Forever Ours!

We **finally** were able to take Cutie Pie to the temple and be sealed to us forever. We were touched by our friends and family that were able to attend this special event with us. My mom made white dresses for the girls. When they brought Sweet Pea and Cutie Pie into the room, they looked like angels. After the ceremony, the sealer asked Sweet Pea to join us by the alter to look at the "forever mirrors". Our family went on forever! We took some pictures afterwards.

A bit of silliness

Sweet Pea want a picture of her dressed in white on the family picture wall

Such a beautiful girl

The kiddos

Momma and her girls

A small portion of our extended family

Watching our hungry, little miracle

Daddy and his girls

Our eternal family

Sisters

All worn out

We are so grateful to have Cutie Pie in our family and now ours FOREVER!!! We will be eternally grateful for her brave birth mom who lovingly placed her in our family. We also are so grateful to our friends and family who have loved, supported and prayed for us throughout this amazing journey and experience!! THANK YOU!!!!

Utah Here We Come

Since we were a short three hours away, Ms A, my mom and I went to Utah to visit family and friends.
It was perfect timing for us to meet Reed's newest niece, Ms B. We were so excited to meet and hold Laura and Russ's newest little one. CONGRATS Laura, Russ and family!

We had a great time staying with Stephanie, Reed's oldest sister. Ms A loved playing with her cousins. They introduced us to their library and amazing Rec Center. {next time we'll have to aim for the summer time and bring our swimsuits to play in their pool.}

I was also able to have dinner with three of my childhood friends, Shanna, Janae and Tonya. We met sweet Mr X who is almost three months old. Ms A loved rocking him in his carrier. She was so attentive and caring. Thank you ladies for the wonderful evening! It was fabulous catching up!!

We visited the Salt Lake Temple grounds. Ms A was excited when the sister missionaries turned on the English version of the narrative of Jesus Christ.

April 2011
Always a water girl, Ms A had to dip her hand into the various water features around the temple just like she did when she was 16 months old.
August 2006

The HIGHLIGHT of our trip was being able to visit with my dear, sweet friend, Caitriona, and her husband, Tim. I met Caitriona fifteen years ago when she came to New Hampshire on work visa from Ireland. She saw a commercial for The Book Of Mormon and wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ. Over the next several weeks my missionary companion and I taught her Christ's gospel, her heart was touched and she decided to be baptized. The next day she flew back to Ireland and we have not seen each other since {we've kept in touch via letters, email, Skype and now Facebook. (I love technology!)}

Caitriona is an amazing person who I have been so blessed to be a part of her life. I love hearing how she find answers to problems through reading the scriptures, attending the temple or receiving a Priesthood blessing. She reminds me every time we talk of the joy found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tim, Caitriona, Ms A, Grandma Valerie and Heather

It was wonderful to walk around the temple grounds and pick up **right** where we left off 15 years ago. My heart smiled as she caught me up with the things she's been doing, her testimony and about her dear husband, Tim {so happy she found such a kind gentleman to be sealed to in the temple.} Love you Caitriona! I am so happy we were able to get together!!! I can't wait to see you and Tim again and meet your little one!

Enjoying a Little Spring

Ms A and I went to pick up our house plans and decided to swing by the Portland Temple to walk the grounds and see the pretty flowers. (The temple always has beautiful colors and grounds.) While we were there, we enjoyed the company of two duck swimming in the water feature and seeing a "grandma" bride. Ms A was thrilled with both! We also shared some giggles when the pictures had Ms A growing a temple spire or a water fountain out of her head. She also had to touch the water (a normal {NEED}). Here are a few pictures from our day.

Pretty Flowers

Being Silly

Ducks!!

Not Much Has Changed

We were running a few errands near the Portland Temple, so we stopped by and took a few {58} pictures. As I was cleaning and editing the pictures, I had a flash of the past. Not much has changed. Ms A still loves playing in the reflection pool.

Today:August 2006:She still loves smelling the flowers.
Today:August 2006:

Trip to Utah

Sara, her children, Ms. A and I visited Utah last week. We were able to get a lot of visiting in with a short amount of time. Great Job Sara! She also took 90% of the pictures.

While we were there, we were able to visit our maternal grandmother. It was wonderful/sad to visit her. Her health has gone downhill quite a bit since our last visit two years ago. Afterwards, we stopped by our aunt and uncle's home to visit Rosalyn (cousin) and Aunt Patti. It was fantastic to catch up to them and to meet Rosalyn's children. Then we jetted up to South Salt Lake to have dinner with my friends from my childhood and high school. We had a great time. It's been a couple of years since our last visit, so there was a lot of talking as well as eating the yummy Olive Garden dinner.

We spent the night at my friend, Shanna's, home. We've been friends since we were Ms. A's age, so it was fun to talk to Ms. A about that. Shanna, Sara and I stayed up way past our bedtime reliving experiences and memories. Thanks Shanna for the wonderful visit and a place to sleep!

