The 2 most glorious days of my life!

Over the past 2 weeks, I have debated with myself about how I want to describe these 2 events. Since they are so personal, and emotional for me. When I sat down to write about it, it ended up being over 11 pages of written material! So I've decided to give you the short version with ALOT of pictures! (Thanks Jen....you're the BEST!!)

Getting me to the temple was a LONG process. And I was so blessed to have so many bishops who were patient with me, and were willing to work with me! After I began my preparations, my dad started to have some health problems, and we felt an urgent push to make this happen, as we weren't sure what he was dealing with. I really wanted my dad to see me go through the temple, so I got everything in order as quickly as I could. Once I had everything in order, it became a waiting game. His doctors told him it would be about a month before he would get test results back, so we decided that the time was as good as any and made plans for them to fly down. I made my appointments, and then prepared myself for the absolute hardest part of this whole process. I had to write a letter to my X-husband asking his permission to have the kids sealed to Andrew and I. I knew that it was something that I would have to do someday, and I'd been avoiding thinking about it for years!

Well we managed to write the letter, and I waited anxiously to hear anything back. In the meantime, I went and did my endowment on the 3rd of July. It was the most wonderful experience! Having so many gals (and some husbands!) and of course my family come to support me on my special day was purely awesome! Spending a few precious moments with each of them in the temple was so special! Something I will treasure always! Thanks to each of you! (Wish I had pictures...but you all took off!)


Twelve days total went by until I heard anything from him. He had some questions and had tried contacting our bishop, but the number I gave him was wrong. So it took a couple of days for them to connect. After the first phone call, he was convinced that he wouldn't sign the letter. I was disappointed, but I figured that we still had a few days to try and change his mind. Well he called our bishop again the next night, and followed that with a phone call to us. He spoke to Donavan, and was told some pretty brutal things that really needed to be said. Unfortunately he still hadn't changed his mind, but said that he would think about it some more.

The next day, I was truly distraught! I felt so defeated. After all this was a "good" thing, and I was going to be denied this experience because someone was so selfish and didn't understand anything about his children or what they wanted. It was extremely difficult to keep my emotions under control. I'd have to say, it truly was the darkest day of my life. And I've been through LOTS of them in the past 15 years!

The next morning, I woke knowing that it was the LAST day to make him change his mind, and I would eventually need to call him. Another thing I'd been avoiding for years. But I knew that if I didn't try, I would never forgive myself! So while out running errands, I pulled the car into a parking lot, and made the call. I expected to get his voice mail, and was planning on leaving a short message. I was completely prepared to "fight" for this. But instead of "fighting" he answered the call, and we spoke for about 2 minutes before he told me that he was 99.9% sure he was going to sign the letter. I reminded him that we were running out of time and it needed to be mailed TODAY! He promised me that it would be mailed that evening when he got off work. I was still ALOT skeptical, but I was finally finding some hope!

When I got home, I told my parents what had happened, and my dad suggested I call the temple to find out if they would take a faxed copy. They said they would, so I called him back, and asked if he could fax it to me, as well as mail it. So the letter was faxed to the temple and mailed out on Friday! (Nothing like last minute!!) And once the temple received the fax, I knew that it was finally going to happen. I can't even begin to try and describe the amount of prayers that were answered to make this happen! I am truly grateful for everyone who spent time talking to him and helped to soften his heart! Some of them I'm aware of, and a few that I've never met. But I have so much gratitude for them! They truly worked a miracle!

(Trust me.....this IS the short version! But I figured most of you would want to hear the details of the kids getting permission!)


We arrived at the temple, and got the kids settled into the children's center. We were SO worried about how Carissa would behave. But she walked right up to one of the little tables and started coloring. We had told her several times what she would need to do to get ready, and we felt MUCH better knowing that Nikelle would be there to help her get dressed! And I also believe that she felt the spirit and was more reverent than I've EVER seen her!

(I'm getting to the pictures....hang in there!)

When it was time to enter the sealing room, I was so excited! So surreal that it was finally happening! Truly was the luckiest person alive right at that moment!! When we walked in and saw a room full of smiling faces (some already crying....myself included!) Every one of them helped us to get there and made it possible! I am truly grateful for all their wonderful examples and friendships! I am so grateful that they took the time out of their busy summer to come and spend an hour with my family! Such awesome friends! I know some of you were unable to come, but I didn't forget that you also helped me get there, and you were there in spirit!

