St George Temple

First off, I am so bummed that I couldn't find my camera today! We have a goal that we want to get a map of the US and maybe have it be North America. Every time we go to a temple, take our pic outside it and post it on our temple wall. Well, I quickly got over being bummed cause I looked like crap and it's a close temple so we will be able to go again soon.

The reason I'm blogging...
Saturdays of the month. The temple has been closed since July 19 and won't open again until the 2As most of you know, Jason and I volunteer at the Las Vegas Temple on the 4th and 5thnd of August. I don't think we've missed a month since getting our endowments and getting sealed so when we heard that we wouldn't be working this month, I tried to make time for us at the beginning of the month, but it didn't work out.

I worked today. I was off at 230. I kept hoping all week that if Jason got off in time, we could maybe go to the St George temple and get our "monthly" tradition in. Jason left his phone at home today and I kept stressing about his day (he had no clue what I was planning) thinking he wouldn't be home til 5 or something and then we wouldn't be able to go. As I was leaving work, I called his phone to see if for some chance he was home and it went to voice mail. Bummer.

As I was walking out to the car, my phone started ringing and it was JASON!!! He was home! I told him my plan and he jumped in the shower. I got home, checked times for sessions and we got on the road about 4 (5 UT time). We arrived about 7 UT time and I had the greatest feeling of accomplishment, peace and comfort. It was definitely interesting walking in the Endowed side instead of the Baptistry side.

I've been to the St George temple a few times for baptism purposes. The St George temple is the oldest operating temple we have. I think it is so beautiful. Big, sharp corners, neat, castle like. It's amazing from the outside. OH!! AND, it has a stinking revolving door!!! I vaguely remember the Baptistry. It was nearly 10 years ago that I went there last. And, I wasn't as big into history as I am now.

Everyone was so nice, as always. I must have had a sign on my forehead saying, "I've never been here. Please direct me in the right direction." Everyone was so friendly in telling me where the ladies dressing room is. Let me tell you... I love the dressing room!!! It was so orderly, personal and wonderful.

So, I get changed and as I try not to look around too aimlessly, there were some nice ladies there to give me my info and send me in the right direction. As I sat in the chapel, waiting on Jason and the session to start, I looked at the worn pews around me. How old are they? Looking around the room, everything had a classic feel to it. I then started pretending like I was in the Jane Austen times because everything surrounding me fit her to a tee!

The room was a little muggy. I'm sure the AC ducts aren't 100%. It felt like we were being cooled my swamp coolers. I was excited when we finally got to go into the veil room. What an awesome room! Much cooler too. LOL

The curtains, the carpet, how tiny the chairs were. I could definitely feel the history surrounding me. It was an incredible feeling. Then, as we went into the Celestial room, it definitely does not compare to the sparkliness of the Vegas temple, but it was perfect all the same. It felt like I was in a "formal sitting room" that meant sooo much more than that! When I see rooms like that, I think of the old days, and I mean OLD days when people had balls (as in dances/balls). The Jane Austen days. Sitting rooms, and organized appropriate dancing, manners, etiquette. I think if it were to be sparkly like the Vegas temple it would take away from the romanticism that thrives there.

We made our way back out the revolving door and home by 1030. Yes, it was a long evening, but it was something we needed.

Vacation

Jason has a job that does not pay him when he takes vacation. He can take vacation in April (like we did) but he won't get paid for it until August because that's when his employer pays out vacation. So, we generally have a hard time taking vacations anytime other than August cause we don't like having to stretch the funds for a couple weeks.

However, August isn't a bad time to get paid out for Jason's vaca. His birthday is the last day of the month so it works out real nice for us.

Jason has worked at the Willey for 5 and a half years now. It wasn't until last year that I finally convinced him that you NEED to take vacations. That's why they have vacation time. A little over a year ago he was hating working, hating getting up so early, hating a lot of stuff. So, for his birthday, I planned a getaway. I usually plan getaways for his birthday though (i.e. Grand Canyon camping, WICKED in LA, Malibu vaca, etc.). He is finally understanding that when you are getting to a point that you hate your job, you need a vacation, because when you get back, you are rejuvenated and don't hate your job anymore, or not as much.

