Road Trip to the Temple

Two weeks ago the special education director for my school district called the school and asked if I would be willing to go to a conference with her in Vancouver on November 13th. She would fly me down for the day. It was a conference I really wanted to go to because of some things going on in my classroom. (The conference was on teaching Sexuality to student on the Autism Spectrum, can you guess what kinds of stuff might be going on at the high school...) I said yes and then realized that since Collin is still being breastfed their would no way for me to be away from him all day. And so a master plan was hatched. My parents, with Sheryl and Amy Coe were going to the Seattle Temple the same weekend. It would be the first time Amy would be able to attend. Steven was going along and my mom said she would be willing to babysit my kids. It has been more than three years since I attended the temple. I called Theresa and asked her if it would be okay if I drove down and spent the night in Vancouver instead of flying. She said yes which meant the school district would pay for the ferry, gas mileage and the hotel stay. (Which only left me to pay Landon's ferry fare, hotel in Washington and gas to the temple two hours from Vancouver.) Serena Coe came with us to help Landon out with the kids in Richmond while I was at my conference.

I got caught up at work so we literally drove right onto the ferry. They closed the gate behind us and drove away. Then as we were approaching the second ferry we realized we had forgotten our passports and my wallet at home. So frantic phone calls were made to my brother Matt and he organized my parents to pick them all up. My dad would drop them off at my Aunt Aileen's house so that we could pick them up before heading to the border. We arrived late at the hotel in Richmond and so we ordered dinner to our room. It was very YUMMY! Emily loved the room at the Ramada. Huge King Size bed with countless pillows, which quickly ended up on my floor. She explored every inch of the room, hallway and elevator. :)8

My conference was AWESOME but I will spare you the details unless you are interested... :) I met up with Landon and the kids at the mall across the street to feed Collin and to hit Old Navy and The Children's Place (I had a child's birthday party and a baby shower on Sunday.) We found the slippers that Emily loves at Old Navy. They are fleece boots. She wears them everywhere and were on sale for $4.50 so I bouGht them in every size. They should last her to next year. :) My workshop ended at 3 pm and we were out of there. We had to make it to the temple by 7:30pm so that Serena could do baptisms. Its a 3 1/2 hour drive plus the border. Beginning of rush hour, you get why we left ASAP. Traffic was really good to my aunt's house and my cousins were waiting for me to give me the stack of paperwork. Thanks Jake and Joe! Traffic was pretty good to the border and the directions I had downloaded the night before were perfect! There was a wait at the border but we made it over by 5:30pm with at least 1 1/2 hour drive to go. We pulled into the parking lot at the temple with 15 min to spare! I took the kids to our hotel 10 minutes up I-90 and hung out with my mom until everyone else joined us. We went to I-Hop for dinner. It was a fabulous night! (Even if our hotel had THE tackiest bedspreads EVER!)

**Funny story about the border: The US border guard asked for our passports and where we were going. He then asked where we were coming from. Then he got a puzzled look on his face and said to Landon, "Sir, why are you living in Canada? You are an American citizen." To which Landon replied, "Yes, but my wife isn't." The reason it was funny is that we've never been asked that before but my friend Kristen is asked that every time she goes over the border with her kids. I was just about to tell Landon about it but we had pulled up at the border and then the guard asked him that. I laughed hard!**

My mom was fabulous and babysat my kids the next morning so that Landon and I could attend a session together. Amy had done family names for my mom and dad the night before. I went early so that I could do the initiatory work for the women and then complete the endowment for my great grandmother. Another spiritual renewing experience. I am so grateful for this gospel and for the temple! I don't want it to be another 3 years before I have the chance to go again! We went to the bookstore and then up to the temple for some pictures. When I was just a year older than Emily I had my picture taken with the statues up on the temple grounds with my mom, sister and brother. They were taken the day we sealed together as a family. Since this may be the last time I go to the Seattle Temple I wanted to take a picture with my kids. It was neat. After a few pictures we took off to catch the ferry. Amy and I took pictures of each other when the cars would pass each other. :) The border was quick and we only had to wait 45 minutes till the ferry came in. Serena surprised us with gifts and Emily decorated the car with her stickers. She gave me a beautiful silver band with "Good Works" engraved in it. Landon got a tie pin. Confusion about where to go for dinner led to a quick exit from a Chinese Restaurant and a quick trip to Subway. But the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Emily made a new friend on the first ferry (as usual) and he happened to be on the second ferry so she was quite happy.

A great weekend was had by all. Emily was quite sad to realize that Serena was going to her house and not staying with us forever. Collin was sad to see his "girlfriend" go too! :) Enjoy the pictures!

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