(ok so the sun was really bright)With so many new temples opening around the world, you would think we would have had the opportunity to take our whole family to a temple open house before. Since we have been married, we've attended the San Diego Temple Open house (March 1993) and Bountiful Temple Open house (Dec 1994) but the oldest two kids don't even remember it. Haylee has been excited about going to the open house since the Draper Temple was announced in 2004. She was just 5, and I told her that she would have a chance to go inside the temple. Somehow, she got in her mind that it was a temple for kids. We "corrected" her understanding over the years and she was especially excited to finally go inside (you see Amanda, Wes, and Heather have all been able to do baptisms for the dead in the Salt Lake Temple, and she has felt soooo left out.)
Today, we had the very special opportunity to attend the Draper, Utah Temple open house, and have our whole family in the temple together. It is of course incredibly beautiful. I love all the decorative glass windows and how much natural light shines inside. The chandeliers are mesmerizing. The colors are muted tans and very light sage greens - some of my favorite tones. I noticed the incredible details, especially the sego lily motif that appeared everywhere - even sculpted into the carpet. The tour ended in a Sealing Room, and our family stood together in front of the mirrors that reflect back and forth seemingly eternally. One of the hosts said, "Now that's an eternal family". That was probably my favorite moment.
I am so grateful that we have temples, and that Troy and I were sealed in the temple almost 19 years ago. We can be an eternal family if we keep the covenants we made there. I pray that we will have the chance to see all five of our children make those same covenants and begin their own eternal families.
Draper Temple Trivia (I can't believe my kids remembered all these details)
129th operating temple
12th temple in Utah
13 foot 8 inch Angel Moroni statue
exterior stone imported from China
interior stone imported from France
interior wood imported from Africa
will serve 60,000 patrons in it's temple district
Time it took us to complete the tour - 2 1/2 hours
Flavors of cookies served - sugar, chocolate, and oatmeal raisin
Last day for open house tours - March 14
Number of open house guests expected - 1.1 million
(after the tour waiting in one of the tents)
3 comments:
I'm glad you got to experience such a special moment with your family in the temple. We actually went to the Draper Temple Open House on Friday. It was nice except that Bryce was pushing his brother, who just had foot surgery, in a wheelchair and spent the whole time trying not to run into anything or anybody and I struggled with a 2 year old the whole time who thought it would be more fun to run around, yell, try to swing on things and not be obedient. I was a little stressed by the end. I'm sure one day we'll have a better experience in the temple with our family.
I've been so looking forward to going on our tour now I'm even more looking forward to it. As I read this it brought tears to my eye's as I remembered our own family experience when we were sealed.
Pam, what a great day you had :-)
Living on the east coast is a bit different than what I grew up around, especially in regards to the temple proximity. Although I still go out of my way when we go anywhere near DC to drive past the temple.
I got to go to the open house of the St. George temple when they redid the interior in the 70s, and both the Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA, when I was in High School in the 80s. Angie and I both got to help push wheel chairs as we were part of the tour guides one day during the Portland open house.
Great memories you've helped create for your kids! :-)
Trudi
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