We Love to See the Temple

Fisher is my temple spotter. Tonight we were on our way home from my parents' house, on the freeway where you can easily see three glowing temples at the same time, when I heard the familiar & endearing intake of air, "Mom. Mommy! I see da temple!!" He then proceeded to count 8 temples in his booming Fisher voice. ("Whoa. Yeah. I seed eight temples, Mommy.") Even though I can only ever count three, I must admit I get just as excited.

Last week we took the family to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. What a beautiful place. It's perched on a rise overlooking the valley to the east with a sweeping view of the Wasatch mountains. Stunning. When it was our turn to go inside, funny, stubborn Logan, who is often cautious of new situations (is that a nice way of saying it?), walked quietly in on his own and instinctively folded his chubby little arms. The reverence there is palpable, even to a 21-month old, and being inside with all of our kids made me feel so thankful and complete. We are so blessed by the temples that surround us. I love that we can drop everything and run there when things seem bleak and feel enveloped with love and peace when we enter. I equally love that we can sacrifice to get there when things are hectic and find fulfillment and learning and inspiration. It feels like a lifeline to me. Come to think of it, it really is.

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple - 7.22.09

A Little Bit Country

Maddie's class got to sing in the Days of '47 Rodeo opening ceremony so Brayden & I tagged along and the 3 of us were excited to discover what the rodeo fuss is all about. I can't say we fully appreciate the answer to that question yet, but the bull riding was pretty cool. There were some MAD bulls. A couple of cowboys got thrown up onto the fence, so that was exciting. We also liked the bronco riding, but not so much the steer wrestling & roping. Felt a bit sad for those little cows, but we did like their helmets. Yep, that about sums it up. Oh, and randomly, they gave away free loaves of bread afterward. The end.

That is a monkey riding a dog. Naturally, he was corralling goats.

Summer Scramble

Yep, I'm scrambling today. This week. Last week. And not with the stuff summer should be full of! Shouldn't we be at the pool or something? I see the marvelous summer pictures others are taking of their kids...I wonder where my kids are? They don't need me to feed or interact with them, right? The loudest things on the list today:

girls camp, scheduling for maddie singing in days of 47 rodeo thursday night & figuring the logistics-who to bring, etc, 24th of july plans, the fact that i missed planning our mcgee ffn that was supposed to be last night, trying to get to the temple open house this week before school starts next week, prep for elementary school starting monday, creative bill paying, insurance stuff, brayden school paperwork & immunizations that need to be done asap, girls camp, the pesky item of needing to potty train fisher before preschool next month with girls camp in between, non-camp YW to do's, gotta finish the middle & elementary carpool schedules & get them out (hooray for carpooling!), probably more that i'm forgetting, but i know i'm getting to the end of my ability to keep it straight today

Okay gotta get on with it--just had to write it down and have a fast 'it doesn't feel like summer!' pity party, I guess. So boo hoo for me and my bored kids, we want a vacation! Gotta run.

Carrying on the Lowe Tradition

Ever since I can remember, my mom's side of the family has been spread all over the country and has determined to gather for family reunions every 3ish years. While I was growing up, these 3-day reunions became our family vacations as we would travel to Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Colorado, or stay in Utah based on which of the 6 siblings was in charge that year. I am the 3rd oldest grandchild in the family and because of these reunions, I grew up feeling a close bond to my aunts, uncles and cousins regardless of the miles that separated us. Over the last few years, our family numbers have multiplied significantly and my grandparents' steadily growing 105-member posterity literally dots the nation. We've realized that reunions as we knew them simply aren't realistic to hold anymore with second generation families needing to start their own reunions and the sheer enormity & coordination of it. Yet somehow, we still make effort to gather as many as can possibly gather. This 4th of July weekend we enjoyed another 3-day reunion here in Utah. We were missing only a few families in the family--and they were sincerely missed! How great is that? We had such a great weekend! It was warm and fun-filled, there were lots of new in-laws and great-grandkids to meet, we ate, we laughed, watched fireworks, had family home evening, enjoyed homemade rootbeer & homemade icecream, played "You Know You're a Lowe if...", we reminisced and sang around the campfire and bore testimony... Mostly we honored the tradition of the two who started it all, my grandparents Julian & Nola Lowe. It is amazing to see what these two good people established and the noble & silly traditions that have come from them! We loved it and came away uplifted and thankful to be part of such a strong clan, determined to carry on the same strength in our family. I've heard the phrase "I miss the reunion!" more than once from my kids since then--a positive sign, for sure! With relationships rekindled, we look forward to the next time we can see this amazing group again. How wonderful that as huge as our family is getting, those bonds of care & concern and friendship continue. We love you, Lowe Family!

Lowe Reunion 2009

Moving Up in the World

Last week finally marked the end of the school year for the kids and the end of elementary school for Brayden for EVER! Is it possible we're old enough to have a middle schooler?? He is excited and totally ready to face life in the bigger leagues. Crazy.

6th grade ended with a bang--Brayden was awarded the Presidential Academic Award, the [nearly as prestigious] class clown award, a fitness award, and a 3-stooges award with his 2 buddies. Somehow he managed to survive (dare I say, enjoy?) the 6th grade dance. He also got to design the art for the dance card cover:

The students have been learning a variety of dances for weeks and were expected to fill 11 slots on their dance card by asking each other to dance. As it turned out, Brayden asked one girl, and 12 girls asked him. Hmm. Mom radar got louder when I stopped by his classroom on the last day in time to see him mobbed by a throng of hugging girls and to watch one particularly um...affectionate girl hug him, run to pout to her friends about having to say goodbye to him, then run back to hug him again and again, and that's when I had to take her down. Brayden assured me that it had been worse earlier that day. Well that's just great. Apparently, we are middle-school aged afterall.

Their school has the funnest tradition after the awards assembly--they pipe nostalgic music over the intercom and the 1st-5th graders line the halls to "clap out" the 6th graders as they walk the halls for the last time. I admit it made my eyes leak a little. My oldest is growing up. The girls better watch it.

Maddie finished the 4th grade this year--she continues to be an excellent student and is maturing so fast! Really 5th grade? Wasn't Brayden just in the 5th grade? She is SO much fun and I laughed at her thank you note to her teacher:

And finally, at the other end of the elementary spectrum, Connor finished kindergarten! I liked his note too:

His teacher did "teach good" and Connor has been begging since then to go visit her. ("Mom, I pinky promised!") He is bright & energetic and oh-so-ready for all-day 1st grade and MOM IS TOO! Hooray for everyone!

Summer vacation here we come--at least for 3 weeks until 5th and 1st grade begin! How WILL we pass the time? :)