Beautiful Day at the Temple

Sat. Dad and I went to the temple for our monthly day to work. At the end of the day there were 2 girls who were about 20 years old who came to do baptisms. As I was talking to them I learned that they had come in honor of one of their Grandparents. Her Grandparents were at the temple being sealed. Since neither were endowed, they decided to come and do temple baptisms while the Grandparents were being sealed. They had such a sweet spirit with them. Afterwards I was outside waiting for dad to come out. As I was sitting there I was enjoying the beautiful day, bright blue sky and the beautiful flowers around the temple, when the thought came to me of the peacefullness that the temple offers. I thought how peaceful it was after such an awful week at work. I'm thankful for the time we can spend each month volunteering at the temple. For the peace and the love I feel for my Savior while I'm in the temple.

My Life in a Jar #9

Did it snow where you lived in your childhood? What kinds of things did you do in it?
Yes it snowed in Smithfield. Most years we wouldn't get snow until Nov. but there were a few years that we had snow in Oct. I can remember a few Halloween's that we went trick or treating in the snow. BURR!
When I was younger we'd play outside in the snow building forts and having snowball fights. When we'd get cold, we'd go inside for hot chocolate and toast. A favorite winter time snack. There was a hill about 2 blocks north of our place where we'd go sledding. It was a gathering place for the kids in our neighborhood. I spent many hours there with my friends. Our elementy school had an ice skating pond where we would spend time after school and on weekends skating. I loved to ice skate. After I graduated from high school a friend talked me into going skiing with her. I was hooked after the first time. After that it seemed like Karen and I would spend any day off work up at Beaver Mountain skiing. We would also go to the mountains and go snow shoeing.
About the only thing I didn't like about winter was getting stuck in the snow and shoveling the drive way. Growing up winter was my favorite time of the year.

Victoria, BC

Over Labor Day we went to Victoria, BC. This was our 2nd trip there but we saw a lot more of the city this time. We bought tickets for the on off bus. You could get on and off at any stop any time. So we were able to see a lot of the city without as much walking as before.
We went to quite a few little shops. One of them was a Converse Shoe store. They had pretty much any style of converse you could ask for. (Christmas shopping) Do you see a pair you just can't wait to have?
Craigdarroch Castle was another place we went. It was built between 1887-1890 for Robert Dunsmuir, who made his fortune from Vancouver Island coal. It was a 28 acre estate. They had 2 sons and 8 daughters. One fact that we noticed was how wealthy the family was, yet all the children except the youngest daughter, turned to alcoholism and other destructive addictions. It shows that money can't buy happiness. The castle was amazing knowing when it was built. They are still in the process of restoring it.
The Parliament Building is a beautiful building that over looks Victoria's waterfront. A 25 year old architect drew the plans for the building. We went on a tour and it was very interesting.
In Chinatown there's a gate that goes across the road that the Chinese government gave to the city. There's a statue of a lion on one side. They were told that when an honest politician walks by, the Lion would become real. (I guess they don't have any more honest politicians than we do)

Victoria, B.C. - Whale Watching

Our Labor Day weekend trip to Victoria, British Columbia was terrific! We went on a whale watching tour for 3 hours and saw sseveral orcas, seals and sea birds. These are photos taken by the crew members that turned out better than we or others on the boat did. We'll add other photos and text to this entry later to show other things we did.

Forks and Hoh Rain Forest

A couple weeks ago Dad had a meeting for Northwest Driving School in Forks, so I went with him. I walked around Forks a bit and took a couple pictures for the Twilight Fans of the family. After his meeting we went to the Hoh Rain Forest. The first time we went there it was raining and we were unprepared. We took one of the trails and were soaked by the time we finished. (remember kids) This time we were prepared with rain jackets, but low and behold it didn't rain. It is one of my favorite spots of nature we have seen in WA. It is so peaceful and magical. I hope you enjoy the pictures. The last one show the yearly rainfall.

Spring & Mary's dresses

Just a sneak preview of the dresses I made for Spring and Mary. I think they turned out really cute. The fabric that Heather and Sara helped pick out for me were perfect. Spring I still have to make your doll's dress and the ties for the boys.