Recently I took pictures of one of my favorite edifices.

THE REDLANDS TEMPLE

I wish that I had the words to describe the feelings that swell in my heart each week as I prepare be here. In the darkness of the early morning as I travel alone in my car I offer these words in prayer. "Heavenly Father, I am coming home today. " That is how it feels. Home.

The Bible Dictionary defines 'Temple" as " the most holy of any place of worship on the earth,” followed by this insightful statement: “Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.”

This suggests we can make our homes or bedrooms (as I used to tell my seminary students) a “house of the Lord.” Don't you just love that idea?

In April Conference Elder Stevens recommends that we take a Virtual Spiritual Tour of our home.

"Imagine that you are opening your front door and walking inside your home.

What do you see, and how do you feel?

Is it a place of love, peace, and refuge from the world, as is the temple?

Is it clean and orderly?

As you walk through the rooms of your home, do you see uplifting images which include appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior?

Is your bedroom or sleeping area a place for personal prayer? Is your gathering area or kitchen a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together, allowing uplifting conversation and family time?

Are scriptures found in a room where the family can study, pray, and learn together? Can you find your personal gospel study space?

Does the music you hear or the entertainment you see, online or otherwise, offend the Spirit?

Is the conversation uplifting and without contention?

That concludes our tour. Perhaps you, as I, found a few spots that need some “home improvement”—hopefully not an “extreme home makeover.”

Whether our living space is large or small, humble or extravagant, there is a place for each of these gospel priorities in each of our homes."

Craig and I have purposely strived to make our home a holy place. We still have 'home improvements' but

we won't give up!

Along with the theme of this post I announce that Craig and I are smiling BIG these days because as of August 15th our mortgage is PAID IN FULL!!!!

Fire Powa!

Micah

MICAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!


This is Micah...the boy Grandma misplaced in her last post.
(You can't believe all the trouble I am having downloading photos. I think it is a setting in my computer because I had the same problem trying to download a photo to Facebook--which I just joined thanks to the many friends that keep inviting me)

He belongs to this cute family ( I am trying to make up for the countless tears that have been shed in behalf of forgotten Micah by giving him lots of attention)



Here Micah returns hand in hand with Uncle Jeff to our campsite after a successful day of swimming and fishing.

The county fair had a petting zoo.

Speaking of the FAIR!
Jeff, Krysta, Joel, Lori, Micah, Makayla and Craig and I all went to the fair together. This is one of Craig's and my favorite things to do-go to the fair! Well, we all wanted to have funnel cake. Since we had never heard of Mexican Funnel cake we thought we would share one and then get the traditional version later. AND since there were so many of us Craig decided to get the largest version. He had NO IDEA how LARGE LARGE would be!

How large was it? Strangers were taking pictures of it as Jeff carefully walked it over to the table where we all sat STUPIDFIED.

Notice Makayla eyeing it. It was larger than her head! than anyones head. And certainly larger than our combined stomachs!

We did our best...and no one ate the rest of the night.

Thank you to all my friends who have alerted me to the fact that I did not include a photo of Micah in my last post.
I can't load one!!!! I have TRIED numerous times.
Actually, I had one in the beginning then deleted it for a better one which I forgot I hadn't really loaded and then BANG no more loading . This is CEAZY!
I will make it up to you Micah.

This is the other half of the 'nofire'side. It looks like Carter is telling us his favorite scripture story.

Here are my Favorite Kids in the World!

Steele age 12

Slater age 9

Carter age 9

Makayla 6

Italia age 6

Corbin age 5

Cooper age 2

I have been missing my little blog. For some crazy reason I have had a terrible time posting photos. Has anyone ever had that problem?

Although the family reunion seems so long ago now it still deserves a little more attention.

Did I mention we went camping? This was the first attempt to camp with our large brood. Since I prefer camping at the Marriott this required a little soul searching. But, it was my idea AND my darling sister let us use their MotorHome and I do mean HOME. It had a comfy bed with its own room, bathroom including shower and all the luxuries. SO, we camped. There was dirt all around the motorhome incase you are thinking sacrastically that we weren't really camping.

The first night we had a big campfire (no fires allowed). Craig asked the children to share scripture stories. So many wonderful stories were shared that night. The children enjoyed sharing their favorite stories and we loved hearing their versions of the scriptures.


The next morning we had a breakfast together and then the children were off to the lake. Fishing, boating, swimming, and water balloon launching were the events of the day.



Other photos won't load. Too sad