A CELEBRATION to Remember....

I was privileged to go on a very special date tonight. Check out my date....

Cute or what?

Sirri and I attended the Rexburg Temple Dedication Celebration. It was absolutely nothing short of AMAZING! I was able to get tickets at the last minute and I am sooooo thankful that I did. I knew that someday I would have regretted not going and partaking of every opportunity "our" temple has and will continue to bring us.

The celebration was just that.... a CELEBRATION! There was music and dancing and video and cheering and clapping and laughing. I'll tell you two things, not only is the GOSPEL true, but the CHURCH really knows how to throw a par-tay!

The celebration focused on our area and how it "came to be," its history, and how we have come to blessed with a temple. Two of the stories really stuck out in my mind.

We learned about the Pioneers coming from the Logan, Utah area to settle this land. As settling any new area would be, it was a true hardship for the Saints. President Wilford Woodruff, the church's prophet at the time, visited the Saints. He pronounced a blessing upon this area that the land would be fertile and reap crops, that the climate would be temperate, that the people would prosper and he testified and promised that one day this area would have a temple! What a comfort it is to me, to know that my home was blessed by a prophet of God.

We learned of all the service that was offered when Yellowstone National Park was burning and that through the work and love of the people of this area, the park was saved. One example; The college and it's volunteers brought and set up over two miles of pipe sprinklers and "watered" the fire. How neat.

This video is one of the "dances" that was performed. This one depicted the volunteers saving Yellowstone with the pipe sprinklers.

The singing and dancing was fabulous. Over 2000 youth participated. The talent was amazing. At one point there were 300 youth playing fiddles all up and down the aisles. The choir was incredible and truly the spirit of the show. They cheered and whooped and hollered for all the other performers. At the end of the show 600 wheat carriers, all youth, all dressed in white, marched in, to the choir singing The Spirit of God.

The spirit was so strong. I am so thankful for the temple that will be dedicated tomorrow. I am so thankful for a Father in Heaven who loves us and continues to bless us!

And I'm thankful for my cutie pie date! We had a great time. At the end of every dance, Sirri would ask, "is it over Mom?" After asking this three times I asked her if she was ready to go. She said, "No! I don't want it to be over!" What a sweetie! And of course, we went to McDonald's after the show. What four year old wouldn't pick McDonald's?