Put it in your calender

I found an interesting missionary tool!

I have a HUGE white board on the wall of my office at work. Some time ago, I put a calender on one side so that I could keep track of holidays and other time sensitive projects. I also put personal appointments and events so that I know if/when I have to leave early or take time off to prepare or attend. I like to draw pictures to represent the importance of the date. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes just something to give the calender a little life. There are people at work that make a point of checking the calender to see what I've got up there. This month I've got Cinco de Mayo, Friday the 13th (just 'cause I like to draw little black kitties), Mothers' Day, Memorial Day... but what's this on Saturday?

This Saturday Tim and I are joining other members of our Stake in the Solemn Assembly room of the Washington D.C. temple. I can't wait to go! I've never been above the third floor, but this time I get to go all the way up. So, I drew a little picture of the temple on May 7th.
My friend and coworker, Randy, stopped a day or two ago and asked about it. He first called it the Tabernacle and remembered seeing it as he was driving around the I-495 beltway; he also wanted to know if there were buildings inside the high marble walls and wished he could see inside. I was able to correct a few of the details and explained about recommends, open houses, dedications, the font, and the annex. We even talked about the temple grounds and the visitors center where I offered to give him a tour. :) Yeah, I'm so subtle. He was genuinely interested in it, and I was so happy to be able to talk to him about it.

A beautiful baptism

I needed to get out of the world.

There's been too much noise recently about finances, work, commutes, school, kids, family, friends... I just needed some quiet time. Sure a bubble bath works for a few minutes, but I felt drained. Nothing I did seemed to work. Then last week I heard about the youth temple trip.

Perfect!

I talked to Tim about going down early and doing an endowment session and then meeting the youth down there, and we tentatively agreed. Then Sunday he talked to those in charge of organizing the trip and decided that we'd be there at the church instead in case they needed more seat belts. He felt that Heavenly Father would appreciate that more.

OK, fine. I can deal with that.

While we're getting everyone ready to do the baptisms, could I at least sit in front of the mural and ponder for a while?

No, we won't have time.

My hope dashed, I felt like I wasn't ever going to get the peace I needed. We met up with everyone at the church. It turns out that they didn't need the extra seat belts after all. Oh, well. We started the trip down, and Tim and I got to talk to each other without interruption for the whole trip. It was nice. When we got there, we met up with everyone and waited for the last few adults to get there from work locally. One of the sisters decided to go in early so that she could get the family names she'd submitted for work. I decided to go in with her and see if the store was open so I could exchange some items (6 months later and I'm still trying to figure out what is most comfortable for me), but the store was closed. Disappointment again. Wow, I'm batting 1000.

I finally approached the brethren at the desk, showed my recommend, and asked if I could just sit by the mural. One smiled at me and said, "You can do whatever you want to in the temple." Finally, some encouragement. Once inside I sat down and just looked over the faces in the painting. What are they thinking, I wonder, looking at Him. What is He thinking as he looks on. He has a serious expression, but it's not sad or angry, just there. Like when I come home and the kiddos come to me to say hi. I just hold out my arms and they give me hugs. :) Maybe his expression is more 'Here I am, come to me.' It felt good to sit there in silence. I didn't hear anything about outside. No traffic or finances, kids or work, just silence. It was wonderful.

I met up with the other sister a few minutes later, and we went downstairs to meet everyone else at the font. I was excited now because I got to work this time. I even brought my own clothes and everything. :) I was amazed at how much further away the world seemed while I performed my tasks in the temple. I felt like I was contributing to something bigger and better than outside had to offer.

Our group was joined by a brother and sister I didn't recognize. I didn't know it was possible, but I truly saw a beautiful baptism when he baptized her. I just sat in awe and watched. She never touched her face when she went under the water so I had a clear view of her peaceful expression as she arose each time out of the water. She was angelic almost. There was a different feeling there. I don't know why.

The youth on the trip were awesome. They were highly complimented by the temple workers, and I'm very proud of them. We went home after 10pm so it was a late night, but it was worth it. I feel relieved, and I think I'm ready to face the world again.

I got to go upstairs!!!

