Temple Square

What would Christmas be without a visit to Temple Square? The beauty, the peace, and the symbols of the season found there truly turn our hearts to Christ and remind us why we celebrate. It was bitter cold this year, but we bundled up and enjoyed the time together.

Salt Lake City

What would a trip to Utah be without a tour of Temple Square in Salt Lake City? On October 5, we took Emma to Salt Lake to tour the conference center and Temple Square. She even got to spend 30+ minutes with Mandarin-speaking sister missionaries while the kids and I explored the visitor's center. What a trip! Dennis, as usual, took some beautiful pictures.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

For Dennis' birthday, we had the opportunity to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House--what a great start to his birthday! Well, that's not true, I actually took him out for a spectacular dinner the night before at the Melting Pot (yum!), and he got a combined Father's Day/birthday gift--a new GPS that he loves. But on his actual birthday, we loved attending the temple open house with our children and sharing the spirit of the temple with them and talking about forever families and other ordinances performed therein. It's nice to remember our sealing to Shaylee and Devin. Shaylee and Aspen both loved the brides' room, and the baptismal font is always a favorite. We also loved the murals on the walls of the endowment rooms. We are so blessed to live in a time of temple building and to have the opportunity to attend regularly. We are excited for the dedication at the end of this month--we got our recommends today!

Here are some pictures we took after our tour:

Temple Square

We love to go to Temple Square at Christmas time and enjoy the lights. This year, we were really worried about taking Connor out in the cold. I couldn't find a babysitter, so I stayed home with Connor and Dennis took the three older kids on a Thursday night. On Saturday, we went to the final show of the Center Street Musical Theater in Provo--A Christmas Carol, The Musical. A different twist on the traditional, familiar play. It was fun. That evening, we got reservations to The Melting Pot (only the yummiest, most expensive restaurant we ever frequent, but we had gift cards, hurrah!), but they were for 8:15 p.m., so we got to go to Temple Square together so I could see the lights as well.

My amazing photographer husband got these gorgeous shots of the temple & the lights (sure, I'll sell you a high res copy to print for your wall!).

Sealing

My friends were sealed yesterday to the little boy they adopted. He is one month younger than Connor. Their other (adopted) son is one month older than Aspen. It was such a beautiful day and we felt so blessed to be in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple with them. I sniffled (bawled) through the whole thing (and no, it wasn't just the cold I've been nursing for the last week). It was such a sweet reminder of the day we were sealed to Shaylee and Devin. Dennis had his camera and was able to take some of the cutest pictures for them:

These are some cute pics from the open house afterward where they blessed the baby. Landon was having a rough day, so Aspen gave him his birthday present early (some fun dinosaurs)--that surely made him smile for pictures.

Aren't Dennis and Connor cute?

This is Aspen hugging her friend Alicia (who lives across the street and was also at the open house):