Hanna's Castle

I grew up with four sisters. An older one who did my hair, taught me to use makeup and helped me get ready for prom; one just younger than me who I played dolls with, fought over clothes with, made jewelry with; and two baby sisters, who I’ve had my cosmetic way with on Sunday mornings and date nights. I’ve been so certain that sisters are imperative to a girl’s girly-ness, that I’ve worried about my Hanna who was born amongst a bunch of boys. However, the older she gets, the more I am convinced that one Hanna equals five daughters when it comes to girly-ness. It is oozing out of her! She is two years old and barely has a grasp of the English language, but she is keenly aware of and educated on all things feminine. She is adament that shorts and pants will not suffice when dresses and skirts are available. Somehow she knows that shoes, beads, boas, tiaras and the color pink are all important things. We don’t even have these things in our truck-filled, testosterone ridden house, but somehow they gravitate to her like magnets. Maybe we’ve called her princess a few too many times, because she is convinced that that is what she is. And last month when we took her to Utah to visit her cousins and made a quick tourist stop at the Salt Lake Temple, she took one look and proclaimed, “My castle! It’s for me!”

Since Hanna was so thrilled by the prospect that castles exist in real life and not just in Disney movies, I was thrilled to inform her that someday when she grows up and falls in love, she can put on a fancy white dress and get married in that castle. At that moment a magical light went on in her princess brain. She has talked about nothing but marriage to this day. Right now she plans on marrying her dad and since she’s two, that works for me. Her excitement has given me cause to get out all my wedding photos and show off my pretty dress, my handsome prince and my gorgeous castle. She looks at me with a whole new respect – I have senior princess status now!

Though I didn’t walk down an aisle and I never said the words, “I do,” my wedding was more romantic and memorable than any movie, because I was married in the temple. Mormon temples are different from Mormon church buildings, where kids roam the halls and bounce off the walls and the floors and furnishings are meant to withstand the wear and tear of organized chaos. If you could close your eyes and imagine God’s house, the front room where he would welcome invited guests, that’s what the inside of the temple looks like – and FEELS like (peaceful, clean, quiet and furnished for a most honored king). No wonder I felt like royalty when I entered there, took the hand of a cute boy, promised to be loyal to him and received a promise and a blessing that we would be together forever, even after death. So, if there really is a princess on this earth, I challenge her to show me what she’s got that could be more valuable than that. And to the rest of you, enjoy these pictures of my castle!