Stuck!

Though she can't crawl yet, Ari is a super mobile baby and she keeps getting stuck under the couch. Using a combination of rolling and scooting she can cross a whole room in minutes. She's getting to the point where she wants to be on the floor exploring almost all the time. And here I thought she would be the complete opposite of her big brother and just want to sit calmly on my lap all day. Looks like I was wrong!

My Friend "Grass"

Robbie has had several imaginary friends over the past few months, but today's was my favorite: an imaginary blade of grass!

The blade of grass came into Robbie's life when he "picked" it from the "lawn" (living room carpet) today. He introduced me to him, "This is my friend grass. Do you want to talk to him?"

He got very upset when we threw his pants in the dirty clothes and "Grass" was still in the pocket!

Robbie and Grass played with toys together all evening--seems like Grass is a pretty good little guy. We'll see if Grass is still around tomorrow.

A Special "VIP" Temple Tour

Today I had the opportuity to help at the Draper Temple Open House serving a luncheon to general authorties and VIPs (the VIP open house is this week--the public open house starts on the 14th) in the stake center next to the new temple. I spent most of the time in the kitchen assembling food, but got a peek at the gym where the luncheon was being served. Wow, you never would have guessed it was a church gym--it was beautiful! There were rugs covering the floor, fresh flower arrangements everywhere, sofas, chairs, and lamps, framed artwork on the walls, covered tables and chairs, and a gorgeous buffet.

Then came the special treat--we had finished all our work and there was a lull in the guests, so they took us on a quick tour of the new temple!! It is breathtaking! Its decorated in tans, blues, and greens with the image of the sego lilly repeated throughout. The furniture and windows are kind of in an "arts and crafts" style (does anyone else watch Antiques Roadshow?). The murals in the endowment rooms were my favorite--one of them is painted like you are sitting in an aspen grove in the fall at the top of a mountain. The celestial room was amazing, too--the Spirit is so strong when you walk through this temple, even though its not dedicated yet!

I feel so blessed to be living in Draper when this temple was built! I get to help with the Open House again next month and so does Nathan. If you haven't gotten tickets yet to come to the open house, go to www.lds.org/reservations.

Best of 2008

I'm going to copy my sister and record our "Best Of's" for 2008:

Most Memorable Moment: The birth of sweet little Ari on June 29
Best Home-made Dinner: Nathan's Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia (cooked on the BBQ grill)
Best Holiday Memory: Easter--when Robbie insisted on wearing his Easter basket on his head and borrowing someone else's basket to put his eggs in
Favorite Trip: Didn't go further than Morrill Meadowbrook Ranch (near Capitol Reef National Park) or Logan, but had a lot of fun in both places!
Best Hike: Our fall hike to Solitude Lake--it was breathtaking!
Best Place to Eat: Bajio Mexican Grill (yummy!)
Best Movie: Movies? Can't remember the last time we were able to go to the movies.
Best Sporting Event: University of Utah vs. BYU football game [according to Nathan]
Worst Sporting Event: University of Utah vs. BYU football game [according to Bekah]
Proudest Accomplishment: Paying off almost all our debt (except for our house of course)!!! (just a tiny bit left--we'll be debt free soon!)
Best Books We Read: Fall of the Malazan Empire Series [Nathan], Pope Joan, Princess Acadamy [Bekah]
Favorite New Hobbies: Blogging! [Bekah], Chuan Fa Ssu Ren (a type of martial arts) [Nathan], shoveling snow [Robbie], screaming like a teenage girl [Ari]
Best TV Shows: 24, The 4400 (guess we were into shows with numbers as titles this year)