Every Weekend, Another Day Trip

So many day trips!  This last Saturday we'd managed to get parking passes for the DC temple open house, so we drove to DC again.  We usually avoid that place like the plague, so this felt like a lot.  If we'd known I'd have a concert the week before, we probably would have chosen a different weekend for this.  The weather was terrible-- very cold and rainy (as opposed to warm and rainy, which would be more normal for May)-- but the temple was dry and warm and we saw a few people we knew from Manassas (Betsy Hayward and Eva Jackson, for those in the know) and it was absolutely delightful.

No one was stopping and offering to take your picture for you in weather like this!

We got to sit in the celestial room all together for quite a while and talk about our goal to all be here in the future.  Neither of Craig nor I have that with the families that raised us, so it's an important goal for our family.  It was so nice being all together there!

I also worked a wedding that weekend (on Friday).  Our new governor was supposed to be giving a toast, but either he didn't make it or that happened at the ceremony, not the reception, because I never saw him.  Oh, well.  I was still glad I got to help out!

When I got to Pippin Hill it was cool and misty, but quite lovely.  By the end of the evening, we were getting reports of a tornado just 8 miles away and things were WILD.  But the wedding was still a blast and we did NOT have to herd everyone down into the basement, so that was a win!

Adam and Becca use their down time to begin stuffing chocolates into boxes for Mother's Day (Adam wouldn't let me help out with this, since I am a mom)

Becca and I holding up the bride's dress (this was #2 of 3!) while Adam is down under in the thick of things trying to get it re-bustled.  It turns out those tiny hooks are extremely hard to find in the midst of all those feathers!  The bride thought she looked like either a peacock or an angel, and grabbed my phone to snap a selfie

Anyway.  After such a busy weekend, and after three weekends in a row of day trips to DC and Philly, we told ourselves we weren't going ANYWHERE the next weekend.  We were, at the very least, going to stay in the state commonwealth of Virginia!

So naturally I woke up from my (very long) Mother's Day nap to an email Craig had forwarded to me announcing that we had been accepted to volunteer at the temple open house on Saturday!  Craig had just written "Ummm..."  We'd signed up to do that months ago before we knew how busy this month was going to be, and when we never heard back, we'd assumed they didn't want us (and, as we often do, had been cracking jokes about not being good enough to volunteer!).  So this was a shock.

But as much as I'd wanted to stay home and have a relaxing weekend, how could I say no to such a cool opportunity???  So we got our trusty babysitters all lined up and brought the big kids with us and spend another day going to DC.  This time we stopped at Cafe Rio in Manassas for a big lunch on our way, and that was excellent.  We also drove by our old house, which was fun.  The new owners are fabulous gardeners and the front yard is bursting with flowers and things that I could never keep alive.  They've also built a huge, very nice privacy fence all around the yard, and it looks like a gazebo in the back yard?  (Hard to see with the, y'know, privacy fence...)

Once we got to the temple, they split us all up into different jobs.  Kendra was stationed at the entrance to the baptistry, putting those little white booties on people's feet before they entered.  Bentley and Ryder were at the main entrance, taking those same booties off as people exited.  Craig was front of the the main parking lot directing traffic, and I worked in the welcoming tent monitoring the metal detectors.  That was actually super interesting-- I had no idea how specific those things could be, and spent a lot of time making sure that whatever set the detectors off was indeed an umbrella or a glasses case and not a gun, and assuring people that if it didn't beep, they did NOT need to stop and open their purse for me!  Everyone was super friendly and smiley and it was so pleasant and happy!  The tent was a little warm and humid, but so much better than the week before, so I was happy.  I also saw my friend Amy Nowak from church with our mutual friend Rachel from my choir (both of whom moved away several years ago), so that was very exciting!  And Danny Harris, who used to be in our ward here but now lives in Lynchburg (his wife Stephanee works for Adam, too) was working near me, so we took this amazing selfie-from-a-distance:

I sent this to Stephanee and Adam

Craig went around and got pictures of us working, but we never got one of him in his cool reflector vest!

"Welcome to the welcoming tent."

The tent was PACKED almost the entire time!

Our shift was supposed to go from 2-10pm, but there was no way we were keeping Ryder out that late, so we collected the kids at 8, snapped a few more pictures, and headed home.  I was slightly disappointed that I hadn't been able to go inside the temple this time, but the kids had gotten to eat their dinner in the basement and feel cool going into the roped off areas, so I'm glad they got that experience.  In fact, the kids were remarkably happy about the whole thing (I was a little nervous to make them do something like this!) and we were all just in the best mood driving home.  It really was a wonderful day, and I was so glad we took this opportunity!  According to a guy Craig was working with, they had around 22,000 visitors that day, including several dignitaries such as the ambassador from France!  (And the forecast for next week is high 90s, so I'm pretty sure I got THE best Saturday to be in that tent!)

They built a new reflecting pool and it's lovely

I like how dusk is falling in this picture

But maybe this weekend we can stay home.  Please?