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A Happy Birthday Date

My baby turned 8 years old on Friday. I have a lot of mixed emotions about this. Turning 8 and getting baptized is a huge milestone in our lives. I have experienced this with four other children. Each time it is wonderful and faith promoting. I am so pleased that she is ready and eager to get baptized and that now all of my children will be on the path to Eternal Life;however, I feel a little melancholy about this being the last time. Any way, this post is not about me it is about her!

As per family tradition, Destry and I take our eight-year-old children on a special date. We go to temple square, walk around the temple grounds, take pictures, go to a nice restaurant, and we usually watch the Joseph Smith video that has been shown in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. They are not currently showing that, but have replaced it with "Meet the Mormons." We saw that when it was in regular movie theaters, so we decided to do something else. 

There is a new interactive, fun family history experience that we went to. You check out an iPad and enter you LDS.org ID number and then you dock the iPad at different stations. You can see what took place on the day you were born, check out what percentage of different nationalities you are, check out a giant screen with a map showing the migrations of your ancestors. It is quite awesome. We all enjoyed it and agreed that we should bring the rest of the family soon.

Sarah was delighted as we walked around the temple grounds. It was abuzz with visitors here for conference. Sarah had to take pictures by every flower garden. I was touched that she wanted to read every plaque in the main visitor's center showing pictures of Christ's life. We attempted to go downstairs, but she is what you would call "escalator reluctant." I held her hand and told her when to step. I took one step and she did not. I was fast approaching a split position and not sure quite what to do. I was afraid she would fall if I let go of her hand; I was, likewise afraid, that if I pulled on her we would both fall. So I held onto her, dropped my coat and held onto the handrail while hopping my decending foot up one stair at a time until I was off the escalator. We decided not to go down. We walked up the ramp to the room where the Christus is located. It is a beautiful, reverent place to be, even when it is filled with visitors. 

We ate dinner at the Garden Restaurant located at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had a lovely time. It is a great tradition that has now run its course. We will have to start a new one!

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