A touching memory for my kids

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well and getting settled back into life. I like Marisa, really like this forum for keeping in touch. I must admit however, that I am not great at contributing. I will try to be better.

I did however, have a really neat experience that I wanted to share with everyone. A few weeks ago, Romney and I took our four kids through the Draper Temple open house. This temple sits in the southeastern corner of the Salt Lake Valley and is an absolutely stunning building. Its architecture and interior design were probably the most striking of all the temples I have seen. It had beautiful dark African cherry wood and exquisite limestone from France throughout. It was truly breathtaking.

The tour itself was quite simple. There was not a tour guide or formal narration. We simply walked through the hallways and quietly visited each room. It was unbelievably crowded. As we quietly walked through the temple, at one point, I looked down and noticed that Lauren had tears streaming down her cheeks. I leaned down to ask her if everything was okay and she whispered back, "Mom, it feels like Grandma Helen is walking with us." I was so touched. I told Lauren that Grandma probably was there. I wanted to tell Romney, but he and the boys had fallen behind me in the line.

Once we caught up with each other and were walking out of the temple, I asked all of the kids what they thought about it. Thomas' reply was so sweet. He said, "Mom, I didn't want to leave that place. I really liked how I felt in there. Plus, it sort of felt like Grandma Helen was inside." I was so touched. I then shared Lauren's sweet experience from inside the temple. We were all very moved and grateful to have been in a place where they were allowed to feel our amazing Grandma's influence and love. I could not believe that both of my kids felt the same prompting and yet each was unaware of the other.

I am sure that it will be an experience that they will never forget. I guess that I am just a little envious that Grandma didn't visit me too. I would have loved to feel her loving presence. I keep waiting for her to come visit me in my sleep and say, "Give me back my golden leg..."

Marisa and I have been working on the photo book of Grandma's life. It has been such a treat and we can't wait to share it with everyone. I will keep you posted with the details when it is ready.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well. I hope you don't mind me sharing this story. It was very comforting to me. Grandma was an incredible person. I can't believe how much I still miss her.

Take care and lots of love,
Alecia