Temple and Girls' Night

Today we went to the Atlanta Temple for the first time!  As has become a tradition on our monthly Temple trips, I packed a purse for Alegria and a backpack for Odette with little toys/trinkets/surprises and a small coloring book.  They were happy to open up their bags and find some fun stuff to play with and color!

We arrived early enough to grab a bite to eat and then headed to the Temple.  The Atlanta, Georgia Temple:

Once at the Temple, Cameron, Heather, and Colby went in to a session and I stayed outside with all four of the children.

I asked them to hold hands while in the parking lot.  Alegria gladly obliged.

The kids behaved pretty well...and what one kid did, the others had to do, too!

It was quite difficult to get all of them to smile at the same time while looking at the camera!

That's right...run as much as you can...it'll make you tired enough to all take a nap on the way home...!

Ethan was the first to try this stunt...and then of course, Alegria tried.  She did well until she went to a higher portion of the wall...

...and then she couldn't get back down!  

After a few successful jumps from both Ethan and Alegria, I had them stop.  I didn't want our good fortune to run out and for one of them to get hurt!  So instead, and to get their minds off of what they weren't allowed to do anymore, we headed back to our car, where I took out one of the car seats to make room for all of the children, and I put a movie on for them.  With the AC on and snacks at hand, it was a happy time...

...for about all of ten minutes.  Hahaha!!!

Back to shenanigans:

Ryan was more interested in squishing the bugs that we saw than in looking at them in wonder like Alegria and Odette...so Alegria kept telling Ryan to stay away and not to hurt the bugs.  Funny girl!

When Cameron, Heather, and Colby were done, I decided that the children were too tired for them to have to wait for me to also do a session, so I said we should just go have lunch.  The children enjoyed having lunch at McDonalds and then played some more on the playset there before we all parted ways and headed home.  Thankfully, both girls slept on the way back...and even I got a snooze in!  :)

That night, I picked Heather up and she and I went to our friend, Amy's house, where she was having a girls' night and spa session!  Here is my before picture:

Here is my after picture:

Amy is an independent consultant for Rodan and Fields.  Their product line includes makeup wipes, which worked very well to remove ALL of my makeup (see the before and after pictures above)!  :)  They also have anti-aging and other types of skin care products, which we all got to try.  It was all very soothing and afterwards we all felt rejuvenated!  If you're interested, just go to her website and contact her!  :)

It was a very fun night spent making new friends, visiting, getting a spa treatment, and having delicious brownies!  What a great way to end the week!

The end.  :)