It has actually been a pretty eventful week. My dear friend Krysta turned 26 on Tuesday March 3rd. We went to IKEA, and had a party, but I was so busy that I didn’t take any pictures! I am so sad. We went together to the Draper Utah open house together too, the following Thursday, which was a delight! I thought about a year ago when we had just attended the open house to the Rexburg temple and had volunteered at that open house. Being involved there was an experience that I will never forget so as we drove to Draper that evening my mind was in Rexburg.

The temple is on a hillside right around the point of the mountain. Before entering the temple we drove to a chapel where we watched a video and got on a shuttle that took us there. I was unsure about when I could take pictures, it was dark, and so I didn’t really get any of my own. The following are all from the Internet.

Just like in Rexburg we got out and walked down a long tented tunnel with hot air blowing into it. The tour was a silent tour, this time though. The did this so that they could accommodate the large number of guests that would visit the temple there.

The first stop was the baptistery. Zac was excited to come to visit the Draper temple because a year and a half or so ago he had actually worked building the temple. As we entered the room he was delighted. He poured the concrete in the room and all around where the oxen are.
I was surprised how art deco the whole temple was. The flours in this room reminded me of New York in the 1920’s.

Check out the windows, super Art Deco, right?

We walked up a set of stairs and found ourselves in the dressing rooms. This is the Bridal room. It reminds me of early 90’s Mary Ashely…like…American Girl. Very different than San Diego.

Up another set of stairs and we were in the ordinance rooms. Two were painted. The picture below is of one of them. I actually liked the other better. It was of a forest in Autumn, when the leaves have turned golden yellow. It was beautiful. It was weird being in these rooms with so many people. Especially with little children. The kids were crying and yelling, and climbing on the alters. (No fault to their parents, it was a long tour.)
In this room little Karen ran between the chairs in the back row on the left, she just wanted to stretch her legs.

Beautiful, reminded me of Rexburg a little.

Then to the Celestial room:

Karl estimated that it was about four stories high. With a vaulted ceiling.

You can see that same Art Deco pattern here as was in the baptistery.

The group walked up another set of stairs into the sealing rooms.

They actually had us all sit down as a couple told us about the sealing ordinance. This is the largest sealing room in the church.

As we listened to the couple speak, Karl, me, Zac and Krysta, sat on the chairs on the wall to the far right. Karen was going NUTS by this point so she walked around near the alter in the middle of the room. She came back to us then tripped and fell. She began to cry so Krysta quickly scooped her up and took her out of the room. The woman speaking smiled and said,”we don’t usually see little children in here,” and continued with her speech. As we left the room the women said, “make sure she knows little ones have a place in heaven.” It was…cute.

Down, down, down stairs and out the front doors now.

The front entry continued that same art theme, you see?

Poor Karen was just ready to go home. Zac was satisfied. He had checked out all the finish work and said it was quite impressive.

It was a fun all right. It is the 129th temple built. The 12th in Utah, the 3/4th in the Salt Lake Valley. There is one more being built, I don’t remember where, near the Jordon River one, I think.