drops of edification

Two Friday's ago, we Miller's managed to get our ship together and sailing (very early in the morning no less) to the Phoenix LDS temple open house. 

It's not lost on me that it is a HUGE opportunity/blessing to have this be the second open house we've attended as a family in the past year. Jake and I try to give 100% in being good examples of righteous living to the boys...buuuttt... let's face it, it's a bit of a holy whomp whomp most days. So despite the hour and 20 minute drive (which is essentially the same as to infinity and beyond) we knew that taking the boys was one of the better parental choices we could make. 

The tour itself went really well. The boys we're cheerful little angels (bless them). When we walked into one of the rooms, the celestial room, and Rad let out an audible gasp, complete with dropped jaw and big eyes. My heart swelled a little because of the chance to be in the temple as a family.  I always enjoy going to the temple with Jake and by myself, even though we don’t seem to get there enough these days and our morning there felt extra special since we were in the temple, as a whole family.  

(Because we build our temples to be a literal house of God, only worthy members of our faith are able to attend the temple once it's been dedicated. When the boys turn 12 and if they are worthy they'll be able to enter part of the temple, but the open house is an amazing opportunity for us to be in it as a family...at least for the next few years. So regardless of all our imperfections (but hey, show me a family that is perfect!) I feel so blessed to have such a loving family.)

When we finished with the tour and Jake went to grab the car. The plan was to have the boys get any extra energy out on the temple grounds before loading them into the car. Ha. Rhett's, (ok and my) predictable/reliable need to use the bathroom came so we went to find the facilities. Turns out the facilities were in a trailer which was fine, it was clean and smelled good. The trailer was set up on big wheels and the stairs to get in were super steep and narrow ie not kid friendly. Getting in the trailer wasn't an issue but once we were in...

- Rhett refused to lock the stall door so I had to hold it closed. 

- Rad took this as an opportunity to try and escape through the 2 different door options.

- While trying to catch escapee Rad, I accidentally let the stall door swing open leaving poor Rhett very exposed. 

- I had less than 10 seconds to use the facilities and get everyone's hands washed because a hoard of people was in line and we were holding up the line. 

I teetered down the trailer stairs in my highly inappropriate for the occasion wedges, and made the rookie mistake of helping Rad down the stairs first which meant he bolted while I helped Rhett get down. 

So. 

We're on temple grounds which meant everyone as a attitude of reverence to some extent and then there's us. Rad running away as fast as he could. Rhett's trying to catch and tackle Rad to fill his role as big helper. Julia's trying to whisper-yell, emphasis on the yell, and trying not to draw attention or break the reverent atmosphere and trip on her dang shoes. The boys were so poorly behaved that I broke out into an actual sweat while trying to wrestle them into submission. 

And then because I clearly was not solving any of the problems myself (Jake where are you...!!) the grounds security stepped in, corralled my beasts and helped me out to the parking lot. My forehead sheen was out of control my emotional state was boarder line out of control. 

Jake pulled the blessed car around and we got the heck out of dodge. 

In conclusion:

Kid's Post Temple Tour Behavior Grades

Julia: C- (slight freak out about the whereabouts of her children in a public place)

Rhett: D+ for his attempts to "help".

Rad: F...SO many F's.

(Graded on a curve because I'm in an oddly generous mood post event.)

^^^Oh and the boys were SO excited to see the Christus that they almost tackled Him with childlike love and high fives. I guess that's better than total indifference.