The Marlow Memoirs: Family, Family, Everywhere

What a wonderful day!!!

Even though we got up early on a Saturday, we were extremely happy to be going to the Temple in San Antonio to meet up with all of my family. :)

Abilehi and Alegria having a fun time singing in the back seat of the car on our way to San Antonio:

When we got to the Temple, Alegria was a little shy. She was meeting my brother, Ammon, for the first time in her life! She was born when he was already away on his mission in Canada and so had never seen him before.

Since she also doesn't see the rest of my family but once a month when we go to the Temple, it took her a little while to get used to everyone again.

We also had the privilege of having Helaman, Lorelehi, Nefilinda, and Fernando join us in San Antonio today, too! Not only were we welcoming Ammon back home from his mission, but we were also all there because Abilehi was going through the Temple today. What a wonderful time to be together as a family!

Abilehi giving Ammon a hug:

Abilehi and Mami right before going into the Temple:

Moroni playing on the marble banister with Alegria:

Ammon and me:

Ammon hugging Lorelehi:

When it was time for my dad, Helaman, Ammon, and me to go into the Temple, we left Alegria with Lorelehi as well as with our keys in case she needed to get toys or food for Alegria from our car while we were in our session. Alegria saw her stroller in the back of the car as we were getting our Temple clothes out and wanted to go for a walk, so we buckled her in and headed inside since we knew she was in good hands with Lorelehi. :)

As we were about to head inside, Nefilinda and Fernando showed up. So before going in, Ammon gave Nefilinda a big hug:

While we were in the Temple, Lorelehi and the others took Alegria to the park:

Alegria got a lesson in climbing trees from Almalia:

And here the two young girls are relaxing on a park bench:

Then Alegria got to climb a tree with Moroni:

Almalia and Alegria had fun going down the slide together:

And of course, Alegria also enjoyed the swings:

After our session, we came out and found everyone relaxing under the shade of some trees. Alegria wanted to pick up rocks, though:

Here Alegria is, sun-kissed and hanging out with Ammon:

Then we headed over to the front of the Temple for a family portrait. While we waited for them to get the camera set up on the tripod, Cameron and Alegria hung out on the steps:

From left to right we have: Abilehi, Helaman, Almalia, Moroni, me, Alegria, Cameron, Papi, Ammon, Mami, Lorelehi, Nefilinda, Fernando

Since we were all extremely hungry by this time, the majority voted to have lunch at Golden Corral. At first, we got lost, but we eventually found a Golden Corral near where we were and headed in. I felt bad for Alegria. She was so tired she fell asleep on our way to lunch, but when we got there, we had to wake her up in order for her to eat! Oh well...she got a consolation prize for being a good sport...some chocolate cake (after she'd eaten some real food, of course!)!

A picture with all of my sisters: Nefilinda, Abilehi, me, Almalia, Lorelehi

Then it was time to head back to Copperas Cove. Luckily, Alegria fell asleep for about an hour and a half once we got in the car. She woke up a little before we had to make a stop at Tractor & Supply in Killeen for Cameron to buy some medicine and grain for Cyrus.

Cameron was going to quickly go in, buy what he needed, then head back to the car as soon as possible, but while he was in there, he saw that they had baby chicks and ducks for sale! So he called me on my phone and told us we should come in!

Alegria LOVED being introduced to chicks and ducks!

Abilehi had also never seen real live chicks and ducks before and enjoyed herself, too!

Alegria signs "bird" (I don't know the sign for "duck" or "chicken" yet in order to teach those to her..."bird" will just have to do for now!)

When we finally left, Alegria was quite upset...she didn't want to leave her new-found friends! But in the end, we were able to distract her and get her in a good mood to come home.

Once home, it was a mad scramble to put everything away and make sure the house looked up to its usual presentable state. Usually after a trip to the Temple, we'd relax and put things away at the end of the night, but tonight we were expecting company all the way from Montana and wanted everything perfect for their arrival!

When Cameron's parents arrived, we were so happy to see them...it had been almost a year since we'd seen them last! Last summer when we were in Montana to see them and pick Cyrus up and drive him here, Alegria had barely started to walk! And she didn't do nearly half the stuff she does now!

It took Alegria a little while to warm up to her Grandma and Grandpa Marlow, but by the end of the night, Alegria was happy to give hugs and kisses before heading off to bed: