Cabbage Salad

So, yesterday we made cabbage salad and chicken and rice casserole for dinner. Ever since I got pregnant, meat repulses me. So, I just pretty much ate cabbage salad for dinner. The moral of my story is- people, please learn from me, and don't ever do that! My stomach has been in shock trying to digest the foliage I fed it... So, I just realized I somehow manage to bring up some type of digestive problems almost in every blog- whether they be related to morning sickness, or not. Sorry people. I will try and tone that down! : )

This past weekend was wonderful. Our Stake President a few months ago decided that our stake needed to "make an offering" to the Lord and increase our temple attendance. Well, out here in Southern California, the church members like to take everything to the extreme. So, the Stake Presidency met together and tried to figure out how we as a stake could make some type of sacrifice in increasing our temple attendance. Their answer? From Tuesday to Saturday, they would take a whole week off of work, and be in the temple from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. They would only do endowment sessions, one after another, and invited members of the stake to pick one day- Tuesday through Saturday, where we could devote an entire day to temple work. When they first made the announcement, I thought "Are they crazy?!" (Hey, just being honest here..). However, I thought if the Stake President could manage to sit five days a row doing session after session, only breaking for lunch, then surely we could do one day. Our stake responded tremendously! By the end of the week, we had done almost 3,000 endowments. It was amazing. Scott and I went on Saturday and it was neat to be in the same session with members of the stake and our Stake President. The workers at the San Diego temple had never seen anything like it- apparently every morning at 5:30 am when members of the Murrieta Stake would arrive, they all just stood their and cried as they greeted them in the temple. Because of the overwhelming response, our stake will start doing this once every 6 months. I am really looking forward to it. Almost everyone now says "I don't know how I could go to the temple and only do one session." Then, last night, to end the week, we had a special fireside where Elder Sorensen, who is a General Authority Emeritus, and his wife came down and spoke at a fireside. He is the President of the San Diego temple. They said that they have never before seen anything like this, and hopefully it will start a rippling effect in other stakes. It was neat. And what a better temple to spend all day in- I realize all of the temples are beautiful. Scott and I were the first couple married in the San Antonio temple the first Friday it was in operation. I have a soft spot also for the Houston Temple, but there is something special about the San Diego temple- the way it just sits next to the busy freeway in all it's glory.. it's absolutely beautiful. Anyway, the moral of the story is, is that I know our Stake President is TRULY inspired. After first thinking he was crazy, I realize how much he knows the needs of all of us, and he has changed an entire stakes view of the endowment session and attending the temple. Last general conference, I believe President Hinckley spoke about a Stake President in California who has memorized every single member in his stakes names. He takes a Polaroid picture, and memorizes them. That was our stake president! He is awesome. He knows everyone by name, and we have a massive stake. ANYWAY! I sure did ramble on about that for a while, but it is something that I will never forget and an amazing experience to see it all come together.

Alrighty, I'm off to enjoy this wonderful Monday we have off of work! Yeehaw..