Remembering

Lots of years ago I found a quotation by President Ezra Taft Benson. "Take your children to the temple grounds and let them touch the walls of the temple, then teach them how the temple can touch their lives." We started a temple touching tradition when we took our kids to the Mount Timpanogos Temple of May 2005. Looking back, I can't believe how little they were (not to mention the fact that Megan wasn't even born yet.)

I have blogged about most of our trips to temples (Click on the links and it will take you to the various posts) at some point, but here I have included pictures of the trips I didn't post about. This blog post is mostly for me. It is one place where I can look at these special memories all at once.

Mount Timpanogos - June 2007

Mount Timpanogos - May 2009

Boston - August 2010

Manti - October 2010

Newport Beach - August 2011

Los Angeles - August 2011

Brigham City - September 2012

Provo - November 2012

Mount Timpanogos - April 2013

Logan - July 2013

It has been fun to see lots of temples and to have these records of the kids growing. It has also been wonderful to have pictures hanging in our hall with the quotation by President Benson. One time, a couple of years ago, Megan asked me to read her the quotation. I pulled the frame off the wall and we sat on the stairs and read it together. Then she said, "Does this mean you are supposed to take us to the temple and let us touch it so we can think about Jesus in our hearts?" Yes, Megan. That is exactly what it means. 

Pioneer Trek

We had our post-trek activity last week. It is always sad to see something this amazing come to an end. Everyone loved the big long video. It reminded us all of the fun, hard and amazing experiences we had. It made us laugh, and it made us cry. Hopefully the memories stay fresh in our minds for a long time. 

Here are a few more pictures of us on trek.

  

I loves this one. It looks like Liz is really laughing. I wish I knew why. I also like how filthy everyone is looking by this point.

I am so grateful for this picture. It is neat to me how the Lord puts people in our paths, and even when you know them for a short time, they impact your life in such a big way.

The other day I put on some sneakers I wore during parts of trek. They are stained by the reddish dirt that we walked through, and that color will never go away. As I was walking I thought of how my heart has been forever marked by the events of trek. I hope that the thoughts, feelings and lessons of trek never fade.

stuff from Michael I don't want to forget

Background: Nathan has a board game called Memoir '44. It is a game that creates different scenarios based on WWII battles. He learned early from Grandpa Call (the one who gave him the game as a birthday gift a couple of years ago) that it is important to read about the battles before you play the scenarios.

Well, the other day Michael came up to me and said, "Mom, Nathan's game Memoir '44 means Memoir 1944" (with extra emphasis on the 19). "That's the same CENTURY you and dad were born in."

Thanks for point that out, Mike.

[It was actually interesting for me to hear this. I remembered being a kid and thinking things like Vietnam, Korea and the world wars we SO LONG AGO. It is funny to watch this same thing happen in my kids.]

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The other night Brian asked Michael to say the family prayer. Michael prayed, "Bless the missionaries that they can find people to teach and bless that the people will believe them."

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Family scripture study yesterday - Michael read aloud the chapter heading for Alma 53 and in the same breath exclaims, "Yea! I love this chapter!" Then he moved right on to verse 1.

It is so fun watching this kid grow!