Temple Dedication

This weekend we participated in the dedication of the Fort Collins Colorado Temple!  We've been waiting for this day for 5 1/2 years, ever since it was announced in the April 2011 General Conference.  It's been a wonderful weekend, but I'll share only a few highlights.

Last night we attended the cultural celebration held at Hughes Stadium (CSU's football stadium).  The show featured stories, music, and dancing put on by the young men and women in the area.  During the show the youth situated some large props to look like a large fort to depict the early settlement of the area.  Later they turned the props around and rearranged them to form a replica of the Fort Collins Temple!  I took the three oldest kids since we knew there was no way the three youngest would last through the show, even if it wasn't way past their bedtime.  So Liz stayed home with them and watched it streamed live on the internet. 

We happened to get seats near the front on the right hand side of the stadium.  We were thrilled when President Uchtdorf of the 1st Presidency, Elder Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the other church leaders entered the stadium from our side and passed right in front of us.  We were even more thrilled after the show when they passed in front of us again on their way out of the stadium, and took time to shake our hands.  We discovered later from a few sharp eyed friends and family members that it was caught on camera by a Mormon Newsroom photographer and posted on their website!

Mormonnewsroom.org photo capturing Whitney shaking hands with President Uchtdorf

Today was the actual temple dedication.  Since you have to be at least 8 years old to attend, Liz and I went with Sarah and Whitney to the 1st session (out of 3).  It was a wonderful experience and we feel so grateful and happy that our temple is finally dedicated.

That afternoon I went on a bike ride with Spencer, Michael, and Brooklyn to the temple grounds so they could feel of the spirit of this wonderful day as well.  It doesn't hurt that the fall weather has been warm and the fall colors on the trees are stunning right now.  After walking around the temple grounds, we noticed a few people gathered behind a corded off area near the temple entrance.  The 3rd and final dedicatory session was about to end, and the church leaders would soon be passing by this way.  So we opted to stick around, which gave Michael and Brooklyn a chance to meet and shake hands with President Uchtdorf, Elder Renlund, and the other church leaders.  I told some of them a little about Michael and him being our little miracle.  As they listened they took both of Michael's hands in their own, looked into his eyes, and offered kind words of love and admiration.

Enjoying the temple grounds

Liz's grandma passed away last week, so this afternoon she took Sarah, Whitney, and Amy to Evanston, Wyoming so they can attend the funeral tomorrow, which will be in Woodruff, Utah.   Her grandma was such a kind and sweet lady, and we're so grateful to know her.  It's especially fitting that her funeral is right after the Fort Collins Temple dedication, as families are sealed together in the temple.  Because of the temple, we believe and are grateful that we will see Liz's grandma again in the next life and that we will still be a family.

Mount Rushmore

We decided to take a bit of a last minute trip to Mount Rushmore over Labor Day weekend to enjoy some family time and get out of Colorado for a few days.  It's only about five hours away from where we live, so it's even closer than visiting Liz's family in Utah.  We stayed at a nice 4-bedroom VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) home in Custer.  With the size of our family it's cheaper than 2 hotel rooms, but with much more space to spread out, cook our own meals, do laundry, etc. 

It had been exactly six years since our last time to Mount Rushmore, which we did with my parents when we only had three children and Spencer was our youngest.  We have a lot of fond memories of that trip.  Six years before that Liz and I went there as newlyweds.  Apparently our family is on a six year Mount Rushmore rotation.

They have a great trail that takes you to the base of the mountain where the presidential faces are carved.  It has lots of stairs, and we worried about our younger children, particularly Michael being able to make the whole loop.  He loves climbing stairs, though, so we pushed him in a stroller to help conserve his energy on the flat areas, then let him climb the stairs while the older kids carried the stroller.  It worked out great and the hike was one of the highlights of our trip.

Michael the Mountain Climber

Whitney the stroller climber

Getting up close and personal with the presidents

Getting the close up views was magnificent!  We wish we could climb up the rubble to get even closer.

There is so much to do in the Mount Rushmore area.  We could easily spend a week there, but this time around we only hit Mount Rushmore itself and Storybook Island, which is a huge park with lots of story book themed play areas.  

Brooklyn and The Three Pigs.  She's wearing her shirt from her Aunt Julie that says "Messy Hair Don't Care". That about sums it up for some of Brooklyn's hair days!

Since we were there on a Sunday, we attended the Mount Rushmore ward in Rapid City for church.  They're used to getting lots of visitors this time of year and we were no exception.  We were worried about the rain predicted during the weekend, but were very fortunate in that regard.  Several times there were major downpours either just before or just after visiting one of the sites, but while we were outside we managed to stay dry and have great views of Mount Rushmore.

