A Love-ly Christmas

So, now getting back to Christmas...this year we were at the Love's for Christmas. These are just a few smatterings of present opening. My favorite moment was when Jon opened his Xbox. I don't have a picture, but I got a great video of his reaction.

The grandkids got to open the train set all together. Elise quickly moved on to bigger and better things while the others sat in wondering awe...either that or a sugar come down stupor. ;)

More present opening fun. One great part of the day was that Sarah (far right, in the red) announced that she and John are expecting! We're all very excited for their new addition!


This year, Idaho Falls received a Christmas Angel. The Love family was asked to write letters to Kimberly to put in a Christmas Box that will be buried by the angel statue. We drove out to the cemetery together Christmas Day to see it later in the day.

Here is the inscription on the back. I thought it was very touching and took a picture.

It was bitter cold that day. We all froze while we had our pictures taken together by the statue. "You better get your booties on 'cause it's COLD out there. It's cold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach? Not hardly!"--Groundhog Day

On Thursday after Christmas, Mom and Jennie and I went to the temple. Jennie and I had never been together. Afterwards, Mom took a picture of Jennie and me. Mom had a little difficulty getting the picture at first. Let's just say, I had some great video footage of Jennie and me grinning and asking, "Did you get it?" through our gritted teeth.

Then we found a kind soul who was willing to take a picture of all of us together.

That Saturday, Jon and I took Alex to Rexburg with John, Sarah and Ali to the Rexburg Temple open house. We were among the very first who got to go through the Rexburg Temple, so we were able to see little extra things like the Bride's Room.

It was really fun and exciting to get to walk through the temple with Alex. What a great opportunity to teach Alex about Heavenly Father's house! As young as he is, he could sense a special spirit inside and was very reverent...a major feat for a 2-year-old. He loved the Celestial Room.


Afterwards, we took turns posing for family pictures in front of the temple. You can't really see it in the pictures, but the snow was really coming down that day. The roads hadn't really been plowed so we had an interesting adventure driving around Rexburg so John and Sarah could show Ali the places they'd been when they were in college.

Here is a closer picture of the Rexburg Temple. It is absolutely gorgeous.

We really had a great time in Idaho Falls over the Christmas holiday. It was, well, Love-ly.