I just got back from a weeks long vacation to California, and the Happiest place on earth.

While I was there I…… spent 3 hours chasing a 2 year old at the beach, saved him from being washed out to sea, got sand in all the uncomfortable crevices in my body, then drove to a hotel in a car full of sandy, wet, little people that smelled just like wet dogs.

Next,  I spent the next 4 days in Disneyland and waited in a lot of long hot lines, chased a 2 year old, stood up on sore feet all day, walked a lot, chased a 2 year old, spent 4 dollars for each churro consumed, took a barely potty-trained 2 year old to the bathroom once an hour, stood in line for food, stood in line to get a fasts ticket so I wouldn’t have to stand in lines for quite so long, chased a 2 year old, baked like a toasted cheeser in the middle of the day, survived the Matterhorn’s teeth jarring concussion causing death ride (seems a lot jerkier than I remember), nearly blew chunks after a roller coaster (I’m apparently too old to ride anymore), chased a 2 year old, wrestled 12 stuffed Sven the reindeer animals out of a 2 year olds death grip, ate so much my stomach is now stretched out and could accommodate a small elephant, chased a 2 year old, waited in some more lines, and…. enjoyed every last minute!

As crazy and as hectic as it was, it was time well spent. Time with my wife, her family and my kids making memories, that I will remember forever.  I’ll remember catching hundreds of ocean crawfish with Brady, Olivia, and Sophia at the beach, and fending off their defensive pincers as we piled them high in our sand buckets. I’ll remember burying Jake up to his neck in the sand. I’ll remember 22 of us on a single Pirate’s of the Caribbean boat nearly scraping the bottom of the ride’s river and causing an indoor Tsunami. I’ll remember my 2 year old’s elated face as he saw and pointed to Mike and Sully in the Monsters Inc ride. Ill remember all my kids slinking back to the hotel room exhausted and collapsing as if they just crossed the Sahara Desert dragging a house behind them. I’ll remember 4 churros being inhaled at lightning speed, Ill remember Jeffy passes being the best thing since sliced bread. Ill remember year old Mickey ears still going strong. I’ll remember the best Salmon I’ve ever eaten at the Bleu Bayou.  I’ll remember all 26 of us fending off heatstroke while waiting in line to get the famous Cinderella castle picture. I’ll remember home made Disneyland countdown chains in our house for weeks. I’ll remember riding the carousel over, and over, and over again, and Jake still wanting to keep going. All of this is priceless.

Time is something that can’t be bought, it cant be saved, or stored for the future. Time itself cannot be hid away or saved, but memories of how that time is spent, can be. Memories and the feelings associated with those memories remain forever, they become part of us.

Memories are what  make us uniquely us. We are nothing but an accumulation of a lifetime of past experiences. These memories influence us in our present lives. And, as we get older, we tend to value this time spent in a much more profound way. How we choose to spend our time, determines the memories we make.

Isn’t it funny that when we are young, we cant wait to be older? We want time to speed up so we can finally go to school, drive, date, go on a mission, go to college, have a job, get an apartment, or buy a car. But, when we are old, this precious gift of time seems to slip so quickly through our fingers.

Time is ultimately the greatest gift we can receive. It we think about it carefully, is it not the one thing  we really want?

Don’t we all just want more time with our kids, our family, our wives or husbands?

Luckily, we know exactly how to make that happen.

When a new family is created in the way the Lord has designed, and in His Temple, the words “for time and all eternity” are used to describe how long this bond can last. That is really beyond what we can honestly comprehend. Eternity is a long time.  Its like forever. No end. Chew on that for just a minute. Eternal means endless time.  Its exactly what we all want. More time.

If we live our lives like our Father wants us to, and follow His directions, we can have all the time together that we can imagine, without any of the distractions of our busy, imperfect world. We can live together as a family and do so without any hurry, deadlines, or limitations. It can be just as we always wanted.

Time is passing us by each day, each hour, and each minute. Lets use it wisely. Lets use it in a way that creates good, lasting memories. Lets use it in a way that is meaningful, and can influence us and our families to be worthy of the greatest gift that we can possibly imagine, the gift of endless time.

Eternal Life.

The Gift of Time