Fort Collins, Colorado Temple Groundbreaking

From my point of view:

Yesterday was the groundbreaking. My dad and mom had been invited a few weeks ago by their stake president. For the past month, in our Sacrament meetings they've read a letter asking us to attend at our stake center, where it would be broadcast via satellite. They said there are currently 12 stakes in our temple district, (and predicted that number may increase by the time it is built). That would be too many to attend, so it was made available by satellite for the majority. FYI, the temple district spans Northern Colorado , Southeast WY, and SW Nebraska, from Boulder to the Southwest, and Casper, WY, to the Northwest, my hometown.

At 8:30 am yesterday, our home teacher, who is a member of our stake presidency called.
I answered.
"How would you like to go to the temple site this morning for the groundbreaking?" he asked.
I began crying and said that we'd love to.
Several families we know received phone calls like this. Initially the plan was to keep the numbers lower, but in the 12 hours preceding the event, Elder George F. Rhodes, who is an Area Authority Seventy, asked that a few more families be invited to attend.

We arrived around 9:30 am, with the program scheduled to begin at 10.

The scene as we approached.

There were many seats, but they were filled, we stood at the back, on the right.

From my point of view. Our church building is north of the site, across the street.

The program

Ronald. A Rasband speaking. Later, he dedicated the land for temple construction.

I did not record the ceremony, or even take notes, but Elder Rasband did read this quote,
“Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed according to the order the Lord has revealed for his holy Priesthood, lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness.”
—President George Q. Cannon (from lds.org).

This temple is a unique design, and will be equal in size to the Denver Temple. It is in line to be the 155th operating temple, but that is subject to change based on how quickly the construction on it and others progresses. It is expected to be complete in 2015 or 2016. (As of the groundbreaking date, there are 141 in operation worldwide).

He offered a prayer of dedication--dedicating the land for building. What impressed me about it was that it included praying for the safety of those who would work there. 

This video (20 seconds long), is the closing hymn.

After the closing prayer, which was given by the stake president, Millard Smathers, from Casper, WY (my hometown), many groups were invited to come dig into the soil. The Coloradoan published a great photo of civic and community leaders on their website, listed below. They also interviewed Nathan as we were getting ready to leave. It is not a long story, but he did get his name in the Coloradoan article mentioned below.

My parents, who in 1968 drove from Washington, D.C. to Logan UT, to be married in the temple.

Our family

It is hard to describe the emotions I felt, but here's my attempt.
I felt grateful to be invited.
I wished that more of my close friends could see it in person, yet I understand the reasoning behind keeping it small.
I feel happy that the temple will be so close, and excited that we will be able to share it with members of the community when it is completed and open during the open house.
I feel enthusiasm that my children will be able to see it built from the ground up.
I feel proud to be an American, where religious freedom allows us to worship in the temple.

Here are some relevant links:

Official Site: Fort Collins Colorado Temple

Coloradoan article on the Groundbreaking

More information from LDS church about temples

You Tube video with a 3D view of Fort Collins, CO Temple design


(Over the next two years as the building progresses, I will continue to post updates. If you want to see all of them, click on "a temple in our city" in the label cloud at the right).

Peach season

One on one time is so nice.

We ate some, gave away some, and put 5 quarts in the freezer.
One week later, our 40 lbs of peaches is gone. More are coming next week.

Oatmeal + half & half + peaches + almonds = Breakfast of champions

First Day

7th Grade

6th Grade . . . First day was yesterday

4th

1st grade . . . full days away from home. She's ready!

My daily companion . . . see my photo talking self reflected in the balloon?

First day of school balloons . . . keeping tradtion

Not sure why I continue this, but I feel it obligatory to take the first day of school pictures. They are almost all excited. Somehow the older you get the less you look forward to it???

Bryn begins middle school--exciting & scary all at once. Diana also moves on by being gone for full days after half day kindergarten last year. We will miss her.

We went on our morning walk & shopping and enjoyed a quiet lunch, just the two of us.

There's a box of peaches calling my name and I have to plan & execute dinner early since I will be driving around this afternoon.

One year older

For our birthday(s) this year I had an idea to see what was playing at Red Rocks. I found out that they show movies. Most are not our taste, but there was going to be a showing of Princess Bride just a few days before our birthday. I booked my mom as our babysitter, since I knew we'd be out LATE and Nathan got tickets.

