It all started a couple of weeks ago when Abby came home from primary so excited because she had heard there was a new temple that "everyone can go inside!" After a temple is dedicated only those with a temple recommend can go in (all adult members who live worthy of our Church standards can have a recommend). When a new temple is built there is always an open-house before it's dedicated which provides a unique opportunity for anyone who wants to to go through it and learn about the temple.
The new temple Abby had heard about is about 3 hours North of here in Twin Falls. Brennan decided we should go for it. Rather than spend money on not sleeping in a cheap motel, we decided to just make a day trip out of it. A few days before we left I mentioned it to my parents and they jumped on board.
Yesterday we left about 8:00 am (I'm kind of impressed with myself for that) and met up with my parents who had to drive separately because we don't have room for them in our minivan. Each of our kids got to take a turn in their car which was pretty exciting for them. We drove straight through with a quick stop in Rupert, ID for snacks and directions. Around 11:30 we pulled up to a stunningly beautiful Twin Falls Temple. We got everyone changed into our church clothes and walked into a church right next to the temple. We waited for a few minutes in the chapel and then were ushered into a room for a short film about temples. Ben was noisy and disruptive and Nate a little, but the girls paid close attention to the film.
After the film we were able to go with a small group on our tour of the Temple. Both the exterior and interior are very simple and quite a bit smaller than the Bountiful Temple, but I thought it was so beautiful. One room had an amazing mural on the walls. My kids loved the Celestial room with the amazing chandelier and the sealing room and could feel how special it was.
When we finished our tour we went back to the church next door for cookies and water which is always a hit.
When we took pictures in front of the temple there were several men holding big signs about anti-mormon things. This is always such a disturbing thing. One man was literally yelling horrible things about Joseph Smith and telling us we're not Christians and "If you love you're children, you'll quit telling them lies!" My poor kids were kind of traumatized, especially Anna. She was furious. Brennan tried to ask them to please stop yelling in front of our kids which only made him get more aggressive. I get that we have some different beliefs and that some people think we're crazy and deluded, but even if that were true how can one possibly justify going to someone's most sacred place of worship and yelling mean, offensive things to them? It's just so disrespectful and mean-spirited.
Anyway, that was really the only negative of the day. It made me appreciate how little persecution and opposition we have to day compared to what our pioneer ancestors went through. The open-house reminded me how blessed we are to have Temples and Temple ordinances.
After all of that we had a quick lunch and then headed to Shoshone Falls which was really amazing! I know our pictures can't do it justice and neither can I, so you're just going to have to go there for yourself someday. The real highlight though was a little lake within the Shoshone Falls park area. When we walked up to this amazing little swimming hole it was like walking into several generations ago. It's fairly small with a beautiful grassy park above it and then surrounding docks with rocks to jump from off to one side and a little fenced off kiddie area to the other side. An old diving board that I'm pretty sure isn't up to code and life guards. It was the perfect little find (thanks to my Dad's savvy internet exploring). It was pure heaven and we played the rest of the day away there.
Around 5:00 we pulled ourselves away to go find some dinner. A wise waitress seated us in the most remote empty corner of the restaurant where we had a lively meal with some very happy and hyper children. We managed to get through all that fun and then got settled back in our cars for the drive home. Everyone was pretty wound up and for the first half of the drive there was a lot of wild laughter and singing and then finally one by one they fell asleep and we drove home in happy silence. It was just a perfect day. All the kids were on their best behavior and having Grandma and Grandpa along made it so special and fun for all of us. Ben was a trooper on the drive and 3 hours in the car actually flew by both times. Just a great adventure that I'll always be grateful we did it. Thanks to Abby for inspiring it and Brennan for making it happen!
11 comments:
Excellent write-up, Ange. I have nothing to add, except to underscore how neat the trip was, both the temple and the swimming hole. George Bailey and Ronald Reagan were both there at the swimming hole...just kidding, but it was as though you had stepped back into the 1890's. So, so much fun!!!
What an entertaining group we had that day. So much fun! BTW, who's that lady in the last picture with shoulders so white it looks like she's wearing a t-shirt under her swim suit?
Oh Ange, that sounds so perfect. I'm glad you wrote it up, I'm sorry we couldn'tbe there. I think we maybe went to Shoshone Falls years and years ago when we were little, but maybe not. I'm glad you had such a perfect day.
that's a really pretty temple. how cool and fun to go as a family!
That sounds so cool. I've always wanted to go to a temple open house. How neat that your kids were able to go. Shoshone Falls does look beautiful.
What a fun day! I don't remember Shoshone falls being that amazing. Has it been a really good water year or something? Wow! Impressive.
Wow what fun. I hope we can do fun stuff like that with our kids! I loved the pictures you took. What a neat day.
What a fun day. Next time we drive up that way we will have to stop at that cute water hole.
Wow! What a fabulous day! I am so jealous that you did such a fun fun fun thing together as a family! I need to get more info on that Shoshone Falls place and how cool your children were able to see the inside of a temple! They'll never forget that! Way to go!
that looks like good times.
Wow, what a fun day. The Hamilton's were just telling us about how beautiful that temple is - it's cool to see pictures. I think it's neat how your kids were dressed in white.
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