One more step....

Another step down the missionary road has come to pass.  We had the privilege and honor of taking Cortnie to the temple yesterday to recieve her endowments. She is now one more step closer to being a full time missionary.  I could not be more proud of her and the woman she has become. 

We decided to take a few extra days in Vegas since it was Fall break and splurge a little bit.  Rob's sister, Leann and her family met us there on Thursday night.  We laughed so late in to the evening and shared some really funny memories.  They brought along my two nieces, one nephew and nephew-in-law along with the precious great-niece.  One more is on the way any time now.  We had such a blast. We live close to Las Vegas but we never really spend anytime there.  We took the kids walking down the famous strip - during the day of course.  We had  a great time looking at the shops and the huge hotels.  I love to walk so it was wonderful. That afternoon we met my sister and brother as well as my brother in law at the airport.  My parents were suppose to be with them, but my mother ended up with knee replacement surgery earlier this week so they were not able to be there.  It broke Cortnie's heart that neither of her grandparents were there, but she knew she needed to go anyway.  We spent the rest of Friday doing what Cortnie wanted as it was her birthday - going to subway for dinner, playing games and eating cookies.  My kind of fun!

We ventured to the temple the next morning for a sweet spiritual time.  The ladies there are so sweet and nice and treated her like a queen.  She looked so precious when I first saw her all dressed in white and had the largest smile on her face.  I would love to have taken a picture!  The temple matron spoke with Cortnie for almost an hour before we headed to the chapel with only three minutes to spare.  As we approached the chapel, we saw family and friends sitting on both sides - they were all suppsoe to be on one side.  We were told to go to the left side but I told them we had family on the right side too.  I got a little bit hurt and upset when we were told that they were not going to be able to go with us as the session was full.  I thought they would ask for volunteers to wait for the next one.  Instead, we were told again it was full.  I tried to explain to them that Leann drove for eight hours but to no avail.  I was very persistent though when I told them that one person was her father and that he WOULD be going with us no matter what.  The temple people scrambled to try to accomodate all of our friends that were there, but in the long run, three were left behind.   I am not sure why either cause there was room that they could have fit in.  I felt so bad for them....

The session was wonderful and cortnie tried so hard to pay attention. There is no way that you will learn all you need to know the first time you go to the temple.  No way at all.  She just tried to feel the spirit.  It was really hard to do that though when Rick (my brother-in-law). pulled the armrest off the chair as he stood up.  Then my brother made the comment "leave it to Rick to break the temple".  I had to chuckle and still do when I think about it.  We finally made it to the celestial room though and all of our family and friends were there. We had about 20 people come from our ward and that means so much to me.  She hugged everyone of them as did I.  It was so beautiful. 

The rest of the day was spent taking pictures and visiting with family.  All too soon the weekend came to a quick close and we were headed home.  I have been to Vegas five times in the last two months and I am really worn out.  The next few weekends will be spent preparing a girl for the mission of her life.  It is hard to believe that it is getting so close.  I try to be happy about it, but sometimes the tears just start to roll down my cheeks.  I am a proud mother but also a very tenderhearted one.