Temple Square Outing

My sister-in-law and I decided to go to Temple Square last week. It's one of my favorite places on earth.

It's so pretty walking through the gardens, seeing the church headquarters, and being in such a beautiful part of our church's history. You really can feel the reverence and significance of the area.

One of these years I am going to take the Garden Tour of Temple Square. With six youngsters in the group, I knew this wouldn't be the year for that particular tour!What a beautiful day to explore Temple Square. Here are Alayna, Christina, and Katie. And all the kids at a closer spot to the temple. Since we were planning to see the movie, we wanted to go get tickets before we did anything else. We discovered that you don't need tickets, but just walk in to the particular show you are interested. We had about 30 minutes before the 12:00 noon show started, so we explored the kids area of the family history floor. Katie always wants to spend lots of time here. The little girls thought this was one of the best parts of the day too. The bigger kids enjoyed the activities about family trees, family crests, and the Ellis Island photo opportunity. Then we walked around the corner to see the movie - Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration. It was very well-done, although heavy in some parts since it traced Mormon history and included difficult parts of our church's migration to the west. Along with this, though, were faith-inspiring accounts and stories of church history. Katie was teary through much of it. The older kids sat very well for this 70 minute film. At one point Christina was tiring of the intensity and said very loudly, "Me hate this movie." She wanted to go back to the family history play area.I know the children felt the Spirit and hopefully had strengthened testimonies. When I asked them all in the car on the drive home, what parts were the most spiritual to them, they replied:

1) The Joseph Smith movie2) The Salt Lake temple3) The tabernacle4) The rooftop tour of the conference center

Daniel said he felt the Spirit the whole time and that it was all spiritual. I was so happy to hear him and Ethan talking about their spiritual feelings. I think it was a successful outing.

After the movie, we found a shady spot within Temple Square for a picnic. Both Tiercy and I had packed lunches. It was nice to relax and eat in such a neat place, even if my younger two were getting very squirrely.

My kids remembered their last visit to the tabernacle and wanted to hear "the pin drop" again. We asked a sister missionary about this and she did a broader presentation, using two pins and a needle, along with tearing newspaper. The acoustics were amazing! They played some Mormon Tabernacle Choir music that added to the spirit. We met at least 6 sister missionaries this day. Most of them invited us to think about a friend who might want to learn more about our church. I told them it was a great question, but I wanted to think about it. Talking with these sisters brought back great memories of my visitor center mission experience. One friendly, bold, and smiling sister reminded me a little of what I might have been like in those years.

We walked through the North Visitors Center too and saw the Christus statue. This is one of my personal highlights of this outing. KT recommended the second floor family experience where you travel from various rooms that look like a simulated house. It tells a sweet family story and was very moving. There is so much to see on Temple Square that we hadn't allowed enough time to do as much as the kids wanted to do. Both Tiercy and I thought they might be complaining and bored by this point, but they weren't. We could have filled another few hours easily.

Initially there was an organ recital in the Conference Center, so we didn't think we could show the kids where General Conference is held. As we departed the visitors' center, we found out it had finished up, so we briefly toured this massive room. I had never seen the rooftop and hoped to see that too. We did that tour afterwards, although the guide was my least favorite of the day.

The water features were being repaired, so that was disappointing, but it was fun to see the beautiful trees and shrubs. When I saw the three girls overlooking this spot, I couldn't help but think of this song.

"I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday."

It was a wonderful day on Temple Square. I know it touched us all and made us want to be better people. I was strengthened, being reminded of the Mormon pioneer's sacrifices, and having my testimony of Joseph Smith renewed. I was glad to spend the day with Tiercy and her children. I especially enjoyed talking with Tiercy on the drive there and back. I love how open, honest, and striving she is. It's interesting to talk about the gospel with her too.

We are making such good memories on this trip to Utah. I am loving this summer!