Atlanta Temple Open House

We decided to visit the Atlanta Temple for its open house to give our children the opportunity to see inside the temple. I (Jared) went to two temple open houses when I was growing up; I remember both vividly. We hopped in the car on Friday and drove home on Saturday. We went through on Saturday, the last day of the open house. It was lovely inside, as expected. The Celestial Room was radiant. It was a lot of driving but the kids did well and were placated with technology when they started getting really bored near the end of the trips.

Our hotel room.

Lily making faces (squinting in the sun).

Being on the temple grounds didn't stop the kids from running around.

Mom and Zach.

All 3 kids smiling at the same time (that's about as smiley as Anwyn gets); it's a miracle.

Family photo.

Zach recently had his second haircut. We think his hair gets lighter each time. It looked really white out in the sun.

It's a pretty temple.

Standing, cruising, and crawling but no free walking quite yet.

Lily was tired (and getting sick); she isn't sad, just pensive.

Anwyn doing what she loves to do - run.

Heralding the nations: "Come ye, to the house of the Lord!"

First Tooth!

Anwyn lost her first tooth today. It's been loose for a while and we finally got it pulled out. The new tooth is already coming in.

A Birthday for Zach

Our Zachary turned one year old!

He has been growing up a lot lately. He is a fast crawler, and he loves to explore the kitchen cupboards and pull everything out. He is starting to prefer reading books over eating them, and his favorites are by Sandra Boynton. He always giggles at the silly animal illustrations.

He says "mama", and Jared thinks he also says "Anwyn" (in his own way). He likes to play with balls and blocks and animals and little people toys and the remote controls; basically anything he can put his mouth on and toss around. He likes to go for walks while riding in the stroller. He brushes his hair when he finds a comb on the ground. He fetches balls when we ask him, and he drives his toy cars saying "vroom vroom". He sings whenever he hears a choir or group singing, and he likes to dance (wiggle). He also smacks his lips (like a kiss) when he wants a drink or something to eat.

We had a small celebration for his birthday, complete with dinner, presents, and cupcakes. We invited our neighbors (the Glenn family) to celebrate with us.

His sisters gave him lots of help with opening presents, and he had fun with his new toys.

He was a little shy with all of the attention when we sang Happy Birthday to him. Then...cupcake time!

After a little encouragement, he enjoyed exploring the cupcake for a few minutes. He was more interested in playing with it than eating it!

We are thankful for this fun sweet boy!