Trees and Temples

This weekend we ended up doing an impromptu yard project. On Friday night while we were getting dinner ready (so almost 7pm) a friend of our across-the-street neighbor's knocked on the door and offered to trim our trees for really cheap since he was in need of some cash. After deciding that this was the best deal on tree trimming we had ever heard, we took him up on it. He even lowered the price a bit since Ian volunteered to help out. They didn't get started until 8pm Friday night. The guy said he would come back at 9 the next morning.

Yeah, so he didn't actually show up until about noon. Ian had called twice. Ugh. When he got there his chain saw wasn't working, so he messed with it for about an hour before deciding he needed to take it to a mechanic. We went to the pool while he took the saw to the mechanic. He didn't end up coming back to finish up until 6pm on Saturday. The saw was fixed though, so he and Ian worked until almost 10pm and finished up. It was a somewhat sketchy and frustrating business venture, but we still think getting those trees all trimmed up was worth the $300 and the full weekend we paid.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Unfortunately the $300 that we paid to get the trees trimmed was my puppy money, so now we will have to wait at least until the next paycheck to get a doggy. I am really trying to be patient, but I'm a little obsessed. I can't stop checking all the dog websites for new listings. I am still pretty set on a toy or mini Aussie though, so I hope there are some still available by next week! :)

Today we didn't have church at all because of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication. We decided to go to the early 9am broadcast so that we would be done and have the rest of the day to relax, but alas, our babysitters kind of forgot, so as soon as they got here we rushed out. As we pulled into the parking lot we saw another couple in our ward jumping out of their car, but by the time we parked and tried a different door it was locked. The entire building was locked at 8:32am. It was pretty frustrating. I mean shouldn't they at least wait to lock the doors until 8:35 simply to allow for differences on watches? Lame. We decided we would just wait and go to the 3pm broadcast.

I am glad we went back. It was a very nice dedication. I hadn't been to a temple dedication since I was a teenager, and I found the whole thing more profound and inspiring than I did back then. I truly felt the spirit and left with a renewed commitment to attend the temple regularly and to make my home a more holy place.

One particular part of President Monson's talk struck me pretty hard. I apologize for my poor summary, but I don't have the actual text. He quoted the scripture about the foxes have holes and the fowls have their nests, but the savior of the world has nowhere to lay his head. Then he said (something along these lines) "in our homes where we have rooms for eating, and rooms for sleeping, and rooms for television, let us make sure we have room for Christ. And in our lives where we have time for golf, and time for movies, let us make sure we have time for Christ." What an applicable analogy. It's like my mom is always saying, if we have time to read People magazine or Real Simple, then we should surely have time to read the Ensign. I think I can make a lot of improvement in making more time for Christ and the gospel in my life and in my home.

Needless to say it was a nice Sunday. Tonight we had family game night. Ian and I whooped Weston at Zingo. In our defense he was being really silly and not paying much attention. :) Also, when we went to the distribution center to get white handkerchiefs for the dedication, the kids each got a picture (Weston's is President Monson and Davin's is Jesus). Weston decided to put Davin's on his door, then felt left out so put his on his own door. Ian commented that it appeared that we had some pretty important guests staying at our house tonight. I think it's cute and kind of funny. My favorite is that they are both the same crooked and the same Weston height.
I am looking forward to a fun playdate this week and maybe a temple trip too, depending on whether or not work calms down a bit for Ian. I'll keep you all posted on the puppy front.