Alycia at the St George Temple

What a great weekend. Our temple is closed right now and Alycia is getting married next week on the first day it opens. Since we don't want to squeeze too much into one day she wants to take out her own endowment (that is what the major temple ordinance is called) before her wedding day. The problem is, the temple is closed so she had to take out her endowment in another temple. We love the Newport Beach Temple and it isn't too far away but when we called we found out that it too is closed. I'm not quite sure why they would close two temples that are so close by at the same time but that is the way it is. We then decided that since Trevor is from St George we may as well just go there to take out her endowments. It meant another road trip but what the heck.

The best part is that Brandon was able to come. Brandon and Serene drove home from Texas earlier in the week but since Serene is eight and a half months pregnant she wasn't too anxious to hop back in the car and drive another two days. Brandon told me that after they got home they had to run an errand but when Sydney saw that they were getting into the car she freaked out. She wasn't up to a road trip either.

It was pretty cool when Alycia saw that Brandon was there. She didn't know that he was coming and when she saw him she burst into tears. No, they were NOT tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. She was thrilled to see him and she gave him a big hug. We had a great time with the Crowley's, our families get along very well.

The other cool part is that Sharley was able to come. She was already in St George visiting her parents so even though Ben couldn't get time off work Sharley was there to represent him.

We also called up Louis and Marty Nygaard. Louis is my cousin (the daughter of Uncle Merlin and Aunt Nola). I haven't seen her in years but I knew she lived in St George so we thought we would invite her. I am so glad they were able to come. After the temple session we all went to have dinner at the Golden Corral. It was a buffet so no one left hungry. Sadly, Sharley had prior commitments so she couldn't come with us. I had a great time getting to know Louis' kids who have really grown up. We enjoyed sharing old memories about each others families. It is too bad that two of my kids were missing and one of hers. I had a good visit with her kids but unfortunately I've already forgotten their names. I know one of the twins is Jay and I think the youngest one is Joseph but I can't remember the other twins name or the other girl who wasn't there. It was great visiting with everyone and the food was good too.

We all slept in a bit and then got ready for church. After church Brenda had a nice salad ready for us and really enjoyed it. It was so fun staying with the Crowley's. We were expecting to stay in a hotel room but when they invited us to stay with them we jumped at the opportunity to get to know them better. I'm really glad they did because they are a great family.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. After visiting way too long we finally pulled out of St George and left the 110° weather behind us. It was really hot up there. We had to drop Brandon off in Malibu so it was after 2:00AM before we got home. I decided to sleep in this morning so I got to work late. I needed the sleep and even still I've been nodding off all day.

So Alycia is now an endowed member of the church and we are all anxiously anticipating the big wedding next week. Hopefully in all of the excitement I'll have some time to keep the blog updated.