It has been a while since we've posted anything. Our computer has been down but now we're back on track. These past few weeks my kids have been off track. We took advantage of this time to go down to the Draper Temple open house. James had already been with the youth of the ward so we convinced him that it would be O.K. if we went without him. We picked a time in the middle of the day in hopes to avoid the crowds and we were rewarded. We were lucky to have Grandma Marcia come with us and spend the day.
Visiting the temple was a great experience. It is a "medium-sized" temple built on the hillside in Draper, Utah. Guests are directed to various churches in the area where a quick video is shown about temples, then we were loaded onto buses and taken to the temple. Because of the time we picked, we were able to walk right in and get to the temple without any waiting. The temple is beautiful. It is done mostly in blues with some accenting colors and a lot of dark wood. The endowment rooms are painted with murals depicting the area around Draper before it was settled. They were amazing, probably my favorite part. It was nice to see murals in the temple again. The celestial room is small compared to some temples but magnificent nonetheless. The kids were impressed with the beauty of the room and the peacefulness they felt there. The tour ends in a sealing room where guides share personal experiences and explain the importance of the room. They held the kids up so they could look in the mirrors and explained eternity to them.
After the tour we headed out to the church building, which is built on the temple grounds, and had refreshments of cookies and water. I was amazed that they were feeding everyone that came to visit the temple. I called Nicole and told her about it and she informed me that at the Lubbock Temple open house they actually had a buffet. It is a time when the missionaries can visit with guests and answer questions. The kids had a good time looking at the many pictures of temples that were displayed in the church and I enjoyed the artwork that they had set up. All in all, it was a great way to spend an off-track day.
