If you look back at the past several months of our blog you will see that we've had something pretty significant on our schedule every week. Well, this week marks the end of our big plans for a while, and I have to say that I'm pretty happy about that. It's nice for things to finally be settling down...at least as much as they ever do in our family.
This week though, was a whirlwind trip to Utah over the weekend. My sister, Courtney, got married, and we were invited down for the celebration.
We left our home on Thursday after I finished up with work and drove down to Rexburg where we stayed the night. The next day we had a reasonably calm morning, and then made it down to the Salt Lake City Temple just in time for the wedding.
At least, in time for babysitting...
We had an interesting time trying to explain to the kids why we were not going to attend the actual wedding ceremony. See, my sister and almost everyone else in my extended family are Mormons, and they believe that families don't get to be together in heaven unless they get married in special buildings called temples. The rub here is that people who aren't Mormons aren't allowed to go inside to watch or participate in these proceedings. This means that while my sister got married, Rachel and I got to hang out with about 20 young kids that belonged to the people who are more "worthy" (that's the word they use) than we are. This seemed to make perfect sense growing up, but now it is kind of hard to wrap my mind around.
The ceremony lasted about an hour, and during most of that time I walked around Temple Square with some of the older kids. We had a good time taking pictures and exploring, bonding with cousins, and even wading in one of the fountains (that would be Lindsey, when I wasn't looking). Meanwhile, Rachel stayed in the temple waiting room with some of the younger kids and colored or watched movies.
At least, in time for babysitting...
We had an interesting time trying to explain to the kids why we were not going to attend the actual wedding ceremony. See, my sister and almost everyone else in my extended family are Mormons, and they believe that families don't get to be together in heaven unless they get married in special buildings called temples. The rub here is that people who aren't Mormons aren't allowed to go inside to watch or participate in these proceedings. This means that while my sister got married, Rachel and I got to hang out with about 20 young kids that belonged to the people who are more "worthy" (that's the word they use) than we are. This seemed to make perfect sense growing up, but now it is kind of hard to wrap my mind around.
The ceremony lasted about an hour, and during most of that time I walked around Temple Square with some of the older kids. We had a good time taking pictures and exploring, bonding with cousins, and even wading in one of the fountains (that would be Lindsey, when I wasn't looking). Meanwhile, Rachel stayed in the temple waiting room with some of the younger kids and colored or watched movies.
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| Siblings. Can I just point out how awesome we all are? Seriously. |
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| Love this picture of a little man |
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| We are a classy family |
After everything was all over we took all the obligatory pictures with family, and then headed to a place where we all ate together.
Now it was time for the real party! The wedding reception was at a beautiful location. There was a dessert bar that kept all the kids busy going back and forth over and over and over again. And of course there was lots of dancing. We're Hazards, after all!
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| Evelyn went out of her way to ask my uncle Bart to dance. I thought that was cool. |
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| My grandpa still has the moves! |
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| Addy makes a great dance partner |
What a great night!
The next morning, Rachel went to breakfast with some of her siblings that live in the area. The kids and I spent most of the morning swimming at the hotel with cousins.
From there, we went to a pretty awesome Children's Museum in Salt Lake.
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| This is the only picture I have of the museum. I guess we were having too much fun for me to remember to take more. |
We finished up our afternoon with ice cream, and then said goodbye to everyone and headed to Shannon's (Rachel's sister's) house where we had a nice night talking and playing games.
The next day we just drove all day and made it home in time for dinner.
What a trip!
*****
Yesterday, the three oldest kids had their cross country meet. They all did great, and finished strong. I am proud of them.
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| Addy looks like she probably could have pushed herself a little harder, but she did great anyway. |
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| Jackson rounding the corner at the end |
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| Evelyn has shown tremendous improvement since last year and managed to run a negative split during this race with a really good push at the end. |
*****
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| Here's a random painting and baking class the kids did at the Kroc Center. |
Have a good week!
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