We got tickets to go to the Draper Temple open house (What's a temple?) and invited our neighbor Dell to go with us. Dell lost his wife last year, and he's a great friend and neighbor and has a heart of gold. He jokingly reprimands me when I shovel the driveway, tolerates the kids' arsenal of questions whenever he's outside ("Hi Dell! What are you doing today, Dell? Are you working on a project? What are you having for dinner? We're just riding bikes on your driveway..."), and he's always the first one we call if our car needs a jump, we need to borrow a wheelbarrow, or we have some extra dessert to share.
Josh and Dell
We prepped the kids with the big reverence lecture, and talked about what we would see in the temple. When we arrived, we had to wait for the room to fill before they started a short film about the temple. The kids started whining, "I'm hungry" when I realized I didn't pack snacks, and they hadn't eaten since lunch (it was about 4:00). A saintly mother turned around and said, "We have granola bars in our car," and sent her oldest outside to get them. Wasn't that so nice? We chatted and found out she was from Cache Valley. THAT explains it. Good stuff coming out of the Cache. :)
Following the movie, we boarded buses - the kids were totally spellbound at riding on a real school bus!
Boo and Yaks: "I see the temple!"
The kids did a pretty good job at staying on what I called "the magic carpet" (the plastic walkway they had laid down), and they loved looking at the oxen surrounding the baptismal font, all of the paintings of Jesus, and especially the pamphlet that they got with pictures inside.
There were plenty of other "excited" children there as well, and everyone seemed to be pretty patient with one another. Josh was able to spend time with Dell and answer his questions, and all in all, I think it was a wonderful experience for everyone. I especially enjoyed sitting in a sealing room and hearing a lovely couple share their testimonies about temple marriage and eternal families.
Following our tour, they guided us to the nearby church building to enjoy some cookies and water (hallelujah!). The kids loved that, and so did I! We boarded our bus back to our car and then headed over for some burgers and fries at Salt City Burger.
The Tender Mercies of Primary
Boo didn't have a teacher on Sunday in Primary. When she sat down with her class, her eyes welled up with tears and she said, "Mom, I don't have a teacher!" Oh, my heart just broke for her, so I sat across the aisle from her with my class and held her hand. It's been a bit of an adjustment for her having to leave her dear Sister Vance, and then when her new teacher wasn't there...yikes. A member of the presidency asked if we could accommodate the orphaned primary class for our individual class times, and I was happy and relieved to be able to tell Boo that I would be her teacher today. She must have asked no less than six times if I was her teacher, just to be sure. Poor kid. She takes after her mom in school traumas!
It was fun and a bit of a challenge to have her in our class. On the one hand, she was thrilled to have a teacher and be in an environment that she knew, but on the other, she didn't understand the boundaries that we've got to have in a more formal classroom setting ("Mom, could I get a pink sticker out of your bag? May I have a piece of gum?"). I worried a little bit about what we would do for our little activity with our extra kids (Joseph Smith's First Vision puppets - awesome). I have six in my class, so I had brought materials for six puppets, I thought. With our two new additions, we were one short. One little girl ended up getting sick and going home, and I must have made one extra, because we had enough for all six class members, and one for me to show as an example! Coincidence? It think not.
8 comments:
Those are gorgeous pics. Did you take those or are they stock photos?
Glad that you braved the temple tour. How nice to invite your neighbor. Is he a member? And, what a lifesaver to have a Cache friend with snacks!
Wow I can't believe how well behaved your kids are! We still barely make it through sacrament meeting. I cant imagine the embarrassment that would ensue if we took Owen to the temple open house...
Oh what a fun experience and so sweet to invite the neighbor. Magic carpets and granola bars from the Cache...good times Amy Hayden. Miss you! I wish we lived by so many Temple opportunities. Good on ya!
What a beautiful temple, and what a wonderful day you had there! I'm so glad you were able to take Dell. I miss the temples so much. We live too far away from them right now. This Saturday we get to go to Berlin so Brett can attend a design conference. We might get to go the Freiberg Temple! Temples always help me remember what is most important. Thanks for helping me think of that today.
How lucky that your kids got to see the Temple. We've never been close enough to an open house that my kids have seen inside the doors. They walked into the lobby once during a Primary tour and talked to the Temple president and inform people that they have been in the temple - but it's not the same.
I'm glad that you were able to teach Boo, and that you had your own little "loaves and fishes" miracle. Don't you just love testimony stregthening experiences?
That is so neat. It sounds like you had such a great day. I hope we can have as good a time there if we go to the open house.
THANK YOU for the First Vision Puppets...they were a huge hit!!!!
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