Temple Cornerstone & Dedication

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend the Temple cornerstone ceremony the morning of the Dedication. Mark & I and Aldon attended (children over 4 were only allowed) to see the prophet and help put mortar around the cornerstone.

We were also able to send our testimonies in, and have them sealed inside the stone. Aldon drew a picture of the things he had a testimony of. It was a neat thing to be able to explain to Aldon about how our testimonies were sealed in that cornerstone and the prophet sealed it in.

Waiting for the Prophet

Debbie & her son Tanner with Me and Aldon (she was the one that hooked us up wth tickets)

The boys

We were able to bring Amanda, Chris & Alexa as well.

Aldon & Tanner waiting with all the children
(they are by the girl in the blue dress~left side of pic)

President Monson has arrived!

He had such a calmness about him, and he was joking about things~ "We're gonna slap this mud on there and we don't need to do a perfect job of it, cuz they're gonna scrape it out & put it back in professionally, cuz we aren't masons or anything!" I also remember some other things he said like " don't pick it up off the ground(after his daughter dripped some) it's been soiled, here use the pretty stuff" and he was joking about the elder placing it in Portuguese or Spanish lang. and about someone being a lefty( i think Eyrings wife) he just said things in a way that made the mood light, and yet it was very spiritual and sentimental how he exclaimed this temple belongs to us, and in a few minutes it will belong to the Lord.

Addressing how the children all looked so goodlooking and like angels

So I took some pictures family pictures afterwards and also took some pictures of Aldon and Tanner being able to go up and place mortar around the stone afterwards.... and somehow 40 pics were deleted from my camera that night (don't know if Adi hit some buttons or what) but I was so bummed, literally felt sick inside, since i mainly wanted those photos to help Aldon remember that day, since he is so young, to remember it through photos is easier. So we took some again afterwards to recapture it, so I will add those later.




Temple Open House

We have had a wonderful and special month being able to visit the Temple on several occasions for the Open House. We were able to go through with my whole family & Mark's parents & his brother Mike & wife Kelsie, and with Marks mechanic, and again with friends on the last day it was open to the public, with the kids. Aldon absolutely loved it, and was so excited the firs time we went to see the inside, the guide told him to b sure and look for the lizard drawn in the mural of one of the rooms. He was so excited he even said "I can't wait, mom I bet I can find it before you!" He was so cute when he found it, & was so good through the whole tour,just intensely listening to our guide and would even repeat back to me some of theneat things they were saying. He loved finding the syringa flower in all the rooms whether in the windows, carpet, railing, etc.. He also made the comment "didn't my temple turn out great, mom!" Ever since they started building one here, he would always call it "my temple" and how he is going to be married in his temple some day. Adilynn actually was an angel for the tour as well. She fell asleep in my moms arms the first time through, it was darling, and my mom didn't want to give her up to anyone, even when it looked like she was getting tired. So precious. Aldon was the one that made sure we went through one last time on the second to last day, so that he would "remember all the neat things that he could about our temple" as he said. It was very special to be able to share that as a family and to be able to attend the Cornerstone. We all felt the spirit and even Aldon was so excited to see the prophet and to go up and put mortar on the cornerstone. And as Amanda said, I know that this will be a good cornerstone for him to build his testimony on, as all of us will.

These are pictures of some of the times we were there for the Temple Open House

Such a special thing to be a part of.