Our Sealing and August's Baby Blessing

Long post: Read if you want to. If you don't, I understand!

I think I've been putting off writing this post because I don't know how to put anything into actual words. I'm not a great writer and I'm even worse at turning strong feelings into sentences.
On Saturday, June 21, 2014 Levi and I were sealed as husband and wife for time and eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. After we were sealed, our beautiful children were brought in and sealed to us as well, making our family complete.
We drove down on Thursday, leaving the house at 10am and arriving at my Aunt Bonnie's house at 7pm. That's right. A trip that used to take the two of us 4.75 hours has turned into 8 hours with the addition of two kids. I know some of you know my pain. At least we were traveling in relative luxury in our new (used) minivan! I LOVE how much room is in that thing! The kids each have their own seat and we weren't squished to death with bags, books, etc. Our kids are fantastic travelers. Hadley chatted, watched movies, read, played with her stuffed animal, and looked out the big windows. She honestly likes the road trip and I'm so glad we never have to worry about her having a meltdown on the way to or from Utah. She even knows the Maverick gas station in Burley where we gas up and get snacks. (By the way, that place has the worst bathrooms, so we've taken to going next door to the Wendy's...a far superior commode.) August slept just about the entire way, only waking up to cry when we got stuck in a traffic jam in Tremonton.
That night, we ate at a yummy BBQ joint near Bonnie's and then spent the night exploring Bonnie's gorgeous new house. It's beautiful and pretty much meets all my criteria for a dream home: views, huge theater, giant soaker tub, not one but two wraparound patios, etc. It's also on a golf course and we had fun watching terrible golfers. Not that I'm any good, but still.
Friday we spent the day hanging out with family and trying to eat as much as possible. In N Out becomes a priority when we're there, as does soda. Utah knows how to do soda. Dozens of flavors, great calibration (it matters!) and delicious crushed ice. My sister Laurie taught me that 3/4 diet Mountain Dew with 1/4 Code Red Mountain Dew is the recipe to stick with. Too bad we have nothing like that up here in I-dee-ho.
Saturday finally arrived and I spent the morning feeling excited and antsy. I was a little nervous, but mostly about not making it there on time or messing something up. I can't really describe the feeling of knowing that in a few hours I was going to be sealed to the man that I loved. It felt a lot like my wedding day. Laurie helped me with my hair (having four girls has made her a hair expert) and then the house went crazy with people running around getting ready and trying to get out the door on time. Laurie and Justin were our escorts a came und came up early with us, with the rest of the family arriving about an hour later.
We went to the check-in place and the little lady assigned to help us was a hoot. I think she was about 105 years old and was slightly confused about what was going on. We ended up politely taking over and she just showed us where to go. While we were checking in, another guy with a ton of visible tattoos was also checking in and it was very cool to see. He had his hands and neck tattooed and Levi and I were excited to know we weren't the only two people there that day with lots of visible tattoos.
We took the kids to the child care center. They have a bunch of nice ladies working there who help get the kids dressed and ready and entertain them until the time comes to take them to us. Hadley was happy to be there and I think August was asleep during his time there. It was fun seeing other kids there, knowing that their parents were as giddy as we were. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Hadley and August would be fine and I could focus on my time with Levi.
To respect the beautiful and sacred traditions of the temple, I won't go into any super specific details about anything, so I'm sorry if it sounds vague. (If you have questions, you can always ask me!) Levi and I got ready and met up to go into the Celestial room. (June 21st was the last day the temple was going to be open for six weeks and it was also a Saturday, so about 8000 brides were running around in the dressing rooms. Seriously, it was a complete mad house. I had to laugh at how stressed some of them looked, especially since I've already been married 9 years, so I was like the old maid there.) With all the craziness happening in the dressing rooms I was so glad to see Levi again and spend about 40 minutes of absolute peace and quiet with him. If I tried to describe the beauty of the celestial room in the Salt Lake Temple, I would fail. It's just too incredible. On a secular level, the architecture and design are just insanely great. On a spiritual level...well I just can't even say.
The time finally came where we got to enter the sealing room and see our friends and family. Again, I won't go into details, but looking around and seeing everyone there was so great and I didn't even cry, until I saw Elder Womack, who is now Michael Womack, since he got off his mission over a year ago. Seeing the man who was one of the two missionaries responsible for getting Levi into the church made me choke up with happiness and love. The other missionary was Elder Skyler Smith, who is still serving here in Boise and was able to be at the temple with us in Boise the week before.
Levi and I had our sealing ceremony and then they brought our beautiful kids to us. Backing up, I had spent a lot of time praying that Hadley and August would be fine and would not cry or act crazy and I realize now how dumb that was because my kids are going to be my kids, which means August screamed the whole time, including in the hallway for all the other couples getting married to hear (haha!) and Hadley was being grumpy in the hall too, until the nice ladies gave her saltine crackers. When I saw sweet Hadley enter the room, she looked like an angel. Her white dress and her hair that Laurie had done earlier were so perfect and I will never, ever forget that image...especially with her holding a cracker in each hand! Everything from there moved quick, which was best with August fussing and crying. I love my kids. Seriously.
After it was over, we went back to our dressing rooms and met to pick the kids back up from the children's center. When we stepped outside I noticed two things:
1. that there was an overwhelming aroma of gardenias, which is one of my favorite smells in the whole world.
2. that it was about 150 degrees outside! My makeup instantly tried to slide off my face.
Because it was so crazy and because Hadley was getting crabby (the heat combined with her only having a short nap on the drive to SLC made for a cranky toddler) we didn't take too long on pictures. My wonderful cousin Katie (who's fabulous blog isHERE) took lots of great pictures. I'm still waiting for some of them that were taken by someone else, so as soon as I have them, I'll upload them here.
After the pictures, we walked back to the car and drove off, until we realized Levi's phone was missing and was, of course, on silent. We drove back to the parking lot where we found it on top of the van's roof. Phew! That would have been a disaster to lose!
My mom, Laurie, Bonnie, and Heather did a great job with the lunch after the sealing. They made tons of salads and desserts and then we BBQed hot dogs.
The next day, Sunday, we held August's baby blessing in Laurie's living room. It was incredible. This was the first time Levi got to exercise his priesthood authority and if this blessing was any indication, he possesses so much power. August was blessed by Levi, with Justin, Zane, Scott, Curt, and Brother Adams from Laurie's ward.
Levi blessed August with the strength of his ancestors to be steadfast in the Lord's work. He blessed him that he would be a friend and a comfort to his sister Hadley. He blessed him that he would be a missionary to all of those around him. It was absolutely incredible. August looked so sweet in his white clothes.
It was hard after this spiritual weekend to pack up and leave, but it's nice to get back home and back into the daily rhythm, although this time we were going back as an eternal family and our hearts are filled with more love and hope than ever before.
Thank you to all of you who had a hand it getting us to this point. Anyone reading this blog was definitely involved and one of these days I will get around to telling you face to face how much I appreciate it.
I know the gospel is true and I know that Levi and I are on a path to live together forever and I can't wait to share our experiences with others out there.

Michael Womack with us. He is getting married at the end of July to a wonderful girl.