Ogden Temple Open House

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to take our kids down to Utah to go through the Ogden Temple while our church was holding an open house before it is rededicated in mid-September. Anytime our church builds, or does a major renovation of a temple, the temple is opened up for anyone and everyone to take a tour of the beautiful building before it is dedicated. We figured this would be a great opportunity for our children to see the inside of a temple before they are old enough to enter one that has been dedicated. 

We decided to go down to Salt Lake on Thursday, August 21st. We went through the temple on Friday the 22nd. We left Salt Lake on Saturday the 23rd (Kinley's bday) and headed to Idaho Falls. We stayed the night with my friend Corrine and her three boys then finished our drive back to Spokane on that Sunday. 

The trip down was eventful. When we woke Shiloh and Kinley up, they had both puked in their beds over night. Shiloh puked three more times before we reached4th of July pass. Kinley seemed to be doing okay, until she began having diarrhea that stunk to high heaven. Needless to say, we had to stop several times. What should have been an 11 hour drive at most turned into 13 hours. Fun times!

Just arriving at the hotel after our 13 hour drive.

 Cooper is in there somewhere.

 I love love love the Salt Lake Temple. It is so beautiful. This temple took approximately 50 years to build. I love the heritage of this magnificent building. Each time I am on that sacred ground, I can't help but think about the sacrifice the early saints made in building this temple. The detail of each doorknob, window, and spire is amazing.

 Sitting in front of one of the massively large (tall) door  of the temple.

We took a bit of a pit stop to visit the Bountiful Temple. This was on Saturday, so it was busy with many wedding parties taking pictures, so we didn't get very many.

 

 Also on Saturday we toured the US Air Force Museum just north of Salt Lake (I believe).

 Cooper was in heaven. He currently wants to be a bomber pilot for the Air Force when he grows up.

 

 We even tried In N Out, not a huge fan. So many people talk about how good it is, so my expectations were really high.

On our way to the Odgen Temple open house, it started to pour. We didn't get very many pictures of the temple due to the rain, but it is a very beautiful building.

I AM A Child of God

"I am a Child of God" is one of the most well known primary songs from our church. 

Kinley and Shiloh watch this video pretty much every night before bed. 

Kinley now sings it all the time and requests that we play it while driving. Most of the time she is not happy unless it is playing.

Visit from THE other Borders

 We were so very blessed to have Jeff's brother Steve, his wife Tricia, and their three girls Ashley, Megan, and Hannah come from Virginia to visit for two weeks. The last time we saw them was December of 2010, overt 3.5 years ago! We are so grateful they were able to come and can't wait to see them again!

 Jeff with Shiloh (above), Steve with Hannah (below). It was great to see these brother together. I had forgoten how much alike they are in most every way.

 Cooper and Megan were so bummed that they didn't get to ride the bumper cars at Riverfront Park with Ashley and Mason. Never fear! Papa Borders to the rescue, buying them tickets to ride later.

 

Ancle Steve was a great wrestling partner.

 

 Shiloh and Kinley thought it would be fun to dance on the picnic table at the splash pad.

 

The only reason I am including this video is because it has Cooper's amazing laugh.

Cooper's 7th Birthday

Cooper was able to invite a few friends over for a party and they were able to go to Strike Zone just like Mason did for his birthday. It is hard to believe that my chubby little whinny kid had turned into such a loveable, cuddly little dude. This guy has the best laugh and smile. I feel so blessed to be his mom for eternity.

Allergy Check Up

Coop-dog went to the allergist this morning. Since he has a severe food allergy, he has to be seen by his (awesome) allergist each year so she can fill out new school forms giving them to okay to administer his epi-pen if needed. A few weeks before going to the allergist, he had to have his blood drawn to see how allergic he is to peanuts. This time around, we had them check on a few other nuts as well. Here are the results:

Almond: 5.49 (high)

Hazelnut: 3.44 (moderate)

Pecan Nut 10.10 (high)

Peanut >100.00 (very high)
Walnut 2.83 (moderate)

Although those results are not a surprise to us, it still would have been nice for the peanut to be lower than greater than 100. We would love for him to grow out of his allergy, or for it to at least lessen in severity, but it is not looking like that will be the case. Cooper will more than likely be severely allergic to peanuts for his entire life. That scars me and makes me sad that he is always going to have to be so careful.

FIRE!

Jeff spent 16 hours on fire calls with 13 of those hours on a wild fire on Saturday night and Sunday morning. All of this happened as we finished up working on backyard patio project for about 8 hours.
Here are some videos of the fire.