Last night was the Maynes' Family meeting. Every December we go to Temple square for the meeting. We were a little late, but we finally found a parking spot and made it there. We thought we knew where the family was, but unfortunately we were unable to meet up with them. BUT we did manage to enjoy ourselves quite a bit!
I've said this before, and I'm going to keep saying it :). Temple square is a very special place to Nate and I, that's where we spent a lot of our time when we were dating and engaged. Just looking at the lights there brings back a flood of memories. The whole feel of it makes me and Nate all giddy and cheerful. So it's a lot of fun to take the kids there and tell them all of our stories and memories (I'm sure someday they'll make us stop, but until then :)....).
It was fun to show it all to Erika for the first time (again... she was a tiny baby the last time she saw temple square with lights). She was obsessed with the baby Jesus's all over the place :). I think it's adorable and cater to her need to hold our ceramic nativity's baby Jesus all the time. So these larger ones just blew her away :). She couldn't get enough. Anytime I said, what should we see next, she would shout out, "Baby Jesus!" or "See duh Donkey!" (that's because she had a hard time seeing the donkey in the nativity up at the Bountiful temple the other day, and the thought of going to the temple to see the lights and baby Jesus reminded her of that) She's got a good memory! She was especially sweet at the Nativity with the narration. We had a front row spot (go in from the west side, that was our trick ;) ) so we could see it all really well. She sat on my lap as I pointed out the baby Jesus to her, she kept asking about the donkey looking in the window. She liked the thought of the shepherds and the wise men wanting to see the baby Jesus too. She loved the star at the end, and when we were done and walking away, she kept talking about the baby Jesus and I said, "You sure like baby Jesus don't you!? That's cool." And to that she said, "And baby Jesus wike me!" Brought tears to my eyes. I'm not sure if she realizes what she's saying, but I love that she said it. Jesus does like her! A lot. I know it! She seemed to do pretty well with the cold, she had her "glubby glubbies" (gloves) she wanted out of the stroller halfway through and her legs fell asleep after sitting on Daddy's shoulders, but overall, she did really well!
Noah had fallen asleep on the way there, so he was still waking up for the first half of it, in Nate's arms. Then he never really was warm for some reason, and was overall, unimpressed with most things. He did like seeing the water though :) It's a little bit of a fetish with our kids... possibly genetic from all the swimming and fishing their parents did maybe :)... HA! He's the strong silent type though, so maybe he enjoyed more of it than I know ;)
Lukey was funny, as we were leaving he said, "Good cuz I'm hot!" I guess we had bundled him up TOO much. Not sure how that worked with our kids because some of them were freezing and others were not.... go figure. Luke was such a good boy, he stayed close to us the whole time, didn't wander off at all, and he wasn't even holding my hand until the end, which he announced that he loved :). He seemed to like most everything, though he doesn't say much either. It's fun that he's getting old enough and is actually showing interest in the information we are feeding them all as we walk through a place like that. It's taken him a little longer than the others, but it's nice to see him care. He always listened, he just rarely made it obvious to us :).
Bradley was a good boy too, he enjoyed pushing Erika through a lot of it. He said he liked everything there. He was good at showing Erika all of the nativities, and he stayed really warm. He wanted to dive into the fountain to get some money but mean, Mommy, I wouldn't let him. He listened carefully to the things we told them all, and he was especially cute when I was telling him about the first time Daddy held my hands there, in the parking garage of the JSM building. He seemed interested, and let me hold his hand while I was telling him. It was really sweet to have the hands of my two boys as I was talking about the first time I held hands with their Daddy :) I love that cheesy kind of stuff.
Kelly was a little cold, she needs a knew coat, but she loved it too! Her favorite was "A-L-L!" So I think she had a good time. She seemed interested in hearing about mine and Nate's memories. Especially when we were in Mommy and Daddy's spot, where he proposed. She wanted to know the exact spot where I had been sitting when Daddy got down on his knee. I LOVE sharing those experiences with my kids. Especially in the spot where our family started. It's SOOOOOOO sentimental! Kelly seemed very into all of the churchy things and got all blushy when she saw Angel Moroni :) I wonder if that crush will ever wear off :).
Charity went around taking pictures of all that her frozen little fingers would let her. It's fun that we found her camera and charger in time for Christmas. She was into all of the luminarias, the nativities, and the horses out on the street :) She got lots of pictures of the lights. So I think she liked them too. I was reminiscing about Grandpa Mottishaw (as I do when I'm there, since he was a tour guide there, many years ago, I always associate the place with him. He would teach us cool things that I like to teach to my kids too....) and Charity said, "I miss Grandpa". I thought that was sweet. I miss him too. And my Grandma's too. Whenever I'm anywhere that I feel the Spirit though, it's always easy to feel them nearby. I wonder if my kids will be able to feel them nearby even though they hardly knew them? Charity was really a big girl that night. It's fun to see her growing up to be such a sweet little lady.
A lot of mine and Nate's firsts were on Temple Square (or the JSM building). And it is where he proposed. The spot where he proposed has a lot of special meaning to me. When I was riding the bus to UVSC from Bountiful everyday, in college, I would take a bus that drove up state street. I don't remember the details, but one day when I really needed it, the bus stopped right in just the right spot, so that I was facing the Salt Lake temple head on. It was a really cool moment for me. And it hit me that there was more to life than what I was dealing with at the moment and that I had a Heavenly Father who had provided love and comfort for me, so many times, and that He could again. It was really neat. And I decided that that spot on State St. was the perfect place to get the perfect view of the temple. Well, later on, when I was at Temple Square for something, I found that waterfall, over on the east side, east of the old reflection pond, and I realized it was just off State St. I went and sat there and there it was again! The perfect view of the Salt Lake Temple. And it became MY spot! I of course showed that to Nate the first time (well, every time for that matter) and it was soon OUR spot. I LOVE that spot!! So many awesome conversations in that spot, so many good feelings. It's next to being inside for me for some reason. So anyway, Nate had to leave to take Noah to the bathroom at one point last night and we were just walking toward our spot, so we decided to meet there. I took the other kids and we saw the luminarias and talked about the nativities that were over there, and discussed what the Church Office Building is, and the JSM Building, Administrative building, and then we got to our spot, and I told them all about it. It was so fun! Kelly and Charity were especially interested. I had to go sit there and take some pictures of the temple from there. Erika started getting fussy and Nate wasn't there yet, so I was holding her and walking around with her in my arms, talking about all the special things, and then all of a sudden I caught a glimpse of Nate and Noah, and my heart seriously melted! It was so sweet! There's really just something about that place that makes me fall in love with Nate all over again, and that's what happened at that moment. He looked so cute and had the biggest smile on his face, then I had the kids all running up to him in my peripheral. So heavenly. I'm sure this sounds really cheesy, but it was special to me. Very romantic if you can imagine that with a grumpy baby and 5 other little kids :). I loved it. I just want to remember how I felt at that moment. And then from then on, the whole evening, everything just tugged on my heartstrings. I had been really emotional all day from fasting, so I'm sure that had a little effect, but not all. I loved it.
And even after the crazy getting-in-the-car chaos, the whole way home just felt so nice. I felt so recharged. Everything just felt so good, any problems that I normally think about or worry about, were gone, and I just knew that we had the best family, with the best situation, and we are loved by a Heavenly Father who will continue to bless us. It was so peaceful. I'm counting that as my Christmas this year. It was just perfect.