It was so wonderful to look at my husband and know that we can now be together forever! And all my children too! It was pretty emotional when they brought the kids in! There were a few people that didn't know the kids had received permission, so they were pretty surprised!

When I turned around and looked at my kids for the first time all dressed in white, I was so taken over emotionally. (not that I wasn't already!) But Donavan was holding Carissa and he gave her a quick kiss and put her down so they could get in position. Then it was time for Carissa to join us, and she walked right up to the alter, put her little hand on top of ours and looked right at the sealer, and never took her eyes off him! She was truly angelic! I've never seen her so quiet and peaceful! And it may be a LONG time before I see it again!!!

I'd like to say that I remember everything the sealer said, but I just don't! I think I was doing fairly well until after the kids came in, then I was just enjoying them being there with me! Such a powerful realization that they will all be with me for eternity!

Then we got to spend some precious moments with those that attended and those will also be treasured memories! I am so thankful for all their words of encouragement and love! But the crowning moment for me, was when I went over to my dad and got to hug him! Without his love and example, I'm not sure this would have been possible! I know it was extremely difficult for him to travel here, and his body was not cooperating. There were times that I felt completely selfish for making him come here instead of traveling to Seattle. But when I hugged him, I knew that we'd both made the best decisions, and it was truly a beautiful moment! Thanks dad! I love you so much!

Coming out of the temple

The group shot. (There were a few that snuck away to avoid pictures...boohoo!)

Me and Kassie (I visit teach her, and we served on the enrichment committee together)

Tiffany and Ryan (She's my visiting teaching companion and Nikelle's young women's leader, and Ryan was Donavan's young men's leader when we first moved here)

Our awesome bishop Nate and his wife Melanie. (Melanie had also been at camp with Nikelle all week, and she was told that the letter had been signed, but she had to keep it a secret from Nikelle. That was a tough secret to keep....THANKS!)

Andrew with his brother Tom! Now you may know where he gets it from!

This is Darla. I could do an entire post about how much this gal means to me! She is my visiting teacher, and we also served on enrichment together!

Chris and Teresa. Chris served in one of the many bishoprics we had, and Teresa was one of Nikelle's YW's leaders....and the only friends that we LOVE to chaperon youth dances with! (It's time for another one soon!)

This is Matt and Julie. They used to live down the street, but have now moved to Vegas.(Boo-hoo)! Matt was our home teacher....the best EVER! He may not believe me when I say that, but you truly are inspired! Thanks for driving up early to be there for us. You guys are awesome!

These are our neighbors Pat and Alissa. They have girls the same ages as my girls, and they love to play together! And we love to hang out all together!

This is the Lenz clan. Tom and Julie's family (minus Chris and Kirsty) and Grandma Lenz.

A family shot (trying to get out of the gusting wind!)


A shot of the older kids with their grandparents (Carissa was running in the grass! I REALLY hope they were able to get out the grass stains!)

Here's a sweet picture of my parents! My cute dad was making ga-ga faces at "his bride"....and my mom was so worried about her hair! Golly, I love you guys!

Here's a shot of my side of the family! My sister and her family and my parents!

My boys!

The girls!

One of Carissa dancing in her "pretty white princess dress"!

And my favorite shot of Carissa! We were all lining up for the big group shot, and she was distracted by ants on the ground!

And my favorite of Andrew and I!


Hope you enjoyed, and I didn't bore you too much!
(Thanks to Jen B for the pictures! I didn't think to have someone take our picture:( But she has been an incredible example to me and helped me through some pretty rough times! Thanks for everything!)

Parade, Floats, dentist, & a Q.T.!

Seems that the past week was pretty busy!
On Saturday we started with a bike parade. Carissa woke up EXTREMELY excited to go to the bike parade. But she also woke up EARLY! So the waiting process until the parade started was excruciatingly LONG! So by the time it was time to leave, she had become a VERY grumpy girl, and nothing seemed to make her happy.

She did enjoy going through the "bike wash", but after that, she was pretty uncooperative.

