Temple Square

While we were up north, we took advantage of our extra day (Sat, Aug 6) by going to Temple Square in Salt Lake City and seeing all of the sites there.

Here is our whole crew (minus Jess and Josh and my mom taking the picture). All of the grand kids wanted a picture by the fountain, okay they really just wanted to put their hands in the water but we snapped a picture before they got too wet.

The first place we stopped was the Church History Museum. We walked through the exhibits and learned a lot about the early pioneers and other early Saints. The favorite room of all (at least for the kids) was the kids room upstairs. Here they got to play with toys, build ancient cities with the big foam blocks, and dance like Latino Saints.

While walking through the Presidents of the Church exhibit I snapped a picture of Russell behind a replica of the Conference Center pulpit. Doesn't he look so stanch in his religious beliefs!

Just outside the Church History Museum was this cute little pioneer house. Around the house was a big vegetable garden. We were tempted to pick some of the vegetables but we figured that would be stealing so we didn't.

Next we headed across the street to Temple Square. We wandered around looking at all of the beautiful buildings, especially the awesome Salt Lake Temple. We walked through the South Visitors Center and got to see a model of the Salt Lake temple. The model had been sectioned out so that you could actually see what the temple looked like inside. It was pretty cool. Russell and I have been in the Salt Lake temple twice. Once to do a session, and once for a friend's sealing. The sessions at Salt Lake are live and they are amazing. Doing a live session helped me better understand the temple ordinances performed there. I highly recommend a live temple session. You can do one at either the Salt Lake or Manti temples.

After touring the visitor center, we headed up to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to see the Joseph Smith movie. The Church has changed this movie a little in the last few months. They added a little to the beginning, cut out a few parts, and the story is now told by Luck Mack Smith, Joseph's mom, instead of a convert. I like the changes; it is a great movie.

Everyone was hungry by the time the movie let out so some of us headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square for lunch. Emily was starving and she kept saying "Listen to my belly mom its saying 'Feed me food!'" She is a riot. The food there was pretty good but the restaurant could have used a few more lights! Anyway it hit the spot and after eating, we were back to being tourists. Our next stop was the Conference Center.

The Conference Center is amazing and they keep it under control in there. You have to be with a tour guide to walk any where in the building. We took the tour and were in awe of the size of the building. Russell and I attended General Conference together before we were married and it was amazing. The Conference Center room is so big they could fit two 747's in there. Also in the Conference Center are all the original Gospel Art paintings. The one above of the Savior coming to the Americas is the largest painting in the building. It took up a wall of its own. The next picture is looking down to the bottom floor from the top. The chandelier and fountain were beautiful. The conference center also homes the busts of each of the Latter-Day prophets as well as paintings or pictures of all of the Latter-Day apostles that have passed away. It was cool to see everything in this building. Once we had seen everything inside, we went out onto the roof.

These pictures were all taken on the roof of the Conference Center. What an amazing view we had from up there. You could see all of Temple Square. I love the family picture with the temple right behind us because it is through the blessings of the Temple that we can be a family together forever. I love that blessing!

This last picture of the black wall is really cool. Etched on the wall are faces of people of every origin and background. The wall says "And this Gospel shall be preached unto every nation, kindred, tongue and people." The reason I think it is cool is because when you look at this wall, you can see your own reflection in it. You can see your own face among the etched faces and it just makes you realize that we are all the same in God's eyes. We are all brothers and sisters in our heavenly family and we need to help each other get back to our Heavenly Father by sharing the gospel with those around us.

After a fun filled day of site seeing, we headed back to Lagoon and our trailers.

That night was our last night at the campground so we just relaxed and played cards with everyone. Emily found a new friend at the camp next to us and the two of them ran around collecting sticks until it was time for dinner. We played Phase 10 and ate a bunch of junk food and then hit the sack. A good time was had by one and all except Jacob who said he had four wilds and still couldn't lay down. It was a lot of fun.