presidents, slumdogs and protestors- oh my!

this last weekend was action packed. with valentine's day, family parties and president's day- we were busy all day everyday. while i am sure you would all like to read a minute by minute recap of all our events in their entirety, i will spare you and only elaborate on key events.

1. in honor of president's day, cade has shaved his beard and left only a mustache in honor of william taft. he says he will leave the mustache as long as he gets complements on it. this could be interesting.


2. cade and i opted for a low key valentine's day this year. not wanting to face the logan 'crowds' and fresh snow, we ordered pizza from papa john's and watched the aggie game at home. the game was a bit of a downer, so in an effort to boost our spirits we went out to see the movie slumdog millionaire. i have heard so much about how great this movie is and i am going to agree with all the hype and say that it is a must see. a true cinematic delight. for those of you who are staring at the screen with gaping mouths after realizing that slumdog is rated 'r,' just know that while i am usually not a fan of justifying my sins- i can honestly say that this movie is 400 times better (as far as violence, sex and swearing) than the last 20 pg-13 movies i have seen. again- not justifying- but the reason this was rated so harshly is due to the fact that the movie deals with the slum life: poverty, survival, etc.. it is not about princesses in new york or vampires who are vegetarians. so...moving on.... it was a great feel-good movie. and after all the muck we have seen lately, i found it extremely refreshing.

3. in a drastic shift, i would like to now move from justifying my media choices to the draper temple. quite the leap... but here goes.



my mom was able to snag us some tickets to the draper temple open house this weekend. we were down in salt lake to celebrate love day with cade's family and to have a february birthday party with mine- so it worked out nice that she was able to get these tickets for president's day. i have never been to an open house before but i love the idea of giving the community the opportunity to see what these magnificent buildings mean to members of the church. the temple was decorated beautifully. some of the couches and artwork were so interesting and modern i wish i knew where the church purchased them. although it was a smaller temple, i loved winding through and feeling the power of sacred symbolism that is apparent in every room. as the tour came to an end, the final rooms you walk through are the sealing rooms where couples are married and make promises to one another and to God. in each room there was a volunteer couple who explained this process and then bore powerful testimony of the happiness and peace that comes from eternal families. cade and i were married in the temple- so i like to assume i understand this principle well; however, as the couple spoke to us i realized how important that tiny, little room is to this massive earth.
my elated feelings were tried and tested as we left the temple to find all the protesters on the street outside with signs about the temple being a 'house of demons' and so on... it made me wonder if those people who were bundled up outside in the cold with their homemade signs had taken the time to walk through the temple like we just had. it may not align with their direct set of beliefs- but i am sure that a walk through of the draper temple would change the wordage on their signs. instead of the derogatory statements- their signs would read more honestly: 'i am struggling to understand your faith.' i can live with that kind of honesty.
if you can get your hands on some tickets to the open house- GO! it really was a great experience.