Gilbert Temple Groundbreaking

This is totally out of order, but I figure I need to start catching up on my blogging- so here it goes. This was November 13th.

We were not planning on going to the Gilbert temple groundbreaking, since Ryan is there everyday, and I usually drop by there once a week. And technically it wasn't the first time the ground had been worked on, they have been doing underground work since July.  Plus I thought that Ryan would go crazy having so many people on his job site- he's kinda territorial when it comes to his job sites. The night before, he ended up being there really late and was back again Saturday morning about 5am. He met us at Clarks t-ball game at 8am, then decided to go home to change into church clothes to go back for the ground breaking. He invited me to come, and I was hesitant because I really didn't feel like getting dressed up to go fight through a crowd of 10,000 people. Needless to say, I realized that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and my kids, so we got dressed and headed down to the site. There are definitely perks to having a husband who is building the temple, I got to park in the front row handicap parking, and Okland had reserved seats in the 4th row. It was cool that we actually got to see the speakers and see it when they did the actually groundbreaking with the golden shovels. I think the best part for Ryan and I was hearing the dedicatory prayer. It made this job turn into something more than just another building project. We both walked away realizing that even though he is getting paid to build the temple- it is the Lord's building and Ryan is really working for the Lord on this one. Going to work everyday has all new meaning. There are still long days and long nights, and problems and disagreements, but for Ryan, he has a bigger picture mentality.  Here's some pics for those of you who weren't able to attend.

Here is a picture of what the completed temple will look like.

Carlos RM Costa of the Presidency of the Seventy offered the dedicatory prayer.

Elder Costa and other stake presidents, temple presidents ect who did the original ground breaking.

Here is a view from the stage of how many people were there. 

Another advantage to having a husband who is building the temple, you get access to cool pictures like this one.  They hired a helicopter to come and take arial photos of the ground breaking.