Gilbert

The kids had an early release day last Thursday so we'd planned on going to Gilbert after school since we'd got tickets for the Gilbert Temple Open House for Friday around noon.  Adelyn was too sick to go though so I called Kate, who we were staying with, to let her know we weren't coming that night, & that unless Adelyn had a huge improvement by the next morning we weren't going to come at all.  Fortunately Adelyn slept through the night (unlike the several previous nights) and was greatly improved in the morning.  We woke up at 7:30, debated for 20 minutes whether or not she was really okay to haul out of town, and finally decided we were going.  I was hoping to throw everything together in an hour, but 2 hours later we were on our way. 

We headed straight to the temple - we even had the kids wear their church clothes in the car.  Adelyn was a wreck at the temple.  First they have you sit in the adjacent chapel & watch a video presentation on temples.  She wouldn't sit still & was loud & difficult (probably because she was starving).  Then we walked across the lot to the temple & she refused to wear the booties they put on your feet to protect the carpet, so that meant I had to hold her the entire time.  Holding a 3 year old & wearing wedges meant that it was extremely difficult for me to bend down to the kids' level & talk in a whisper about the different rooms we were in.  I kept saying to Jeremiah, "did you tell them about this room?"  Mostly he hadn't.  And then Adelyn started squirming & wanted down.  They'd said when she refused the booties that she could get down if I took her shoes off, but at this point we were almost done with the tour.  And I was done.  Some rooms were nice & cool & some rooms were stifling so I was ready to get out of there.  Fortunately for me it wasn't my first experience in the temple so I hope our children got something out of it.  We went for them after all.  Jeremiah & I are really glad we took them, despite Adelyn's shenanigans. 

We ate a really late lunch then headed to the Porter's & I helped Kate finish putting dinner together.  The Elders joined us for dinner & Kate had made a great meal- flank steaks on skewers, strawberry/spinach salad, wild rice & breadsticks.  One of the Elders was an opera singer & a great pianist so he performed some music for us!  His companion was funny - he just stood back almost rolling his eyes.  I asked him if he'd had to listen to this a lot & he said yes, at every single house!  I asked if he was relieved when people didn't have pianos & he said he was.  Of course our husbands stayed in the kitchen - they weren't really interested in being culturally enriched.  Ellie & Addy made themselves comfortable in their first row seats. Callie was grinning from ear to ear.  She loved it.

On Saturday Kate made me go to a cycling class with her & a couple of her friends.  I'd never been to one before but I've heard that a lot of people love spin so it wasn't completely against my will that I went! ;)  I was totally proud of myself!  I was able to keep going the entire time without stopping!  I definitely wasn't able to keep up with Kate but I think I did pretty well (boot camp pays off again).  She gave me lots of pointers so it will be good if I ever decide to go to a spin class on my own.  I probably won't, but if I do I won't be so intimidated!  For now I'll stick to my early morning boot camp.  Kate had made one of my favorite breakfasts, French toast soufflé, which I have learned from her is a million times better when it's made with actual French bread than with a loaf of sandwich bread. 

The kids had a great morning riding the 4-wheeler, going down the Porter's backyard zip line, & chasing their goats. 

 

We got ready & took the kids to see The LEGO Movie.  Jack had been dying to see it!  He was also really wanting to see his cousin (my cousin!) Hudson, so we invited Hudson to go with us.  Jack & Hudson had a good time together, & after the movie (totally funny & very clever, btw.  Great movie!) we all ate lunch at Kneaders with my uncle/aunt Troy, Stacy & Haley & Hunter.  Jack was so sad to say goodbye to Hudson, but we're going to visit them in a few weeks so I think that helped ease the pain. :) 

 

We were going to head to IKEA from there, but we ended up going to Bahama Buck's with the Porters first/instead.  My friends Miyeko & Katie have gone on & on about Bahama Buck's & how it's the best snow cones.  Bahama Buck's definitely didn't disappoint!  I didn't think it was any better than my fav place, Purple Penguin, in Henderson though.  It's equally great. 

 

By then it was 4:30 & we had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of us & I had at least an hour or 2 of singing time to prepare so thanks to Kate's suggestion to order the stuff I wanted from IKEA online (when did they start selling stuff online?), we skipped that stop & headed home.  The kids were excited to see hot hair balloons on our drive.

 

 

It was a great weekend.  Thanks Porter family!!!