I've been giddy and grinning from ear to ear all weekend. It was a long Saturday, but worth every minute of it. I decided to forgo walking on the treadmill in favor of getting some extra sleep (I'd been told that it would take a lot out of me). Tim and I got up at 6am and made up our grocery list, and I got ready to go. Amy was there just after 7am, and we were off!

After stopping at Burger.King for a quick breakfast, we got to the temple around 9am and went to the distribution center to purchase the needed items for my first time through. I learned very quickly, however, that the fit is a little different from the measurements and ended up exchanging the bottoms before we left later in the afternoon.

I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was to walk across the bridge and into the temple! We got to sit and enjoy the mural on the second floor. I'm told the painter painted his entire family into both sides (apparently he wasn't sure on some of them). I love how he included people from all different time periods and the expanse of righteous people represented on the right hand of the Savior in light. It was very powerful. There is a girl in a blue dress almost front center helping a small child that looks like JaNae's daughter. I wonder if there is a likeness of me?Most of the rest of my time inside the temple can't and shouldn't be discussed here or anywhere but inside the temple, and I know there are websites out there that lay bare the author's version of those events, but I feel that those entries were penned without the Spirit and prompted by something with less than benevolent intentions in mind. While researching the temple a couple years ago to make it in cake, I found a spectacular picture, but it was attached to one of those sites. Not knowing what I'd found, I read through and couldn't believe what I was reading. The author repeatedly put down the church and its practices and mentioned how "silly" they felt. As time went on and I wanted to go and was preparing to enter the temple, I was worried that I would feel the same way. Thankfully, I didn't. I had a wonderful experience, and aside from some slight issues with the ceremonial clothing, everything was fine. I left feeling empowered and maybe walked a little taller. I wasn't confused, and I didn't feel silly, but I did feel at peace, like I'd accomplished something important. If you haven't gone, I encourage you to do so, so that you can feel for your self. If you've already gone, I encourage you to do so as if it was your first time and recapture the giddy excitement. Sitting in the Celestial room, I couldn't help but think I'm finally here! It was beautiful! Everything in the temple is beautiful. Even the banisters are beautiful. The stained glass was breathtaking, and the details are incredible. I can't wait to go back! I do, however, need to make my own dress for my next visit. And Tim and I have decided that we want to go back often enough to warrant purchasing our own "accessories".

The outpouring of support was phenomenal as well. I couldn't believe how many people showed up just to be there with me. I'm so grateful that my ward family (and my BIL and SIL) were there, and especially my BFF Amy for escorting me. Most of us went to Red.Robin for lunch afterwards. I was good to revel in their friendship and enjoy our time together. We had an excellent lunch, and then start our trek back to WV, pick up the kiddos, pick up pizza, and go to the Elders Quorum activity. Pizza and games... fun! The kiddos really enjoyed playing Twister, musical chairs, and whacking at a pinata! There were pieces of yellow and purple streamers flying everywhere with the swing of the sword they were using. The brethren finally had a go at it after the kids made 2 runs through. Sam whacked it so hard that it came off of the rope and tossed it at Tim; he wasn't expecting it, and it split open when it hit him. :) After everything was cleaned up, we went grocery shopping for our 2 week menu and rented Prince.of.Persia from Red.box. Awesome movie BTW (Tim and I watched it Saturday night).

After completion of Saturday's festivities and a quasi-good night's sleep, were were honored to see the Primary program Sunday morning. Dougie was brave enough to say his line this year, Chloie played shy, Audie did great as always, and everyone sang their songs with gusto! The rest of our Sunday was peaceful, which was a welcome break after such a busy few days. We celebrated my parents' birthdays and Dougie's birthday with cake and icecream and presents for Dougie. On Wednesday we're taking my parents out to chinese for their birthdays. Mmmm, tasty!

Still Counting Down...

That's right, folks! In 24 hours I get to go INSIDE!!! That is all.

Well, actually, it isn't, but it's dramatic, no?