The gals that organized the parade had brought supplies to make little felt flags for the kids' bikes. But Carissa wanted the whole table to herself, and got very upset when other kids would grab what she was going for. So being the stubborn one that she is, she made 2 flags and covered them in foam stickers! Then we made our way around the neighborhood (well she was too busy making her 2nd flag to realize that everyone had left, so we went straight to the park) and then ended up at the park for lunch. She was pretty grumpy there too, so we ended up bringing her home early!

On tuesday, I finally got around to looking at the mail, and realized that the float preview party was ending that day. So after Andrew got home from work, we headed over to look at the floats. She was super excited, and wanted to see them all at once. We couldn't convince her that we'd see everything, we just wanted to look at them in an orderly fashion, instead of racing back and forth!

But once she saw this Monsters Vs. Aliens float....she was in HEAVEN!


(notice the "Ginormica" head back there. I'm not sure why they made her only a head, after all, she is really the hero of the movie, and they kinda tucked her behind the others, and then chopped off her body....still confused by that!)
She was quite disappointed when she saw that there wasn't a picture of "The Missing Link"! Man this girl is obsessed!

Then she saw this float with this cute little (well maybe not little!) dog on it.

There were balloon artists all over the place so we then stood in line to get a balloon animal for her. Of course it was the longest line in the whole place, but she waited patiently, and the funny clown made her a LONG pink doggie, and a horse.

Then on Wednesday we had to take her to the dentist to have some cavities taken care of. Because she is LESS than willing patient, we opted to go general sedation dentistry. The hardest part was waiting for her turn.

She kept herself busy by coloring and playing with some toys they had there. Eventually the receptionist put on Shrek, and she and Andrew were repeating it line for line!

(She didn't want her picture taken....but I couldn't resist!)
It was cracking everyone up! They were running a bit behind schedule, and she ended up waiting about an hour and a half instead of 45 minutes.

Then we had another 45 minutes to wait to hear from the doctor. He came out and told us that she was in better shape than we expected. He thought there would be several issues with the teeth that touch, but there were no problems there. So instead of 6-7 cavities, she only ended up needing 3 fixed. Then he put sealants on the chewing surfaces to prevent anymore in the grooves. So we were pretty pleased that it was good news!

The next part, was truly the hardest part. When she was coming out of it. Nothing is scarier than having your baby look at you with unrecognizing eyes, and seeing the terror behind them. That phase didn't last long, but it still frightens me! She was much more violent than she was last time, thrashing a lot more. She didn't want to really drink anything, so I just held her in my arms until she was alert enough to go home. And after getting her home, she was up and playing within 30 minutes! Then she was STARVING! We tried to go slow, but she just wanted to EAT everything. And luckily we didn't have any issues, so we just kept feeding her!

She was extremely sad that she didn't get to bring home a new toothbrush or a toy after going to the Dr. So I went to my secret stash of bargains, and pulled out this beautiful Sleeping Beauty bed, complete with Sleeping Beauty. But because she is a well rounded child and her imaginitive play is much better than the average 4 year old, this is what I looked over to discover...........

(I tried to tell you she was "obsessed"......when is this DVD coming out? Anyone know???)

Here's a cute picture I took of her while she was outside playing! Boy is she a challenge, but when she smiles, and gives you those cute eyes....boy is she a Q.T.!!

Idol concert

After our fast trip to CA, we came home and I took Nikelle to the Idol concert! I was able to take a little nap before we left, but I was still so tired!

On the way there, I hadn't really looked at the tickets, so I was heading downtown thinking it was a the ESA, but it was really at the E-center. I realized this right as I was almost passing the exit, and thankfully there were no cars around as I made my way over to the exit!

Here's N all ready for the concert! She had wanted to made a poster for Adam, but decided against it. We were pretty surprised that no one really brought any posters or anything.


The concert was really fun. But I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have more group numbers. They brought out each finalist who sang a couple of songs individually, and after they had the six, they FINALLY did a group number. I thought the show was finally getting going. The crowd was excited. And then they announced an intermission. WHAT???? It's just getting going!!!

But the show picked up right where it left off, when Alison came on! That girl can SING! I was really impressed with her. But the person I was REALLY surprised about was Scott. I REALLY couldn't stand him during the season, and had NO idea what the judges saw in him. But seeing him live, I now understand what they saw. He really is a great live performer. Especially when he's singing something that he's had months to rehearse! Then he and Matt G. did a "piano duel" and it was INCREDIBLE.