This year, I was going to keep it a secret, but I was having complications of how to get to our destination - Denver. We are going to Denver for a week to spend time with the Koch's, my uncle and his family, go on a tour of the mint, go to a pre game football game (Broncos vs. Steelers), go to the Denver temple and then good quality time with our friends and their adorable kids. I wanted to take a train cause I've been dying to take a train somewhere, but with all the bus riding we'd have to do, I was pretty much over that. However, I asked Jason if he wanted to and he was pretty much over it too. So, I told him my plans.

What I love most about this situation, is last night driving to dinner, Jason and I were driving to dinner and he says to me outta no where, "I am so excited for our trip next month." I am so excited too cause I know we both need it.

Numbers Freak

Jason and I went to a "Banking Center" dinner tonight. It was the going away party for Ryan, one of my good friends that no longer works with me as of a few hours ago. (very sad face)

Ryan chose to go to Cheesecake Factory for his going away party. There were 12 of us there, and most of us were couples. We asked our waiter at the beginning of the dinner if he would be able to split the check and he said it would take too long to do it, so no. (seriously??? you won't?)

So, about half the table gets up to go get money from the ATM which we thought was at the entrance or something. But it was taking everyone like 15-20 minutes to get cash, which the waiter was pretty put out that we were taking so long... (If he split our checks, there'd be no problem, right?) So finally, everyone is back at the table and we order our food. I then find out that everyone had to go to US Bank or Chase or whatever was closest and pay a fee. For all of us B of A associates, we were a little perturbed.

The food was pretty good. It is an expensive place. I'm glad Jason and I are working on portion sizes and we decided to share everything.

It gets time to pay and Dave, our server, hands the check over. I insist I get it first. When it gets handed over to me, I feel so excited that I am going to get to divide this check up! I go through and make a list of who got what. I then figured out the total for each "couple", what percentage their total is of the sub total, and then figure out the tax and "over 7 people" added on gratuity. Yes, I found such joy in figuring numbers. LOL

This is my lovely artwork.

Yes, I even marked who paid and who didn't. But, that's because some people were paying with a card. I then was showing Matt his breakdown, Matt is my previous, previous banking center manager... my manager 2 managers ago. He was laughing at me for how meticulous I was with it all. I volunteered to show him a graph if he does better with pictures and he said, "Ya Graf, draw me a graph."

Jason just heard "draw me a Graf", and that's what he did, right next to our totals. LOL I love that silly man.

Figuring everything out was pretty easy. I may not have needed to go this distance but, I did. And, I feel good. My brain had a little work out and is ready for a good night's rest.

Enjoying the small things

I hope he's praying that my garden continues to grow and be plentiful.

One of my favorite things about vines are the tendrils. They are so cute!

Our Garden is growing!

Here are the latest pic's from our garden. I am so proud of our carrots, cucumbers and zucchini. Spinach and onions need a little more time to show their true potential.


The cucumber plants are getting little curly tendrils at the end of the vine. They are so cute! They also have lots of little yellow flowers.

This is the left side of the planter box. Carrots, green onions and cucumbers are on this side. As you can see, the green onions are growing, but some days they can't take the heat. We moved the box out of direct light hoping they won't "bake" all day in the Vegas heat.

I am so excited about all the carrots we are going to have! We will be eating a lot of carrot soup in a few months.

And last we have the Zucchini plant! Flowers have been blooming on it for a couple weeks now. They are big yellow flowers like this one. She is quite a looker.

Little Girls

At work yesterday, there were two little girls sitting in the lobby waiting for their dad to get done doing his business with the bankers. They were very well behaved little girls, at least in my opinion. They were probably 5 and 7. After at least a half hour, as they were sitting in the same chair, I started hearing humming coming from their direction.

It was a really slow day, that's why I was able to enjoy this so much. LOL

After a few minutes, it started sounding more like Yummm. Yummm. And then... there it was.
Red Robin. Sung just like the commercials. I couldn't be the only one to enjoy it, so I called over a co-worker who laughed with me.

The girls didn't know they had an audience, so the next time they said Yummm, I replied, Red Robin from across the lobby. Sadly, after a few repeats, their dad was done and started to yell at them for being loud and noisy. I assured him it was my fault for encouraging them.