We Love to See the Temple

Last week we took our kids to the open house for the Ogden, Utah Temple.  Our kids have seen the outside of various temples many times, but they are too young to go inside of a dedicated temple, so they looked forward to seeing what it looked like inside. When we first got to the temple parking lot, the kids were super excited and MayLynn kept saying, "Look Mommy, pretty temple!" They fidgeted through the introductory video, and then got excited as we got near the entrance to the temple.  Owen was a champ and let the helpers put the plastic "booties" over his shoes, but MayLynn was less cooperative, so instead we got to wipe down her shoes so she could wear them inside and keep the floors clean.  

We walked along, following the designated path and the kids enjoyed seeing all the decorative vases and flowers, the stain-glass windows, and the pretty furniture and carpets. They both really liked the oxen that hold up the baptismal font.  They also liked seeing all the beautiful pictures that decorate the walls, and we even got to see one of Jesus Christ that my brother, Bradley, was the model for.  When we exited the building, they also liked looking at the fountains and the flowers and plants on the temple grounds.

The kids also really liked the statue of Jesus Christ that was inside the visitor information tent, and I got them to stand for a picture with Grandma Allen, after they had given the statue a big hug that made me smile.

And then, since one of the main purposes of temples is to help create eternal families, no visit to the temple is complete without a family picture - so here are the five of us by the fountain in front of the Ogden Utah Temple.

Also, on a personal note, this remodeled temple replaces the old Ogden Temple, where I received my Endowment almost 11 years ago at Thanksgiving time.  At the time my Grandma and Grandpa Christensen were ordinance workers at the Ogden Temple, and so I chose this temple to receive my Endowment because Grandpa Christensen would be able to officiate the session. When the church decided to update the temple facilities, they chose to do more than a simple remodel of the temple. 11 years ago this is how the temple looked:

And this is how it looks today:

And in just a few more weeks the temple will be dedicated as one of our Heavenly Father's houses here on earth.

For more information regarding this and other LDS Temples you can go to http://mormontemples.org/ogden.