(I need to back up for a minute here. I don't have many pictures because I forgot to charge my battery in my little camera after getting back from CA. So I was worried that I wouldn't get any shots of Adam if I wasted my battery on the other performers!)

Then Danny came out. He is SO incredible! He talked a bit about his wife, and I was just about in tears! Then he sang "My Wish" by Rascall Flatts, and I did really lose it!

Then the crowd went CRAZY when Danny was introducing the next performer!

The entire place was screaming and on their feet! Of course Adam made a pretty dramatic entrance! I tried to record it with my little camera, but the sound is so distorted that I'm opting to not post it. The sound is really awful! And poor Nikelle couldn't contain herself, so you hear her screaming through the whole thing! But if you really want to watch 20 minutes of his performance, I'd be happy to send it to you!

Adam sang a duet with his "kid sister" Alison. Then they built up all this energy to bring Kris out. Once he got singing, it was kinda sad to me, because the crowd (almost 60% of it) sat back down. The energy was gone. And we even noticed a few people leaving!

Then they had a big group number with all of them. When that was over, the lights came up, and everyone started leaving! I was a bit confused since I've NEVER been to a concert without a curtain call! But they never came back out! It was AWESOME to see Adam live, but I was thoroughly disappointed with the rest of the concert. I was really hoping for more group numbers, and I think they only had about 4. But we still had a GREAT time! Thanks Andrew for getting us the tickets, and not pitching a HUGE fit about not getting to go! But I don't think Nikelle would have forgiven me if I didn't take her to see Adam!

Our FIRST vacation in 1794 days!

For those of you doing the math...that amounts to 4 years and 31 days!!! We hadn't had a vacation since we were first married, and it was well overdue! It's been nearly impossible to leave Carissa, because every time we walk in the other room, she would go into hysterics until we came back. It wasn't until very recently that she started to allow us to be in another room, and she would be fine playing somewhere else as well. She also was starting to interact with her teachers and even people walking by the house. So when we had a choice between doing a "reception" after our sealing OR going on a vacation....we were quick to jump on the vacation idea! (and I wasn't too keen on planning a reception in about 3 weeks!)

I left where we would go up to Andrew, but it didn't really surprise me that he wanted to go to L.A. And even less, when he said we were going to DisneyLand for a day! Don't get me wrong, that was exactly where I wanted to go too!

So we booked our flight and left early sunday morning, arriving early enough that we could hit Universal Studios for the day.



Thinking of course that it would be less busy than Disney, since it was the weekend. Boy were we WRONG! Apparently, it was the busiest (and hottest) day they'd had since summer began. But we made one good choice. We bought the V.I.P. passes that got us to the front of EVERY ride AND EVERY show! It was totally worth the extra money for that, since we only stood in line.....no longer than 5 minutes! And that was only because we had to wait for the previous show to get out! We had front row seats at EVERY show (except we didn't want front row seats at WaterWorld!!).

*One thing we learned while talking to someone who works at Universal, is that when the weather is HOT, and it's pretty crowded, they DO increase the water pressure on the water rides, so you WILL get wet! Trust me....you can't avoid it! Thought you might like to know that!

One of our favorite shows was the Shrek 4D show! It was really cute! And the graphics were amazing! Here's a picture of a sign that was above the line area (which, had I not stopped to take a picture, we probably wouldn't have ever noticed!)


We'd been eyeing the "Fast and the Furious" cars all through the park, but during the day, they were WAY too hot to touch, so after it had cooled off a bit (and we were SUPER wet from going on the Jurasic Park ride....TWICE!!!) I got to pose with the cool car from the movie! (don't mind the out of focus picture...that's just Andrew taking it...and he NEVEr takes back-up shots!)

And of course he had to get a picture with the Terminator bike!


Then because I had taken my smaller camera, my battery was dying, and of course I didn't think to bring my charger, not knowing that the battery would only last for a day! So I didn't get any more pictures, and tried not taking too many the next day. *(Sorry)

So on Monday, we ventured over to Disney, and found out it was also the busiest day of the year. But unfortunatley, there were NO V.I.P. passes to be bought, and we were forced to hunt out the fast passes like everyone else! But it wasn't too bad....just HOT! So we tried to stay inside for as much as we could. But soon found out that there were much fewer shows at Disney than we remembered. And the one show we were excited to see over in California Adventure doesn't run shows on Mondays. (and that's really the ONLY reason that we bought a park hopper ticket)

So before my camera completely died....we managed to get a nice couple to take our picture while riding on the train.


