Trip to Downtown SLC

Since we were checking temples off our list, Jaaromy suggested we go to Temple Square and make it official.  We've obviously been there many times, but we didn't have a nice group picture and plus, it's just a fun activity.

 When we got there I noticed the moon in between the temple spires.  I only had my phone and so I tried out the zoom.  Yeah, it's a little pixel-y.

Brigham always wants to go in the North Visitor's Center first.  He loves the cool space mural.  So do I.  We walked around temple square a little bit more after that.  I love looking at the temple model in the South Visitor's Center.  It's just so cool.

We had decided to make dinner part of our outing so we ate at the City Creek food court.  Even though it's noisy and a little chaotic, the boys like it because they can eat at McDonald's and Jaaromy and I can eat at Chang Chun.  It's win-win.

Then we walked back over to the plaza for our temple picture.  I didn't bring my camera.  I can't remember if I forgot it or I just didn't want to have to carry it around.  Either way, I decided to test my phone to see if I could take some decent pictures.

 I really like these pink flowers.  The pink is so bright it almost hurts my eyes.

 It was harder to focus on the right thing with my phone, but I think it did okay.

 Here's our group photo for the passport.

 The plan was to photoshop Jaaromy in later but, with the sun being where it was, it was too hard to get the lighting to match.  Plus, apparently we forgot to remember where he was standing so the angle is different too. Oh well.

 I'm really happy with how this one turned out too.  I like it a lot.

 This is always a fun shot.

 The boys always get a kick out of it.

 I'm really happy with how these turned out.  Even though the sun is behind the temple, the light is reflected on to it from all the buildings and such which gives it a really neat glow.  I did touch them up a little though.

 It probably would have been better to have been right in front of it, but there were people there.  Plus, I think the angle makes it look cooler.

 This one was kind of hard, but as is often the case, the first one was the best.

Not sure why, but I really like this one.  You can see Nathaniel just behind the light post too.  I think that makes it better.

It was a fun outing, I love going to Temple Square.

Starting School

The beginning of school was a little different for us this year.  I decided to continue homeschooling Jonathan this year and I also decided to enroll Nathaniel in an online charter school.  Regular school just wasn't working for him and it was time to consider other options.  Once we had decided that's what we were going to do and settled on our choice, I was excited to see how it would go, but it was also a little nerve-wracking because Nathaniel and I didn't know what to expect.  He was a little nervous about it and even wondered about just going to regular school because at least he knew what that was like.  It's hard going into the unknown.  I told him that he would most likely be able to keep playing in Granite Youth and that made him feel better because at least one thing would be familiar.

The first week of school finally came and we were able to see just how our new schedule and new set up was going to work out.

It was Brigham's turn first.  I was worried about his adjustment to waking up early and going to school after a long awesome summer but I did my best to prepare him and he did okay.

Unfortunately, there was a mistake in the transportation schedule and they had him on a bus to Whittier instead of his new school.  So, I had to take him myself for a few days until they worked it out.  At least I got to see him off at the school.  We were a little late though which actually worked out great, most of the other parents dropping off their kids were gone and his class was still outside having just got off their buses.

Nathaniel's online school started on Tuesday but he had his first day of Seminary on Monday.  I'm excited for him to take Seminary and it seems to be a positive experience for him.  Now that the stress of daily school is gone, the few things that require social interaction like Seminary, Granite Youth, and Young Mens aren't so draining for him.

 He started his classes on Tuesday and they seem to be going well.  It took some getting used to but I think we're getting the hang of it.

 Jonathan lucked out because I waited too long to order the new curriculum for this year and it hadn't arrived yet.  I did have the math curriculum, however, and we got started on that.

It ended up taking a whole week to get it and so he mostly got to just hang out.  Lucky!

Now that we're well into the school year I can say that it's been extremely challenging but worth it, I think.  They still have other activities that keep them busy.  I was able to have Jonathan take Band at Brigham's school which has been so fun for him.  He's still in speech at our own elementary and sees a private speech therapist.  My days are definitely packed, but I'm happy with how it's going for them.

Bits of Summer

One nice thing about having the summer off from orchestra is that I can go to Pack Meeting.  August Pack Meeting was fun because they had all gone to scout day camp and earned a bunch of pins.

 I'm so glad Jonathan could go to scout day camp, he had a lot of fun.

 The rest of the time was spent playing.

 Jaaromy helped Brigham have fun.

 Meanwhile, they had set up a bike course in the parking lot for the scouts.  Jonathan had fun riding his scooter all around.

It was a fun Pack Meeting, the last one I was able to attend before orchestra started up again.

