My Body Is A Temple

Out of all of the temples in the world, which is your favorite?

Washington, D.C. Temple

Timpanogos Temple (American Fork, UT)

From the East Coast to the West Coast, and all around the world, the temples of God look very different, but they are nonetheless stunning and beautiful. Out of all of the temples in the world, which temple is Heavenly Father's favorite? (I had one girl tell me Salt Lake City haha). The real answer, however, is yours. Your temple is Heavenly Father's favorite. He loves it so much that He sent His son to die for it. 

This is how I began our lesson and activity to teach our activity day girls that their temples are the most important. I'd set out 10 different temples for the girls to look at as we had our little discussion. If the girls have never heard that their bodies are temples, read 1 Cor. 6:19-20. I then hung another photo of a temple on the board that I found from kugalls.blogspot.co.uk:

I had the girls read the quote on the photo from Thomas S. Monson and then I reread it changing a few of the words so that they could see how the physical temples of God and our temples of flesh and bone are the same. "Your temple is more than flesh and bone.  You are filled with faith and fasting. You are built of trials and testimonies. You are sanctified (or saved) by sacrifice and service." We talked about how if our bodies are temples, then we should be taking the best care of them as possible. 

I had three girls prepare how to share how they keep one of the following three items:

1. Healthy Body (Exercise, Sleep, Playing Outside)
2. Healthy Mind (Doing Math, Reading, Reading Books)
3. Healthy Spirit (Reading the Scriptures, Going to Church, etc).

For our particular class, it was pretty energized and hard to teach all the aspects of this lesson so if you have an energetic class, I'd suggest either teaching about the temple or talking about keeping your body, mind, and spirit healthy and going into a little more depth on them. After the lesson, I had the whole class follow me outside for our activity...

A RELAY RACE!

The girls were all pretty stoked to get to do the relay race. We only had three segments, but they loved it and it was perfect timing! 

1. 4-legged race. The girls had been broken up into three teams of three so we had a four-legged race. I mapped out a course on a hill next to the church and had the girls run it as best they could and back. Very simple leg of the race to put together. Items needed: Cloth strips to wrap around their ankles
   
2. Egg walk. I forgot my eggs at home so we ended up using small pom pom balls, which I think made this leg of the race more challenging. The teams lined up at point A, each with a spoon between their lips. When I said "Go", the first member of each team started walking the course (touching pieces of tape high and low at certain occasions), spoon between their lips and the pom pom ball bouncing on the spoon. When the girls dropped the pom pom, we just let them pick it back up and put it back on their spoon. When they reached point B, they had to turn around and retrace their steps to pass the pom pom off to the next member of their team.
   
3. From the starting point of the last leg of the race, the girls all had to crab walk to the next section and line up single file in their teams. One member from each team would pick up their teams ball and try to shoot it into a bucket placed about 6 feet away from them on the ground. The first team member had to make the shot before the ball could be passed off to the next team member. Once all three team members had made the shot, they all had to run to the next point and do 10 jumping jacks, 10 push ups, and 10 crunchies. 

After we finished the race, we ate sliced Watermelon, which was a perfect treat for the hot day outside. When the girls had finished eating, they asked if we could do more relay races so we made some up on the spot to have them go do. It was a great way to focus on the "fitness" part of taking care of our bodies and to let them run off some of their energy!

Do you have any relay race idea winners? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!!

Kim

Happy Memorial Day: A Flower For You

Living in Virginia makes it a bit tricky to visit our loved ones who have passed on this Memorial Day. Their sweet bodies lay resting back in Utah and sadly we aren't able to stop by, say hi, and leave a flower on their graves. So from a distance, here are our flowers of gratitude for Grandma and Grandpa Downs, and Grandpa Benson for the lessons they taught us, the love they gave to us, and the lives they lived.  

