We had the privilege of visiting the Draper, Utah temple yesterday during this month long open-house. We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for our boys to actually go inside the temple. Every time we drive past the Provo temple they get so excited it just seemed like the perfect opportunity. So when the occasion presented itself we decided to take advantage of it.What we didn't count on was the other million other people are also taking advantage of the opportunity. That means that it takes a long time! And our boys can only be reverent and quiet for so long before the excitement and energy of youth just bubbles out! All things considered I think they were fantastic.
Here's how the trip worked out...
1:30 pm - I begin to get the boys dressed in their Sunday clothes, pack the diaper bag, get our temple tickets, text Michelle to hurry home from grocery shopping.
2:00 pm - Text Michelle again, finish grabbing fruit snacks and shake mix for the boys snack at 3 pm before we enter the temple.
2:20 pm - Finish unloading groceries, start loading boys.
2:30 pm - We start driving to the Temple drop off point (one of 3 designated chapels near the Draper temple).
3:00 pm - We arrive at the church parking lot and begin to dispense afternoon snacks to the boys.
3:20 pm - Finish snack time and enter the church, enter first holding cell.
3:30 pm - Sneak into earlier group, enter the Chapel and wait...and wait.
3:40 pm - Watch a 12 minute video about temples in general and the Draper temple specifically.
3:55 pm - We're lead to next holding cell where we wait (to get in line to wait for the bus that will shuttle us to the Temple).
4:10 pm - Get in line to wait for bus.
(boys holding still momentarily while waiting for the bus)
4: 20 pm - Bus comes, we're transported to the Temple.4:30 pm - Unload from the bus and begin a slow but steady walk through the major rooms of the temple.
5:15 pm - Complete tour and head to adjacent stake center for complimentary cookies and water.
5:30 pm - Finish eating cookies, get into line to await return bus to the original chapel.
6:00 pm - Finally board bus to return to chapel.
6:10 pm - Arrive at chapel, quick bathroom break, load into car to come home.
6:30 pm - Start driving home.
7:00 pm - Arrive home; time to start dinner!
The experience was truly amazing. We love to see the temple and we went inside yesterday! The boys had a hard time moving at a snail's pace through the temple when you could easily walk off the plastic walk-way and zip around everyone! When you can't go fast you might as well sit down on all the comfortable chairs or climb the hand rails or find something fun to do; alas, we had to thwart our boys alternative plans as well. They did seem pretty excited to point out Jesus in all the artwork hanging on the walls and that helped to keep them occupied (momentarily). If this hadn't been the Lord's house will His Spirit there, we would have really had troubles controlling our boys (we were also fortunate to have our friends, the Howells, there to help grab a child or two).
The temple is very beautiful and I'm excited to go through after it's dedication next month. We were hoping to get a family picture outside the temple but the rain and fog limited visibility to 50 feet! Besides I'm not sure how we would have escaped the maze to get outside in the first place. There were covered walkways from the bus drop-off to the temple, from the temple to the stake center and from the stake center to the bus reloading zone. And the walkways were more like very long tents so there was no escaping.
The drive home was very loud! The boys had been reverent for nearly 4 hours and couldn't contain themselves any longer. The whole process started at 1:30 and end when they got out of their Sunday clothes at 7:30 which is six hours! These boys wouldn't settle down until almost 9:00 pm working out all the wiggles of the past 6 hours. As I said, I think they did a remarkable job being reverent in the House of the Lord!
As wonderful as this experience has been I don't anticipate that we'll take them to the Oquirrh temple open house which should probably happen in the later half of this year.
