Temple Work (and by work, I mean WORK!)

Bryan and I took the kids to Utah like two weeks ago, and yes, I'm a blogging slacker. I'll admit it! But in my defense, I took an insane amount of pictures while we were there (this is a problem of mine - I take WAAAAAY to many pictures - I've resorted to just leaving my camera at home). So my next post (or maybe the post after that!) will be about our trip to Utah. This past week Bryan left our little family and lived in a hotel in Bellevue. No, we aren't having marital problems (unless you call missing your husband too much marital problems!). Bryan has the awesome opportunity to work on the Seattle Temple with Phase II. My dad's company is the general contractor on the job, meaning my dad is "the boss" of all the subcontractors there. The church is remodeling the third floor (the sealing rooms and the chapel) and they only have three weeks to get everything done - from the first day of demolition to the last bit of dust wiped up. We started last Saturday night by moving all the furniture (including the benches in the chapel and pictures on all the walls!) to the rooms that aren't being remodeled. We then had to cover all the furniture in plastic. It was so weird to see the chapel covered in black plastic wrap and to walk down the halls with no chairs or pictures. They even started to remove the wallpaper, and it felt so wrong! One of the subworkers came Saturday night and started to unload sheetrock and lumber, and he set it up on the first floor, behind the "check-in" area. It seemed so out of place, but what do you do? But there is lots to be done, so everyone is putting in long hours (upwards of 15 to 16 hours a day!) and staying at a hotel by the temple so they don't drive the hour home dead tired. This works out great, because after that long day, I don't want Bryan driving home and falling asleep at the wheel! But it sure was hard having him gone for a whole week! By the time 5pm rolls around, I'm ready for Bryan to get home and help me tag-team the kids, getting them to eat dinner, bathe, stories, and get them to bed. I like having him to snuggle with while we watch TV, help me with laundry and stuff, and be home so I can run errands at night without the kids. With him gone, I stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning, watching Burn Notice on DVD and doing odd jobs around the house. Then I would snatch Bryce from his bed and snuggle with him in my bed for a few hours before the kids all woke up. I was exhausted and stressed, so needless to say I was missing my hubby! Friday night we got a chance to go see Bryan and hang out for the night. The entire ride up tot he temple, Rix and Bryce kept singing "I Love to See the Temple". It was really cute. My dad let the guys off a little early, and when we got there we had one of our friends watch the kids outside (thanks Ryan!) while Bryan showed me their progress. You have to check-in at the basement of the temple, which is so interesting to see because you usually don't get to go in the basement. The temple worker checks your recommend, and then, if you are staying a while, you have to have a colored wristband that changes daily. We took the elevator to the third floor, and as soon as the doors opened, I was greeted with white dust (thanks sheetrockers!!) and scaffolding in my face. It was a war zone! But you can see the progress and it's going to look so amazing. Bryan told me about one of the temple housekeepers who came up to see what was being done, and he said she almost cried because of all the craziness that was happening in a usually serene setting! I can feel where she is coming from. But it was so cool to be there and know that all the workers were LDS and understood the importance of the temple. It was a very different feeling then other worksites I've visited. Kory and Ana Lee are working there these three weeks, and it was fun to see them there, and Kristi Adam's husband DJ in on the work crew too, and it was fun to meet him in person! I've only seen him in pictures. We then took the boys to the hotel while Bryan changed, and headed to Bellevue Square for some yummy Cheesecake Factory! While waiting for our table we spent time in the Lego store, where you can build your own Lego guys. They also have a Lego table where you can just build whatever and play, but Cole kept chewing on the Lego pieces (so gross) and smashing the other kid's creations, so we didn't stay long. Bryan, feeling generous from not seeing his boys all week, let them pick out Lego Bionicles, which I can only describe as Lego's answer to Transformers. Anyway, we had a great dinner (they had Red Velvet layered cheesecake!!) and then let the boys go swimming at the hotel. They got to bed late and up early, but they had an awesome time with their dad. Bryan came home Saturday night and is home this week to help run the job he was running before working at the temple. I thought he'd be home for good, but he broke the news in the middle of sacrament meeting on Sunday that he would be going back to the temple to work all next week, so we'd be without him again. I burst into tears in the middle of church - I didn't realize how upset I would be! Life is hard with Bryan not here and I get to gosh darn tired because I go to sleep to late and have the kids all day. But, again, I think it is such an amazing opportunity for him and us to have him work on the temple, and I know we will be blessed for our sacrifices. Rix, by coincidence, gave a talk in Primary and the subject was temples. He talked about how LDS pioneers sacrificed time and possessions in order to build the Kirtland temple (and other temples, but Kirtland was the first one built). He talked about how we are making sacrifices not having Daddy around, but that we are proud that he is worthy and able to be there to make the temple a more beautiful place. He also talked about how we are latter-day pioneers, and how cool will it be to go there when he's older and know his dad set this beam, and put in these trim pieces?? So we will miss Bryan next week. But we are taking advantage of having him home this week and we will do what we have to in order to make it work. I am excited to go to the temple when it reopens in September and see it all put back together!