A bit Random

Rexburg Temple Open House

Our family was able to attend the open house on Wednesday, Jan. 23. What a wonderful experience for our children. Savannah was enraptured with the beautiful chandeliers and all the wonderful details. In the Celestial room she bent down and traced the pattern of the flowers that was embossed in the carpeting, she looked in the eternal mirrors, and stood in awe. My children loved seeing the baptismal font where their Grandparents will be working. Clayne's parents are in charge of the Baptistery when the temple opens. They have been so busy but are such wonderful examples to us all of serving the Lord. What a blessing. Everything about the temple was so breathtakingly beautiful and I look forward to attending a session now and then in this gorgeous temple.

I was getting my hi lites yesterday at the hair dressers so I had a bit of time to look as my surroundings as well as through a magazine. She had an awesome tile plaque with a saying by President Hinkley that I want to remember so I am posting it here...

"Remembering who you are, changes what you do."

Isn't that cool? A simple statement but very profound. I love our Prophet and all his wisdom and love.

Now for the fun tidbits I found in the magazine LDS Living. I just may end up getting a subscription to this little gem. I have looked at it before, but yesterday I really liked it. I asked Susan if I could borrow it for the weekend and I am really enjoying it's contents.

A Plug for Blogging!

Did you know that Elder M. Russell Ballard has urged members to participate in Blogs? I was excited to know that I am doing something that I enjoy and following the council of the brethren at the same time lol. It was mostly in response to an increased interest in the Mormon religion with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Elder Ballard encouraged students to share their views on blogs to respond to news stories about the Church and to share the gospel in clear simple terms. While not every post on my blog is of a spiritual nature, I do often share things that clearly represent my religious preference. So let's hear it for blogging!!

Spiritual Downloads

I have often visited http://www.lds.org/ as well as http://www.byubroadcasting.org/ to search for information for a talk or lesson or to listen to a conference address or talk but I must admit that I wasn't aware of some of the other resources that were available there.

Did you know that at lds.org free downloads of the following are available:

• The Standard Works


• Ensign, Friend, and New Era magazines from 2004 to the present


• Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage


• General conference talks from 2003 to the present


• Songs from the Children's Songbook, Hymns, and other specialty music


• Select leadership broadcasts


• Select CES firesides

At byu boadcasting you can find:

• Classic devotional speeches given between 1949 and 1999


• Select Women's Conference broadcasts


• Select Education Week presentations from 1996 to the present


• David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies lectures

Anyway... I just thought it was interesting. Sometimes I actually will have a broadcast playing in a window while I surf the net in another. Makes me feel like I am not being overly idle while I surf lol.

A Recipe I want to try.

Bacon-wrapped Pork Tenderloin

• 1 pork tenderloin, cleaned and trimmed


• 3 slices of bacon


• 1 tbsp garlic powder


• 1 tsp seasoned salt


• 1/2 tsp oregano


• black pepper


• olive oil

Combine seasonings to make a rub for the meat. Rub seasoning on the meat. Wrap the tenderloin with bacon, using toothpicks to hold the bacon in place. Coat the meat well with olive oil. Place in a pan and bake uncovered in a 375-400 degree oven for 45-60 minute, or until pork reaches 155 degrees. Make sure the bacon is completely cooked. When the meat is done, remove from the dish and wrap in aluminum foil. Let stand for 10 minutes.

National Pancake Day

Yep there is such a thing lol. I think that there is a day for just about everything. Anyway it is on February 5. I think I will plan to serve breakfast for dinner that night in honor of the event. Another interesting tid-bit is that IHOP will be honoring it on the 12th of Feb. (they are doing it a week late because of Super Tuesday- which has to do with the presidential primaries) On that day you can go between 7-10 pm for a free stack of pancakes. They ask that you contribute the money you would have spent on the pancakes to a local children's hospital or another worthy cause.

Keeping Marriage Magical

There were tons of great ideas for dates because the focus was on Marriage with Valentine's Day around the corner. There were ideas for dates that cost nothing like...

• Walk through a crowded area and make up stories about other people's lives. Be creative! Be funny!


• Go to Costco and eat the free samples and then watch a DVD on your laptop in your car facing the sunset.


• Take your iPod or boom box to a remote parking lot and dance together in the beams of your car's headlights.

Some of these are a little corny but I do think we'd have a fun time doing them anyway lol. I want to try those listed above this summer.

Here are a few more ideas for creative dating...

• wishing date - Find a fountain that donates its proceeds to a good cause, and take a roll of pennies to throw into it. Take turns wishing with the pennies and talk abut what you wished for. If you want to, you can bring a picnic style dessert, or just pop into a nearby cafe.


• stargazing date - Find a planetarium or observatory in your city and go watch the stars move through the universe. Afterwards, look at the sky outside and look for any of the constellations that you learned about.


• tourist date - Find a tourist map of your city and see the sights. Go through the map with your date and decide which things interest you most.


• book date - Go to a bookstore and look at books together. Talk about books that interest you, things you've read, and things you want to read. Find a book on questions for couples and ask each other questions while you have dessert at a cafe.


• dining date - Go downtown where there are lots of restaurants close together and have appetizers, dinner, and dessert at different places, walking from one restaurant to the next.

I know this was a long post so thanks for reading and I hope you found some fun ideas too.