Family Temple Weekend

So, my streak of non-blogging continues . . . sorry about that! I keep promising myself I’ll be better and then I’m not. Just bear with me, okay!

This weekend I had another very special temple experience with my family that I’d like to share here. For any of my readers who don’t know, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I know with all my heart the doctrines of our church are true. One of my most favorite is the doctrine of eternal marriage and families. Nothing makes me feel happier than thinking about how I get to be with my family forever. Then again I have been blessed with a wonderful family who loves and supports me. That makes a difference.

This weekend we had the opportunity to be in the temple as my sister completed temple ordinances for our dear Miss Sassypants. Let me just tell you what an incredible experience this was. To be in the temple with almost my entire family (just one brother and sister-in-law weren’t able to be there), to feel her close and to complete work for some of our ancestors at the same time was a remarkable experience. Surely that is heaven on earth. And she made it clear she was with us in the temple.

Here we all are after the session, just before the sky opened up and started pouring on us. Good times!

Afterwards, we all enjoyed lunch at Chuck-a-Rama, a favorite Miss Sassypants tradition.

This totally sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it was actually lots of fun. On Saturday night we were hanging out at my sister’s house and this is the tally of who was there: 11 kids, 13 adults (my immediate family is pretty big when we’re all together) and five dogs. It wasn’t overly crowded though because my sister’s house is spread out enough and the kids had a nifty “secret room” to play in, so it was fine. My family does love their dogs.

The adults enjoyed a jewelry party on Saturday night, courtesy of my sister-in-law’s Paparazzi jewelry business.

My youngest niece, KK, is always a delight for everyone in the family. Heavenly Father knew we would need her sweet and special spirit and sent her to our family at just the right time. Now she has about eight big brothers and at least four big sisters (in addition to her aunts and uncles) who watch out for her. It’s really sweet.

It was a fantastic weekend and left everyone exhausted. People … and dogs too.

My heart is full just thinking about my wonderful family and what an important blessing they are in my life. And we have a special angel on the other side watching out for us, which makes life that much sweeter.