Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday! Today was the dedication of the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Such a wonderful experience!
I was able to take both Preston and Jaida to attend. It was so nice! We are such a blessed people, and I am so proud to be a member of the church.
There are so many things in the world today that can pull you in all directions. I feel so grateful to know that my life has purpose, that there is a plan set up for all of us, and there is so much more to look forward too. I love the temple, and we are so blessed to be surrounded by so many. Attending this meeting once again strengthened my testimony. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, and he has laid out a plan for me to return and live with Him again.
I felt the spirit so strong today. It made me miss Eric, but at the same time reminded me once again that no matter where he is at the moment, we are an eternal family. I am so grateful for that knowledge. I knew when I was very young that I wanted to get married in the temple. I let nothing stand in my way. I am so thankful I found a worthy man with my same values willing and able to take me there over 12 years ago.
I pray that I can make good choices, and continue to live worthy to attend there often. Attending the temple is one of the greatest blessings we can receive on this earth. We just have to take advantage of it.
One of the messages today talked about how we have nice homes with all the accomodations for living. We have rooms for eating, rooms for sleeping, rooms for television and recreation. We need a room for the Savior! Make sure He is in our homes. Make sure there are pictures on the walls depicting our beliefs, and representing who we are and our faith. Have reminders of the standards we have set for ourselves so we don't get lost in the shuffle.
I know simplicity is one of the keys to being happy, but when we include the Savior we only increase that happiness!

Flashback Friday!

Since we just celebrated Jaida's birthday, I thought I'd flashback to the pictures of her birth, and some time spent in the NICU. We were only in there 7 weeks, and at the time it felt like the longest 7 weeks of our lives. We know we were truly blessed with a miracle! We also had a wonderful family support system, and couldn't have gone through any of it without you!

Here she is at 1 day old!

Tiny little foot, and Eric's thumb.

Eric's finger holding her hand.

The traditional picture by the $1 bill.

Great Grandma Robison in awe of all this. This type of technology was never around back in her day.

A little cry or a yawn, I can't tell.

At about 3 weeks, they discovered that her head was starting to swell. She would need to have surgery to drain off the access fluid. She had grade 3 hydrocephylus caused by a blood clot in each of the ventricles in her brain. Here they are getting her ready for the surgery.

It took several of them to transport her and all the machines they would need.

This was one of the scariest days of my life!

Here she is after surgery, which went really well. The doctors had to drain the fluid for a few days through a shunt, and then things magically started to work on their own. They told us that there was a 90% chance she would need a permanent shunt for the rest of her life. I guess we were in the 10%. About 6 months later when she was much bigger and really healthy they went in and removed the shunt (which was called an Omaya Reservoir). We have never looked back since.

It wasn't long after that that we could finally take her out and hold her for small periods at a time.

Eyes wide open! She finally felt like saying hello to the world.

Great Grandma Wittick came to visit.

And Grandma Saul.

Still needing lots of rest!

Mom getting a much loved snuggle!

And soon, we were on our way home!

Aunt Celia decorated the front of the house.

And Jaida looking very content!