Laie, Hawaii Temple

Is this a Gecko?

A whole lot of hanging out.

Dan and I went on our "Hawaii walk." Love this ritual.

Everyone slept until 8:30 Hawaii time -- 11:30 am Utah time!). Dan made pancakes. Courtney went for a run. Dan and Marty went to the gym. Chris and Nick went to the pool. (Chris got in and out by himself!)

Playing board games -- Pandemic and Rummikub.

Nick carrying Marty in the pool.

When your leg twists above your head, it leaves a bruise. 

Pandemic

I've had a plan since the beginning of planning this trip that we all go to the Laie, Hawaii temple together to do baptisms. With Nick just just turning 12 and Marty leaving right when we got back and Courtney joining us in Hawaii, it seemed like everything coming together perfectly for a family temple trip.

We had to hurdle some obstacles: I didn't realize that boys needed to be ordained to the priesthood before going to the temple, even if they were 12. We couldn't do it before we left in our ward because Nick wouldn't be 12 yet. And we couldn't wait to do it on Sunday here because the temple isn't open on Mondays and we were leaving Monday night.

When we talked to our bishop about it, he authorized Dan and Marty to give Nick the priesthood here in Hawaii on our own, if they promised to wait until he was 12. Yay!

I also didn't realize that every temple only allowed those who weren't endowed to baptize with temple names.  Those who were endowed needed to bring their own family names. Figured Marty and Dan could baptize and Courtney, Nick and Chris could do the baptisms. But Marty really pushed us this morning to try to find some names of our own so we could all do baptisms.

That sounded very complicated to me, but when I got online, I found that two names had already been flagged in my account and were available to reserve for baptisms. Ended up being super easy. And Courtney had a friend in Seattle with over 1,000 names and always needed people to help do the work. She called him and he took the time (over an hour) to get them ready for us. So grateful that everything came together!

We had lunch at a beach restaurant here at the resort. But suddenly Marty wasn't feeling well. Fortunately after a nap, he was back to himself and our plan for the temple was still on.

Dan and Marty ordained Nick. Marty took the role of asking Nick questions about what he could do with the Aaronic Priesthood. Its so fun to see my kids understand the importance of church ordinances and want to help their siblings understand too!

The temple was only 15 minutes away and in a beautiful area. The workers were happy to help and so accommodating and we were so grateful for their participation! We had a sweet meeting in the chapel before we started with one of the workers testifying that all his life he believed that we found names to bring to the temple and hoped that these people would accept the gospel. But after he started working in the temple, he now believes that these are people who are ready to accept the gospel and wanted to be found. I always appreciate people taking time to share their testimonies -- especially with my children.

It was dark when we came out of the temple, so we didn't get a photo of all of us. But we are going to get one on Sunday when we drive down for church. Chris wanted to skip church Sunday, but Marty informed him that in our temple recommend interview, we're asked if we attend our meetings and all Priesthood meetings/callings so it was important that we attend whenever we're able. Christopher said, "You've really changed, Marty." Marty claimed he hadn't.

A forever family is what we're all working toward. So grateful for that.