Back to School

During the last few weeks of our summer vacation we took a few day trips to enjoy some final moments of freedom.  We enjoyed places such as the Children's museum in Fort Collins, a waterpark and playground near a river in Loveland, and the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver.

Celebrating Dad's and Whitney's birthday with Grandma and Grandpa at the Children's Museum

Swimming in the river

Trying to stay dry under water

This is what happens after you touch a butterfly--you turn into one!

Sarah's new pet butterfly

Amy dressed as a flower

Oh no, the butterfly got Amy!

Now that our fun summer vacation is over, our four oldest kids are all attending Zach Elementary!  This is the last year all of our kids will be in the same school.

Sarah is in 5th grade

Whitney is in 4th grade

Spencer is in 2nd grade

And Michael just started kindergarten!

Michael isn't able to make the walk down the street to the bus stop, so we are so fortunate the school district has allowed the bus to make its first stop at our house.  The older kids are still riding their bikes to school while the weather is warm, but in the winter they'll get on the bus at our house.  Or head down the street to catch the bus ten minutes later if they're running late.

This is where Michael says he sits on the bus

This is where he actually sits

Brooklyn and Amy are jealous of their big brothers and sisters and wish they could go to Zach this year too. Brooklyn is attending a preschool co-op called Joy School with several other families near our home.

I have a backback with my woobie and stuffed kitty.  Does that mean I can go too?

Hey, it's so quiet around here, where did everybody go?

My name is Amy and I go to cuteness school

Utah Trip and Amy's Baby Blessing

Last Saturday we decided to head out to Utah for a few days to see Liz's family and take a quick break.  My work has been super busy this summer, so I only stayed until Monday evening so I could spend Sunday with Liz's family and Monday at Lagoon.  I took a flight back Monday night and was back to work on Tuesday.  Liz and the kids spent a few more days with family and went boating on the lake, then drove back to Fort Collins with Liz's mom on Thursday.  Liz's dad was able to join us on Friday, then Tim's parents and sister Becky came out on Saturday.  Amy's baby blessing was a beautiful and wonderful experience on Sunday.  She looked absolutely adorable in her white dress.  Whew!  Busy week, but so great to get to see family and have some fun.

After going on a scary roller coaster a few years ago Michael has been timid about going on any rides.  But we finally got him warmed up and he had a great time.

Spencer, Michael, and Brooklyn on the swings

On some of the rides Michael just sat back with his arms folded.  Not sure if he was just in a zone to not be scared or if he was trying to prove how brave he is on rides now

Amy enjoyed her first train ride!

I enjoyed some 1-on-1 time with Sarah riding some of the bigger rides.  She even rode Wicked for the first time and loved it!

Whitney and I had some 1-on-1 time on some of the bigger rides as well.  We rode the Spider ride but fortunately avoided being bitten by this giant spider.

Whitney's favorite ride right now is the Colossus.  It brought back a lot of memories of riding the Colossus growing up when my family would visit Utah in the summer.

Brave little boaters on Pineview Reservoir

As we sat on the front row of the chapel, literally just minutes before it was time for her blessing, Amy had a massive diaper blowout all over her beautiful new white dress, and all over Liz's white dress, too!  We scrambled like mad, and Liz and her mom took Amy out of the chapel to get everyone cleaned up.

The bishop then announced the 2 babies to be blessed that day, and I knew we were lined up to be first.  But as he announced the order, Bishop Cleverly gave me a wink and announced the other family to go first.  Fortunately Liz and Amy arrived back at the chapel as the first blessing ended, and we were able to proceed with Amy's blessing.  Even better, most of the congregation was none the wiser and had no idea that anything unusual had even happened until we told a few of our friends.

It's just par for the course for our family.  We were remembering Michael's baby blessing 5 years ago where something similar happened.  He had a blowout during Sunday School on the day of his blessing, and Liz and her mom rushed home to get everyone cleaned up.  They had to race back to church in time for Sacrament Meeting, with Liz's mom holding Michael's outfit out the car window to help it dry!

After Amy's baby blessing we took some family pictures across the street outside the newly completed Fort Collins Temple!  The temple open house begins later this month.

Summer happenings

It's been a whirlwind of a summer since Amy was born.  It's hard to believe she's already two months old and school will begin in a few short weeks!  It's been hard to find time to write, but I wanted to capture a few of the summer highlights thus far.

In anticipation of having our hands full with a new baby, we've tried to involve the kids in a variety of activities to keep them occupied.  A lot of them have involved swimming, especially since our neighborhood pool is only about a block away.  Sarah and Whitney participated on the neighborhood swim team again this summer.  Spencer and Michael took swimming lessons and Sarah took a diving class across town at the Mulberry Pool.

