Temple Square . . . Here We Come!

Every year during the Christmas break we make a trip to Temple Square to see the lights and go through a museum or two. This year a lot of my family wanted to join us, so we all went up and had a good time together! We drove up earlier in the day so we could go through the Church History Museum while it was still light outside. In this picture is Seth, Amanda, Athena, and Samantha. The kids enjoyed going through this museum. Jeremy and I tried to give them little tidbits of information here and there between their cousin time so they would actually appreciate what they were looking at. I don't know if it worked or not, but at least we can say we tried! Nathan and Alexandra sure enjoyed these bunkbed replicas of what were in the ships when the pioneers crossed the ocean. I don't know how the pioneers made the rough journey across the ocean in such cramped quarters! I'm not sure I could have done the same.

In this museum there is a section in the back corner that is dedicated to the nursery in the church. It's a fun kid's section with all kinds of things for the kids to play with and touch. I like this section because it gives me a little "kid break" and I don't have to keep them from touching everything. Of course Alexandra ran straight for the dolls and adopted this one right away.

Athena, Samantha, and Amanda found this little coloring station where you could make pictures and hold them up to the light like stained glass.

Athena also enjoyed the dress-ups. I think she is dressed as a shepherd here. :)

As soon as it was getting dark, we had the kids clean up so we could head outside. I prefer to walk through the lights earlier in the evening before it gets to be bitter cold outside. This walkway is one of my favorites on Temple Square. It's a little sidewalk on the outskirts that is covered with lit trees. It's amazing to walk through and there are so many lights that if you look straight up it messes with my eyes - they start twitching!

I had to get a family photo on this walkway as well. I noticed that Alexandra isn't in a great picture-taking position. She didn't really understand why we were walking around in the cold until I tilted her chair back. As soon as she noticed that all those lights were above her she laid as still as a statue and just soaked it all in.

Gorgeous! The Salt Lake City temple! I love visiting this temple at this time of year because this is where Jeremy and I were married in December 1997. It brings back a lot of good memories.

This picture was supposed to be of the statues in the middle of this reflecting pool, but it ended up being of me. Thanks, Jeremy, for getting that great shot that I asked you to take!

Another beautiful view of the temple. It's AMAZING!

The last thing we did at our visit to Temple Square was to visit the Christus. I was hoping the kids would be able to listen to the little presentation the missionaries do each year for all the visitors, but for some reason the missionaries didn't do the whole presentation this year. There were a lot of people by the Christus and lots of noise. It was kind of a bummer for me, but I'm grateful we were able to get this shot really quick while we were up there.

This year's visit to Temple Square was really nice. The kids are getting older and are able to enjoy the places we bring them more. I loved watching them ooooh and aaaah at the church sites and all the beautiful lights. I hope they were able to feel the good spirit that is all around the temple and the other sites. I'm glad my sisters and their families could join us too!