This past weekend we took an impromptu trip to downtown Indiana with friends Rex and Veronica. Rex and Veronica were going to the Indianapolis Temple with the youth from our Stake, and then meeting their kids and grandson (who live an hour away from the Temple) for dinner and possibly staying overnight. They asked if we would like to come and help out and we said sure, especially since the Louisville Temple is closed for renovations.

After the Temple we got some deep dish pizza from Rex’s fav, Malnati’s Pizzeria (where we also bumped into some other people Rex knew from Church). We then checked into a hotel, since it would be late after visiting with the kids. It was fun catching up with Wesley & Molly, and Brad’s whole goal was to hold little Mason, who kept giving him the suspicious eye! After dinner we took pictures in front of the huge Christmas tree in the lobby and headed out for dessert.

Before dessert we stopped at the Church’s Giving Machine. It’s a big red box, located in most major cities this time of year, where you can make charitable donations. To be honest, I didn’t even know these existed (I really do live under a rock) until Wesley and Molly explained what they were. So we chose the charity (the cards we are holding up) in which we wanted to make a donation, and then payed with our cards…it was that easy! Another fun fact was that we actually knew the man and wife manning the station…well, we didn’t know them personally, but we did know their extended family, who are from Kentucky. We then went to Handle’s ice cream for dessert, forgetting that there was no indoor seating! To try and stay warm I got the hot caramel and apple dumpling, and it did not disappoint! However, it did not keep me warm enough so I had to say a quick goodbye to Wesley and Molly and then jump into the car to try and warm up! The next day we attended church at the ward building right across from the Temple and saw, once again, the couple from the night before who was manning the Giving Machine. We told them we weren’t stalking them, we just chose the noon time-slot and it happened to be theirs. More small world encounters that cause me to believe that most things that happen in our lives are not coincidences!

Speaking of good friends from Indiana, we missed seeing Rick and Alisa this go around, but enjoyed catching up with them the next weekend when they happened to be driving through our neck of the woods!