Sealed for Time and All Eternity

Some of our dear friends were finally (hurray!) sealed today for time and all eternity in the Bismarck Temple today. Congrats guys! We sure love you! Thanks for letting us invite ourselves. What a special day! And thanks for lunch. We are so happy for your family.

Special thanks to our amazing kids and the Ironroads for letting us join in the special day!

Mini Fam Vacation in Bismarck: The Temple

For the attending the Temple part of our vacation, Brett & Shay went to the 6 o'clock session and the Larsen's went to the one at eight on Friday night. It worked out perfect because it just happened that one of the families in our Ward were going through the Temple for the 1st time tonight. Brett & I got to be there. There were quite of few people from our ward on the session (including the entire Bishopric and their wives). It is always fun when you see people you know. We are so proud of the Burckhards and their decision to go to the Temple. Congrats guys!

After our session, the Kid Swap occurred in the waiting room of the Bismarck Temple.  The kids were fabulous! When someone goes through for 1st time, the Temple workers have them wait until the very end. So- we were all waiting in the Celestial Room for them. Brett & I definitely wanted to give Rita & Joe a hug so it took us a bit to get out to the kids. The Temple Presidency was great at keeping an eye on them. When I got out there, they were all very reverent, reading the Friend magazines and feeding Sophie snacks. Thanks guys- you are such great kids! When Brett finally came out (a little background info... when Brett was growing up and his family would go swimming- Brett was always the last one out of the dressing room. And let me remind you that he has 7 sisters!! I love that crazy man- although we can blame this one on the Bishop- he does like to talk. LOL!), we took them outside to go touch the temple. It's one of our favorite traditions and we hope that the kids always love the Temple and feel it's special power.

"As we touch the temple and love the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation."- President Thomas S. Monson

Then. we tried to get everyone loaded in the car but some of them wanted to walk all the way around the Temple. We let Liberty watch Baby Sophie in the warm car and the rest of us went on a little chilly trek. It was really dark by then but the kids loved it. They LOVED rolling down the big hill until they were completely dizzy! What fun memories!

Mini Fam Vacation in Bismarck: the Ramkota

At the beginning of the year, Brett & I made a goal to make it the Temple 6 times each before December. Well, we had only one more time to go to meet our goal for the year- so we decided to take the fam on a mini-vacation before the Winter hits. We invited the Larsen fam to join us on our little adventure. It was so much fun!
We ended up staying pool-side at the Best Western Ramkota for the night. We got there at check-in and definitely got our money's worth of swimming. We all swam for a couple of hours before Brett and I headed to the Temple. Ryan & McKenzie let the kids swim for a bit longer and then headed to McDonald's for dinner. They said the kids were so starving they all inhaled their dinners in a matter of seconds. (The pool was quite a work-out, I guess) After dinner & some time in the Playland, they brought the kids over to the Temple to make a swap so they could do a session as well. After the Kid Swap, Brett & I took the kids to Wendy's for a Frosty and back to the Hotel for some more swimming fun! The pool didn't close until 11 PM so we swam our hearts out! We were all exhausted but had a blast! Thanks Larsens for sharing our vacation with us!
Here's our Frosty Fun on our deck by the pool:

Here's all the Water Fun:

And here's what little Glory looked like (and we all felt like) around 11:00 PM. She was totally delirious! She kept walking around aimlessly with her lips shivering. Poor Baby!! I would ask her if she was ready for bed and she would walk away saying, "swwwimming, swwwwimming". It was hilarious! :

Yeah for the Ramkota!

Sealed for Time & All Eternity

We are so proud of the Larocco family! Brett's sister, Charlene and her family got sealed in the Salt Lake Temple today. Brett was able to go out to attend the sealing to participate in their special day! Congrats Char & Nate! We sure love you. What a beautiful family you have. We are so glad they are yours forever!

Girl's Day Out to the Temple

I had the opportunity for a Girl's Day Out to the Bismarck Temple today with two of my awesome friends. Haylie & Deb have been my dear friends for a long time. We definitely don't get to spend enough time together lately so it was great being able to spend the whole day with them. We headed out early (OK- early for me!), and made it there early enough to visit with some of the Temple Presidency that we know (The Smiths used to live in our Fargo ward) and to just relax and enjoy the Spirit in the Temple. After the Session, we got to sit for a very long time in the Celestial Room. After a bit, we were the only ones there. We just enjoyed the peace and quiet and beauty of that special room. We also got to visit about what we'd learned. That's one of my favorite parts of visiting the Temple with someone- finding out what Heavenly Father taught them that day. It's pretty amazing how we noticed a lot of the same things as well as got our own little inspirations. It really struct me today that I need to find JOY! I sometimes get so busy in this life that I forget that everything around me can bring me joy! Heavenly Father has blessed us all so much- sometimes we just have to notice! So- thank you, Heavenly Father, for the beauty all around me- help me to notice it and find the JOY you have in store!

