Beautiful Day!

It is such a beautiful day!  The sun in shining, it is a little bit overcast, I am enjoying a wonderful weekend with my three children who are home and my husband and I love very minute of it.  We got to go to a temple dedication today to see the dedication of the Gilbert Arizona temple and the spirit there was so strong.  I could not keep the tears from rolling down my cheeks. I wish that I could bottle up that spiritual feeling and open the lid to pull a little bit out when I am feeling down and not quite so happy.  It is so uplifting to go to church each week, but to see a prophet of God and listen to his words was incredible.  I wish I could hug him just like a couple of the little kids did today.  It was so awesome!

I love weekends like this one. We all worked in the yard yesterday and no one even complained about it.  We have lots of yard work to get done to make it look better at there and I can not do it alone. I am so grateful when my children will pitch in and throw or rake manure or take out the trimmings.  It is just so fun to work together.  There is nothing that I enjoy more than spending time with my family.  Spring Break is coming up and I want to do something even though we do not have very much money.  I want to just get away and spend some time with them - but still reserve my Tuesday morning to talk with Cortnie.  That is another high light of my week.  I really could not be happier right now and am so grateful that I am allowed to be.

I have two new "daughters" that I have adopted even though they may not know it.  We got sister missionaries about ten days ago to replace our elders and they are straight from heaven.  I have so much love for them and want to take care of them all the time.  Maybe it is because they make me feel so much closer to my daughter.  I am not sure but I just want to make sure they are happy and love having them in my home.  They make us laugh and smile and give me big hugs - hugs I miss from my own daughter. They take Brittnie out on lessons with them and she will even go.  My whole family just loves them to pieces.  They make us laugh and bring such a spirit with them.  Yesterday they showed up to help us do yard work too. It was starting to rain slightly when they got here, but they did not care. They pushed the lawnmower and trimmed the train all while the rain was drizzling down. It was so awesome to look at the rain coming down and their smiling faces as they continued to work. They want to come back tomorrow and help us some more - on the day off!  I just want them to feel loved and hope that they do.

Cortnie is doing well. Can you believe that there are only 73 days left until she comes home!  It does not seem possible but yet I am so excited. I  want her to finish strong and keep telling her that.  It is hard to believe how fast it has gone by.  She is such a trooper and has the best companion. They work so well together and it is fun to hear their stories.  We each have a countdown going that allows off to mark off one more day each morning.  Rob and I are going to go back to pick her up. I really wanted all the kids to go too, but it is the last week of school and Boyd can not miss finals. He graduates the week after. We are going to Disneyland a couple of weeks after we get home though so that will be awesome too.  Exciting and busy times lie ahead for our family over the next couple of months.

One more piece of excitement, Boyd has turned in his mission papers. They actually were electronically sent in this morning and should be back within about ten days.  I can  not believe it will be that soon and I hope for his sake it will not take three weeks like Cortnie's did.  I can not believe I will be sending another one off this summer.  I am so excited but yet so sad.  I worry about where he will go but know it will be where the Lord wants him. Rob and I have told him we would like him to go to Fiji, New Zealand....anywhere exotic so we can come a couple weeks early and pick him up.  I just want him to be happy and ready to serve.

My life is wonderful.!  I am busy and sometimes wonder how I can do it all.  My sisters are sometimes very needy but I am fortunate enough to have a good presidency and we work well together.  I just want everyone to feel the spirit like I did this morning.....to know that the temple allows us to be together forever!!  What a blessing that is