It was a sold out show--5,000 seats.

They also offer yoga and give tours, so you can go even if it's not for a concert. We left around 4 and stopped for dinner on the way. Nothing fancy, but nice to eat alone together.

I just loved this parking lot.

38 yr old us. His version of this photo turned out better because he has longer arms.

Tons of steps. Some people come here to work out.

This large group of "Men in Black"a few rows down was great for people watching. The thing about Red Rocks is that you have to go early. There is an expensive section in the middle roped off. But all the other seats are first come/first served. We got there close to when the gates opened. There was some LOUD music playing for the first hour and a half . . . not our style, but part of the package of getting a good seat. This is the view from our seats . . . . except more focused on the people in black than the stage.

Amazing view . . . . this is closer to the top. Weather was perfect.

When Tara & Stephen came to visit last year, she met a friend for breakfast. They introduced us to the Silver Grill's Cinnamon Roll french toast. We've been a handful of times--it's your typical local diner. Nathan had also been invited there for a work breakfast. We took our whole family one morning and most of us ordered the C.Roll french toast. After getting the bill, however, I decided we'd try it at home. We went the day before Nathan's birthday to buy the rolls & everything else we had at home. It worked really well and we saved about $50.

 

 If you try this at home, (which you should), I have two tips.
1)Put the cut side of the roll down first in the pan. It works better.
2)Get cinnamon rolls that have more of a glaze than a frosting . . . like what's picture below.

It will probably be your best breakfast all year, and you don't need syrup or anything else. We put powdered sugar on the table but you don't really need it.

For Nathan's birthday we bought a used backpacking type backpack from Craigslist for not very much. He is our new scoutmaster, so will be using it lots with all those boys.

Scoutmaster is Nathan's dream calling and I am hoping he's not still in when it's Eddie's turn.

He asked for zucchini and squash for dinner, so along with other things I made him this:
Zucchini Gratin

He went easy on me for dessert. Oatmeal raisin cookies from the freezer made into an ice cream sandwich.

I wanted a new helmet for my bike. My former one was from 1993 and looked like it. Bike helmets have changed a LOT in the past 20 years. I've already been out with it and plan to ride more frequently. Maybe someday I will ride to a store????
I found a sour cream angel food cake on sale so I bought it and made this fruit dip to go on top, served with berries. It was exactly what I wanted.

Happy birthday us.

No place like home

The day after we got back from our trip we enjoyed dinner on the porch. Loved these guys and that food.

Homemade chicken nuggets, Rhodes rolls, lettuce from the garden. Pasta came later.

Sear's Tower & the long ride home: Chicago 2013

Before summer is over I am determined to finish writing about our trip . . . .

The last day we had in Chicago coincided with the Blackhawk's victory rally. We were concerned about the crowds, but they worked in our favor.

We took things slow in the morning, but got on a train at the Glenview Metra Station. There were TONS of fans, but we managed to get seats together. The conductor gave us a large discount on our fare, for which we were thankful.

We got off at Union Station and walked with the giant sea of red jerseys towards the Sears Tower.
(Yes, I know it's now called the Willis Tower, I just can't use it. Maybe someday). I think I've been up 3 times now . . . some of my kids have been 2 times. We didn't have to wait very long in the lines--the facts about it are very interesting--the miles of plumbing, number of light fixtures, etc.

 We waited a long time to get to take these lovely photos . . . . .

I could not participate in this family moment--too afraid of heights.

Do you see the red t-shirts of the fans in Grant Park?

When we were finished, we needed to find lunch. I was determined to find a Giordano's . . . the pizza chain that became our favorite. (Which is another long story). Luckily for us, it was right down the street. It was packed, but Nathan ordered our pizza as we entered, so that helped a little bit. They were re-playing the Blackhawk's final game on the TV's, which was fun.

When we went to the train station, it was a madhouse, trying to get all those fans out of the city. We ran into Brian Neuffer . . . so he helped us find the right train to get home.

Dinner with our friends, s'mores with our hostess, and surprise guests at 9:00 pm. It was a wonderful day to end our vacation.

I woke up at 5:45am anxious to get on the road. We did by 8 am. We had planned to stay the night and finish the drive on Sunday. But with two drivers and the desire to stay in our own beds, we ended up driving the whole way. It wasn't too bad, we got home at 11pm.

Loved, loved, loved going back to Chicago. It is my favorite big city.