After the Temple, we went to lunch at: DiDonna's Italian Restaurant, 505 East Bismarck Expwy, 223-0012 Sister Smith recommended a whole list of new places we can try when we come out. I liked it! It was fun to try a new place. It was just a little family run place but had pretty good service and some yummy Italian.
On the drive back, we absolutely LOVED the clouds. They tend to be so bright and fluffy and close to the earth here on the flatlands! ;) And this time- I even got to see Jamestown and White Cloud! Wahoo! LOL!
Thanks ladies for getting to the Temple with me. Sure luv ya!

Temple Trip

Disclaimer: Haylie did such a great job of summarizing our trip- I am going to copycat most of her post! :)
It has been way too long since Haylie & I have been to the Temple. I've been kind of down spiritually lately and was dragging my feet on even going (making excuses of time and expense and blah and blah). Actually, I called Haylie last night to finally say I would pick her up in the morning. I am SOOO glad we went.
It was the fastest 3 hour trip to Bismarck we have experienced yet, although it might have to do with the fact that Jamestown somehow disappeared during this trip. I swear!!! Kinda scary but I seriously spaced half the trip! Haylie promised me she's gonna point out Jamestown the next time. I'm sure you're now all excited to hire me as a chauffeur. In my defense, it was rainy and cloudy and except for the ocassional "mountain" (ND rolling hills), it all looks the same. I do promise I was a safe driver- I just got lost in the company of a good friend. LOL!
When we got there we were 30 minutes early, a first for me, so we got to sit out in the front area and relax. It's always fun to see so many people you recognize in the Temple. (even when you don't make it as regularly as you should :) That's the wonderful thing about smaller Temples.
After the session, we sat in the Celestial room for quite some time discussing some of the things that caught our attention during the session. I like to concentrate on learning something new every time. This time, I could write a talk about what I learned!!! (and I just might! :) But the short and sweet of it is Daily Scripture study and how even the Creation of the world shows us how important it is and the steps we need to take to set up a regular study of God's Word. It also means--I have somethings to work on. :) That's nothing new though, right?
The Celestial Room was so beautiful and peacful and quiet. Not the "all the kids are now finally in bed and we tidied up a bit and watched a show and now I'm going to lay here in the quiet for 2 seconds before I fall asleep" kind of quiet BUT the kind that you can breathe in. I really needed some of that! We ended up being the last ones in the room and it was wonderful sitting there in the silence. I also got to show Haylie the Tissue box covers I made for the Bismarck Temple last year. It was fun to see them in the Celestial Room- they're even prettier than I remember them!
Remember how I said I had a bad mood about coming-- and how it was rainy on the trip out. Well...I definitely came out with a better attitude and low and behold- the sun came out as well. Too funny how God can tell you He's keeping an eye on you even with a simple little sunshine. I was very grateful!
We went to a late lunch at the Olive Garden.  We had a good time talking and eating delicious food. Then we headed for home. Another fast 3 hours, lots of giggles, running over a dead skunk and smelling it for the next 20 minutes resulting in a story about a bullet bike running over a cat, an interesting fact about the gigantic bison statue in Jamestown (don't ask!) and then we were home! We haven't talked or laughed that much in a long time. It's so great to have such fabulous friends to make special lasting memories with. Thanks lady for making the trip with me. Sure luv ya!
I sure LOVE the Temple and the opportunity I have to feel of God's love when I am there!

Bismarck Temple

Today, we took the family on a little road trip to Bismarck, ND. It's been a while since we made it to the Temple and the Primary Presidency were providing child care so we loaded the whole family in the van for our little 9 hour road trip. It definitely makes us more appreciative of our Utah days when we made a 15-30 minute drive to any of the 5 surrounding temples in the area. I wish we would have taken a little more advantage of that when we were there. Sometimes you don't know what you got til it's gone, I guess.

This time, Brett and I got to do a Sealing Session. The Sealer was the Temple President, President Reese. Man!! It was so wonderful and a great spiritual experience. We even got to witness a live sealing. (Well, sorta) An elderly gentleman had done the Temple work for his parents who have long sinced passed away. Today, he and his wife stood as proxy for his parents to be sealed for time & all eternity and then he got to get sealed to them as well. They have waited a long time but now are a FOREVER family. It was really neat. It was also very special to hear again the covenants that Brett and I made to each other 13 and 1/2 years ago. I believe it's been 4 or 5 years since we have done a sealing session so I really appreciated the opportunity to hear it all again.

The Temple is one of the greatest things about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It allows individuals through Jesus Christ to be endowed with power from our Heavenly Father and gives families the opportunity to be sealed to God and each other for all eternity. That's a long time! LOL! We are so grateful to have our little family sealed together. It is a blessing and comfort to know that as long as we are righteous and faithful to Jesus Christ and his commandments, we can and will return and live with Him and each other again.

We know it can be an extra long day for 4 kids but we hope that Liberty, Justice, Victoria and Glory will grow to know how important the Temple is and have a desire to enter and make covenants themselves. We always take the opportunity to walk the kids over and let them touch the Temple while we are there. We know that it may seem just like a building but there is a special feeling felt on the Temple grounds. Victoria is always reminding us that she will get to go inside when she is twelve (that's when youth can get a limited-use recommend and participate in Baptisms for the Dead.) She is very excited!

I always feel uplifted and renewed in my tesimony when we go as a family to the Temple and know it is worth the sacrifice to give up a Saturday here and there. I am so grateful we got to go.