Last night we went to the Draper Temple Open House with some of Brandon's co-workers. It was such a lovely evening. The kids were so excited; this was their first time being in the temple. I had prepared them for some of the things that they would see.
The first part was a little obnoxious. We parked at a church were they ushered us into the cultural hall. We had to wait for all of our group to arrive. We got there at 5:25ish and had tickets for 5:40. Wouldn't you know it, Wednesday was also Young men/Young Women night. There were so many groups that were there. There were 3 major groups waiting; one of 70, one of 60, and one of 22. The noise would rise, the missionaries would rebuke, it would get quiet for about 5 minutes than start the cycle over. We ended up sitting in that cultural hall for an hour, waiting for the chance for all of our group to be taken together (they took the gynormous groups before us). The kids tried hard, but how boring when you are sitting on the cold metal chairs in a roasting hot room and you can't do anything. So then we went into the primary room to watch the preview video. If I thought the cultural hall was hot...didn't even come close to this room!
The video was fun, talked about Draper history and the history of temples. Of course it focused on eternal families which was great for the people from Brandon's job who weren't members.
Next we thought we would be loading on the bus to head up to the temple grounds. Nope, big groups got to go before us, so back into the cultural hall to wait again. Come on....
Eventually we made it on the bus. Domenic and Alexis were so excited to ride the bus! They didn't have to sit in their car seats or buckle in...Oh the joy! As you can see, Skyler was excited too but you can read the weariness on Brandon's face. It had already been a long night! The bus ride took 6 minutes or so. The temple was lovely as we rode up to it all lit up. There are some houses that have a temple in their back yards~lucky!
The tour itself was a great experience, worth every minute of the wait. The tour was a "silent" tour, but there were times when a teaching moment was necessary. For instance when I got to stand Alexis in front of the 3 floor length mirrors in the Brides Room! The light fixtures in the Brides Room were complete eye candy! I have never seen anything more lovely in my life. Then there was the Celestial Room. Words can not describe the feeling that was present the moment you stepped in. I know that all the group with us felt it as well. Yes, they were awed by the gigantic 8 foot chandelier, but also there was an unmistakable feeling of peace. One of the ladies in particular was very interested in what the room was all about, she knew it was a special room. We ended in one of the sealing rooms were again a missionary couple talked about the joy of an eternal family. They let everyone check out the eternity mirrors, and talked about the significance of the lilies that were a constant throughout the temple.
It was a wonderful evening! We had so much fun. Alexis talked about how the celestial room and the sealing room made her heart feel warm! Of course, her favorite room was the Bride's room. Domenic liked all the sparklies! Skyler said "Hi Jesus" to every picture that he saw (the hosts all got a kick out of him). When we walked through one of the ordinance rooms he saw the alter and thought "look this chair is just my size" and sat right down. The members of our group had a great laugh about that. Skyler did say "Hi Jesus" as he looked up at the ceiling in the celestial room. Gave us goosebumps...through the eyes of a child, I truly believe he saw someone there.
Our Eternal Family!
If you look closely in the background of this last picture you can see the temple glowing in the background. They wouldn't let us take any pictures up close. Oh well, soon enough!
