Sometimes it seems like my kids forget that they have a baby brother in the house. Connor is rather mellow and generally happy lying on the floor watching the controlled chaos. But every now and again they remember he is there and want to hold him :)
This week I tackled the feet of taking the children to the Ogden Temple open house without Bryant. I was super excited to share this experience with them but also a bit nervous of how they would act. Amazingly, we left the house 10 minutes ahead of schedule, which was great since I needed to get gas before starting the drive so we ended up leaving "on time!" Our scheduled time was 11:45 so I brought us a picnic lunch to eat before going through.
Here we are on the grass outside the temple grounds eating. Connor was also supposed to be famished and ready to eat but the spirit of where we were must have been so strong because all he wanted to do was coo and smile and not eat. It was cute but concerning because I didn't want him grumpy throughout the temple
We started our tour watching a short video. Before the video began the sister missionaries that introduced it warned us to try and be reverent for all to hear as the sound was not very loud. As soon as it started Hunter leaned over to me and said "this is louder than we watch tv at home!" I couldn't help but smile.
Going through the temple was a different experience than when I was a child. I think they are trying to enable more people to see the inside and so we were just a giant, continuous line snaking through the temple. It was hard for me to keep the kids together after about 20 minutes because the line would stop in the hallways where there was nothing to see and then when there was a room to discuss or see the line behind us would be pushing us forward because those behind us wanted to see. It took between 40-50 minutes to make it through the temple and my kids attentions were shot after about 30 minutes (the expected walk through time). Thankfully, a young grandparent couple adopted Gunnar and carried him through the last 15 minutes so I didn't have to keep bending down and wrangling him with us while carrying Connor in a carrier on my front. It was truly a life saver!
Overall the children seemed to really enjoy it. Brylee folded her arms upon entering the temple doors of her own accord. She seems to be great at recognizing special places and showing reverence for them. Hunter was amazed at all the gold in the temple and Tucker really liked the stained glass windows. We even went on a Jesus hunt while there finding all the pictures of Christ that we could, which sometimes lead Gunnar in the wrong direction but it was great to hear him exclaim "Jesus!" every time he saw him.
After exiting the temple we came to this fountain where lots of people were throwing coins and the kids asked me if they could to which I had to reply that I didn't have any money to do so. Well the lady next to us happily offered my children a penny each. Afterwards, Hunter came up to me and identified that it was nice of the lady to give them all pennies and for the man in the temple to carry Gunnar. I am grateful for these kind examples and that Hunter was able to recognize them and feel the joy that came from them.
Here we are after the walk through. Connor only got grumpy a couple of times but was easily consoled.
They had this statue of Christ in a tent with more information about the Ogden Temple construction.
This is one of my favorites of the kids. :)
We walked back around to the front of the temple where I sat to feed Connor. I had brought pictures with me for the kids to color before going into the temple, figuring that we would have plenty of time after our picnic but we didn't so they were able to sit and color them while I fed Connor, which was super helpful to me. Then they went and explored this other fountain.
Hunter requested that I take this picture. I thought he just liked the waterfall aspects of the fountains but I realized this evening that it has a great reflection of the temple on the top of the water and now really LOVE this picture! I'm glad that I said "yes" to something that was not a big deal, although it would have been easy to say no to.
Here we are in front of the temple :)
When we first arrived in Ogden and were looking for the best place to park we saw a bunch of these painted horse statues. The children really wanted to try and ride them so I told them we could after walking through the temple. Well Gunnar REALLY wanted to ride them so as soon as the introductory movie of the temple tour ended he reminded me that it was time to go see the horses. It was cute. Thankfully, they were okay with only riding on one of the horses (there were different ones at every corner of multiple intersections) because I was rather worn out by the end of the temple tour to be honest.
The children wanted to show me that they could all fit on this chair together. I was just glad they figured out a way to share and all be happy about it :)
As a result Tucker wanted his picture taken in this silly pose. I love my silly kids. You can see the pillow case I made for Gunnar for his birthday in this picture too. I really like making pillow cases because they are easy, quick, and turn out super nice
In church today the sacrament song was "I Stand All Amazed." This is one of the primary songs this year so my three oldest children all know the first verse really well and decided to sing along. They were all loud, sometimes coming in before the right beat, and sometimes off key and it was downright hilarious. They were each like the young child in the primary program that sings really loud and everyone hears and smiles about. I had a hard time singing because I was suppressing giggles. Despite the funniness of it, it was great to hear them singing the song and being a part of what was going on.
This evening Connor was also super happy and I almost caught it on camera.
As soon as I laid down to talk with him, everyone else remembered that they had a baby brother and decided that they needed to converse with him as well. Thankfully, Connor was not super overwhelmed by it all.
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