The three older kids continued their piano lessons over the summer.  Spencer participated in a variety of sports camps.  Michael took a farm class and is part of a weekly playgroup through the city that is geared towards kids with special needs. The city has fantastic resources for children with disabilities like Michael.  For any of the classes through the city, they assign a personal assistant to be with him to help him. 

Michael absolutely loved his farm class

Having a heart to heart with a sheep

Michael with Megan, his assistant

After some initial trepidation, Michael conquered his fears and had fun riding his pony "Cookies and Cream"

Right after Amy was born, Liz's dad and I built an extension to our play structure with a few more swings in the hopes that our kids would use it more.  We also built a ladder climbing up the back that is more Michael friendly.  We haven't been disappointed.  The kids have had a ball with it this summer.

Guess which swing the kids like the best.  You're RIGHT!

Trying out the new swing

We get a lot of bunnies in our yard that love to eat our grass and plants.  This summer we resolved to do something about it.  I bought a bunny cage, and the kids absolutely love to bait it with lettuce, apple cores, carrot sticks, and whatever other fruits and vegetables we have handy, trap the bunnies, then let them go a few miles away close to my work. We call some of the bunnies Zootopia bunnies since they're smart and really good at eluding capture.  But we'll get 'em eventually.

We caught another bunny!

Letting it go to find its brothers and sisters

The kids have also enjoyed activities such as miniature golfing and bowling this summer.  Also, because of a funny scene in "Monsters vs. Aliens", the kids and especially Spencer have been way into "Axel F", the electronic instrumental song that was big in the 80's.  He likes to play the song over and over and dance to it, he's been trying to teach himself to play it on the piano, and the kids write "Axel F" on a lot of their creations.

A great day of golfing at Fort Fun

Michael seriously scored 3 holes in one!  I held him up and helped him hit the ball, but I'm not that good!

Spencer's "Axel F" pose

In spite of the activities in the attempt to help the kids stay busy and out of trouble, I think Brooklyn's middle name is trouble.  Brooklyn Trouble Wheeler.  One day recently a friend came over to visit Liz and see baby Amy.  During their conversation Brooklyn walked into the family room covered in Comet.  She had gotten into the bathroom cupboard with the cleaning supplies and got Comet and Windex all over the bathroom as well.  Bleach and Ammonia make a great mix.  If we are serious about winning the war on terror, all we need to do is send Brooklyn out there with Comet and Windex and she'll win it for us using chemical warfare.

A few days after that incident she got into the diaper rash cream and smeared it all over herself.  She also regularly takes off her own poopy diapers, but at least that leaves a trail so we know where she's been.  

Ho ho ho!  I wonder if Santa's beard is also made of diaper rash cream.

We wish she had left a trail last week when Brooklyn and Whitney went missing.  They were on their way to a neighbor's house to help water their plants while they're on vacation.  They had been right behind Sarah and Spencer, but never showed up at the house.  After searching for them without any luck, we enlisted help from friends and neighbors, and even my manager at work came to help with the search.  They were finally found an hour and a half later a mile away at the other end of the neighborhood.  

Brooklyn is often very adamant about doing the opposite of whatever we want her to do.  This time she decided she wanted to go in the opposite direction of wherever Whitney wanted to take her, and led Whitney (and the rest of us) on a wild goose chase.  Although it will take time to teach our kids how to handle Brooklyn's tantrums (we're still trying to figure it out ourselves), fortunately Whitney stayed with her and kept her safe.  When we finally found them they didn't even know they were missing.  All's well that ends well and we were so relieved everyone was okay.  

Our A/C died again three weeks ago, the second time in a month. The first time was the day after we had baby Amy and were still in the hospital. This time we're going to have to get it replaced. Good thing it was only 100 degrees outside at the time (90 degrees in our master bedroom). The kids thought we were the funnest parents for letting them sleep on the floor in the basement for a few days. Except for Brooklyn. For the last few weeks she refuses to sleep anywhere except in her closet!  Things have been so busy for HVAC companies this summer we still haven't been able to get it replaced yet, but fortunately the repairman was able to get it hobbling along well enough that it's working okay for now.

Sleeping on the floor in the basement is way COOL!

Except for Brooklyn, she prefers her bedroom closet

We're super excited about the Fort Collins Temple Open House coming up in just a few weeks!  Liz and I are looking forward to being one of the ushers and tour guides, and we've reserved tickets on templeopenhouse.lds.org for our whole family to go through and feel the wonderful spirit of this beautiful and sacred new House of the Lord.

Sarah and Whitney recently built paper versions of the temple for their Polly Pockets to play in

I'll finish the post with a few more pictures of our beautiful little baby girl.  We're still adjusting to having a newborn in our family and now 3 children in diapers.  (We've been trying unsuccessfully to potty train Michael and Brooklyn since January and still aren't there yet.)  But Amy has been super sweet and we all adore her and are so glad she's a part of our family!