Draper Temple Open House

A couple weeks ago, we took the girls to see the Draper Temple Open House. It was lovely, but I have to say that I was not terribly impressed with the way they organized everything. I am sure they had their reasons, and I can see how they were able to allow more people to go through by setting it up this way- but I was a little dissappointed. I like having tour guides to tell us all the neat facts about the temple and to point out the special details that aren't included in the borchure like stories about the workers and other things like that. I also hated that we had to wait in a church for 2 hours before being taken over to the temple. We are SOO lucky that the girls were behaving well for the most part.

That being said, we had a great time. It was fun and challenging in a way to explain things to Emma in a way that she could understand it all. She loved it. She thought it was the prettiest Princess Temple ever. Also- did anyone else see the Pemberly mansion for sale across the street from the temple? I want that house- especially if Mr. Darcy comes along with it. I would just want him to pop out every now and again to say, "You have bewitched me, body and soul." or "I love, I love, I love you."

Here is Emma and Pinkbunny sitting quietly at the church. Pinkbunny went everywhere with her that day. As I would explain things to Emma, she would then explain things to Pinkbunny. It was pretty much the cutest thing to ever happen ever. "This is where Mommy comes to change into her special temple clothes." "Oh, bunny, this is where Mommy wears her temple clothes and it is really, really special." "Emma, this is where we come to get baptized for people who have died." "Pinkbunny, this is where we baptize you when you are dead and the cows are there."

Sara contented herself with tearing apart my purse and eating my deodorant. In her defense, it does smell like candy, so I can't blame her for trying it.

After going through the temple we went to the Stake Center next door to the temple to have some cookies and wait for the bus. I must say that the Stake who was in charge of this did a FANTASTIC job. The displays in the cultural hall were gorgeous, and there was a grand piano there where someone was playing some lovely and intricate variations to hymns and primary songs. It was the perfect place to enjoy a cokie and ponder on all the things that we had just seen.

There were sister missionaries there to answer questions of investigators, and for once I didn't feel like the sisters were glorified saleswomen. (Have any of you been to Temple Square lately? They are like vultures!) They were respectful and very knowledgeable. I listened to a man who was a little skeptical about the sealing ordinances, and one of the sisters was explaining things to him with flawless clarity. I was impressed with how composed she was as he riddled her with question after question. I think he was impressed with how much she knew and how logical it all sounded. Apparently things that are true tend to make perfect sense when explained well. :)

After our cookies we stopped at Chadders (an In N Out copy-cat that is actually better) to have a burger and some fries. Well, some of us did at least.

Ross owed me this. . .

. . . because of his audacity to drink Dr. Pepper in front of me. Cruel!