April Random!

April was such an incredible month.  We had so much fun.  Here are some random pictures of other fun  we had that month.  

April 1 aka April Fool's Day!  Spence came home on his lunch break and made chocolate covered cotton balls and covered them with powered sugar to look like little chocolate truffles.  He then went with the kids around the neighborhood to deliver them to their friends and watch them bite into a cotton ball!  It ended up being pretty funny, but the best part is that Spence would make the effort to come during lunch to make April Fool's day a fun day!  

The girls trying out Presley's new birthday gifts!  

My parents came over to visit and got roped into jumping on the tramp with the kids!  

Cute and fun grandparents! 

San Diego Temple

We were also able to visit the magestic San Diego Temple while in California.  

I mean, how incredible is this Temple?  And the coolest part, is that it towers over the I-5 in California, so everyone that drives down the freeway can see it's beauty!  I love this Temple.  It is so cool and unique!  It was fun to visit it in person with my family and my aunt and uncle who live in San Diego!  

San Diego Temple 

Dedicated in 23 sessions from April 25-30 1993 by Gordon B. Hinckley (at the time, the prophet, Ezra Taft Benson was too sick to travel to the dedication, so he had one of his counselors, President Gordon B. Hinckley do it)  

45th operating Temple 

3rd Temple in California (following the Los Angeles Temple and the Oakland Temple) 

On Monday, December 23, 1991, the 186th anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a gilded statue of the angel Moroni was installed atop the eastern spire of the San Diego California Temple. Shortly after the setting, a traveling flock of seagulls—a bird of symbolic significance to the Church—circled the new statue about three times before continuing on its course.

Over 720,000 people visited the Temple during it's wildly publicized open house 

The San Diego Temple was honored as headliner of the year in 1993 in the landmark category by the San Diego Press Club 

For its efforts during the open house of the San Diego California Temple to increase public awareness of the Church and the role of the temple, the Church was presented with the Public Relations Society of America's prestigious Silver Anvil Award in the category of special events and observances by non-profit organizations.

My mom and her sister at the San Diego Temple! 

Newport Beach Temple

While we were in California, we decided to visit a couple of LDS Temples.  We have made a goal as a family to take pictures in front of as many Temples as we can and to learn about their history.  

Newport Beach Temple 

Dedicated August 28, 2005 by President Gordon B. Hinckley 

There was much opposition by neighbors to this Temple, but in a spirit of compromise, the LDS church agreed to turn off flood lighting at 11pm, reduce the height of the spire from 120 feet to 90 feet and to change the color of the Temple from off-white to an earth tone shade of seashell.  

The statue Moroni (that sits upon the spire) was placed on January 13, 2005.  During the placement, a remarkable solar halo was visible, which surrounded the sun.  After placement, the halo disappeared.  

Sidenote:  A gold statue of Moroni sits on top of most LDS Temples.  Who was he? He was the final writer of the Book of Mormon.  He exists in Mormon writings and history in two forms - As a mortal man living in ancient times and as an angel after his death.  

In his mortal life, he was the son of Mormon.  When he was young, his people, the Nephites went to war against their enemies, the Lamanites.  Everyone was killed except for Moroni.   He went into hiding.  All he had was the scriptures that had been handed down to them from generation to generation.  He spent a long time abridging the records so that they were a manageable size.  When they were complete, he hid them in the Hill Cumorah.  Futhermore, In the 1800s, another teenager named Joseph Smith wondered which church he should join. He found a scripture in the Bible that told him if he wanted to know the truth, he should ask God. (James 1:5) He decided to put it to the test and went into the woods near his home to pray. While doing so, God and Jesus Christ appeared to him, to personally answer his question. He was told not to join any of the churches, because none was completely accurate at this time.

Several years later, when he was older, he was visited by Moroni, now an angel. Moroni spent a number of years tutoring Joseph and preparing him to become the first prophet of the restored church. Eventually, Moroni showed Joseph where he had hidden the records, and in time, Joseph was considered worthy to take them. He removed them from the hill and began the process of translating them, through the spirit of God, into English.

It’s only fitting that Moroni, who was kept alive for the purpose of preserving and completing the records, would be allowed to lead the restoration process. These records are now published under the name of The Book of Mormon-Another Testament of Christ. They do not replace the Bible, but are an additional text which testifies of the Bible and of the Savior.

The story of Moroni is one of the most moving stories in the Book of Mormon. Imagine being the last righteous person in your world, and being kept alive for the gospel, but tangibly, to protect a book. He was often lonely and frightened, but was periodically ministered to by angels during his work.

It was Moroni who penned the promise that has led to millions of conversions to the Mormon Church:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

7 And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever. (Moroni 10)

Moroni now sits atop Temples with a trumpet proclaiming to the world that the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth.  

Cali, part 2!

We spent all day Monday at Disney.  It was absolutely perfect!  It was not crowded at all, the weather was wonderful and I think we hit up 25 rides, most of which Pres came on!  It was so great!  

Tuesday was spent hanging at this beautiful place! 

This image is quite blurry but our hotel had so many fun things going on including one night they had a big bonfire and they gave you little packages with s'more making kits that included a glow in the dark band.  It was so cute!  

 Spence had to leave to go back to work the rest of the week, but we continued to have a blast.  We spent a day in Laguna beach!  

Yum, nothing like eating some sand! 

Toes in the sand! 

Practicing some walks with uncle Craiger! 

Lunch on the beach! 

My favorite part of the day was watching Lance & Tallie play for hours in the waves.  Simple joys!  

Afternoon in Crystal Cove!

The entrance to the beach is through this tunnel and there are fun paintings on the walls!  

Yes, she is such a performer! 

Chasing waves! 

Lance has always been so sweet and tender hearted towards Presley.  If he was only that way to his other sister too! 

Dinner at the Shake Shack! 

Goof Ball! 

We built a fun sand castle! 

She finds every way not to walk!  

 Beautiful sunset! 

 I'd call it a pretty successful day at the beach! 

Another highlight from our trip to California was meeting up with a good friend.  My friend Jennifer lived next to my grandparents growing up and since I was always at my grandparents we became great friends.  We have stayed in touch through out the years and it was fun to meet up and see each other's kids!  We spent a fun day hanging out at the pool and catching up!  

Yep, that was our view! LOL!  

The kids joined in on a game of checkers! 

Lance, Meredith, Maddox, & Tallie!  

Jennifer & I with our babies - Presley & Margaret!  

And finally one random picture of the place we stayed - love Tallie's breakfast view!  

Loved spending a super fun week in California with my fam and my mom!  It was so kind of my mom to let us use her timeshare!  And it was the best getaway!!!!  

And that's what I call success.....