Draper Temple Open House

We took the kids to the Draper Temple Open House last night (along with Peter's parents and his brother Joe and his family) and it was such a neat experience to have our whole family in the temple. The kids were SO excited to be able to go inside the temple. They've always been disappointed that they haven't been able to come with Peter and I as we've gone. And we've talked to them a lot about what a special place it is and so when we told them that we'd be able to go inside this temple before it gets dedicated they were thrilled. All night Madeline kept telling me, "Mom, I think I'm dreaming!" and she couldn't stop talking about the beautiful sparkly lights. And Tyler kept saying, "This is such a special thing that we get to come inside the temple when we're still little!" and he was amazed at the gold leafing on the walls. Emily loved the mirrors in the Sealing Room, and Nathan loved the "cows" under the baptismal font, but for sure the highlight for him was the bus ride from the chapel up the hill to the temple! I've included some pictures that were in the brochure for those of you who don't live in Utah and won't have the chance to go through the temple. It is such a beautiful place!

Here's the baptismal font (resting on the back of 12 oxen, representing the 12 tribes of Israel),

Here is one of the ordinance rooms

Another ordinance room

The sealing room where couples are married (notice the mirror that reflects the mirror on the other side of the room that represents eternity)

Here is the Celestial Room and the ceiling in the Celestial Room. It was so beautiful! If you have any questions about the temple click here for Frequently Asked Questions and more information on the purpose of Temples.

Here are some pictures of us riding the bus from the chapel where we parked, up to the temple:

Can you see how excited Nathan was? SO cute! He's always loved to watch Tyler and Maddie get on the bus that takes them to school and so he was SO thrilled that he got to ride on one!

Here's Jessica and Austin and Joe

Here's our whole family in the reception area in the Stake Center that was right by the temple.

After the Open House we went out to eat at a new place right by our house called JCW's. It was really good! We've had milkshakes there before but never tired the food. It was yummy!!

The kids had a few drinks to all share and they decided to put as many straws as they could in one cup and then try to drink from all of them at the same time. I was surprised that there was no mess besides the straw wrappers! Here's Tyler displaying his straw sucking talent!

It was such a great night and I'm so glad we were able to go and take the kids through. I don't know how long they will remember it, but I hope if we show them pictures and talk about it often it will stay with them for a long time. I love my sweet family so much! I'm so glad that Peter and I were married in the temple so that we can have our family with us for all of eternity and not just until death. What a neat promise and I'm so grateful for that. As long as we are obedient and live righteously, we will always be a family. I'm so grateful for temples and I'm so grateful that we got to share a glimpse of the temple with our children. What a special night.