One of the highlights of our years as parents was January 14th -- the day Loren went to the temple to receive his endowment. Alan's parents came with us and we were able to go through the session together and then sit for awhile in the Celestial Room afterwards. Loren was a bit nervous, but overall quite enjoyed it. It was fun to have him see the murals and all the wonderful art work in the Salt Lake Temple. Alan's parents showed us the sealing room off the Celestial Room where they had been married and Alan and I remembered sitting in the Celestial Room for about 15 minutes or so waiting for our turn to be married. Of course, my parents were also married there, so we have a lot of good memories there. The Salt Lake Temple will always be "our" temple.
The next week Alan and I took Loren to the Jordan River Temple to see the film for the first time. He really enjoyed that a lot. After going twice with Alan, the next week Loren and I went to the Timpanogos Temple in Alpine. What a gorgeous Celestial Room with its huge beautiful window allowing so much light to stream in. So, we have been to 3 temples so far and can still visit the Provo and Bountiful temples before starting over again. How amazing that we have 5 temples right now and within a few more years will have 8 temples within a 45 minute drive of our home. How amazing....
School is going well for everyone. In January Waterford had a Spirit Day where each of the classes in the Upper School was assigned a color to wear for day instead of their uniforms. The Freshman wore blue and the Seniors wore black. It is always fun to see what the girls will come up with. They put a lot more effort into it than their older brothers did!
Clark and Elliot have both been playing basketball this winter. Elliot is playing on the 6th Grade team at Waterford and I will have some pictures of him and his team next month. Clark is doing Junior Jazz with a couple of his neighborhood pals and is having a great time, although I will say, that the Friday night practices aren't my favorite -- how do we always get Friday nights? They are both turning into pretty major basketball fans, especially Elliot, who is devotedly watching every Utah Jazz and BYU game on TV. The kids also play a lot in their bedroom, which is something we can pretty much hear all over the house! Whose idea was it to put a double standard in their room anyway?!
In the wee hours of the morning of January 25th my sister Melinda had her second baby and first boy -- Jackson Morgan Crapo. Melinda and Jared were nice enough to allow me to be there as I was interested in seeing a baby born from a different angle than that of the mother. Melinda did great and Jackson is super cute -- looks a lot like his sister Karen, who by the way, likes opening all of the baby gifts! My parents now have 24 grandchildren -- I'm sure they are always watching over us all.
Young Womanhood Recognition Award
The month closed with Tess receiving her Young Womanhood Recognition Award. It is a special award given to the young women in our church that is roughly equivalent to a young man receiving his Eagle Award in the scouting program. She had several goals and projects that were required and on Tuesday January 31st she was honored with a silver medallion necklace and a big bouquet of fresh flowers. We are super proud of her and all her hard work!