20 Temples

"The Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the Temples. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all our affairs." -Pres. Boyd K Packer

When Jonathan and I were engaged and preparing to be sealed in the Temple I thought it would be great goal for us to get to all the Temples in Utah. It soon turned into just visiting as many temples as we can:) We call it our "Curtis Temple Tour" and this week we made it to our 20th Temple! Although we are still missing the Monticello Temple before we can say we have been to all the Temples in Utah... It has been so fun to travel around and enjoy each ones unique beauty. On our way to each temple we read about that said temple's history and facts on this LDS Temples site. We have learned all kinds of fun facts and special things to look for when we get there. 

I am so grateful for the Temple and the peace I can find there. Even though each Temple we have been to is different, the Spirit is always the same. I know it is the House of the Lord, where His Spirit can dwell. I strive in my daily life to do the things that will invite that Spirit so I can have it with me always. I am also so grateful that we don't HAVE to travel hours to find a Temple. We have one just blocks away! Most importantly I cherish & keep the covenants I made in the Holy Temple. 

So without further a do... Here are our 20 Temples:) 

1st was the Jordan River Temple where I took out my own endowments. 

What a joy filled day! 

2nd was our Wedding Day in the Bountiful Temple.

An even more joyous day!

3rd was the Draper Temple, it was my first time back to the temple after doing my endowments. We were asked to be the "Witness Couple" I was a ball of nerves, but it was so special!

4th was the Vernal Temple. We made a little trip to Heber City and spent the night with my Grandma. Then finished our way to Vernal the next morning. What a sweet little temple it was, having been a Tabernacle originally. My favorite memory was being greeted in the Celestial Room by a giant picture of Christ in the Heavens with his arms wide open.

5th was the Provo Temple. We had tickets to a BYU game so we went down early and went to the temple before the game. I can't even remember if they won or not...

6th was the Logan Temple. This trip was very special for both Jon and I, for very personal reasons. We both were so happy to be with each other in the Temple!

7th was our very own Brigham City Temple, not too long after it had been dedicated.

8th was the Manti Temple. This is one of only 2 Temples that still do "live sessions" so it was special just for that reason. Also we made sure to check out the 5 story spiral stairs. So much history in this temple!

9th & 10th were the Buenos Aries Argentina, and Asuncion Paraguay Temples. Were were on a trip back to Jon and Jordan's missions. Listening to the session in Spanish was really neat.

11th, 12th & 13th were the Oquirrh Mountain, Mount Timpanogas, and Salt Lake City Temple. We had a little "Temple Weekend Trip" and went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Friday night, stayed in American Fork and then the next morning when to Mount Timpanogas, and then Salt Lake City Temple on the way back towards Brigham. It was one spiritually filled weekend!!!

14th was the Twin Falls Idaho Temple. We had just moved into our new house, and invited our neighbors to come along:)

15th was the Idaho Falls Temple. This is MY favorite Temple! They still have the original progressive rooms you move through, which is really neat. There are only 3 Temples that have murals in the Celestial Room, and this is one of them. That had to be the best part. I honestly felt like the murals depicted exactly what Heaven will be like! Also it was a special Temple trip for us because we had JUST found out the day before I was carrying our little Zella. The next day we drove back to Pocatello to watch Jordan play football.

16th & 17th were the St. George and Las Vegas Temple. By this time Zella was three months old and we went down south to watch Jordan play football for his Senior year. We decided we might as well go to the Las Vegas Temple too. Thank heavens for good friends & family who watched Zella for us while we went! The Celestial Room in Las Vegas was really neat because the sun casts rainbows through the windows all over the place!

18th was the Ogden Temple a few months after it was dedicated. It was closed when I went through the Temple so we hadn't had the chance to go through it together yet. We also saw it as a family during the Open House.

19th was the Payson Temple. A friend in Provo helped us out with Zella again, and we were able to go do a session together. We also took Zella with us during the open house. What neat experiences an open house is for families! Zella kept pointing up at all the sparkly lights and was such a good quiet girl the whole time we walked through.

And 20th is the Rexburg Idaho Temple just this last weekend. Zella stayed at my Dad's house in Tremonton and had a great time getting spoiled by all her Aunties.

