How did two weeks pass?

Wow, where has all the time gone? The kids have been enjoying our last precious days of summer by going to the park, playing with our friends, and running around. Josh is pretty much crawling now, and can get just about anywhere he wants to. Our lives are getting a little more complicated...AHH!

Heather pushing Josh in the swing

Josh LOVES the swing!

Heather helping Josh be happy.

Heather being Heather. :)

We went to the temple yesterday. The kids were great! I was just thinking as we were traveling home that some people may think we are crazy for dragging our entire family to the temple once a month. I agree! It's tough. The schedule is messed up for the day. It's hard to keep the kids entertained for 4 hours while mommy and daddy take turns going to the temple (especially when it is rainy...like yesterday). Remembering to pack a lunch and breakfast. Not to mention the price of gas. So...it ends up being expensive one way or the other. It's taxing on our patience reservoirs, there's extra stress on the kids, and it's expensive monetarily. It is easy to look at these things (especially money) and say we can't afford it. But despite all that, I feel that we can't afford not to go to the temple.

We have received more blessings than we can imagine from going to the temple every month. We have been so blessed in many ways. And despite looking at our finances and thinking maybe a temple trip would be too expensive, we have always had the money that we needed to get there and back and enough for the rest of the month as well. I don't want to sound preachy or anything, but I know that because we have made it a point to go to the temple at least once a month our marriage has been stronger, we have always had the things that we need (even a surplus), and the spirit is in our home in greater abundance. I would encourage all of us to make a little more time in our lives for the temple. It's well worth the effort. I am so grateful for the temple, the things we can learn there, and the blessings that we can see in our lives because of it.