I've decided that laundry day should be banned, and that someone should invent a machine that collects dirty clothes, washes them, folds/hangs them, and puts them away. This machine should be able to work at any given time with no maintenance or malfunction. Wait, I think Someone beat me to it... He created Moms. That explains my sudden desire to scrub rings our of my husband's collars. I think I need to talk to the Designer and suggest some modifications to the design to improve performance.

I started watching Dune last night on Net.flix and stopped half way through so that I could go to bed (kind of happy I was able to exercise self control). I haven't watched it in a long time, and I'd forgotten how... um... interesting some of the imagery is. I was happy to see a younger (?) Patrick.Stewart in the film. I won't be able to watch any tonight because Tim will be home, and I don't think he likes that kind of movie, but also because I have to get an early start to the temple. I understand that it will be an involved process that will take a lot out of me the first time. I'll let you know for sure later. We also have an Elders Quorum activity, and we're going grocery shopping after that. It's going to be a long day.

Yesterday was Dougie's birthday. It's hard to believe that my little dude is 5! We're having cake at my parents' house on Sunday after church to celebrate their birthdays as well. I haven't decided what cake to make, so last night we had ice cream with a candle in it for him. He really liked that. We're also going to give him his gifts then, too.

I weighed in this morning. I'm don't under stand why I can be 272 yesterday and 274 today. I even walked this morning. So much for progress.

I'm awake, I promise...

I finally did it. I woke up at 4:30 and walked for 30 minutes for the first time this week. It felt good to get back on the treadmill.

... wow did I just say that???

I tried watching some streaming video through Net.flix, but the Internet spazzed out. I ended up watching part of the 2-part Warehouse.13 instead. Love that show. :) I know... geek.

Getting across town yesterday was, uh how you say? fun. Note the sarcasm. I must have hit every red light through town, and I was stopped by the train a mile from my parents' house to get Dougie. I had to call the school to let them know that I was running late and ask them to tell the bus driver. Luckily he lives a quarter mile from the bus stop.

The kiddos did an awesome job taking care of things when they got home - putting away their shoes, emptying their lunch boxes, and starting their homework. I've decided that instead of reading our scriptures before bed, we're going to read them after homework is done, and they can do activities and play games afterwards.

Speaking of activities, these are the recent wee nifties we've created using the hamas beads. The princess and fairy godmother are Chloie's the aquatic life belong to Dougie, and the car and trophy are Audie's. They sit down with their board and pattern, I pick out the beads by color they need, and they put them on the board. I get to do the ironing.

You know what, I'm giddy with excitement about this Saturday. In 48 hours I get to go INSIDE!!! I think I might do a little happy dance! :) Every time I think about it I start grinning from ear to ear. Was it like this for everyone else?

I love a good mystery

What do cupcakes, a Primary activity, and yarn have in common?

Me.

We spent a quiet Friday evening at home. Can you believe it? Saturday morning the kiddos and I made peanut butter cup cupcakes for a BBQ at some friends' house. I understand that the left-overs didn't last long at the YSA get-together afterwards.

We got home in time to attempt to watch an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but the Internet went spastic. Something having to do with the PlayStation network being wonky. I was less than enthused. So we turned around and went to the church to drop the kiddos off for their primary activity and to practice for their primary program near the end of September. I can't wait to see what they've come up with! They received their lines a couple weeks ago and have already memorized them.

While the kiddos were having fun, Tim and I drove through Martinsburg so that I could show him the store fronts I've been eyeing. They're about a block from the center of town (where King and Queen street meet), so they just about scream expensive, but he thinks they're nice. Then we went to dinner at Ledo's.Pizza in the new Commons. I was only able to eat 1/2 of my meat lover's calzone, so I have plenty for breakfast.

We got to listen to the Kemer family speak in church about self reliance. Jayne talked about the physical and Joe spoke on the spiritual. I really enjoyed hearing them speak. I particularly liked the idea of having a "no buy" month every 3 months for a couple reasons. 1. It would help us save money. 2. It would help us see what we could use for our 3 month (short-term) food storage. 3. It should help us gain confidence in our food storage and our ability to use them. We've used our food storage before when Tim lost his job and we didn't have any money. It was a humbling experience, but I'm glad in some small part that it happened. I was grateful that we heeded the counsel of the Prophet and had something on-hand to get us through. It would be nice not to have to use it again, but I'd still like to maintain our reserves.