How blessed we are to have SO many Temples! We plan on continuing with our "Curtis Temple Tour" and enjoying as many Temples as we can.

I also love going to back to our close "Regulars" where we have made many sweet memories. It has been such a strength to go the temple, and we have made it our goal to attend monthly.

Curtis Circus!

On any given day... Our life feels much like a Circus!

So how appropriate for us to dress up as one for Halloween:)

Jon our Strongest Man 

Me the Ringmaster

Zella our Clown

and Mini our Lion!

We had a Trunk or Treat for our Primary Activity, 

so we decorated our Trunk as a big Circus Tent, 

and handed out Popcorn to the kids!

Boy did we have a great time!

Some more pictures of our Sweet & Crazy Clown!

There is a story behind her costume... 

Growing up my Mom always handmade my costumes, and my 2 sisters wore them as well... So I wanted Zella to wear them too! My first Halloween Costumes was a Cow, but my Mom had borrowed it to someone, and it was never returned to her. So I had Zella be a Soccer Ball. The next year I was a Clown. So I planned on her wearing this Clown Costume. I had been preparing all the rest of our costumes to coordinate, when my Mom decided to look for the Clown costume and couldn't find it anywhere... So being the amazing Mom she is, she remade it! It looks almost identical:) I love it! As for the rest of my costumes growing up, we've found them all. Next year will be "Peas in a Pod" :)

Me in the Original Costume

Zella in the Remake

I don't know how my Mom got me to let her paint my face like she did... It was so hard just to get the nose painted on Zella's face!!! 

Hope everyone else had a fun Halloween!

16 Months of Adventure

So much has changed for Miss Zella 

since she's turned a year old.

Here are some of her milestones...

• Bottom tooth #2 came @ 13 months
• Started Walking @ 14 months
• Front Teeth came in @ 15 months 
• Hit 20lbs and 28.5in @ 16 months

I was so worried because she only had 3 words in her little vocabulary... Mama, Dada, and Bark Bark for our Dog... But as soon as she got her front teeth she has started saying a lot of more words, and trying to mimic the things we say.

So at 16 months she says...

• "Ta-Da" and throws her hands in the air!
• "Pretty" when she has a bow, her purse, makeup, or necklace 
• "Shoes" she finds shoes and carries then around everywhere
• "Bubble" she loves sing the bubble song
• "Pop" she says this at the end of our bubble song
• "MeMe" for our Dog, Mini
• "Thank You" she will repeat it after we tell her Thank You
• "Cheese" when we take her picture accompanied by a very cheesy grin..
• "Bye-Bye" which is accompanied by her sweet little wave
• "Baby" when she see's a picture of herself
• "Taci" my littlest sister's name, and the easiest of the names to say 
• "Yell-ya" for her name, Zella
• "Gam-ma" for her Grandma's
• "Gam-pa" for her Grandpa's

She also appropriately signs "More Please" and "All Done" which is very helpful at mealtime. She also is very interested in feeding herself. I know she has to learn... but the messes drive me crazy! She is getting really good a using her little forks.

She is very affectionate and gives out the best hugs and kisses. She also throws us kisses too. Lately she has been coming up at random times and hugging our legs when we are up busy doing something. It is so precious. At bedtime she likes to snuggle with me and her blanket, but when Dad tries to get her to with him she only does a couple seconds. I tell him its because he is just too much fun, and she always just wants to play with him.

She loves to be outside, and will cry if I let the dog out and not her... I think she loves shoes so much because she knows when she gets them on we go outside. She likes the dirt and gets all sorts of dirty! Now that she is walking she is all about going to the park. She climbs all over everything! This is going to be a long hard winter for her... I can already tell with it cooling down.. 

Her hair is finally growing a little more, and the more it does the curlier it is! Mine was very curly when I was little. My mom says that it does look just like mine did. But ask her to smile and then she looks just like her Dad!

Our Newest Addition

As most of you know... 

My Sister Taryn has officially moved in with us, and has started her first semester at Weber State University. 

We cleaned and fixed up an existing bed and bathroom downstairs for her to use. It turned out nice and is a great little space for her. I had some vinyl made quoting the new Cinderella movie, "Have Courage, and Be Kind."

