builders used the agave plant found here in the desert as inspiration all over the temple and it was just so so beautiful and unique.

I didn't take any pictures from my trip, but Marty took a few at the open house.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that one of the kids took these next two pics....








Well, I guess now the truly exciting part begins - actually getting to serve in our new temple!  I feel so overwhelmed by our blessings right now.  I'm so grateful for this weekend.


P.S.
Brynn came in my room about a half hour after the live stream of the cultural celebration was over, telling me she couldn't sleep.  I asked her if she'd like to tell me some of her thoughts about tonight and I would write them down.  Here is what she said (with some prompts from me):

"I can't believe that President Eyring and the Prophet came.  I bet they liked the fire dance.  There were some white dresses and the shirts had flowers on them and they were my favorite costume.  I liked the Captain Moroni song the best because I liked the horse running through the flags.  The person riding the horse was even riding with one hand and carrying the title of liberty with the other hand.  I remember there was a girl on the video that was happy she was adopted and there was also a man that cried and cried in his truck because he sold his favorite toy so his family had enough money to travel to a temple.  I learned that way back then when the pioneers were alive there were lots of things that were different and they had to do lots of work.  When I was watching the program, I felt like if I was there President Monson would be impressed by all the hard work of a little seven year old girl.

This is happening once in my life and I don't want to forget it (her words!).  My favorite part of the temple that I got to see was the Celestial Room because it had many lights and a chandelier about fifteen feet tall. I was really good at finding all the agave plants in the rooms at the temple.

I know that when I get married in the temple that I will have an eternal life with my family."

Sometimes my blessings are also my trials - Is that ok?

I know I shouldn't complain.  I always feel horribly ungrateful when I vent.  But here I go anyway.

It's been a rough couple of weeks.  The babies have passed illness  back and forth for two weeks.  Which means I've been mainly on house arrest for two weeks.  For a day or two I think we are all done with it, and then the next day one of them comes down with something else.  It's nothing too bad.  Just colds, double (so then...quadruple) ear infections, we had our first experience with hand foot and mouth disease, and Gabe had a horrible allergic reaction to the antibiotic.  It could be {much} worse.

But then what we have is several nights in a row with someone up every hour or two.  I paid my dues.  Camille is nine months old now and I don't want to be doing that any more (how whiny is that sentence?).  In addition to that, I had two or three days in a row with Gabe screaming all the way through his nap.  Which always woke up Camille.  For a couple of days there was literally no break from fussy babies.

Why wouldn't this come at one of Marty's busiest times of the year?  I've been almost totally on my own for two weeks with screaming babies.  Screaming.  And more screaming.  That does something to a person.  I dare you to endure that much screaming and not develop a twitch.  Last week I put off the grocery store for five days, thinking surely Marty would be available before 9:30 at night and he could take the screaming babies while I seek solace at Walmart, of all places.  No dice.  The last day we basically had stuffing for dinner.

We've had home projects that have been piling up for months that simply can't be put off any longer.  Like, our washing machine has been leaking for months now and I'm a little worried about it falling through the floor into the kitchen.  We bought a cheap entertainment center off Craig's list so we can finally put our TV and wires and plugs away, but it has a ton of work needing to be done.  And we've already had one rainstorm while it's waiting for us outside, so there is a rush.  Marty runs from one place and one project to the next.  I'm not sure why I have the right to think this is any harder on me.  But he has always handled things more gracefully than I have, so no surprise there.  He's amazing.

Due to babies I have missed out on dates, the temple open house, getting to teach Marty's seminary classes I had worked so hard prepping for, park days, play dates, girl's days, and the occasional breather somewhere around town just to reclaim myself a little.

That's a simplification of the situation, as I don't feel like going any more personal on a public blog.  But, stick a fork in me.  I'm done.

Actually, I think I am almost done.  The babies have been healthy for a couple days now.  Unfortunately they have finally figured out how to be jealous of each other when I am holding the other one.  But I can take that as long as I'm getting a few quiet minutes in the afternoon and a little bit more sleep.

By the way, I now find people who brag about their kids' good health to be insufferable.  There is nothing like feeling you have put everything you can possibly do into keeping them healthy and then feeling like their sickness and suffering is all your fault anyway.  Just sayin.'  Cause I'm such a ray of sunshine lately.

ANYWAY, it's ok.  I knew what I had signed up for.  The "If it's so awful, then why d'ya have so many kids?" mentality moms are sometimes subject to has surprisingly not phased me.  It was very convenient that the lesson I was prepping for was "The moral force of women."  It's given me a little more sanity and physical endurance when I thought I was at the end of my rope.  Eternal perspective is everything when I find myself in situations like this (these couple of weeks are not my first rodeo).  And eternal perspective is not something I find in abundance unless I'm holding tight to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This isn't initially what I was planning for today, but in his talk, Elder Christofferson, in reference to women, uses the word Influence 16 times, Authority:  8 times, Power:  7 times, Force:  7 times, Courage: 4 times, Teach: 4 times, and Contribution: twice.  That's in addition to other power phrases like: moral foundation, positive influence at work in society, uniquely beneficial, women’s strength and standing, influenced all around her, sacrificed, performed feats…that were near superhuman, ennobled by blessing others, make the community a better place, indispensable, powerfully felt, beneficially employed, lead, guardians of the well-spring of life, civilizing influence in society, lift others to virtue, etc.  It didn't used to be hard for me to feel that way, but now it takes effort.  So here I am making the effort. :)  

I am totally aware that this post sounds very dramatic (because I'm sure it's a well-kept secret that I have a flair for the dramatic) over just a couple of busy and yucky weeks.  Again, I know I have it so, so good and have been so lucky to miss out on so many of the trials I see other's having to go through.

But it's still been really hard.

But that's ok, because I can do hard things.