Blessing and a Temple Trip

We blessed Adelaide on Sunday, Oct. 13th.  Our families weren't able to come out, which is a definite downside of living out of state : ( but we had the support of several great friends to stand in the circle with Craig.  Adelaide wore the blessing dress that I wore, which was kind of fun to see her in it!

Both family pictures are a little awkward. :) I guess that's how it goes when you have 2 kids - how do you get both of them looking decent in one picture? :)

It was a beautiful blessing.  I was reminded of how precious she is -that she is a daughter of God!  We are so grateful for this sweet little girl!

 This last Friday (before our Stake Conference) was a Stake "Fill the Temple" day.  We felt like it was important for us to make an effort to go. So we did!  Our Stake is in the Oklahoma City Temple district.  It is 3 1/2 hours away.  So not way far, but far enough that it definitely takes some planning to be able to go.  

Craig took the day off of work, and we left at 5:30 in the morning, so that we could make it in time for the 10:00 session. (Turns out it was a 10:30 session, so we were a little early.  But that's not a bad thing!) On our way, we ran into some toll roads...which we were not expecting.  And we didn't have any cash.  And they don't take cards.  So there we were, counting out $2.50 all in pennies!  Luckily, we did have quite the stash of pennies in our truck.  After we got to $1.50, the toll worker was so annoyed and told us that she would just pull $1.00 out of her pocket.  We were grateful!  But seriously - we had no idea there would be toll roads in Oklahoma!  I thought that was only a back east thing...apparently I was mistaken.  So we made sure we had cash the rest of the trip.  And then we came to some that had no toll workers, just a big barrel that you throw your money into.  Toll: $0.60 - exact change required.  And these ones didn't accept pennies.  What?!  Who has exactly $0.60 just lying around? Luckily, we happened to find a $1 coin, so that worked.

We finally made it to the temple!  There was a church that shares the parking lot with the temple, and it was open and available for people to wait there with kids, which was very convenient.  

I went to the temple first while Craig watched our kids, and then we switched.  It was a wonderful experience!  It always is - I really enjoy going to the temple, but it had been a while since we've been able to go, so this visit was exceptional. I love the feelings of love and peace I get when I go, and that they stay with me for a while after.

 

Our stake definitely filled the temple!  The sessions were all overflowing, all day!  It was exciting to see so many people there.

We decided to drive home that night.  We left at 6:00, and what usually is a 3 1/2 hour drive ended up being close to a 6 hour drive!  We were stuck in traffic for 2 hours! It was crazy.  But our kids did awesome. I was so impressed!

Next time we go, we will be much more prepared for the logistics!