We also had our combined RS/Priesthood meeting with the Bishop. He taught us the same lesson he heard during Youth Conference - Who are you? I learned that all of the things I call myself (mother, wife, teacher, sister, care-giver, etc) also apply (in the male form of course) to our Heavenly Father, and that through these roles I can also show that I am his daughter. How cool is that?!? The best part is, everyone is His son or daughter, they just don't know it. It's our job as Saints to show them. I think that every little girl at one point or another wishes they were a princess; it's just nice to know in some way that it is true.

And now for a moment of cuteness...

I went to pick Dougie up at my parents' house Friday afternoon. We stopped at 7-Eleven on the way home to get gas. As we were waiting for traffic to clear enough to pull out onto the road and continue home, he asked me what a sign attached to the nearest telephone pole said. "Farmer's Market, Open M-F 12-7"

Dougie: "What do they sell there?"
Me: "Fruits and veggies."
Dougie: "Can we stop there and get some peaches?"
Me: "Sure."

So we turned around and parked at the tent behind us and talked to the nice man behind the tables of rather tasty-looking produce. He had corn, melons, cantaloupe, plums, apples, nectarines, peaches, and much more.

Dougie: "Mommy, can we get some plums?"
Me: "No, we're going to get peaches because everyone likes peaches."
Farmer: "He can have one if he wants to pick it out."
Dougie: (picks one up) "This one!!!"

I was over-ruled by a 5-year-old. We got a basket with 5 peaches for $3.00 and took them home. We cut one up and ate it and WOW! that was a good peach! We cut up the other 4 and the plum and liquefied them Sunday night with some ice and a little vanilla and milk and made peach-plum smoothies. They were very tasty and healthy when you consider they didn't have any extra sugar.

Oh, and a couple of other nifty bits of news:

- I went for my interview with the Bishop for my temple recommend. I'm waiting to hear from the excutive secretary for our Stake President for my interview with him. I'm one step closer!

- I also ordered some yarn today from the Bernat website. I've decided to participate in their mystery crochet-along afghan. I picked for my colors: natural, pumpkin, soft taupe, rogue, and cameo - very neutral and warm colors. I can't wait for the first clue to start on September 22. Each week they will post the next clue on their blog every Wednesday. They will get progressively harder, and at the end will produce a crochet sampler afghan measuring 52" x 68" (about 4'4" x 5'8"). I can't wait to see what it will look like!

I think we survived...

Eyebrows? ... check.

Hair? ... yep still there.

Sanity? ... debatable if it was there to begin with!

Looks like the family survived the weekend! All of the orientations are done; I like the kids' teachers this year, and they seem to be ready to go. Audie and I went grocery shopping Saturday morning while Tim, Chloie, and Dougie cleaned up at the house. It wasn't a long trip (thankfully), and Audie downed an entire 20 oz. bottle of orange soda on the way home. I think he's a camel... who will turn orange... and bounce off of the walls!

The birthday party went well also. We tried a new recipe for BBQ ribs from the crock pot cook book that turned out really well. I'm planning on using the left over BBQ liquids for the pulled BBQ chicken we're doing later this week. Mmmm, yummy! I even made ice cream cake for them. I'm liking it more and more!

We took a short nap after everyone left then headed up to Hagerstown to catch a Suns game as part of an Elders Quorum activity. I couldn't argue with the price! A hat, a complete meal at Chip.oltle, and game admission for $6.25 a person. For the 5 of us at Chip.oltle would have been $50 easy. It was a good game; I loved how they kept you entertained with little games, dancing, etc. while the teams switched. The kiddos liked it, too, and I was surprised at how much I knew about the game while explaining it to them. The Suns lost 6-1, but it was a good time, and President Fugate even caught us on camera dancing to the Cha Cha Slide.

