i know, i know... its been a while

i haven't posted for a while because well, let's face it. i have just been kinda busy and when i wasn't busy, the computer was either ignored or occupied by, um, not me.... so here i am by myself on friday night because zach is at work. and rei rei is keeping watch out the living room window so i can finally have some time to blog.
i last left you all just before thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was wonderful except for being so rushed. zach and i didn't get the head start we thought we could get to head down to la verkin. we ended up leaving about 2 hours after we had planned. mostly in part of the freezing cold. our windshield washer fluid froze because i still had summer fluid in. imagine that, you don't use as much washer fluid in the summer than in the winter/weather..... anyway... we had to stop at walmart and put in winter washer fluid. still didn't help because the line was also frozen.
our usual 4, 4 1/2, 5 hour trip took almost 6 hours because we had to keep stopping to splash washer fluid on the windshield so we could see. and rei rei kept having to make potty breaks. (i told her before we left that she needed to be a good dog and potty and poop before we left) and she sort of did... at least the potty part. we were able to sleep in a tiny bit on thanksgiving morning, but i really wanted to visit with my family. so i didn't really sleep in and once again rei rei is used to keeping my early morning hours and insisted on being taken out to potty at 530am. oh the joys of having early mornings and a puppy set on that schedule...
thanksgiving dinner was of course excellent. mom & dad (smith) and everyone else that added their talents of cooking to the meal did a wonderful job. the whole family was there and it was just a fantastic time. after dinner we rushed to take family pictures since we were all there. and then zach & i & rei rei had to head back up to ogden. boo hoo for black friday and both of us having to work it. blah. and that was thanksgiving. very short and yet it was still worth it.
december brought with it very chilly weather. and i have been able to get to know my young women's girls better. we had an activity to do baptisms for the dead as a whole youth group. it was such an incredible time to see the youth doing baptisms and watching zach throw the young men down in the water then struggle just a tiny bit to bring them back up. the ogden temple has a unique viewing area that looks straight at the font and allows everyone (in the baptistery in the temple) to watch the baptisms. when the names we brought were all done, and the youth all dried off, we went to golden corral for dinner. a few of the girls had a bit much sugar and it was quite funny to watch them giggle and enjoy each others company. and after dinner we all went to the ogden lds institute christmas show. it was quite a different time for me being there in the audience without having my sister to watch or me being on stage too. but it was a good time.
december also brought with it a sad but happy day. my grandpa richmond passed away. i was kinda shocked that my dad called to tell me since sometimes he forgets that his children might want to know these things. i was even more shocked when he asked me to sing a musical number at the funeral. i mentioned that esther has a beautiful alto voice and it might be better if we could do a duet instead of a solo for me. my dad agreed and es & i did the duet. i had to fight hard not to let the tears take over me. but it was a happy day because grandpa was home with his sweetheart again. my grandma richmond had passed away earlier in the year. i think grandpa really really missed her and just wanted to be home with her for christmas.
then an exciting day for mona happened. it was her birthday, but also, she was able to go and receive her endowment at the logan temple. i was able to go and be in the session with her and most of the snyder clan. it was a wonderful day. and so exciting.... (this was my second session since i received my own endowment in june) i know, i know.... zach & i tried to go to do a session in ogden temple, but the temple was closed the day we went and scheduling things have not allowed us to go together. but we were able to go and do sealings with mike & debbie once and that was a lot of fun.
after we had lunch and fun with the snyders; es, zach & i headed up to blackfoot to have an early christmas with dad, eliz, adam & cedar. it was a lot of fun to be able to see adam & cedar. we hadn't seen them since our joint reception in june. their dog, bosco, has gotten really big and rei rei and bosco had tons of fun. they were good entertainment for us. esther is a very crafty person and had made homemade dog toys for bosco. rei rei and bosco played tug-a-war with one. they were about equal in strength & height. at one point bosco laid down while still keeping his end of the rope in his mouth. rei rei didn't like that. she started dragging bosco across the floor. it was so funny and we were all laughing so hard that rei rei stopped and looked at us funny. it was a great time.
and now finally to real christmas. thanks to our thanksgiving mishaps, i was packed and ready to go by the time zach got off work. so all i had to do was pick him up and we were off. we made it in our usual 4, 4 1/2, 5 hour time on christmas eve. both of us had to work, but i got off quite a few hours before zach did. it was sooooo good to actually spend time with mom & dad (smith) and relax. christmas was wonderful and i hated leaving to head back up to freezing cold ogden.
i am going to take the last bit here to share what happened on the monday after christmas. we were able to stay in la verkin until monday afternoon/evening. my cousin was going to receive her endowment that day. i didn't know this until we got down there. i had actually had a thought to grab our temple clothes right before i locked up the apartment and went to get zach. i dismissed it because i thought temples were closed on mondays. when we got down there and mom mentioned that we should come to the session, i thought what a stupid idiot i was not to have obeyed my, what i realized now, prompting.
well, you can rent temple clothes at the temple. hooray! we could go. so i got up monday and got myself all ready to go to the temple. i then had a thought that i should make sure i had my temple recommend. i went to my purse and pulled out my wallet. low and behold, i had left my recommend in my temple bag when i went through in logan with mona. i went to tell zach i didn't have my recommend and once again, could not go. i felt awful. because of my own stupidity, i couldn't go to the temple. i started to cry and zach held me for a minute. he said he would stay with me and i told him no. he needed to go, even if i couldn't. we went out to tell mom & dad that i had forgot my recommend. dad then said, it's ok, i have a plan. we called the temple and dad explained the situation. the temple asked for our bishop's phone number. then we left it at that. i thought that maybe i should also try calling the bishop. i did and no one answered. it was now time for us to go to the temple. the whole ride to st. george i was praying that somehow i would be able to still go.
when we got to the temple, i went in and said that i was the sister who had left her recommend in ogden. they had me wait at the side for a minute while other people went in. finally they came and said i could come in and attend the session. a rush of gratitude and love came over me. during that session, i was thinking about how much life is like what just happened to me. i'll explain.
we come down to earth (la verkin) and spend time with our loved ones. we then are called home (the temple/heaven) but find ourselves full of sin and can't be allowed in (forgetting temple recommend/temple clothes). our wise heavenly father (dad smith) says it's ok, i have a plan. and then though repentance and our savior jesus christ (a series of phone calls to our bishop) we can enter the gate of heaven and come home to be with our loved ones and our heavenly parents again in the celestial kingdom (temple/celestial room). see, it makes sense. sort of. anyway i know that i was blessed and that i needed to be at the temple that day or i wouldn't have been able to go in. it was such a grand feeling being back in the temple, esp the temple i was sealed to zach in for time and all eternity. to be with my family in the celestial room after and knowing that heavenly father loves me and knew that i needed the temple that day was just amazing :)