Temple Open House

Yesterday was our day to be tour guides for the Kansas City Temple open house.
Yesterday was one of my favorite experiences with Alex since we got married.

Yesterday...
...we got up around 5:30am and dropped the kids off from about 6:15am-12:45pm
...we goofed off with each other while waiting to get our tour group. (we're we allowed to have that much fun?!)
...we each got to take turns hosting a tour group consisting of about 30 people
...we fell more in love with each other
...we had such a feeling of fulfillment giving up our morning and serving at the temple

and most importantly, we were able to share the gospel with people who didn't know very much about the church. The Spirit was so strong and so peaceful, it was hard to deny it.
This was the closest to a mission that I have ever experienced. I can't wait to serve a mission with Alex one day!

After our time as tour guides, we came home and all of us crashed for a couple of hours. (I can't tell you how grateful I was that both kids slept at the same time! Very rare.) Alex then took off for his only class that day and invited some of his classmates to the temple house that evening. We had 7 friends over for dinner and then all went to the temple open house together. We had even more amazing conversations about the church with Alex's classmates... most of whom don't believe in Christ. But we were able to share our testimonies with them and I know that they felt something special.


One of these days I'll get pictures up of the temple when I finally remember to bring my camera with me!
It's so beautiful.

Spring Break is Here!

 Alex started Spring Break, or as I'd like to call it - A Very Much Needed Break!  (for all of us!)

We started off our Saturday with a training from our Stake on how to be tour guides for the Kansas City Temple open house. We were asked to be tour guides for April 17th. During our training we got to take a tour of the temple. It is just so beautiful! We feel so blessed to have the temple just up the street from us and can't wait until it is dedicated and in operation. 

Here is a short Mormon Messages video on the Kansas Temple open house.

The training lasted from 7:30 am until about 10am. We went home to change quickly, and then took off to the Farmer's Market downtown... something I've been wanting to do for a while now.

 

 

So many colors, smells, sounds, and yummy things to eat! We hear that the Farmer's Market gets really big in the upcoming months with tons of vendors. We will definitely be making a trip back!

After the market, we headed to the zoo. But on the way there, both kids fell asleep. So we took a little detour, parked the car in some shade, and me and Alex relaxed on a blanket under a tree. We were there for about an hour enjoying the peaceful, serene nature that surrounded us. Alex joined the kid's in catching a few z's too.

All four of us... :)

We eventually made it to the zoo. I had the brilliant idea to not bring the stroller and to just carry the kids since we were only going to do a couple of things. Yea... bad idea. We ended up being there for a couple of hours trying to contain squirmy kids and every time I would put Todd down to give my arms a break, he would put some dirty thing from off the ground in his mouth. I don't know what I was thinking... a stroller is a must - always.

We topped off our day with a trip to Applebee's where we met up with one of Alex's classmates and her boyfriend. The day couldn't have been any more perfect! This week is going to be amazing... we get to have Alex all to ourselves all day, every day! 

Week in Review

We finally went and visited the historic Liberty Jail. We had a really special time together and the Spirit once again bore witness to us that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.

Sunday was unusual for us. With the Kansas City temple open house starting soon and the temple being dedicated in May, the Church asked if they could come take pictures of our congregation. So after our sacrament meeting, we did a mock sacrament meeting where we sang "Choose the Right" all the way through twice and had people give "talks" and all the while there were two photographers taking pictures of everyone. The pictures will be used for the open house as well as stock for the Church. They didn't get any pictures of just our family, but maybe we'll be in the background of some picture one of these days in the Ensign! :)

Just as Todd was on the verge of sleeping through the night, he started getting his two front teeth in. Now he is stuck in a rut... wakes up at 2 and 5:30 every morning on the dot. But the thing is, he doesn't go back to bed at 5:30. So I've been up at 5:30 every day this last week! UGH! This WILL stop.

I found out yesterday that I got accepted to Park Univeristy! I'm so excited to be starting classes again this fall! What I love so much about their art program is that along with getting a BA in studio art, I can also get a certificate to teach art for K-12. How fun would that be?! We went and checked out the campus yesterday and it was beautiful! Half of the campus had these gorgeous buildings that were built back in 1875 and the other half of the campus is literally built underground.
We can't decide if the campus is more like Hogwarts or more like The Shire...