Wedding bells are ringing!

My baby sister is getting married next month! I'm so excited for her. She's excited too as the picture attests.

The man of her dreams gave her this beautiful ring. I still haven't met the man but I hear from the family that he's a keeper.

We threw her a bridal shower. Those fortune cookies were handmade by my amazing sister-in-law, Melinda. They contained some of the funniest fortunes I've ever heard. My aunt's fortune read, "Your future will be embarrassing." Love it!

I enjoyed meeting some of Julie's close friends and spending time with family that I don't get to see often. I administered a multiple choice test all about Kurt and Julie's courtship. It was great fun to invent make-believe scenarios about their courtship. It was fun to see which people were really in the know on Julie's life!

Fun, fun, fun!

We stayed with my big sis, Jenny, and her three kids. Can I just say we had so much fun with them?!! Lily has been waiting ages to spend time with Sarah and Amy. And she's been excited to see Ty, but oh, so afraid, he'd tickle her 'til she couldn't breathe. She laid down the law and said no tickling her...he agreed.

My Carter is such a boy. He loves to play rough, blow raspberries in people's faces, and do annoying stuff like that...well, I was delighted to see that he'd found someone who would play with him! Ty was lying on the couch. Carter came right up to him and made a very annoying sound in his face. Normally, if he did that to me I'd say, "Stop it, Carter." But awesome Tyler did it right back to Carter! So they had a little annoying sound war with each other...and Carter loved it! He's a super fun cousin! I also have to add that Tyler is a busy young man, always at work or out with friends, but he made time to spend with us while we were there. Thanks, Ty!

Sarah did Lily's makeup and hair. Lily felt so beautiful.

My beautiful nieces, Amy and Sarah.

Aunt Jen spoiled the kids and showered them with love. She's affectionately known as Aunt Skittles because she often has packs of Skittles for all the little cousins. They adore her! My beautiful sis is an amazing woman. I admire her courage, sense of humor, dedication to her family and the Lord, and her beauty.

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love Temple Square. I have pleasant memories of time I spent there throughout my childhood and youth. I want my children to have a little bit of that too. We visited Temple Square and had a wonderful time.

A feeling of peace pervades this place. It is calm and beautiful. I feel God's love for me when I am there.

We enjoyed the Christus statue and the reminder of our Savior's love and infinite sacrifice for us.

The temple grounds are always so lovely. I love the flowers, grass, and trees there, coupled with the blue sky. It's a beautiful place. I wanted to get a photo of all my kids together. The girls appeased me...

Carter didn't.

Another favorite activity of the day was watching Book of Mormon stories in the visitors' center. We watched clips about Nephi's trust in God when he and his family were traveling in the wilderness and needed food. He sought God's direction about where to hunt and went to work to make a new bow and arrow after his original one broke.

We also liked the clip about the young men who fought valiantly to protect their families, people, and liberty. They trusted God completely because their mothers taught them to have faith in God.

This statue caught my attention because it captures and portrays motion. Joseph Smith was always in motion, he was always doing, working, producing, serving. I felt inspired to move forward and better serve others.

Lily got a kick out of this cool drinking fountain. You push the foot pedal on the bottom to get water. Cute Lily had to put both feet on the pedal and use all her body weight to make it work! Needless to say, she took several drinks from that fountain and then got a few more when we passed by it again later.

I served my mission in France and Belgium. I found a soeur Francaise (a French sister missionary) serving on Temple Square and absolutely loved speaking with her in French. I love France and speaking French, but don't have the opportunity very often. So this was a treat. At the end of our conversation, this soeur sincerely thanked me for serving in her country. I honestly can't express how that touched me. If you served in France, you can understand why that meant so much.

As we stood on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, I told the kids again about their great, great....grandpa from their daddy's side of the family who manned the crane that placed the statue on top of the Salt Lake Temple spire after it was built. The kids always love hearing that story. Hearing it again while seeing the statue high on top of the temple, made it real and exciting to them.

This was a wonderful day. I was spiritually filled.