We got to hear about the 10th Article of Faith during sacrament on Sunday, and hearing President Fugate speak is always a treat. :^) Our RS meeting was about helping our children stay in the Gospel or come back to it, and applying those methods to fellowshipping other Saints and non-members. I had a complete blond moment and thought we'd be doing a lesson from the manual and practiced songs on that subject. Luckily JaNae is awesome and picked songs related to the correct topic that I could play. The pop practice hymn would have gone badly very quickly had I attempted it, so she was kind enough to play that for me. Whew!

I'm setting up my appointment with the bishop for my temple recommend, with the appointment with President Grow to follow soon afterward. I'm so excited!!!! Can you tell?!?!?!? Hehe! I'm all giddy about it. I didn't realize that going for the first time was such a bid deal. I mean, I knew it would be for me personally, but people are crawling out of the wood work to go and support me, and I wasn't expecting that. Now I'm also kind of nervous that I'm going to royally mess up, but I'm glad that there will be people I know and love there with me. I'm hoping to go the Saturday after my baptismal anniversary, so I guess that is September 18th. I'm still working on the details. After that I have to work on my temple dress for the sealing. More on that later!

The McIntyre clan (and extended members) was invited to Mrs. B's house for a BBQ. My sisters and I went to school with her daughter Ashley. The food was excellent, and the company was even better! I got to see friends from MHS that I hadn't seen in forever! Some more than 10 years. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing them until we spent the length of the party catching up. Some things were the same, others different, but all around a good time sharing war stories and memories.

I think that's enough for now... I'm looking forward to a semi-quiet weekend this week! I think the only thing on the calendar is a date night while the kiddos work on their Primary Program Saturday night.

This place is a ZOO... Part 1

I've been told that my father-in-law is a very organized man. He plans everything down to the detail including times and places. It is nice to see that the genes passed down to his children, or at least my husband, because we had an itinerary for our trip this past weekend. Amy met us at the house, and we left at 9am for Washington D.C.


Our first stop was the temple. Obviously we couldn't go in, but we could definitely take the kids to see it, visit the visitor's center, and walk the grounds. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't take lots of pictures. For this one, however, Tim had the camera and thought is rather comical to see the "fair-skinned" folks putting SPF 50 sunscreen on. Something about not needing any made it all the funnier to him. Once the kids and 2 of the 3 adults were sufficiently greased, we started our tour of the temple grounds. Here, the kids are posing by the fountain in front of the temple.And in front of one of the pairs of doors on the east end of the temple. We spent a few minutes trying to figure out what the symbols meant, only managing to pick out the big dipper and north star, sun, moon, something resembling an eclipse, and the globe. I last visited the temple in March of 2008 with Amy, the Thorton family, and the elders. I didn't get too close then, but this time I got to touch it. The marble was surprisingly warm, and looking up the side of the temple at the spines and spires made me feel kind of small.We also took a walk through the nature trails on the grounds. As we were walking through, I saw this and just had to take a picture. I've only ever seen pictures like this, and I got to take one. This was so cool!We walked the path to the end, ended up cutting through some grass behind the visitor's center, and loaded everyone into the Trailblazer. Once off the temple grounds, we found a nice semi-shady spot alone the bike paths for our picnic of cold cuts and tuna salad (sorry, no pictures of us eating).

On our way through D.C. to the zoo, we stopped for traffic and I had to take a picture of the balls. Don't know why, but they were cool... and huge. We were actually ahead of schedule and thought we could spend a little extra time at the zoo once we found a parking spot. We'd already budgeted the money for parking, so why not? Ha! fooled you! Parking was a nightmare. We circled the zoo twice and found nothing but "full" parking lots. I say "full" because we must have seen half a dozen empty spots, but the attendants were too busy in the shade on their cell phones to move the "lot full" signs. We finally roused one from his conversation so he could let us in. We started in the middle and made rounds on the east side of the zoo. Time ran out before we could see the pandas and elephants on the west side, but we've made plans to see them this Saturday. Here are some pictures of our trip...

The Bald Eagle. They had two of them, but I'm happy with the pictures I got of the one. Tim said he'd never seen one except in pictures. Beautiful birds!

These next few were in the section of the zoo called "Amazonia". This the a freshwater ray.

... and probably the biggest cat fish I've ever seen. It just hovered there by the glass, gently swishing its tail. It must have been 4 feet long!

