Russ and I took the boys to the Draper Temple open house on Wednesday and it was a fantastic experience! Obviously Corbin was the most aware of the significance and of what was going on, but Cody was so well behaved and interested and I think he learned a little bit too. If you are unfamiliar with LDS temples and what they are for, click here. If you are LDS and want to go to the cool temple site that my boys love to look at, click here. It's kind of like GoogleEarth, but with temple pics :)
For those who have never been to a temple open house, or have been when they were a kid and don't remember, it was extremely well organized for the number of people that go through there. The logistical operations plan for over 400 people every 20 min. Luckily the day we went there were much, much fewer than that. I think we were quite lucky, the day we went, there were just a couple other people in any of the rooms with us. It was very calm and peaceful. And I can't believe how good my boys were! I was so proud of them. They walked through each room, staying on the little mat walkways, looking at their pamphlets trying to figure which picture was of the room we were currently in. Corbin, of course, kept commenting on how beautiful and amazing everything was and wanted to read all about it. Cody took quick glances, thought a few things were cool and asked what random things were for (like the thermostat and the elevator buttons). So back to what I was saying about the logistics - when you make your reservation, you are assigned to one of three color-coded churches situtated somewhat near the temple. Before you board the charter buses to the temple, you get to watch a little movie about temples and the history of Draper. It was short and sweet, but very well done. It set a nice tone for the event. The boys loved the bus ride. The guy in front of us asked Corbin if it was better than a school bus (which it far surpassed, of course), but Corbin has never been on a school bus! The bus trip definitely added to the fun and coolness of the day.
So you get to see the temple as you are driving up, but then that is about it, because as soon as you pull up, there are long tented walkways, with heat I might add, that lead all the way into the temple and then out again when you are done. The day we went the weather was fairly nice, but I'm sure these came in handy on the days when you were shuffling in slowly with hundreds of others in the blowing snow. Plus I think they are probably a good was to keep everyone from entering the temple all wet and drippy and dirty. So you walk in and are in awe. It is clean and beautiful and you are surrounded by gorgeous artwork and friendly faces. What a wonderful feeling! It was nice that there were not many people so we could go at our own pace and I could explain to Corbin and Cody what things were for, what happens in the temple, and why it is important. They were so receptive. I was elated to be there with my whole family and even more happy that it turned out to be such a good experience. (Don't think that this happens just because it is the temple - I had several friends tell me of their experiences of children screaming the entire time, or running and trying to escape the whole ordeal). But I do think I was blessed with peaceful children, even if it was just for one short hour. I was so grateful! I think the boys were most intrigued by the baptismal font. Cody did say that he wanted to go swimming, but I explained to him what it was for and he didn't say anything - I think he was trying to figure that one out. Both boys liked looking at the murals in the ordinance rooms. They thought the celestial room was gorgeous, which, of course, it was. By the time we got to the sealing room, Colton was done being packed around in the carrier, so Russ stood outside while the boys and I listented to a sweet old couple give a brief synopsis and testimony of the purpose of the temple and being sealed together as a family. Corbin was excited to see where he will bring his bride someday. (He talks about it quite often, and at one point told me that his bride was going to half to choose him, because it was just too hard for him to pick one.) So out we headed through another tent tunnel to the church next door with a very nice reception area set up. If I hadn't already known it was a regular church, I never would have guessed. It looked so nice. We ttok a few minutes looking at the pictures of temples from around the world, then grabbed a few cookies and bottled water and headed out to the heated tent to wait for our bus. I snagged this picture just before we hopped on the bus. I really was there, I promise. Glad I got a picture of all my boys together though. All in all, it was an awesomely incredible trip and I am SO glad that I took all my boys and my hubby and that we could share this experience together.
The best part of the holiday: sharing our love with each other! I love my boys - all four of them!
This spinning circle thing where he goes faster and faster and becomes sort of weightless inside.
Acrobat girl who at one point was spinning really fast by her neck.
At intermission, we opted for the face painting instead of the $10 pictures with the poodles or the $12 elephant rides.
You probably can't tell what this is unless you've seen it. It's two motorcylces zooming around in the metal cage thing. At one point they had three in there. This was one of the boys' favorites too.
Of course you have to have elephants at the circus. This was the big trick where one crawls under the other. I thought the elephants were cute, except when it pooped.
Our self portrait - not too bad.
