July the 21st.

Lots of things happened on July 21st.

1) First and foremost...Daddio's Birthday!!

He's been around a long time and I hope he continues to be around for a long time!

He certainly is the best daddy I know and I'm so grateful for him being in my life.

I hope my daughters adore Alex as much as I adore my father.

(I bet they will. :)

I'm so glad he could have a party with all of his favorite things: family, close friends, steak, and zebra cakes.  He said there were some pointy hats involved as well.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!  I sure love you lots!

2) Our cat, Fuzzy Butt, passed away.

My parents had to put her down.

Her little body just could not handle everything anymore so they did what was best.

It still is so sad though!

We've had Fuzzy since I was I think 8?...a very long time!

She has survived climbing herself so high up in a tree we didn't know where she was for 4 days, tumors, cancer, and just being outside.

She looks like she should be inside on a silk pillow with tuna all day long.

Not Fuzzy!

She just wants dirt, pinestraw, and sharpening her claws on tree roots.

She also had the most awesome meow.  Though I'm not sure if you could call it a "meow."

It was this raspy, gravely outburst of noise.

But she would greet you and purr to her heart's content.

She was a good cat, that Fuzzy Butt, and will be sorely missed next time I go home.

3) Lastly, I worked a 16 hour day at work.

Yes...that is a long time.

Yes...it's tiring.

Yes...I LOVE my job.

Just when I think I couldn't love it anymore, I do.

I love my girls so stinkin' much, that sometimes I just cry all the way home because they're so amazing.

Fun highlight: I let 2 of my girls bring home some goldfish they won at the carnival.  And by win I mean, they did not in fact get the ping pong ball into the fish bowl, but the lady loved them and felt bad so she just gave the fish to them.

So they had the staff that was with them call me up and ask if they could bring them home.  I said yes and they were beside themselves.

When they got back they gave me the biggest hugs and gave me the biggest Diet Coke I've ever received in my life.  They know me too well. :)

New Haven rocks!

Judge Not.

So New York was seriously a BLAST!

I have yet to blog about the whole thing because, quite honestly, it overwhelms me to think about everything I did!

So maybe someday...hopefully soon. :)

Something that HAS been on my mind though, did happen while in NYC.

One morning, my mother in law, Ann, my sister in law, Brittany, and I headed to Columbus Circle to do a session in the Manhattan Temple.

I was SO excited!

It really was so amazing just going along and then all the sudden...HELLO, Angel Moroni, glowing all proud amidst all the other buildings.

We got there about 45 mins early to make sure Brittany could get in (since she had brought her child's recommend instead of her own. :)

As we were waiting for them to call her Bishop, we hung out in the lobby area with one of the security people.  She was nice and was telling us stuff about the temple, membership in NYC, etc.

Then a lady walked in.

She was bald.

She had more amounts of facial hair than usual for a woman.

She had very large, thick hoops in her lobs.

She was very sweaty.

She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

The security lady looked a little bewildered and asked the bald lady if she was a member.

She replied that she was indeed and immediately just pulled out her recommend to verify.

She told us all that she had just biked from Brooklyn (which is quite the ways to bike on an extremely hot day) and that she did not want to wear her dress biking.

The security lady still looked uneasy, but let her go up to the bathroom in the church area to shower up.

About 10 minutes later she was back down, in a dress, and ready to enter the temple.

Ann had taken me up to the church area to show me around and Brittany was waiting by the recommend desk to hear back from her Bishop.

She told us that the bald lady went to the desk and handed the man her recommend.

The man said, "You should use this more often." (meaning the recommend)

The bald lady goes, "I do.  I'm here."

Man: "If you used it at least once a month your recommend would be wrinkled.  That's how you know if you're going enough."

Lady: "Well...I'm here."

And she walked on in.

A few minutes later we went up since Britt was verified.

The bald lady clearly had been there often.

She knew her way around, she looked comfortable, she was with friends, etc.

The whole time during the session I made sure to smile at her whenever she glanced my way.

I wanted her to know that I thought she was welcome there.

When we left the temple, the 3 of us started to discuss that lady.

I definitely went off on a soap box.
I know people are no where near perfect...BUT...

I was just appalled that people of her "own kind" still judged her.

Ok, yes.  She did not look like your "typical" LDS person, but she was still worthy to enter the temple.

And the man at the desk?  UGH.  I was so mad!

What if her recommend was only a month old piece of paper?

What if she just keeps it in a nice, safe spot?

What if she keeps it in a case, like I do?

Mine is not wrinkled, even though I use it often, but the man did not question me.

(Well...besides thinking I was there with the youth group.  Um, no.  I'm 25 and married, thanks.)

Ann, Britt, and I discussed how this was definitely a lesson that we always want to keep in mind.

The Lord loves all of his children...even the ones who don't look "typical."

And He loves her even more for going to His house and doing what He has asked of her.

She BIKED from Brooklyn!  She is obviously committed.

I so appreciated her and I hope I can always teach my children to never be quick to judge.

Besides that...the temple was AMAZING!

It was so pretty and it was crazy how all of the city noise was washed out and was perfectly silent inside.

What a refuge from the storm!

I loved it.