Tim's favorite pictures of the big fish, not cat fish, but still big!

And turtles. Who doesn't love turtles? The little guys move pretty quickly in the water, so this is the best picture I got.

Out of the humidity in the "climate controlled" section of the exhibit, we saw the beetle mosaic to end all mosaics. The actual size of the beetle is about 3 inches long, as seen over Chloie's left shoulder, but good grief! I hope to never see this again!

On the first floor, they had this wicked-looking globe that was essentially a white spherical projection screen with 4 projectors in the four corners of the room covering the globe. I took pictures because it was cool how they did it. This first one was of ocean temperature currents.This one is of the Earth and it's moving cloud cover. The images moved! Later they had one of the sun, but I didn't get a picture of that one.Nice kitty, these are pictures of the big cats... lions, tigers, and kids, oh my!
These are the lemurs. We watched them jump in their funny way, but I kept hearing, "I like to move it, move it!"

This must be the laziest pair at the zoo. They just laid there, and every once in a while, the one on the right would raise his flipper and put it back down. That's it.

I know ducks aren't technically part of the exhibit, but I have a picture somewhere of ducks at Hershey Park from my 8th grade trip. Don't ask me why... I just like taking pictures of ducks.

Here, the kids are posing across from Lemur Island with a dinosaur that starred in a movie (who's name escapes me).

At the lizard viewing, we got to see the Komodo Dragon, the largest lizard in the world. He (or she) came out of hiding just so we could take pictures.

Amy best likes the primates, I think. We got to see the small primates, and the large ones. Yes, I was shocked, too, to find out that there was a difference. I got a cute picture of one playing with a burlap sack...

And this little guy was having fits over the attention he was getting. I think this one was a golden lion tamerine.And finally, cute little mammals along the way...

Prairie dogs are just cute!

We've decided that when the kids come home from Arkansas for the summer, and before school starts, we're making a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium, but for now, we're still working on the other half of the zoo.

Another busy weekend...

It seems like we never have enough time in the day to get everything done! We stopped by my parent's house on Saturday to pick up some things that we left behind... there's still stuff there in the garage, but that can wait until our next visit. Then we got to go to the emergency room only this time it was a quick trip to triage to get Dougie's staple removed. I was picturing something resembling the little handheld fanged contraption I use at work to remove staples from paper. I tell you, I was relieved to see it was a little thing that crimped the center and in doing so, allowed the nurse to just lift the staple... no blood or screaming. It was actually kind of neat. We had lunch at Pizza Hut and afterwards stopped by Wal-mart. We got lucky with front row parking and decided to take the whole family in for the trip instead of just me running in for the two or three things we needed there. I did get the #10 yarn for the leprosy bandages we're doing in Relief Society as one of our service projects. I've been working on my first one for two days and so far it's almost 3 feet long. I understand why they're so hard to keep doing... it started out 2" wide, but it seems to have shrunk to 1 1/2". It's getting there. We also went to Martin's to get groceries. I spent a little more than I really wanted to, but at least we're stocked up for a little bit. I even got my veggie seeds for the garden. I can't wait to start planting!

Sunday was a little more tame (I think). We woke up to almost an inch of snow (that I didn't know was coming). The kids seemed pretty excited about it. I promised them we could play in it when we got home, but it had almost completely melted by the time we got home. Church today was the first of two(!) fast Sundays this month, and it was a wonderful meeting. Brother Taylor did very well his first time conducting Sacrament. President Fugate got up to talk about how we need adversity. I hate to admit it, but I agree with him. The missionaries and our returned missionaries all got up to speak as well. That reminds me, we need to start saving for missions later, too. Relief Society was about Joy and Happiness and the things we could do in our lives to cultivate both. I really like it when Sister Meehan teaches us. She as a sense of humor about everything that make the lesson interesting and tangible. When we did finally get home and while the kids were taking their nap, Tim and I had a long conversation about the temple, going there, what we had to do, why we wanted to go. It seems like it will take forever for us to get there, and I worry that something will happen between now and then. He seems confident that it will all be OK, but I'm not. I wish he could pass some of that over to me. For now his reassurances will be enough.

