The Portland Temple

After the wedding reception we stopped at the Portland temple to look at the beautiful flowers in bloom and take some pictures. It was so beautiful! There is a special kind of peace and reverence when you are on the temple grounds that if you haven't experienced it then there are no words to describe it and if you have then no explanation is necessary.

When we first arrived, Andrew was sleeping in the van so I decided to take Nick and Tatiana into the temple. We couldn't go past the recommend desk but just in the foyer waiting area and the beautiful garden. It was an AMAZING experience to share with our two oldest children. They were in awe of the beauty of the temple and the felt the spirit like they have never felt before. Nick said he wants to visit the Temple as often as possible and asked how old he had to be to go past the desk and see the rest. Tatiana said if felt like Heavenly Father was in the next room. It is His house after all. I am so glad they were able to experience it and that they recognized it as somewhere they want to be worthy to enter often.

Here are some pictures of our sweet time on the temple grounds...

Here is our oldest young man, Nick, standing at the reflection pond. He is growing up fast!

Our beautiful daughter, Tatiana, enjoying the beautiful flowers.

After waking up, Andrew was all smiles. Such a happy and joyful baby!

Our three oldest enjoying a few moments of quiet reflection as they watch the fountain. They sat here for a very long time. I have never seen Ben that calm for that long!

The calm didn't last for too long, however. Our sweet, energetic Ben. Before we could get a nice picture of him, he fell into the reflection pond and then Nathan snapped a few of these pictures quickly. I still giggle when I think about it. "Ben get down, we don't climb up there." "Kay Mom." And he gets down and walks around a little. But a few minutes later he cannot resist and wants to see his reflection in the water again so he climbs up on the ledge again. The same words are exchanged. This goes on a few times until the peaceful quiet of the temple grounds is abruptly interrupted with a splash and a scream. Ben is scrambling to get out of the water and stands there dripping wet and sobbing. We couldn't help it, we all were laughing. Well, Nathan took Ben back to the car and stripped him down and put a pull up we happened to still have in the car on him and he rode home "mostly" naked. Oh, the memories!