Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I'm back blogging. I will try to make up for lost time in the next little while as a WHOLE bunch of fun stuff has been happening and I haven't written about it at all! The shame. So anyway...we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house and LOVED IT. The kids were so excited...Miranda kept reminding me, "Mom, before they say the prayer on that temple can we go in there?" The kids loved the paintings (so many paintings of Christ with the children), the light, the water features, the little trees--they said Christmas trees to remind us of Jesus--the glass, the stairs. It was a beautiful experience to be together as a family in the temple. I would highly recommend it to anyone who can make it!
Miranda had the special priveledge of getting to use the bathroom in the temple! She had to go and I was so glad they let her use that little beautiful bathroom. We did not want to leave that kind of Seminario family "mark" on any of the temple upholstery or carpet. Miranda said her favorite part was the feeling of Jesus in the Temple. She's also commented on how many houses Heavenly Father and Jesus have.
Sammy LOVED the baptismal font. He seriously had to be constrained from jumping in, wearing a full suit. We laughed about that later. He said his favorite parts were the lights, and kept telling us it was booootiful.


And of course getting free cookies complete with kid-sized water bottles afterwards handed out by nice grandma ladies wasn't a bad finishing touch. I really appreciate all of those people whose thoughts and actions went into making the experience so positive for us and our kids (even during their usual nap hours).

We just love the Temple...the kids too...they always ask me if they can go back. Sammy even cries when we drive past it without going in. I need to be more like that. I think we are pretty lucky to live here in the valley of the temples and we can't wait to go back with these children in the future!

Chalk Art Festival

The kids and I went to the Chalk Arts Festival at the Gateway. We had to pass the fountains where all the kids were playing so I did a "fun mom" thing and bought cheap swimsuits at Old Navy right then and there and the kids played. KIDS HAVE SO MUCH FUN. I love it. Suprisingly, Sammy was more hesitant while Mimi got water right up her nose several times and went back for more with a big smile on her face. I guess it's good for them to switch roles once in awhile.




Then we strolled around looking at the amazing chalk artists. I'm in the process now of trying to convince Fernando to become one. We'll see how that goes. The kids got to draw their own chalk art in the kids area. Miranda is totally into art and so she loved it, while Sam scribbled a bit and moved on to putting a random stick of thin plastic in and out of a grate. But we were all entertained. I love LOVE events like this! It's like going on vacation in our own city...a staycation, right? That's what they're called I think. And it was all to benefit the Utah Foster Care Association. So a good cause AND fun. That's the way we like it.

signs of summer

haircuts

Daddy gave the kids haircuts. I think they look so nice. I'm probably a little biased though.

a real peach

Every year my mom orders bushels and bushels of peaches from some people in Orem with an actual orchard there that they have not sold for residential real estate. THANK YOU THANK YOU ORCHARD PEOPLE!

Fernando always offers to go pick up the bushels in Orem. You might think, "Awww, what a nice guy." And you would be right. But the TRUTH is that he eats at least half a bushel himself as he drives. He doesn't even care about peeling them or anything...he rubs off the fuzz and eats them! Wild man. He loves them!!!

Then we girls can them for a few days. We settle right into our traditional gender roles and echo our pioneer ancestras (I think I just made up a word! Yeah!) and cut and boil and skin and seal and get sticky. We can and can until we think we have a ridiculous amount of peaches to store for the winter.

But, alas, we never can enough! We are about to run out of peaches people! And September is still a few long months away. Hopefully cantelope and watermelon can stave us off.

No one loves the peaches more than Patrick and Fernando, and maybe Sammy. They even compare and rate the various canned peaches (by year) against one another. 2007 was the best all around year, and they retired those peaches a few months ago. I know it was tough for them to say goodbye.


I guess I just needed to document the way canning peaches has become more than just something we do, it has led to numerous good memories and family traditions. I think those ancestras had it right.

The story of Jesus and the little children

We spend a fair amount of time on Temple Square.

One of the main reasons is that we all like to go see him:

We also for a limited time only have the added bonus of seeing uncle PAPPY!