***

I have to throw in this picture too.  Brigham has taken a liking to watching shows in our room.  Lately he's been a fan of Backyardigans.  Grandma Patti got rid of gave the grandkids a bunch of stuffed toys that she had collected over the years.  My kids have never really loved stuffed animals but I took a few anyway.  One was a little Pablo from Backyardigans and now Brigham has to watch it with Pablo tucked into the blanket with him.

So cute!  I also found a Uniqua at Harmon's.  He didn't really like it at first, but gradually took to watching the show with both of them.

***

We're huge fans of Studio C and one of the sketches is about a feelings board that makes people actually feel the emotion their picture is on.  Jonathan really wanted to make one so I helped him.

It just makes me laugh.

It was a fun summer.  I was really sad to see it go.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Visit

Since we were checking off temples in my temple passport app, I decided we needed to do an official visit to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  We've been there before, of course, but I hadn't taken a picture with all of us in it.  It was the perfect Saturday afternoon activity.

 Here's the requisite group photo.

And one of the temple itself, although I'm a little too close to fit it all in the frame.

 And one of Brigham because he's cute.

 There's such a great view from this temple, I love it.

You can see two other temples from here.  Draper...

And Jordan River.

Of course I had to play with my camera.  Jonathan liked being part of this shot with the mountains behind him.

Brigham is often kind enough to just stand there for me.

We've recently become big fans of Studio C.  The Photobombing 101 sketch was one they had watched recently and so they wanted to practice their photobombing skills.

Jaaromy was nice enough to be my "subject".  Jonathan tried first.

Brigham often succeeded without really trying.

Jonathan isn't very subtle when he's photobombing it turns out.

Now it was Nathaniel's turn.  He was more subtle.

Not too bad for a first try.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have loved going to the temple.  It has brought me so much peace.  I hope I can pass that on to my boys.  It's a great place to take fun pictures too.  Lots of pretty flowers that are hard to photograph wrong.

This one is my favorite.

So many pretty flowers.

I'd like to visit all the temples in Utah at the very least.  It's good to have goals. :)

Ogden Temple Open House

Back in August we had a chance to go to the Ogden temple open house.  I'm so glad we went.  We haven't been to an open house since Brigham City and that visit was so hot and crowded that our memories aren't entirely pleasant.  So, I wanted to create new positive memories of a temple open house.  We went earlier in the day in the middle of the week so that it wouldn't be too busy.  We started at the newly remodeled tabernacle and pretty much went right into the temple after that.  We stopped a few times during the tour but at least we were inside and cool.

It was so beautiful inside.  I loved the glass and the wood work.  I loved the dome in the celestial room and the neat lights that look like street lights on the floor.  I saw an amazing painting on our way upstairs.  Everyone I talked to noticed it.  It was a black woman in white kneeling in prayer.  It was so striking and beautiful.  I loved it.  I didn't even have to ask which painting my mom was talking about when she mentioned that she saw a beautiful painting.  I wish I could post a picture of it here but I couldn't find it online.

The tour was wonderful and we stopped outside by the fountain when it was over.  A volunteer was nice enough to take some pictures for me.

 One with the temple in the background...

 And one close up.  Brigham wore his headphones so that he wouldn't have to cover his ears.  It was a lot easier to hold his hand instead of holding his elbow.

 It was a beautiful day.  Slightly overcast and not too hot.

 They enjoyed looking at the fountain for a while.

After the fountain we went in the little information tent and looked around.  There was a status of Jesus inside.  I wish I had taken a picture.  It was a nice visit and the boys were good.

After that we went to lunch at Wendy's in Ogden.  When we were done I tried to get back on the freeway but apparently that's impossible.  After taking a few unfortunate detours made all the more confusing because of construction, I finally just drove down a main road until I got to another, less confusing, on ramp.  It lengthened our drive time by a half an hour or so.  I was getting frustrated and Nathaniel was worried that it had ruined our wonderful trip to the temple.  I had to laugh, it was frustrating, but honestly I had forgotten it until now.  The trip was great overall.

We took our trip while Jaaromy was in New York for a week starting his new job.  He was nice enough to travel all the way to the Manhattan temple for me and took these awesome pictures.

 He tried a couple of selfies but I made him keep trying until he got this one right.

I love it that there is a temple in New York.  Such a contrast.

I love temples, they are such a blessing.  I have craved the peace I get when I go.  This has been a hard year for me and going to the temple as often as I can has really helped me feel peace.  I can tell when it's been too long and I need to go again.  I do my best to make time because I can't do it without the blessings of the temple.