Draper Temple walk-through

Last night we went as a family to walk through the Draper, Utah Temple. It was beautiful! The kids were thrilled that we got to ride in a tour bus to and from the parking lot up to the temple; and on the way there the tour guide gave us all sorts of fun facts about this temple.

Like:

It is the 129th LDS temple.

It took 2.5 years to build it.

It was announced in 2004 and completed in 2009.

The stone used on the outside was imported from France.

The cherry hardwood inside the temple was imported from Africa.
The Angel Moroni was hand sculpted by two Utah men.

The entire tour took up almost 2 hours, and it was well worth it! Afterwards we ended up in a cultural hall that had been transformed to look like a visitor's center and refreshments were provided. It was a beautiful sight and we enjoyed walking around in there as well. The open house ends next week, and the temple will be dedicated on the 22nd of March. Teagan and I are planning on going to that. There is another temple about 10 miles away (the Oquirr Mountain Temple) that will be having a open house in June and July of this year, and then will be dedicated in August. Scott and hopefully Garrett will be able to go to that one. My highlights of this family temple trip were: 1. when we were walking through the temple and I was (very quietly) answering Teagan's inquiries occasionally, and she leaned into me and said, "it feels very comfortable in here, Mom." I smiled, hugged her shoulders, and explained that that feeling was the Spirit of the temple. And 2: then as we were exiting the temple, Garrett walked up next to me and said, "Mom, I had a warm feeling the whole time I was in there, and I liked it." Then it was his turn to get a great big smile from me, a hug around his shoulders, and an explanation about how the Spirit manifests itself to people. After we got out of the temple I talked to both of them about the Spirit that is in the Temple, and told them to imagine how much stronger those feeling got after the temple was dedicated to the Lord. I told them that was one reason Mommy and Daddy love going to the temple so much! They both seemed to understand what I was trying to convey to them, and I think that this trip helped them develop a greater love for our temples.
Afterwards we went over to Stu's house and hung out with them, Scott's parent's, his older sister and her kids, and his older brother Erick. We had dinner, cake (an impromptu celebration of all the March birthdays), and watched the movie City of Embers.

It was a wonderful family afternoon and evening together!