Saturday is a special day!

Today I got the day off! No lessons, no theatre! Just family!! Loved it!
It started late because my sweetie let me sleep in! It was 11:11AM when I finally opened my eyes! CRAZY!! I must have been really tired! Geez!
I went to work almost immediately on getting my house in order. Geoff followed suit by getting the kids moving. We picked up, swept, bathrooms, windows and I mopped ALL the floors on my hands and knees. I was almost done when Geoff had a brilliant idea to shop-vac out the fireplace ashes. The house began to fill with soot and I came in the room shocked and ticked! The house was now dirty again!! I had to remop what I had done, redust and wipe down walls and revacuum! UG! He and the kids laughed and thought it was all so funny. I didn't - of course. After all the cleaning and RE-cleaning was done, Geoff and I headed to Home Depot for some clamps for my dad. He is fixing a door from our entertainment center that the kids split. We also picked up a closet organizer for Kylee (if it works right, then we'll do the other kids closets too) and some weed killer. We returned to pick up the kids and take them to lunch for all their hard work. We went to Applebees. The food was good but the service was awful! She was slow, didn't refill our drinks at all, never asked if we wanted 2nds (we did the all you can eat soup/salad lunch special) and then brought our check without even asking if we were done. Oh well. Small tip.
We got home and Geoff cleaned up, the kids changed into Sunday clothes and I began working on the garage. I got half of it done then changed into Sunday clothes myself. We left for the visitor's center and got there just in time. We watched the documentary video with all of Geoff's family and then proceeded to see the exhibit of portraits. (I mentioned this earlier - Reflections of Christ) It was amazing . . .again! Our kids got rides home with cousins and our nephew came to watch the kids while Geoff and I stayed to meet our ward for our "Becoming a Zion People" ward temple excursion. It was an amazing night and I was so moved by the spirit numerous times. As I stood in the Celestial room near the end of the evening, I watched as Sisters waited for their husbands, Brothern waited for their wives, singles sisters visited with each other. I believe this is as heaven will be. Some of us arriving first and waiting for each other. My thoughts went to Pres. Hinckley and how so many mention first his reunion with his sweet wife. I asked Geoff if he would miss me like Pres. Hinckley missed his wife. His answer surprised me. "I hope I go first because if you go first, I may not make it very long. I'd be so depressed." It made me smile. We stopped at Pete's Fish and Chips on the way home - one of the good parts about going to the temple is stopping there. When I arrived home there was this email in my box. I cried. It's so beautiful that I must share. Enjoy!

Just a couple of thoughta from your dad…

First thing I thought when I heard President Hinckley died was how big a hole he will leave. Then the realization came that we will truly miss him…until a new president is chosen. Then because of the knowledge and understanding we have that the Lord is the real leader of the Church we will simply move on. How beautiful is that understanding and confidence? It won’t be but a few weeks and we will be listening as closely to President Hinckley’s successor as we did to him. It really warms my heart and strengthens my spirit watching this happen. With President Hinckley’s passing I have gone through this eight times and each time my testimony of the Lord and the role of the prophet has grown. As much as I love the teachings of President Hinckley, remember I have been teaching his messages at the institute, I know by next conference we will be as excited about the new prophet’s teachings and President Hinckley’s teachings will quietly slip into history. His accomplishments were great but…they will be overshadowed by someone else. I remember how I felt about President David O. McKay and his incredible accomplishments (and he served in the 12 over 63 years, about 20 as president). Look at what President Hinckley accomplished compared to President McKay, Wow, what a difference! So let’s look forward to the growth under the leadership of the new prophet.

A quick story, when President David O. McKay died several of his family members were crying. One of his grandsons said, “Why is everybody crying? He’s got it made!”. I think President Hinckley too, “has got it made”.

Let's work so when we go others may say, “why are we crying, he’s got it made”.

Love, Dad