Provo City Center Temple open house

It was finally our turn to attend the temple open house on Friday February 19, 2016.  We invited my Dad, Loni, and Kayley to come with us.  I have so many great memories of attending Stake Conference in the old tabernacle.  I even remember singing with the primary once.  It was beautiful to see it turned into a Temple.  I recognized some of the architecture and design as we walked through.

Halle and Addy with the statue of Christ in the gazebo.

We took some pictures with the temple afterwards.

This was the best family picture we could get.  Hayden was not cooperating and Addy had the sun in her eyes.  But this is to document that we were all there together.

Kenna took this picture of Kev and I.  I remember coming to the tabernacle for stake conference right after I got engaged to Kev. It was almost fifteen years ago this March.  My Dad was so proud of me.  I remember him telling all our neighbors that I had gotten engaged and having me show them my ring.

We went to lunch afterwards at one of my favorite places Brick Oven.  Kayley and Kenna having fun together.

Halle and Addy were happy that their kids meals came with these dinosaur cutouts.  We don't normally take our kids to sit down restaurants so this was a big deal.

On Sunday February 21st  we got to go back to the temple for a special bride room tour.  Loni and Kayley invited us to come with their ward.  

It was a beautiful experience to be there with just the girls.  It was hard keeping silent on the tour though.  Mckenna and Kayley were communicating with each other through sign language.  The brides room was beautiful.  I loved the picture of queen Ester that was done by Minerva Teichart.

The girls all received a white handkerchief with the temple embroidered on it at the end of the tour.  They can use them for the temple dedication in a few weeks.  I remember being so sad the day the tabernacle burned down in December of 2010.  I was so so elated when I heard the announcement that they were going to turn it into a temple. It have enjoyed watching them build it from the ground up.  It was amazing to walk through and see it as a temple.  We talked in Young Womens how each of us is like a temple.  I believe that God has a plan for each of us.  He sees what we can become just like the tabernacle became a temple. I have a great desire for my daughters to be married in the temple someday.

Valentine's day!

Addy was sick and missed her preschool Valentine's party.  At the doctor's office she got to write on a heart and put it up on their wall.  She wrote I love Addyson!  I am so happy that she can write her name now and that she loves herself.  She is my little sweetheart! She smiles even when she has an ear infection.

Parker waited until the last minute to work on his Valentines box.  It was a family effort to get it done.  Kenna donated her duct tape, Hayden shared his gloves, Dad helped put it together,  Halle helped cut, and I made sure it looked good.  Parker was happy with how it turned out.  He even got an award for the most original Valentine box.

Halle made this pink and black microwave Valentine box.  It was nice to see Kenna helping her make it.

I saw this idea on the internet for cute Valentine hair.  I knew that it was something that I could attempt.

Kev and I were able to go to dinner on the Saturday before.  We went to Texas Roadhouse.  It is one of our favorites.  We used to go there when we were dating in Idaho.  We enjoy the fact that we can eat as many peanuts as we want and throw the shells on the floor.  We had a great time just talking and being together.

Kev surprised me with these beautiful flowers on Valentines day.  They lasted almost two weeks.  Parker took this picture of me with my flowers.  Kenna was really sweet and spent a long time curling my hair before church.  I love my family!

A memorable day with Lisa...

On Friday February 12th we went up to Midway to spend the day with Lisa!  It was so sweet to see Kev helping his sister to walk.  She was in good spirits when we came to see her.  She had big hugs for us both.

We took her to her new favorite place to eat Taco bell.  She recently has become very enthusiastic about their cheesy sauce.  We had a great time at lunch with her just talking and reminiscing. As we were leaving a women came up to us and asked if she was Lisa.  She recognized her picture from Facebook.  She told us that her husband is the manager of the Heber Taco Bell.  They had just delivered two huge pouches of  cheese sauce to her house.  We were all touched by their kindness.  On the way back Lisa said, "Taco Bell brings people together"!  It made us all smile.

We went back to her house and spent a couple of hours just relaxing.  Lisa received this beautiful quilt from her friend Kelly Huff.  Lisa told us all about how she is the one that first taught her how to quilt.  Lisa and I watched an episode of Downton Abbey while Kev and Cody talked about ski resorts.  We were glad we got to see our cute niece and nephews when they came home from school.

I was able to help Lisa get ready for her appointment at Huntsman.  I helped comb her hair and gave her some lip gloss to put on.  Kev and I both enjoyed the drive from Midway to Salt Lake.  We spent more time reminiscing and eating peanut M&M's.  Kev took this picture of us when we got there for her radiation.  She was very happy because the nurses gave her some orange juice.  We were pleasantly surprised when we were in and out of Huntsman in less than a half hour.  We decided to take her out to dinner.  She had been craving some french fries and fry sauce.  So we went to a Red Robin nearby.  On the way home I convinced Kev that we needed to listen to my Celine Dion CD since Lisa and I both enjoy it.  He was a good sport and listened with us the whole way back.  We are so thankful for every memory we get to make with Lisa.  We are trying to stay positive and make the most of the time we have left with her.

Grant family party

We spent last weekend at the cabin for the annual Grant family winter party.  It was fun to have Aunt Tracy and Uncle Dave fly in from Texas.  They are always so sweet to our kids.  I had fun catching up with cousin Lindsay too.  We were missing Kyle this year who is serving his mission in Africa.

Addy looked so cute pretending to play the piano.

Kev and I were in charge of lunch.  I picked up 10 feet of sub sandwiches that we ordered from Walmart. It was delicious and fed all forty of us that were there.  Cousin Kristen helped me get it all ready.

Kev, Parker, and Brian all took a little nap after lunch it was funny to see them all in a row.  Kev spent most of the day out snowmobiling and having fun with his cousins.

I enjoyed taking it easy inside and visiting with everyone.  We were glad that Grandma and Grandpa Grant were able to come this year.  I always enjoy visiting with Grandma.

We took a group picture of all the family that was there that day.  This is only half of the group since we couldn't all fit in one picture.  We sent it to Kev's sister Lisa.  We were sad that she couldn't be there with us.  She was at Huntsman Cancer Center most of the week. It breaks our hearts that she is not doing good.  There was an underlying sadness at the party this year knowing that her health is failing.  It did everyone good to be together though.  We receive so much love and support from all of the Grant family.

Ski day!

Kev's company Orbital ATK had their annual ski day.  It was at Snow Basin again.  We enjoyed a day skiing with just the two of us.

We rode in this fancy gondola up to the top.  We had the whole thing to ourselves this time.

It was my first time skiing this season and luckily it all came back quickly to me.  I even found myself easily skiing areas which were difficult last year.  Kev had fun skiing through the trees and jumping. Once he hit a small tree and wiped out.  He was laughing when he wiped out.  A guy skiing by said, "better luck next time."  We really enjoyed the company lunch.  They had soup, sandwiches, chips, cookies, and hot chocolate.  We had fun hanging out with some of the guys that Kev works with.