Nina flies back to Utah tomorrow evening, but gets in late enough that she’ll spend the night at Heather’s before driving back home Tuesday morning. I think she’s had a great time but will also be happy to be home. It’s been mighty quiet around here!

The Twin Falls Temple was dedicated today. Our Stake had the opportunity to participate in the dedication via live satellite TV at 4:30 p.m. Consequently, each ward in the Stake only had Sacrament Meeting. Normally that would mean a light Sunday, since our ward meets at 9 a.m. However, I was invited to meet with the Stake President at 12:15 p.m. More on that next week when everything comes together.

I was at the Stake Center at 3 p.m. for the Temple Dedication. The doors were supposed to be opened at 3:30, but at the entrance where I was seventh in line, someone opened the door at 3 p.m. and let all of us waiting there come in. They quickly found the mistake and closed the door, but those of us who were already seated were allowed to stay. It was much nicer sitting inside the air conditioned building than standing outside in 90+ temperatures. The ceremony itself was very moving and inspiring. I suspect this will be the last temple dedication in this area for many years to come. We’ve had two this year … Rexburg and Twin Falls … making now four temples in Idaho.

Tonight marked the end of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. What a show the past two weeks have been and tonight’s closing ceremonies really sucked me in. I’ve read some criticism of NBC’s lineup of Olympic events being shown in prime time. There’s only a limited amount of broadcast time available and if people rely only on what’s being shown in prime time, they’ve missed an important part of the experience. Almost every event was available online, and I watched a number of events online, including some that I’ve never seen before, such as judo, taekwando, and handball. Even the equestrian events (which were held in Hong Kong … almost a continent away from Beijing) were interesting to watch. NBC, in my opinion, has done a first rate, bang up job of bringing us the Olympics.

I’ve enjoyed Bob Costas‘s commentary. Bela Karolyi was incredibly entertaining. Chris Collinsworth‘s reporting was excellent (he annointed Michael Phelps’ mother as “disappearing Debby” after she almost fainted following her son’s fingernail victory). Mary Carillo‘s vignettes from around the country were excellent and she seemed game for anything, including eating grilled scorpions. I have to admit: They have dominated my evenings for the past couple of weeks. I’ll now have to find something else to do with my evenings. Fortunately, Thursday night football begins this week!