I've absolutely loved having her company. She is a perfect addition for our family. The plan so far is to have her stay with us till she goes on a mission next year. 

1st Night:)

Off to Singles Ward

She is staying really busy with work, school, 
and she is in a play at a local theatre! They have a double cast... 
So her nights to perform are: Sept 19,25,28 & Oct 2,3,9 730PM
Go Check it Out!

As far as adjusting to this change...

I am growing to appreciate the worrying my mother always did when I was a teenager... I have an extra person to worry about now, although Taryn has been very good at letting me know what she is up to!

Jon has been funny to watch as he closes every door now, and never ventures out in his underoos anymore! But I don't care, we're Sisters:) 

Zella hasn't had much adjusting to do... she just has one more persons things to get into! She is obsessed with Taryn's purse and has to drag it around with her if she catches sight of it...

Zella wearing Taryn's Sweater & Purse:)

*If you'd like to follow our adventures with Taryn on Instagram watch for #mywildcatroomie 

Curtis Clan on the Coast

Last week we spent some quality time with the whole Curtis Family on the Oregon Coast!

Here are some of the highlights...

#1 Meeting Baby Graham 

Graham was born in May and is almost 3 months old. On the coast was our first opportunity to meet him. Zella was not a fan! She didn't like him getting Mom & Dads attention at all!!! We really enjoyed getting to love on him though:) He's super sweet, and reminds me exactly of Beckett. I even caught some of his little smiles! When Jon got to hold him he put him on his chest and said, "Ah, I miss this!" Seems so long ago Zella was little and let us hold her like that. They just grow up too fast!

#2 Whale Watching 

The first couple days we stayed in Depoe Bay which is where all the whales like to hang out. We could watch them right from our balcony. Jon was the first to spot one! You had to know what you were looking for... They would come up and spout... Sometimes you could see their back really well, and sometimes they would flip their tail. It was hard to get good pictures but Jon managed to get a few pictures of the spouts and a little of its back. It was really cool. Next time we go I'd like to get in a boat and go on a tour so we can see them up close!

#3 Sea Lions

We went to the Sea Lion Caves where al the Sea Lions hang out. There were a lot of them! Zella really like them because they barked:) We got her a little Sea Lion souvenir that makes the the barking sound when you pat its back. She really likes it. We tried to get a picture of all the cousins on the Sea Lion Rock but Roderick wanted to hide so you cant really see him... So pretend he is "Where's Waldo" and see if you can find him;)

#4 The Beach

To say Zella loved the beach is an understatement. She loved playing in the sand, and each trip to the beach ended in us dragging her away in tears. She was way too busy to ever look at the camera so we got very few pictures with her looking let alone smiling... She was always covered from head to toe in sand, and of course hated getting cleaned off! In Seaside there were swings on the beach, and she LOVED that too:)

#5 Crabbing

We tried our hand at crabbing off a bridge in a river that came off the ocean. First we rented some rings that you had to pull up frequently because the crab just crawled over it. We only got small ones that weren't big enough to keep. So we rented a cage that trapped the ones that were bigger.  We left that over night and caught two nice sized crab. They were both male so we got to keep them! We also happened to find a couple hiding in the rocks during tide pooling and were able to catch them. They were also both male and big enough to keep! So we ended up with 4 Crabs. They were yummy:)

#6 Tide Pooling

This was really cool!! We got up bright and early at the 8AM low tide. We got to see all kinds of sea life left behind in the rocks. Things like Star Fish, Sea Snails, Hermit Crabs, and Sea Anemone... We also found Sand Dollars and Beautiful Sea Shells... Lots of fun! The Sea Anemone were really cool because once you touched them they closed up.

Open

Closed

Years ago the Curtis Family went on a vacation to the coast before spouses or grandkids... Stephanie brought one of the pictures from the trip and they recreated it! I think it turned out pretty good:)

Then

Now

We really did have a great time on the coast with all the family. Wish we could see this bunch more often, we have a lot of fun together! It wouldn't have been possible without David & Dianne. Thanks so much for providing such a fun trip. The memories will last forever!!!