sticker number eleven.

last weekend we visited the grounds of our 11th temple this summer. it's been a really fun experience for me and also for the kids. each temple is so different and it's been fun to notice the little differences. we ventured down to our last temple in ut county, mount timpanogos. the grounds are beautiful and filled with flowers, but much to the kids' disappointment, didn't have a water feature! one of the kids' favorite things to do is to lean over and touch the water...probably a little irreverent, but whatever, they're kids. :) so, hopefully at the ogden temple open house this week, they'll get a chance to touch the water.

after we drove a little ways over to the sliding rock in alpine. the kids each did it once, cory three times (once with each kid), and then they decided they were done...maybe we'll try it again in a couple years or with someone else, to help give them the motivation to slide into the cold water!!

how many kids can you fit into a wagon?? the kids were a little tired {grumpy} after the slide and were lucky enough to ride while cory pushed.

stickers eight, nine and ten.

well, thanks to connor's baseball we visited another temple that we probably wouldn't have gotten to for a while. his last baseball tournament of the season had a couple games in salem. so we ventured a few more minutes down the road to the payson temple. it is such a powerful building, even while under construction. it was bigger than some of the most recent temples and will be very beautiful when it's completed and will serve the many rural communities that surround it. it was fun to look around the grounds and try to imagine where the flowers, grass, and water features would be.

last friday, we took advantage of cory's half day and drove down to utah county again to visit the two temples in provo and also to go see great-grandpa's exhibit at the bean museum. as we walked around the provo temple, we talked a little bit about the mtc and our missionary memories going to the provo temple. a few groups of missionaries were walking up the hill and the kids got to wave and say hi. we noticed at least three drinking fountains around the grounds...a first we've seen while visiting the temples. it also had some fun water falls. and parsley was in the flower beds.

we had driven by the provo city center temple as we came home from salem, but this time we got out to take our photo. will had fallen asleep and they all humored me to get out of the car just to snap photo. i'm excited for how this temple will look when it's completed. it will be so different from all the others as it is being rebuilt from the old tabernacle.

caught connor mid-yawn and will mid-nap

we searched high and low to see a moose on our hike, but had not luck. so, the kids were pretty excited to see one at the museum. 

number six & seven.

last week we went to two temples. on friday we picked cory up from work and headed downtown. we went on the conference center tour, it was pretty amazing! that is a beautiful, incredible building. we found the painting of grandpa, a bronze sculpture by uncle ken and even got to go on the roof. years ago just before the building was finished, as a ysa, i planted prairie grass up on the roof. i haven't been up there since. so it was pretty fun to be up there with my own family. we snapped a family pic from the roof in front of the temple where it all began. kinda crazy how much our family has grown in 10 years.

then on saturday, after connor had a baseball game in salt lake, we ventured down to the draper temple. it was pretty busy with weddings cause it was the weekend, but still fun to walk around and see the beautiful flowers. 

passport sticker number five.

this week we visited the brigham city temple. this is one of my favorites. i think a lot of it has to do with all the family history we have in brigham. we headed up with sara and kids on wed afternoon after naps. connor wasn't too excited to do another temple, but quickly changed his mind when we got there. we've loved taking pics next to the water feature at each temple. we've figured out they are always on the east side. we also noticed little pepper plants in pots and also planted throughout the flower gardens. also, two clumps of corn stocks in the flower beds along a rock wall. also, many, many fruit trees throughout the grounds. most of them the fruit was still very small, but we thought looked like pear based on their shape.  the peach blossoms on the stained glass windows and on the carved into the rock on the sides of the temple were beautiful. they are also etched in the fence posts.

afterwards we drove over a few streets east to the cemetery and found some packer graves. the kids' great~great grandparents grave on the packer side. we looked for smith ones, but didn't have success...next time... we also found lorenzo snow's grave.

temple passports.

this summer as part of our summer fun list we got the kids temple passports. they are a little blue book that lists all the temples in ut and has a sticker to put on each temple page when you visit that temple. we're determined to do as many as we can. some may be too far to travel in the short few weeks of summer, but we're gonna try! :) so far we've done 4. bountiful, logan, jordan river and oquirrh mountain. it's been really fun to learn a few new facts about each temple and also for the kids to visit and hopefully begin to realize how special these buildings are and how blessed we are to have so many so close to us. 

bountiful temple ~ we visited last wednesday 6.4.14 around lunch time so cory could come along during his lunch. we packed a lunch and had a picnic on the grounds. but first we went to visit grandma shirley's grave. that day marked the 5th anniversary of her passing. we sure miss her. will must miss her a lot because he face planted on her headstone and imprinted the 'a' on his forehead. poor boy. :(  

logan temple ~ connor had 2 comp baseball games in logan on saturday 6.7.14, so we drove over to the temple after the games. it was pretty crowded cause it was a saturday, but still so nice to be there. the kids loved the huge hill in front. they each rolled down, except else {she was worried it would hurt her tummy}. not too reverent, but fun for sure! we learned that the logan temple used to be painted white. 

jordan river ~ today 6.11.14 we ventured down south and west with sara and cousins. we stopped here first. we learned this angel moroni is one of 5 that carries the gold plates. it was pretty cool to see. we also liked the little strawberry plants throughout the flower beds. they were quite pretty and looked yummy! :)

oquirrh mountain ~ 6.11.14 after we visited the jordan river, we drove through mcd's, got lunch, and drove a mere 7 minutes down the road to visit another temple. south jordan is the only city in the world to have 2 temples in it. we also thought it as cool that the granite came from china.

we're excited to see what other adventures our temple passport will bring!!

brigham city temple open house.

last week we went up to the brigham city temple open house. it was beautiful! inside and out. both of my parents sides are have a heritage in brigham. we've been especially excited for this temple to be done. a couple of years ago, cory, miss mabel and i went to the ground breaking.

it was special to be there with my parents and all but one sibling and his fam {we missed you nate&becky!}. 

our kids on the west side.

i loved these circular windows with the stained-glass peach blossom windows.

checking out the fountain on the east side.

she loves to pose for pics.

the kids were very patient to take lots of pics, i liked the tabernacle in the background.

peach blossoms everywhere.

cory carrying elsie to the car. 

the kids were so well-behaved through out the whole evening, but elsie was soooo done at this point.

"i'll go inside someday."

check out the stowaway bat up in the left corner.

after looking over our pics, i was disappointed i didn't get one of the whole temple. 

need to get one from mom or anna {hint, hint}