Covenants/Promises

In class we talked about covenants and about how 
we are a covenant keeping people.   I have been 
thinking about the covenants we make and what it
 means to me.  I guess I have always felt that once
 a covenant is made, it is sacred and not to be broken.
  Just like when I tell someone I will do something,
 I feel like my word is my bond.  I shouldn't have to 
sign a contract to ensure that I am trustworthy and 
reliable and that what I say  I will do, I will do.  
(I am not saying contracts are bad, etc. - just that I 
want to be known as someone that can be trusted.)  
Covenants are special promises made with Heavenly
 Father.  President Monson said, " Sacred covenants
 are to be revered by us, and faithfulness to them is a requirement for happiness."  I have made covenants 
with my Heavenly Father when I was baptized when 
I was eight years old.  I renew those covenants each
 Sabbath day as I partake of the sacred ordinance of
the sacrament.  I love being able to renew those 
baptismal promises each week.  Here is a picture of 
Conner right before he makes his baptismal covenant." 
When we are baptized, we covenant to take upon 
ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, to always 
remember Him, and to keep his commandments.  
We also promise to serve him to the end." 

Another covenant I have made is the one in the 
marriage covenant in the temple of the Lord.  I hold
the covenants I have made very close to my heart and 
would never break them, they are sacred.  

This is the Oakland Temple where Brad and I made our 
sacred marriage covenant in 1983.  (Sorry no picture of 
us, they are all stuck in a scrapbook and not easy to get to.  
But here are some pictures of some of my favorite people 
after they have made the same covenants.  

Something new I learned as I was learning about 
covenants  is that when we take the sacrament,  we are 
also renewing  all the covenants we have made with
Heavenly Father and not just those from our baptism.  
I love that great reminder each week. Another thing I 
was reminded about in class was the "keeping our 
covenants is not merely a list of things to do but a
commitment to become like the Savior."  

For more information please follow this link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/07/understanding-our-covenants-with-god?lang=eng&icid=GCA14-R-5B-understanding

Temple Week

Last week was temple week in the Pasco, WA Stake.  Our stake presidency announced this goal at the beginning of the year and we have all been looking forward to it all year long.  Many have prepared names to take to the temple and many have prepared themselves to participate in this great work.

Brad took a day off last week and we did two sessions.  Brad's dad came with us for one of the sessions and Conner did a baptismal session.  Our stake youth did over 140 baptismal names last week all on one day.  Pretty amazing!

As I sat in the Celestial Room after my second session I sat and pondered the temple.  I remember clearly the day the Columbia River temple was announced and the excitement our whole family felt.  We were practically jumping up and down with the rest of the congregation watching General Conference in our stake center.  As soon as we found out where the temple was going to be built we decided to have a picnic there beforehand.  Our entire family laid out a blanket and ate McDonald's.  It was a great day of celebration.

A few months later was the groundbreaking which we missed but we drove over every week or so thereafter to view the progress of the temple.  We found an excellent place to park the car on the street above the temple  It was a fantastic view.  As they were doing the foundation of the temple we were all invited to put our names on a small temple rock to be placed under the foundation of the temple.  We were so excited to be a part of the temple and eagerly wrote our names and submitted them to be placed as part of the temple foundation.  We felt we were committing ourselves to supporting the great work of the temple and the gospel.  (In later years when we built our home we did the same thing with rocks and with our family - including those names of people not present.  We wanted to symbolize our love and support for our family, just as we did for the temple.)

We continued to watch the temple building and were amazed at how quickly the construction went.  On the day that Angel Moroni was to be placed on the top of our temple (yes, we thought of it as our temple) we cancelled our events for the day and went and parked our car above the temple.  It was a drizzly day but we watched as they unpacked the statue and as the crane hoisted it to the top of the temple.  We watched as the workmen stood on scaffolding to attach Angel Moroni.  There was quite a crowd below us watching, but we had the best seats in the house, and no crowds.



After that much of our watching dissipated as the construction work was mostly inside the temple.  We still continued to come by but not quite as often as there wasn't much to see.   We were still very excited though.  One evening I received a phone call from our bishop looking for someone to help put together the chandelier in one of the sealing rooms.  Boy did I jump fast.  I was there in a heartbeat.  I stood on a ladder (dressed in church clothes) as those below followed the instructions and handed me the proper crystals to hang in each location.  We wore special white gloves which I still treasure.  The results were stunning.  I have always loved this room ever since and peek in whenever I go by.  Three of my daughters were married for time and all eternity in "my room."


A few days later the chandelier for the Celestial Room was going to be put together and Brad had the opportunity to help with that.  He didn't have to climb a ladder, they lowered it down to those  doing the installation.  Brad still thinks of this chandelier as his.  Our friends had the opportunity to put together one of the sconces in the Celestial Room and whenever I walk by I think of the Yarbrough's.


