For my birthday this year I decided I wanted to take a family trip and go to the Provo City Center Temple open house. Bryce ended up not being able to go with us, so the kids and I were on our own. I took a couple days off work and I pulled the kids out of school on Thursday the 25th and we headed out. We decided to just take our time and have some fun on our way. Kylie and I did some shopping at Wal-Mart in Evanston while Brandt read a book in the shopping cart-best shopping idea I ever had was to go to the book section first and let him pick out a new book. We made it through the whole store without any melt downs our runaways! Then we went to this cute little fossil shop with a dinosaur out front. From there we headed to Heber where we stopped at a pet store. It's like a mini free zoo lol! Brandt fell in love with a Ferret and I was really thankful to be able to honestly tell him that we couldn't get a pet because we were so far from home. The kids also thought it was great that there was a "wild" little bird that was flying all over the store-I thought it was creepy-I hate it when birds do the fly-by close to my head! Finally we made it to Payson, where we stayed with Kenny and Teresa. It was so good to see them and visit for a little bit! Brandt and Kylie's favorite part was that they had 2 cute bunnies in their basement. I loved to be able to spend some time chatting and catching up. Early this morning, Kenny and I were able to go to the Payson temple and do a session before he had to go to work. After we left the Celestial room, which was about the most beautiful one I've ever seen, Kenny was able to take me and show me some other parts of the temple like the baptistry and the sealing rooms, which were also so beautiful and extra peaceful since it was still early in the morning and there weren't many people there. It was the perfect way to start the day and I was so thankful to be there. The day continued to be great from there on out. I got to spend some time with Teresa before we packed up and headed to the Temple open house. Kylie almost got away with leaving a really sweet message for them on their bathroom sink-in bright pink fingernail polish! We LOVED the Provo City Center Temple! It was beautiful inside and out. We had watched some short videos about the history of it before we went, and it was fun to watch my kids point out the things they remembered from the videos. We especially loved the murals on the session room walls and we stepped out of line to take extra time looking at every animal, flower, plant, and star. From there we went to the BYU paleontology museum. It was the perfect size-big enough to have some really cool stuff in it, but small enough that Brandt could see that we would have plenty of time to get through it all so he didn't have to be anxious about it. There was a teenage boy who kept inserting himself into our conversations randomly and telling us facts about whatever dinosaurs we happened to be looking at at the time. Later Brandt made the observation, "mom, he was just like me so I bet he has Asperger's, too. He knew lots of stuff about dinosaurs and would just come up and start talking to us, but he never really looked at our eyes and he fidgeted a lot and kept moving all over the place like he was nervous." I had already formed that opinion on my own, but I hadn't voiced that to my kids at all, so I was amazed that Brandt had observed that on his own. We were also able to go visit my Uncle Junior at the assisted living place he's at in Ogden. He was having a good day and seemed to remember us well. He was even asking specific questions about my dad and remembered that he'd had back surgery not to long ago with the surgeon in Provo. He told us many times how much he loves us and how happy he was that we came to visit. It was so nice to see him. As we decided to make our way home, the kids spotted a Chuck E. Cheese's and I crumbled under the pressure to stop. We have never been there, but they had both been so good all day, I decided it was a good time to try it. The pizza wasn't the best, but they had a ton of fun playing, so it was worth the noise and chaos to try it once. All in all, it was one of my best birthdays ever and I'm so thankful for the several experiences I had with my children, some of my extended family members whom I love dearly, and in the Temple.
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