Snow!

As we were landing in Salt Lake City, Eric looked out the window and saw all the snow.  He immediately asked if we could move there.  I hate cold weather, so my reply was "No!"  It only took a few minutes for Eric to understand my response.   He became cold very quickly.   He agreed that it is nice to visit snow, but maybe not live in it.  

We spent the first morning in Provo.  We found a great park that was perfect for sledding.  We called my YW's leader from 20 years ago, and she outfitted the kids with good sleds, boots, hats, and gloves.  They loved sledding.

After sledding we attended the Draper Open House.  I had never gone to an Open House before and  I  wondered what it would be like to attend a Temple that wasn't in operation yet.  It was amazing that they were able to maintain the same level of reverence inside the Temple even though it was open to the general public.  The kids enjoyed their tour.  Our purpose in taking Eric and Erin to this open house was to hopefully help them develop a strong desire to live worthily to one day be sealed there.  

After the open house, we went and bought a sled since we had to return the stuff we borrowed earlier.  Now the kids had to share a small disc sled.  They only had a coat, mittens, and tennis shoes.   But we found a great golf course that converts to a great sledding area in the winter.  It was icy so the kids had no traction in their tennis shoes but they had fun slipping around everywhere. 

The next day we went to Temple Square and visited the sights there.  We had lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe and then went to see a movie, Bedtime Stories.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go sledding again.  I guess they had enough from the first day.  Eric was a little sore from the day before.

We had a great visit. It was so much easier traveling with the big kids and not having Nathan and Zachary with us.  But we missed them and were anxious to get home and see them.  Mario missed us but had a great time with the twins.  He is a big believer that you bond with those you serve.  So he had a great week of bonding with the twins as he attended to every need and desire of 2 five year olds.  Believe me, those two are always  needy!

As always, I came back to a house much cleaner than I left it.  Thank you Mario!