Weekend Temple Trip

We had a Stake temple day on Saturday so we decided to make a weekend of it and stay in a hotel the night before. It was a great little weekend getaway. I am always blown away by how gorgeous the Mesa Temple is. We had a great time walking around enjoying the beatiful temple grounds and Visitors Center. As much of a production as it is to get everything ready for the 3 hour drive and then taking turns in the temple, I think it is a neat experience for the kids as well. Back in Utah we could just leave them with my parents and go 5 minutes away, we would go to the temple then rush back to get them. Since we've been here I always think how I really took those days for grantide, but this time when we went to the temple I realized living so far from the temple has its advantages too. Now that we have to drive so far and have the kids with us, we take our time while we are there. The girls are able to have their own little temple experience at the Visitors Center and while walking around the temple we are able to talk with them and answer their millions of questions. It is a fulfilling experince for all of us.
Just recently Kamaile has been much more interested in the Book of Mormon and other gospel stories. Aaron is so good at reading the scriptures to her every night and making the stories come to life. The other day at Joy school her teacher told me during free play time she was assigning parts to act out Abinidai and King Noah. While she's playing with barbies she'll say things like "I'm going to smite you" or "We're going to burn you to death" ya it's a little gruesome. She can act out entire scenes from the Living Scripture movies using word for word lines. In Primary they've been talking about the war in heaven, so I've heard Maile trying to explain it to Emmy. Since then they try to make the other person feel guilty to get a toy back by saying "Emmy you're following Satan right now" or "Jesus is going to be mad at you". Emmy's latest sayings when someone makes her mad is "ok I'm not going to play with you" or "ok you don't get any treats" so after their little war in heaven discussion she started saying "ok Jesus isn't going to send you to earth". I love hearing and seeing what their little minds make up from the things they learn and am glad they have taken such an interest to these stories.