So hopefully we will be able to sneak away sooner than 1794 days, because now I've had a taste of life without kids! It was really nice to just be a couple. Not to worry about bedtimes or temper tantrums, or back talking! What a nice break! Now the tricky part is coming back and getting back to the not so pleasant things of life!

Stay tuned for the temple updates! (Be patient....I don't have the pictures yet!)

The perfect parade

I don't know how we manage to do it every year, but we always have a good parade experience! We got the same shady parking space as we do every year, and managed to find a family that lives in our neighborhood to sit with! The weather was absolutely PERFECT. Just enough cloud cover to keep it shady, but no rain!


Carissa had a great time! Her favorite part was getting ice cream (at 10:00 in the morning!) from McDonald's! She loved waving at the performers.

Her next favorite (well depending on the outcome) was running out in the street to gather up the candy that was thrown. There were plenty of tears as she wasn't quite as fast as some of the bigger kids. And once she saw that they threw out smarties, and she got taffy. Luckily, a girl watching was willing to trade her smarties for 2 taffys! It's always nice to have nice people around!

The big kids were much harder to please. But they had their music, and were pretty oblivious to the parade! They just wanted to be home in bed (go figure!) after all, it's REALLY difficult to get up before NOON! (notice their enthusiasm here!!!)

Then when it was dark enough, we cracked open the sparklers and lit some fireworks in front of our house!

Carissa was mesmerized by the lights, but that wasn't good enough for the "pyros" in my house. (it didn't help that Donavan had a friend over!) And it wasn't long before they were jumping over the flames. Scared the pants off me! It wasn't long before Carissa was laying in the grass almost falling asleep, so that ended our fireworks show for the night!

New Space

In preparation for my parents coming, I decided to clean out my scrap (AKA "crap") room, so that there would be enough room for an air mattress and their bags. The way I had it set up, I could get an air mattress in there, but it was a VERY tight squeeze, and it didn't leave much room for any luggage.

So I began the process of purging stuff out. But since I don't really paper scrap anymore, I wasn't sure what to really keep. I still use some of it, but not very often. But it still takes up WAY more space than the digital stuff. (well Andrew wouldn't agree since he's had to buy new hard drives for me!!)

After a trip to Ikea, we came home with a van full of organizing beauties! Donavan was my construction partner, and it took us about an hour to construct the shelves. Then came the fun part of organizing it all. I still need to go back and label it all, but I was impressed with how much stuff the shelf holds.

And for those of you that saw what the room looked like before, you will see how much of an improvement this is!!! And if you never were lucky enough to see the disaster room....consider yourself lucky! I'm opting to not post the before pictures, because everyone knows that I'm kinda a cluttery person, but this room was WAY beyond "cluttery"!
Here's a picture of my desk...since I KNOW it won't look like this for long, and I'll forget what it looked like clean!


I'd love to say that having a clean room has inspired me to make something crafty, but it really hasn't! But maybe that's cause I've been a bit distracted up until now! Which is going to be the next couple of posts! But they deserve their own all together....(and I don't yet have all the pictures!!!)

Catching up!

Seems that things have been extremely busy the past 2 weeks! I'll start out with saying that everything that happened in the past 2 weeks were all amazing, miraculous, beautiful, and a bit of fun!

My parents flew in from Seattle, and that means a trip to the airport and a chance for my sister and I to get together! So I drove my parents down to her house where they stayed for a few days. It's always fun to get the cousins together. Only Nikelle and her oldest are the same age, but they all get along really great. And Carissa has a great time with her youngest, who is about a year older than her. The highlight was the trampoline! What a blast these four had....until the grown-ups realized that one of two things would happen with them all on the tramp.

One....they were going to break it.

(Notice the sagging tramp.....and the little ones wanting to be included!)
OR...Two....they would launch Camille up and over the enclosure! (She's 12 and she MIGHT weigh around 65 pounds!) So we quickly put an end to the fun! (I know....mean parents!!!)


But once the little ones were allowed a turn on the tramp, they had a great time jumping and running on it! Carissa's favorite thing to do was to dance across it, but that frustrated Nathan, and he wanted her to "finish her turn" so he could JUMP!


Stay tuned for more updates!