The next morning after more visiting, we headed to This is the Place Heritage Park. I visited the monument while I took a Utah History course in college. It has grown considerably since then. We enjoyed looking at original and replicas of Pioneer homes, farms and buildings. The kids were tickled to go on a horse ride and quite disappointed when it was time for them to take a break (right when we arrived, but we came back later). The train ride was fun, but the covered wagon wasn't. I am so grateful for cars that make the ride cool, dust/dirt-free with comfortable seats. I never would have made it as a pioneer. The houses were interesting. we enjoyed learning about the schools, carding wool, doing laundry by hand (another thing I'm grateful for) and other household chores and games. Mr. P was excited about his FIRST shave. We loved the misters (pressured water coming out of pipes to keep people cool).

After a few hours there, we feed the kids and ourselves and drove to the Salt Lake Temple Grounds. I met with a friend, Jamie, while Sara and her kids toured the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was fun catching up with Jamie while Ms. A and Ms. E played together.
We met up with Sara and visited Temple Square. We took the last tour at the Conference Center, which was AMAZING. Our tour guide was a lot of fun and was great with the kids. The tour was fabulous. We were able to go to the gardens on the roof as the sun was setting. BEAUTIFUL! I love the spirit that resides within the temple grounds and the Conference Center.

We arrived back in Idaho at 2am, tired, but grateful that we were able to go.

Chinatown and Little India

This is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. We were impressed by the size of the building. It was huge. The doors inside were closed, so we couldn't enter. The interior opens every day at 4:30AM, 10:30AM and 7:30PM for the monks to pray. We enjoyed looking at the exterior.


Sri Mariamman Temple is a Hindu temple built in 1827. It is the oldest Indian Temple in Singapore. the statuary on the exterior is typical of Hindu temples, but still very impressive.











" The Masjid Abdul Gafoor contains a sundial above its entrance. It is the only mosque with a sundial throughout the Islamic world. The sunburst has 25 rays decorated with Arabic calligraphy which denotes the names of 25 chosen Prophets. It was completed in 1907 and has a unique blend of Moorish-Islamic and South Indian architectural styles. I loved the green, yellow and white color combination. All the stars and crescents adorned the mosque beautifully.

River Cruise

Our tour of Egypt included a cruise down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor. It was a once in a lifetime holiday. We were able to visit several temples and ancient sites. Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae Temples were intriguing. Each one was unique, but had similarities. I like the Kom Ombo Temple and its dual role as a temple for Horus (the falcon) and Sobek (the crocodile). We even saw a mummified crocodile. The ancient Egyptians personified their gods in creatures they either feared or respected. With the Sobek, they wanted to give offering to him to protect themselves from crocodiles.

High Dam in Aswan

 

Nile River Cruise

 

Kom Ombo

  Calendar

 Entrance to Sanctuary

Ceiling Painting of Horus the sky god

Crocodile mummy

Wall carving Tutmosis III bearing gifts to Isis and Horus

Wall carving of defeated enemies

Philae Temple

 East Colonnade

First Pylon - Pharoah Defeating Enemies

Temple of Isis Columns at entrance

Temple of Isis

Temple of Isis Sanctuary

West Colonnade

Edfu

Enclosure Wall to keep enemies out

 First Pylon

Nilometer. Every year they would measure the water level determine taxes. If the water was higher, higher taxes because the more water, the more crops. If the water was lower, lower taxes.

Sanctuary with sacred barque. Used to carry the god/goddess during ceremonies.

Vestibule with Abigail

Valley of the Kings. We were able to enter three tombs, Ramses III, Meremptah and Ramses I. Ms A went inside one and she had enough. It was hot, dark, humid and cramped. Reed and I took turns watching her while the other went inside the second tomb, then our guide watch her when we went inside the third tomb. It was amazing to see the colors, drawings and carvings. We were able to see Merenptah's stone sarcophagus.

Meremptah entrance

Ramses III entrance

The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut was fabulous. We visited the temple toward the end of Ramadan, so there were several people visiting the sights. We were surprised to have people ask to take a picture of Ms A despite the fact that there was a HUGE temple behind them being ignored.

The Egyptian people loved Ms A. So many wanted pictures with her, she got a little tired by this point.

Queen Hatsheput Statue

Colossi of Memnon - This little boy wanted to sell Ms A a trinket, but she was more interested in glo bracelets.

West Bank - Deir el-Medina Ptolamaic temple

Karnak and Luxor were amazing.
Two movie tidbits: In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the final battle between Optimus Prime versus Megatron, The Fallen, and Starscream takes place in the hypostyle hall at Karnak. Also, Karnak is featured in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me.

The two temples used to be joined by a road that had rams on either side of the road.

The ram-lined road still exists, but it is in ruins at certain parts.

Columns

The Lucky scarab is a favorite thing to do. Scarabs bring good fortune. Legend says if you walk around it three times you'll find love; five times children and seven times wealth.

Luxor. Our guide had us wait a little to visit the temple at dusk. It was beautiful with the lights and sunset.

Cartouche of Ramesses II

Courtyard

Ramses II with Papyrus and Lotus Flower. Both represent wealth, health and good fortune

Sitting Ramesses II Colossus inside

 Luxor Temple at dusk. There used to two obelisks, but one stands at the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France.