But there are lots of other fun things that attract us to that beautiful spot.






You can see our urgent need for another child in this next shot.




Which brings me to the title of this post. Miranda's favorite story about Jesus right now is from Luke 18:16-ish (or Matt 19:14-ish or Mark 10:14-ish). It's when Jesus has had a busy day and then children show up to see him, and the disciples, well "when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."

Miranda loves that story. So when we got to The Big Jesus (what my kids call the Christus) Miranda said, "Pretend like you're one of the disciples, and you see me coming and you tell me to go away."
So Miranda started coming toward the Christus and I said, "I'm sorry, little girl, but Jesus has had a long day. He's tired and you can't bother him right now."
Then of course I had to switch characters to say what Jesus says: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." I think one of the versions says heaven. Hopefully. Oops. I'm already messing up their chance at scripture mastery.

Anyway, that was the game. But it got me thinking. Well, that and the kids goofiness in these pictures got me thinking.

I think I used to think that the little children in that story were really well-behaved and super-reverent when they saw Jesus. Not patience-trying in the least. Maybe they were. Like our kids in the Temple Open House (future post)...they get quiet when they feel that special closeness to Him.
But now I'm starting to wonder if some of the kids weren't perfectly behaved and that He was expecting actual kid-like kids when he told the disciples to have them come unto him. Jesus suffered the little children to come even though they were crazy and wild, that he didn't mind or even possibly enjoyed those qualities in children. I think we'd still better work on time and place, but I need to remember more that those child-like and possibly patience-trying qualities are to be cherished.

I also got thinking about how Jesus was tired and busy and had pressing things to do and how he took time for the children and knew that they were the most important thing he could spend his time and energy on.

He's a good example to me.

Backlog: Pictures of us with our FOOD

Apparently food is an event for us. We take pictures of ourselves with it.

First: Daddy took us all out to Leatherby's Ice Cream Parlor after a grueling day of yardwork. We LOVED it. You've got to love Leatherby's and all Ice Cream Parlors. So American. I pledge allegiance.

Sammy chose sherbet--ended up being the best order.

Daddy chose a too-big sundae but he still conquered.

Miranda chose a mini-sundae with one topping: MARSHMALLOW. The ultimate in sticky goodness. (What is this face?!)

And I of course chose an Oreo malt. TRY to beat that.

Next: Fernando made COZZE! Well that's what we called it in Italy where we first had it and loved it. It's sort of mussles with breading and garlic and yummy stuff. He did a wonderful job...I did NOT sample because of a little child inside me that makes me not want to eat some things but it smelled GREAT and XiaoYu said it was delicous.

I of course also made something exotic, foreign, complex, and gourmet that day:
Rice Krispy Treats. Here is Sammy demonstrating my cooking prowess. Yes those are his shoes on the TABLE!!! Horrible mother. Also, Sammy's giving a little shout-out to Claire in New Mexico with his shirt.

Miranda: "No pictures please, we're eating!"

And finally, daddy passing down precious, heirloom talents to the children... involving food of course.


I wonder if I looked for ALL of the pictures we have with food how many I'd find...

Backlog: Easter

Per Fernando's tradition, we leave our Sunday shoes out for the Easter Bunny. Silvia was with us so we had extra shoes. We love having her here.

The kids shoes: nice loot.

Plundering the loot in bathrobes before church. Most popular item: pretend tatoos...butterflies for Mimi and bugs for Sammy.

Vogue looks in Easter attire.

True personality leeking out.

Silvia called him mafia man or something like that.

Sammy with Santa egg by Fernando and some other one too. Now he thinks ALL eggs are for rolling. I worry he will take them out of the fridge one day and we'll have a real mess.

Mimi liked decorating her own eggs this year. She is a lovely artist.

The Belnap side girls rolling easter eggs...XiaoYU in all her glory.

Seminario family...all of us with our natural smiles...

By the way, Fernando announced it on Facebook...so I guess I should put it here...number 3 is coming in Dec. Fun!