Utah Day 3 & 4 {Temple Square, Brother's, Zoo & Friends}

On Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting at my brother's Ward and then headed off to Temple square to meet up with Hubs' sisters. 

Mac for most of his life has been very resistant to anything church or gospel related up until about two or three months ago. So all of a sudden he has a thirst for gospel truths and reading scriptures and he seems to be grasping a lot of what we have been teaching him. It has been amazing to watch and to be able to teach him and help him recognize the spirit. And our visit to Temple square was amazing because of this. Mac really seemed to feel the spirit and the importance of where we were at. He loved the flowers and ooh-ed and aah-ed over all of them. We were at one fountain and he asked for a coin to throw in to make a wish. We didn't have one but daddy asked Mac what he would wish for if he did have one. Mac, without hesitation said, "I wish I could see Jesus." And daddy explained to him that he didn't have to wish for that, that if he followed the commandments and lived righteously that he would most definitely get to see Jesus someday. Through out all of our walking around he was fairly calm and very respectful which seems to be hard for him sometimes because he has a lot of energy and gets overly excited sometimes. He really loved the Visitor Center and when we went and saw the Christus and daddy asked him what it looked like when he looked up a Jesus, Mac said, "It looks like we are going in to heaven." Oh man I love this boy! He also really loved all the scripture videos and all the displays. Usually he is eager to jump from one thing to another without much thought, but not here. It was a very sweet experience to witness as his parents. Since Mac has been more receptive we have been trying to be much more vigilant with our family prayers and our family scripture reading and also teaching him how to apply gospel principles in our everyday life. 

After Temple Square we headed over with my brother Ryan and his family to my other brother's house. We had dinner and the guys played Bocci ball. While there, Oak got a bocci ball dropped on her head. Thankfully she was in a lacrosse net when it fell on her and the net seemed to take most of the blow. Other wise we would have been getting her stitches or staples. It left an nice red welt and lump. 

The next day we went to the zoo with my very-pregnant-with-twins-sister-in-law and her twin two year olds. (yes, they will have two sets of twins...under the age of three :)). It was a hot day and it was crazy busy at the zoo, but my kids loved it. 

Rhinos

They had some lego displays of animals. Mac really loved that!

Of course we had to get some ice cream.

My rockstar husband pushing our twin nephews with Mac on his shoulders and Oak's helping push the stroller! Talk about super-dad!

Later that night we went to visit our really good friends (from when we lived in Portland). They took us to dinner with their family for their daughter's ninth birthday. It was so fun to visit them and we so wish we were next door neighbors. 

Then we headed to Hubs' sister's house to stay the night because his sister and her one month old baby were coming home with us to spend a week in Oregon. We got up at 4 am and made pretty good time getting home by 7:30 that night. The kids were great, especially for not being able to get out and stretch their legs much because the whole trip it was cold and VERY windy. 

It was a great trip and we packed in a lot for our short four day visit. We can't wait to go back in June for a reunion/anniversary celebration with my siblings and parents.