The Gila Valley Temple

Several months ago, R&K mentioned the date they planned to attend the Open House of the Gila Valley Temple. For several months, I had very good intentions to get reservations for a hotel and tickets for the Open House for the same time. Too bad I am a procrastinator. On Thursday, I was in KS and started talking to Ryan about it. By then, everything was sold out. Enter B&K. They had extra tickets for the Open House and decided not to use their hotel reservations. People should really stop bailing me out when I procrastinate, I learn nothing. I was grateful, nonetheless, that we were able to go on a mini-vacation. We left Friday night and headed to Thatcher. Our room was right next to R&K and every morning I got to see and hold happy babies and Clara got to see Lucy and Elsa. Life would be a party living next door to family. Saturday morning, we decided to stay Saturday night. I told Jason it was the most sporadic thing I've ever done. Clint later asked if I meant spontaneous. Yes, that's exactly what I meant. You see, there is a reason I do everything. A clear, concrete (to me, anyway) reason I do everything. If it involves money, it's even more clear and more concrete. I normally think, analyze, calculate how many hours of work we are wasting, stress over the unexpected expense, etc., until my head hurts. Not this weekend! We told Clara we were staying another night and she asked why. It felt good to answer, "Just for fun." I am working on doing that more often. Sometimes it is good to spend money just to enjoy life. (But only sometimes :)). Jason laughed that our first vacation of the year was to Thatcher, of all places. Honestly, we enjoyed being there because there weren't different things to do and places to go so we were really able to relax and enjoy family time. On Saturday we tagged along with R&K to lunch with her family before going to the Open House.

Of course, the temple was beautiful. Of the physical beauty, I was most impressed with the chandelier* in the Celestial Room. Hopefully they include a picture of it somewhere so people that weren't able to go get to see it. The strongest emotion I had while there, and it actually came during the little intro video they showed, was of the sacrifice the early saints made to have a temple. I take having a temple so close for granted and rarely make a sacrifice to attend. I certainly didn't sacrifice anything to have it or any of the upcoming ones built. I had a renewed desire to sacrifice to attend the temple more and to remember the sacrifice of those that didn't have it so easy.

We ran into Steve & Laschelle, some of my favorites from Snowflake. I was best friends with their only daughter Brittany and sometimes called myself their other daughter. As such, Steve took it upon himself to tell Clara he's her third grandpa. Now she keeps saying "I need to go to Snowflake to bisit my nother bampa". They've promised corn if I come, so maybe next time we're in their neighborhood...

That night we lounged around. Sunday morning we took pictures by the temple and then went to church. I think that's only like the second or third time in my life I have gone to a random ward that I didn't know a soul.

Little did we know the wind would be tornado-ous on Sunday. I didn't mind, I just wanted to make sure to get some picture documentation of our purpose for visiting the area.

I love the mountains with snow in the background.

Things to note...

- I could eat a pound of chips and salsa. I DID eat a pound of chips and salsa!

- I forgot my toothbrush, my blow dryer, bathing suit and shampoo and conditioner. I don't normally forget things when I travel, but I guess that's what happens when I try to pack in 5 minutes. I almost forgot my camera but remembered it, thankfully, 30 seconds after we left.

- We ate 5 pounds of Cuties in less than 24 hours. Yum.

- I have less of a desire to upgrade our Queen size bed to a King. Jason and I don't move much when we sleep so really, sleeping in a King just meant having to scoot farther to cuddle.

- I asked Clara if she liked staying in a hotel. She told me she just wanted to go to her home. Good to know she likes our house even compared to a clean hotel.

- When we decided to stay, I went to Wal Mart to buy some groceries for lunch on Sunday. The only problem was we didn't have an ice chest to keep it cold during church. I got a bag of ice from the hotel, and wrapped that and our food in Clara's blanket. Worked perfectly.

- We were gone for six meals and only ate out twice. Granted two of our meals were the continental breakfast at the hotel, but still. We didn't save a ton of money by doing this but I felt much, much better physically not eating out six meals straight. Restaurant food is so much fattier, saltier and I normally over eat. I was glad we had an alternative.

- Um, that's all.