Good times for Lafayette.

 

It finally happened.

An additional church building was built in Lafayette

and the official Open House was yesterday.

The building is absolutely beauitful,

and what is even more beautiful is the growing number of saints 

and the need for another building.

Next is the temple :)

Good things are in store for Lafayette and Indiana.

 This was the young women's display at the Open House. 

They did a great job showing all of their projects and testimonies.

My sister made a book all about temples and her goal to be married in one one day.

Love it.

These are a few more displays that were being shown. 

They really did a great job in capturing what the gospel is about,

eternal families, heavenly covenants, and our Savior Jesus Christ. 

You can check out the news article about the event here!

Curt at Work.

That's my baby!

Look at him working hard,

slaving away,

while at WORK.

Pfcu recently incorporated a work out room into their facilities

(in conjunction with their lactation room-for all those mothers wanting to tone up a bit when feeding the babe)

and Curt took advantage...

Every chance he gets,

He is in that work out/ lactation room,

toning his BOD.

Really,

I don't think he needs to worry obsess about it so much.

But Curt is Curt,

and if he wants to add a little more muscle,

you go get em hun!

In actuality,

they asked Curt to take some promotional pictures

for their new work out room.

I think he promoted it alright.

I wouldn't be suprised if he's in their right at this moment actually.

Chicago temple.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to go to the with the mister this past weekend.

We are so blessed to be so close and make the trip in one day.

It was a wonderful experience, 

and every time we go,

all our wedding memories come back to us. 

(Two months away from our year anniversary!)

We left for Chicago around 11:00 our time

made it to the temple at 1:00 their time 

and then picnicked!

After our delightful picnic,

we went through the temple,

I just can't get over how wonderful it is,

to be completely at peace and encircled in the spirit.

There is no better feeling than to stand next to Curt in the temple,

knowing that we are sealed for all eternity,

and eventually our little kiddies will be too.

I hope one day that our baby Curts and Vanessas will experience this one day too.

Until then,

we will keep doing the best we can in centering our lives on Christ.

 

 

It's just so beautiful!

And of course, 

afterwards its required to stop at Portillo's.

Chicago style dogs and italian beef and their amazing cake shake.

We are always so stuffed on the way home,

but a good stuffed.

Gosh, I'm hungry now.

Afterwards this delightful trip,

we topped it with Jumanji!

That movie still freaks me out,

I don't know how kids can handle it without peeing their pants.

In conclusion, this past weekend was tough to beat.

Stop. Breathe. Run in the Rain.

Gosh. Rain is beautiful. Everything is so alive, awake.

I don't enjoy running too much.

I would much rather play a game of soccer or volleyball 

or football or tennis or pickleball or four square.

But when it's a warm rain,

trickling down your body,

I have to go running. 

I needed it too.

Our lives have been going non-stop.

I didn't think this could happen, 

but we are busier now than during the school year.

Crazy, but good.

So this run was a break from everything,

I was able to run away from my responsibilities and breathe in the fresh air.

I was able to enjoy the beauty around me.

(this gives you an idea of what I saw)

Rain is good for the soul.

Prune and Groom, that's what our Master does best.

Jacob 5

The longest chapter in the Book of Mormon.

A great one.

It was my night in charge of FHE (family home evening),

and I choose to dive into this chapter. I began with these verses. 

3For behold, thus saith the Lord, I will liken thee, O house of ^aIsrael, like unto a tame ^bolive tree, which a man took and nourished in his ^cvineyard; and it grew, and waxed old, and began to ^ddecay.

 4And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive tree began to decay; and he said: I will ^aprune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not.

 5And it came to pass that he ^apruned it, and digged about it, and nourished it according to his word.

This parable can be interpreted in a few ways.

First,

as the house of Isreal,

there are many great, righteous people,

and there also are many lost, unrighteous people.

Those unrighteous people will be cut off from the olive tree,

allowing stronger, younger branches to grow.

We must all be striving to live a righteous life,

worthy to grow on our Master's tree.

Second,

we individually are the olive tree.

We all have weaknesses and flaws,

we all have decaying branches and sins that hinder our growth.

Only through the Savior can we be pruned.

We must constantly turn to him for help, 

and through Him,

we will be nourished.

I think had a little demonstration.

I sat Curt down in a chair, 

in the middle of our bathroom,

got out the clippers and started to prune his hair.

It was time to cut away the overgrowth,

and let new baby hairs grow back.

Pruning,

especially for Curt,

is a constant necessity.

But all in all,

our Savior is the ultimate groomer.

It is Him who shapes us into what and who we are.

Through his words,

we will be nourished and will bring forth ripe fruit.

Welcome heat waves.

I thought once summer arrived, life would return to a lax, peaceful pace. Quite the contrary. Life doesn't stop at all. It just keeps throwing things at you. Left, then right. The Monday after my last final (Spanish...I don't want to talk about it or ever think about it again) I started full time at my internship. 8 to 5 e'ry day. I'm tellin you, no rest for the weary.

But last week was definitely a good one. We had some special visitors! Sarah, JC, and Trin came for a weekend. Then Lisa was here! And then Ashley, Bwaden, and Addie! Ahhhh. So great. I tried to come over as much as possible...My man Braden and I tried to fly our awesome kites, but for some reason the wind stop right when we stepped outside. Not cool. We also played Fireball Island the last night Ashley and Litha (Lisa with a lisp) were here. 

You know how crazy that gets. 

Curt was yelling, 

I was arguing, 

Litha was making up rules, 

and Ashley was throwing down some fireballs.

It was so fun. I'm sad to say, Litha won. BUT I did find out that there is no such rule as a "Valiant push" when throwing down some nasty fireballs (also known as little red marbles). This one time my little finger slipped when trying to knock down the fireball. Litha  tried to pull that I didn't have another chance...and that it was in the rule book. BUT IT WASN'T. I just want to clarify that for any questions in the future. 

Also, SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE. My plants are growing and I am sweating like crazy. Yesterday I ran 1.5 miles, played soccer with my boy (our favorite activity), and then played some awesome volleyball until the wee hours of the night. THIS is what summer is all about. Sports and sun and food. Gosh I am so excited. Winter was too long. I am itching to play all day and all night.

My lil teensy weensy brother...at prom

IMG_3481bw, a photo by vjisenbarger on Flickr.

These two are so adorable and I love them. I was so excited to take pictures of them for their prom. They are too cute.