On Friday I let the kids skip school so we could go to the Jordan River Temple open house. Because we live in Utah, this is their fourth temple open house. I was a little scared of braving the open house without Abe to chase Ammon, but it ended up that this was the least crowded open house I have ever attended. It was much less stressful than the last one we attended with Ammon.
The weather was glorious, and when we got inside the temple, we all loved the art. My mom did an amazing job discussing all of the paintings with the children. Ammon kept trying to touch the paintings and leave the designated tour route. I had Clarissa in the carrier, so that freed up my hands to preemptively pounce when I observed he was about to run a different direction. All in all, it was a successful experience and a beautiful memory.
Afterward we drove to a greenhouse and got some plants for our garden. In the evening, Abe, my mom, and the girls planted while I tried to write my new talk. I worked so late on it that Abe ended up having difficulty sleeping and slept for fewer than two hours during the night. This talk writing has been quite a process, and we are all on the verge of breakdown. I am quite tempted to call up the bishopric and inform them I won’t be speaking.
Oh, and The Exponent offered to publish my Eve talk. They offered the morning after I was told in the blessing to write a new one, and so now I’m not sure if they will still publish it. Originally they were going to include it in the Sabbath Pastoral section for next Mother’s Day, but since it is no longer a talk, the features editors are considering it as an article. I personally think I would have to make the talk a lot more linear for it to work as an article, but I guess we’ll just have to see what the features editors think.