Give Me Some Lovin'

This year for Valentine's Day, daddy stayed home (my Valentine treat!)  He lovingly made heart shaped pancakes for everyone, while I slept in! See how excited he was!

And then as it was a school day, the kiddos headed off to school while I enjoyed lunch with my sweetie, ran errands and then prepared for a yummy dinner of won tons filled with cream cheese and chicken and then nutella and strawberries!  Love that my kiddos don't need to eat the same things every year.  They just love that we make a big deal out of it.

We also prepared for family coming into town for the temple open house.  Jeff and I had taken the kids earlier in the month, and I'm so glad we did.  The day we had tickets to go with Jenny and her family, Haley decided to run a monster fever and have the dreaded flu!  So, Jeff and Haley stayed home while the rest of us headed out ON THE LAST DAY (craziness!) to walk through the temple again and take in all it's amazing beauty!  We also took Kay (our sweet adopted grandma neighbor) and her friend with us.  She is so patient with the Dunyon crazies we make her endure.

A few interesting facts that we learned about our beautiful temple:  when you go in the doors look straight ahead to the sides of the recommend desk. There is beautiful stained glass with an agave plant with 12 branches representing the 12 tribes of Israel. There was an apostasy and to depict that ...as you go around the corner you will see a big healthy agave plant in stained glass representing the restoration and the gospel going to the world. Look up to the ceiling and the molding will have carvings of grass looking figures.  The overlapping molding represents the family of Adam and how we are all linked together. Downstairs to the baptistery. The oxen are made out of bronze just as Solomon's temple was.  We were very fortunate to be able to have them out of bronze as most temples do not. The horns are all a little different to show that we are all different and have different trials and experiences and paths in life. The church liked the way that the sculptor made the oxen and will use those from now on in all other temples, but they will not be out of bronze, probably fiber glass. No vents show throughout the temple. There are catwalks in the ceilings so they could to hide all the things you normally see in a building. The endowment room which is stationary for the whole endowment. Up at the front of the room the stone is imported from Jerusalem. There is the story of when the men in the bible were fishing and didn't catch any fish. The Savior told them to cast their nets to the other side of the boat and they caught a lot of fish. So in the back of the room the stone is from Tiberius. There is a whole parable there of the two sides.  The stone in the celestial room is imported from Ephesus. Into the celestial room...wow... The chandelier has 140,000 crystals and weighs 1200 lbs and is imported from Australia.  Of the 7 sealing rooms some are very large and can hold at least 80 people and some are smaller. The carpet in the Celestial room has designs cut into it. The man who does this uses a sharpie and draws out the pattern and then uses a shaver to carve the carpet. The Gilbert temple will be the last large temple to be built until the Jerusalem temple. It is just beautiful and I never get tired of looking at it on my weekly trek to Costco!

A few weeks later, Paige participated in the Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration.  It was amazing!!!! If you haven't/didn't get to watch it, here is the link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bz5h13TidWiBMlIyU3dleWlob2c/preview?pli=1

Jeff actually teared up watching it.  The kids were amazing!  The danced and sang their hearts out in the pouring rain.  I felt like they just proved to the world that they are strong and determined and no matter what Satan throws at them they will prove him wrong and stand strong in their convictions!  Paige was freezing and drenched but never stopped smiling - ear to ear smiles!  Wendy was down on the field with her and snapped a few pictures for us to let us know she was okay! 

Nice shoes! 

Megan and Haley admitted afterwards that they wished they were twelve so they could have participated.  It was such an amazing experience for these kids and one that will probably never be repeated.  Paige said it was amazing and thought how crazy it was that when President Monson and President Eyring walked out it sounded like a rock concert!  

Next up:  March Madness!