I did start on the figures for the skate boarder cake that I'm making for next weekend. I also have to start finding ideas for the Relief Society Birthday cake coming up at the end of the month. Purses. Lots and lots of purses. Should be fun!

This morning (Monday) on my way to work, the Trailblazer and I had a run in with a patch of black ice near Sulphur Springs Stables... as a garbage truck was coming the other way. I was really scared, especially after the talk I had with Tim yesterday, but luckily the Lord was watching over me and we made it our unscathed. When I say "we" I mean the Trailblazer, too. Not a scratch! I put it in 4-wheel drive for the rest of the trip into work.

Tim and I plan to unpack throughout the week as much as possible, and hopefully most of it will be done before Saturday so we can relax a little bit. I say hopefully because they are starting a rotating schedule at Tim's work so he might not be home for some Saturdays or Sundays. I strongly dislike it when they do this. I honestly think it's a waste of time, not to mention making him work on Sundays. Grrr!

Women's Conference, May 2009

I have to tell you, I've been itching to do a cake in the likeness of one of the temples. I wasn't sure which one, but I loved the idea... itching I tell you, itching! I just couldn't think of an occasion to do one. I push the thought temporarily out of my mind...

Sunday I got the final word on the theme for Women's Conference this year... Joy and Happiness. I can work with that. Last year it was Hispanic themed, and it was a lot of fun! So, Joy and Happiness, what to do? Not putting two and two together...

Sunday evening we had the Richards family over for dinner and a movie; you know, good family/friend time. Rob and I were talking about his son's upcoming birthday, and being gleefully dubbed "the cake lady" at church has made me an apparent wealth of information. I can't wait to teach the class this Thursday!!! But anyway, we got on the subject of cake ideas and what I wanted to do in the future and that I couldn't figure out what to do for Women's Conference. Rob suggested.. get this... the Washington D.C. Temple.

We suddenly have four!

Lynnette, Rob, and I are going to work on planning out the size, assembly, and details of the temple for the cake. I haven't talked to them yet today, but they were going down to the temple on Monday and said they'd take pictures so that we can replicate the details as accurately as possible.

The more I think about it, the more I feel that this is the best idea. Consider this... where do you seal your family for eternity? in the temple. Where do you take the sacred steps toward your salvation? in the temple. Where do you work for the salvation of your past relatives? in the temple. Three major contributions towards... you guessed it, eternal happiness. What a better symbol of joy can be found? Even for those of us not ready to enter, the mere sight is awesome in the most fantastic sense of the word. I can't wait.

While looking for pictures and overhead photographs of the temple, I came across some nifty tidbits of information about the Washington D.C. Temple (you can go here for more info):

The Washington D.C. Temple was the first temple built in the East Coast of the United States.

The Washington D.C. Temple was the first temple to feature six spires since the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, which inspired the design.

Soaring to a height of 288 feet, the Washington D.C. Temple is the tallest temple in the Church.
The Washington D.C. Temple is the only temple outside of Utah to be built with six ordinance rooms. (The temples in Utah with six ordinance rooms are the Ogden Utah Temple, Provo Utah Temple, and Jordan River Utah Temple.)

The Washington D.C. Temple was originally named the Washington Temple.

The Washington D.C. Temple is one of five temples featuring an angel Moroni statue [18 feet tall!!!] holding the gold plates. (The other four temples are the Los Angeles California Temple, Jordan River Utah Temple, Seattle Washington Temple, and México City México Temple.)

The main lobby of the Washington D.C. Temple features a striking 30-foot-long mural depicting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. An image of the temple was incorporated into the mural.
Following the completion ceremonies for the Washington D.C. Temple, in which a time capsule was placed in the northeast corner of the building, President Spencer W. Kimball conducted the largest press conference in the Church's history.

The highly successful public open house of the Washington D.C. Temple was attended by 758,328 guests including special guest Betty Ford—wife of then-U.S. President Gerald Ford. These tours resulted in over 75,000 missionary referrals.

During the ten dedicatory sessions of the Washington D.C. Temple, all but two of the Church's General Authorities delivered speeches.