In the mean time, Michael graduated from high school and went off to BYU.  What a tragedy - he would be missing out on the Open House of our family's temple.  That was not to be.  We bought him an airplane ticket for the last weekend of the Open House and he was able to participate in that event with our family.  A quick trip, but he made it nonetheless.  A few weeks later was the dedication of our temple.  We flew Michael home for this as well.  This is our temple, he can't miss out.

On the morning of the dedication, November 18, 2001, our family went to the placing of the cornerstone on the temple ground.  One of Michael's friend's, Zach Nelson, was in the youth choir that sang that morning.  Even though the morning was a little chilly, it was still beautiful.  And President Hinckley waved his cane at us. The mortar was put into place and we all went home to return a few hours later for the temple dedication.


For the temple dedication we were privileged to have seats in "my sealing room."  It was one of the most spiritual times in our family's life.  All the waiting and watching the temple being built was worth it.  We bought special handkerchiefs for the Hosanna Shout which I still hold dear.

All this and more I thought about as I sat in the temple last week.  How much I love my family.  How grateful I am that we are sealed together for time and all eternity.  How much I love the gospel and the blessings I have received as I have studied and learned and served and experienced.  I wouldn't give it up for the world.  It means everything to me.

Spring Break

I know that spring break happened quite a few weeks ago but I have been thinking about this for a while.  I usually write blog posts in my head and then never do anything about it.  I like when people add pictures to their blogs but I am so untech savvy that  I just don't post at all since I think mine will be boring without pictures.  Oh well.  Perhaps one day I will just get over that hang up.

Right before spring break I finished one of my personal progress projects.  Something I had been working on for a long time.  You can read more about that here.   To find out more about personal progress in general you can do that here.

Well, back to spring break:  We decided to go to Utah for spring break to visit the family there and to go to general conference.  We were able to secure a few tickets to conference ahead of time so we were pretty excited about going.  Kaitlin and Conner had never been before and even though the drive is long (at least there was no snow) all the miles are worth it to see family and to go to conference.

We stayed at Erin and David's house - so thank you very much - and tormented baby Tessa.  I think she would wake up from her nap or each morning and hope we would be gone, but alas, there we were.  We had invaded her house and it wasn't until the last couple of days that we were okay.  Not great, but okay.  We went to Thanksgiving Point, to the dinosaur museum, and to the aquarium and were able to watch the penguins get fed.  That and the shark tank and Tessa losing her shoe in the starfish pool, were our highlights.

Conner had the opportunity to borrow Erin's bike and ride to Adobe with David one day.  He kind of didn't want to ride this bike that was too big and he was unsure about the distance but he succeeded.  I appreciate David taking his time and probably being late to work so Conner could go with him.  I am not sure how many miles this trip is but it isn't close and there are a few busy roads too.  Conner had been on a recent ten mile bike ride with his scout troop in order to earn the bicycling merit badge and according to him, he was always at the back of the pack trying to catch up.  They need a couple ten mile rides, two 25 mile rides and one 50 mile ride.  So on returning home and bike riding with his troop he has since always been at the front leading the way.  I think this bike ride gave Conner great confidence, so I appreciate that.  Thanks David.

Conner also got to spend time with his brothers when they went to a video game competition.  Conner always loves hanging out with his brothers.  If he lived near them, he would be really happy.

Kylee and Chas came down from Rexburg to go to conference as well so it was fun to visit with them.  And of course, we ate great food, played lots of games, and stayed up really late.  I got to spend a little bit of time with my sisters and brother and their family.  Wish we lived closer as I always enjoying hanging out with them.

But then to the reason we actually came to on this trip.  CONFERENCE!!!  We had two tickets to the Saturday afternoon session so these two sisters were able to go together:

Of course they are older now, but all their older pictures together it seems like the are making faces. They were excited about going and since Chas had been before, he stayed outside, picked up food for all of them and then escorted them home on TRAX.  Meanwhile, as they were making it back to Lehi, Brad was madly dashing off in our van with these three brothers:

to go to the Priesthood session.  (Another older picture, but it is one of my favorites of my three boys.)  Conner had been looking forward to this for a long time and to be able to go with his two brothers was a treat.  Unfortunately there was an accident on the freeway and the traffic was backed up, but fortunately, they made it to the conference center in the knick of time.  We drove more than 600 mile for our kids to have the opportunity to attend conference.  All worth it.

We drove home on Sunday and was able to listen to the Sunday morning conference as we drove. This was on a radio station from Salt Lake. For the afternoon session we weren't quite so lucky.  We were able to find a radio station from Rexburg and listened to the first half but then we got too far away - Boise - and we weren't able to get the last half.  Conner was not happy and had me search all the stations a number of times.  At least it was recorded so we were able to watch it upon returning home.  I am glad that my kids enjoyed conference so well and that they were able to spend that time together.  It brings great joy to me.