What do you get when you take a mid-February snowstorm, throw in a healthy dose of "what do you mean we have to wear our church clothes all day?", and add a dash of "it feels like we've been in the car forever"? Why, you would get our Valentine's Day trip down to the Draper Temple Open house!
We left Cache Valley about 9 am. Normally we are thrilled to escape Cache Valley for a Saturday in the winter. Don't get me wrong, we love living here, but it can get a little claustrophobic with all the fog and pollution that gets trapped here in the winter. There was very little snow on our drive through the canyon, but once we hit I-15, things got worse. We saw quite a few slide-offs between Brigham City and Salt Lake City. Luckily, we made it safely and by the time we hit Point of the Mountain, we saw glimpses of blue sky. The kids cheered! All was well.
We spent a few hours with the Wright family of Lehi. Thank goodness they were open to hosting two tired adults and three antsy children for lunch and some running around. We left their house (along with Andrew and Collin - poor Olivia was feeling under the weather) about 1:20 pm to make it to our 1:40 pm scheduled tour.
Can I just say what a logistical nightmare it must be to organize a temple open house like this? We parked in the Red Parking Lot (go Utes - thank goodness it wasn't the Blue Lot or there would have been some grumbling from Henry), watched a nicely done video on temples and loaded onto the bus to make the trek up to the temple. When we arrived at the temple, there were long enclosed walkways to save us from the elements (which was nice because although it didn't feel too cold, it was windy) on the walk into the temple. Once we got into the doors, we followed the long, long, long, long line of people and took our tour. We were able to see the baptismal font, a few dressing rooms and waiting rooms, the Bride's Room, some ordinance rooms, a sealing room and the Celestial Room. As you might expect, it was beautiful. It was nice to be able to talk to the kids about the importance of temples. After we left the temple, another enclosed walkway took us to a church building adjacent to the temple grounds were they had cookies and water available for everyone. It took a while to wait for the bus, but we arrived back at our assigned parking lot at about 3:45 pm.
On the way out of Salt Lake we stopped for gas and some snacks. Jay and I loaded up on Coke Slurpees (don't judge us, you would have wanted a little caffeine as well) and we headed north. We stopped in Harrisville for McDonald's for dinner and let the kids eat in the car on the way home. This, by the way, is one of our more brilliant strategies for longish car rides - feed them fast food (which they don't get very often) and they are generally quiet for at least 30 minutes while they stuff chicken nuggets and french fries in their mouths. Our reprieve was longer this time because McDonald's offered little electronic sports games (for the boys) and Hello Kitty watches (for the girls) as their Happy Meal toys, so we bought an extra 15 minutes or so while they punched buttons and fooled around with their prizes.
The weather held out and we didn't run into snow again until we hit Logan City limits. We knew we were in trouble when we turned the corner coming out of the canyon and, instead of the blue sky we had seen to the east all the way home, saw clouds and fog. We groaned and bemoaned the fact that we had apparently seen the sun for the last time that day. It was snowing pretty hard in Logan but we made it home safe and sound.
Anyway, the temple open house isn't the most kid-friendly activity but we felt it was well worth our time. Tessa in particular had a bit of a hard time - it was alot of walking and alot of stairs for a 2 year old. The hassle was worth it, however, as Jay and I saw our little family sitting together in the sealing room. We were able to tell them that their mom and dad were married in the temple so that we could all be together forever. Because, really, isn't that what it's all about?
We left Cache Valley about 9 am. Normally we are thrilled to escape Cache Valley for a Saturday in the winter. Don't get me wrong, we love living here, but it can get a little claustrophobic with all the fog and pollution that gets trapped here in the winter. There was very little snow on our drive through the canyon, but once we hit I-15, things got worse. We saw quite a few slide-offs between Brigham City and Salt Lake City. Luckily, we made it safely and by the time we hit Point of the Mountain, we saw glimpses of blue sky. The kids cheered! All was well.
We spent a few hours with the Wright family of Lehi. Thank goodness they were open to hosting two tired adults and three antsy children for lunch and some running around. We left their house (along with Andrew and Collin - poor Olivia was feeling under the weather) about 1:20 pm to make it to our 1:40 pm scheduled tour.
Can I just say what a logistical nightmare it must be to organize a temple open house like this? We parked in the Red Parking Lot (go Utes - thank goodness it wasn't the Blue Lot or there would have been some grumbling from Henry), watched a nicely done video on temples and loaded onto the bus to make the trek up to the temple. When we arrived at the temple, there were long enclosed walkways to save us from the elements (which was nice because although it didn't feel too cold, it was windy) on the walk into the temple. Once we got into the doors, we followed the long, long, long, long line of people and took our tour. We were able to see the baptismal font, a few dressing rooms and waiting rooms, the Bride's Room, some ordinance rooms, a sealing room and the Celestial Room. As you might expect, it was beautiful. It was nice to be able to talk to the kids about the importance of temples. After we left the temple, another enclosed walkway took us to a church building adjacent to the temple grounds were they had cookies and water available for everyone. It took a while to wait for the bus, but we arrived back at our assigned parking lot at about 3:45 pm.
On the way out of Salt Lake we stopped for gas and some snacks. Jay and I loaded up on Coke Slurpees (don't judge us, you would have wanted a little caffeine as well) and we headed north. We stopped in Harrisville for McDonald's for dinner and let the kids eat in the car on the way home. This, by the way, is one of our more brilliant strategies for longish car rides - feed them fast food (which they don't get very often) and they are generally quiet for at least 30 minutes while they stuff chicken nuggets and french fries in their mouths. Our reprieve was longer this time because McDonald's offered little electronic sports games (for the boys) and Hello Kitty watches (for the girls) as their Happy Meal toys, so we bought an extra 15 minutes or so while they punched buttons and fooled around with their prizes.
The weather held out and we didn't run into snow again until we hit Logan City limits. We knew we were in trouble when we turned the corner coming out of the canyon and, instead of the blue sky we had seen to the east all the way home, saw clouds and fog. We groaned and bemoaned the fact that we had apparently seen the sun for the last time that day. It was snowing pretty hard in Logan but we made it home safe and sound.
Anyway, the temple open house isn't the most kid-friendly activity but we felt it was well worth our time. Tessa in particular had a bit of a hard time - it was alot of walking and alot of stairs for a 2 year old. The hassle was worth it, however, as Jay and I saw our little family sitting together in the sealing room. We were able to tell them that their mom and dad were married in the temple so that we could all be together forever. Because, really, isn't that what it's all about?
2 comments:
I was meaning to ask you how your day went at church today! Sounds like an adventure! I'm thankful to my mom for all of those little trips that she took us on! It's hard work. Thanks heavens for Google - or you would have lived your whole life without ever seeing Tim Riggins! Now you are complete! I'm planning on a movie night this week!
Just think, unless you get them to
another temple open house, it will
be the last time you will have everybody together in a Sealing or Celestial room for a long time.
I think it was wonderful that you
took the time to take them.
Love,
Mom
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