Draper Temple Open House

On our spontaneous getaway this past weekend we were able to attend the Draper Temple Open House in Draper, UT. When we got the invitation to go we weren't real sure it was going to happen. I'm doing better with the morning sickness (most of the time) but seem to have an almost constant headache. Usually it's just a dull ache that is tolerable and really not a big deal, but last Friday night it felt like someone was repeatedly hitting my head with a small rubber ball. I was in so much pain I wanted to cry, but knew that crying only makes a headache worse, so I gulped some water, a 500 mg Tylenol, wrapped up in some warm blankets and went to bed.


Fortunately, I woke up the next morning with more of the dull ache. It was still there but not so bad that I couldn't even function. We got up, got dressed, ate a little and then hopped in the frosty cold jeep and started out for the "blue parking lot". There was such limited parking up at the temple that they had everyone register, receive a parking lot assignment, and take a shuttle up to the temple. We finally found the correct parking lot (after a small detour into a different church building's lot... they're everywhere down there!) we made our way inside. AJ's sister and her family were waiting for us. We watched a quick video and then all loaded on the shuttles. My niece and nephews were so cute, and that was probably their favorite part of the whole day. The temple is located on a hill over looking the valley below. There are houses just right across the street, these people almost literally have a temple in their backyards. How cool would that be?


We got to the temple and were pleasantly surprised that we were able to pretty much just walk right on in. We didn't even have to stop to put those annoying booty things over our shoes, they had the carpet protected with thick plastic runners. It was such a beautiful temple with a lot of really pretty woodwork and gorgeous artwork on the walls. My favorite part was the bride's dressing room, not really sure why. Although I always enjoy the sealing rooms and the Celestial Room of course. AJ's was the Celestial Room and he waited somewhat impatiently for us to get to that part of the tour. It was neat to be able to walk around that room with him. It was a more extensive tour than some of the others I've been on and it was neat to see a bit more of the things you usually only get a glimpse of. It was a great experience and even in an un-dedicated temple the Spirit was really strong. The perfect way to start the day.




If you have the chance and are interested, I would absolutely recommend attending this open house. Here's some more info:

Tours of the new Draper Utah Temple will be offered from 15 January through 14 March 2009. These tours will be available on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Open house organizers request that advance reservations be made online at www.lds.org/reservations (maximum of 10 reservations) or by calling 1-800-537-6181 or 801-240-7932. Group reservations can also be accommodated by calling these numbers. (This will get you a parking lot assignment.)

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 20-22 March 2009, the Draper Utah Temple will be formally dedicated. Latter-day Saints in the area served by the new temple will attend 12 dedicatory sessions.

After its dedication, the temple will serve approximately 60,000 members of the Church in Draper and surrounding communities. It will become the 129th Latter-day Saint temple worldwide and the 12th temple in Utah.