A few days after we got home from Utah, Ryan and I (alone), packed our bags and left on Friday afternoon and took a long flight down to humid, but beautiful Houston, Tx to see my Dad and his wife Brandee and their six beautiful children be sealed together for time and all eternity in the Houston Temple!!
This has been a long time coming, and when my Dad got the approval letter for the sealing there was no doubt that Ryan and I would be there. We left the girls behind because it was such a short trip and they couldn't go in anyways. It is amazing how much easier it is to travel without kids!!!!
My Dad got married to his sweetheart Brandee six years ago, a week actually after Ryan and I got married! I wasn't even there to see because we were on our honeymoon. They quickly got married by the bishop in his office, they were just to excited to wait any longer! In these six years they have worked so hard to both be ready and prepared for this moment. When they married, Brandee already had three boys from a previous relationship, Cole, Clay and Nathan. My Dad stepped right in as a much needed father figure and they completely see my Dad as their father in everyway. They had special Malachi shortly after getting married, he was born premature with Cerebal Palsy. He can't support his weight or have much control of his limbs, but he can talk and understands everything and his spirit is so sweet and happy, I love holding him and talking to him. Shortly after I found out I was pregnant with Juliet, Brandee was also expecting again, much to my surprise, they found out they were having twin girls!!!! Olivia and Ingrid (named after the nurses who helped deliver them), are energetic and strikingly beautiful with clear blue eyes and long curly hair. They are such a wonderful family and it is so fun to watch my Dad go through parenting again, since Matt and I are grown and he really relates to all my parenting issues, because our kids are the exact same age! Its crazy that I have sisters and a brother so much younger then me, but its awesome at the same time.
I am so unbeliveably proud of my Dad and where he is in life. I am so happy for him that he found a wonderful and kind person to spend his life with and has been blessed with amazing kids and have the opportunity to love them, teach them and raise them.
To explain how I felt in the sealing room, is almost impossible to do in words or writing. Simply to say it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. To see Brandee and my Dad sealed and then be surrounded on the altar with all of their children and sealed as a family forever, it was just beautiful. It was an amazing testimony and witness to me of how families are the absolute core of the gospel and our purpose for being on earth. Families are everything and what a priceless gift from our Heavenly Father to allow us to be together forever. I know families are forever and am even more grateful for my own family and eternal companion. It was a beautiful day.
Ryan and I in front of the Houston Temple, it was gorgeous!!
Me with Ingrid and Olivia (I still can't tell them apart very well!)
The Newlyweds!!
The Bonner Family, together forever!
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