Grandpa Downs passed away in 2001 - I was 10 years old. I remember going over to Grandma and Grandpa's house often while mom visited. Grandpa always had his peppermint ribbon candy and bowls of brightly-colored licorice that he would share with us. I remember sitting on his lap and poking his nose, or squeezing it together. Each time Grandpa would make a silly sound -- a "boop", a "beep", a "bawp" -- and we'd erupt in laughter. Grandpa loved fishing and we used to go camping with them a lot. Sadly, I don't remember a lot of details about those adventures, but I remember him sitting and fishing and helping to teach us kids how too. Grandpa also loved to garden! He had the most beautiful, award-winning garden. I remember he would come over in the Spring and Summer to help mom plant her garden. He was an amazing Grandpa, and the first person close to me that I ever lost to death. I remember that even after he had moved on, he didn't feel far away. I remember sitting in my bed at night, crying, and thinking that he was still so close to me, that Heavenly Father wouldn't let him stay far away from his family.

Grandma Downs passed away on May 2, 2015 - I was 23 years old. My most vivid memories are the more recent memories I've made with her over the past few years, but I remember going to visit grandma and grandpa when I was little. While mom visited, Kristy and I would open up the toy closet and play with all of the random toys. My favorite was the marble track where you'd race marbles down one zig-zagging track to the floor. I remember one visit inparticular when mom was a little more set on what time we got to Grandma's, only to find out that we weren't just visiting but mom was taking us all out to get our flu shots. I absolutely hate needles and I remember feeling so sad that I'd been tricked to get mine done. I was really scared as we went in and so I cried (I probably was old enough not to cry). Grandma has teased me about it for years, even when we visited with her last fall before we moved to Virginia... I'll never live it down! I remember all of the parties grandma threw, even when it would have been so much easier to not have them. I remember the Thanksgiving and Christmas parties in her basement and I remember when our family started getting too big that you'd practically have to carve a way to the food table. I remember celebrating Easter in grandma's backyard every Easter Saturday where we'd have a BBQ with all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Grandma would make Jello Eggs which were my absolute favorite! I was always so excited, hoping she would make them. I remember camping and fishing with her and grandpa and seeing a deer while driving home in Grandpa's blue truck. I remember going over to help rake leaves and how the chore turned into so much fun jumping into them instead.  

         I remember when Grandma started to not do so well. Kristy and I went to visit with her while her kids had a family council. Grandma loved my purse so much and almost kept it as her own. I remember going over to visit grandma more and more at her home, at Orchard, and at Summerfield. I remember how blessed I felt to live in her home for the first year and a half of my marriage. It was such a sweet experience to live in my Grandma's home where she raised such amazing people in my family. I remember gardening in the same garden that my Grandpa used to tend to. I remember how supportive Grandma was coming to hear me sing in choir concerts, in church, and how she always loved when Justin and I would sing for her in her room at Summerfield. Grandma taught me so much about how to serve and how to do it with genuine love. She was such a talented, amazing woman of strength...and super, super funny! She was an amazing grandma and I'm grateful for every day I had her in my life. 

Grandpa Benson passed away in 2014. The stroke that put him in the hospital was completely unexpected and an event that strengthened the Benson family tenfold. I remember when I first met Grandpa Benson at Kirk and Kathy's home. He introduced himself to me as "Grandpa Blue Eyes" and Grandma Benson as "Grandma Hunny". I didn't know he was kidding so the next time I saw him I called him "Grandpa Blue Eyes" and it made him light up. Haha, I guess he was always trying to get people to call him that but no one ever did. Grandpa Benson was a talented man. He published Time Sensitive Journals, was diligent about sending special food for thought quotes and scriptures to every member of his family each day, and was a talented painter. I remember he showed Justin and I his work in the basement of his home in South Orem. The paintings were beautiful and so unique. He told us that he would paint us one for our wedding. This is the painting he gave to us:

He painted the waterfall where Justin proposed to me. His painting now hangs in our home, with the reminder of his love for his family with it. I remember when he dropped it off at our house, I had just returned home from work and saw him parked outside our house (Grandma Down's house) across the street. I went inside and through the window saw him walk to our porch. I waited for him to knock on the front door, but he didn't. He opened the screen door, gently placed the painting down, and turned to walk away. Immediately I pulled the door open to catch Grandpa trying to sneak away. I picked up the beautiful painting and told him how amazing I thought it was, and how happy I was that he’d done this for us. He seemed embarrassed with the praise, but I gave him a hug and a beautiful smile spread across his face. I won’t ever forget that smile. I am so glad I opened the door. I wish I had more experiences with him.

These are our flowers for you on this day to thank you for the smiles you've given us, the love you've shared, and the lives you lived. We love you!