We spent the weekend with Kaisha & Boi in Phoenix for the Gilbert temple open house. The weather was just gorgeous and we had a nice relaxing time! We booked two rooms at the timeshare and Kaish stayed with us as well. We got up early on Saturday and got ready, picked up Kerianne's nonmember friends Brooke & Maddie, and made our way out to Gilbert. We got a great parking space right up front. The line wrapped from the new stake center out around the parking lot! We waited about an hour and then made it into the stake center to watch a video presentation. Then it was a short wait out in another line towards the temple. They had volunteers helping as ushers, tour guides, cleaning crew, and even to help put on your booties!
I cannot even begin to describe the interior of this temple, other than.... gorgeous! It was unbelievable. The dark wood, the cream colored marble floors, the shades of green and mint, the stained glass windows. You can see fossils in the marble. The baptistery was amazing. And the Celestial Room was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Oh boy... the chandelier!! When you first walk in there's a small chandelier and you think "wow!" But then you turn the corner and come into the room and there's the biggest, most beautiful crystal chandelier in the center of the room. You could hear people gasping! It was the most amazing thing to be standing in that room as a family - not just John & I... but with our children. I certainly felt the spirit and became teary-eyed.
In all we got to see the entrance, baptistery, a dressing room, the chapel, a session room, the waiting room for the sealing rooms, a sealing room, and the Celestial Room.
Kerianne with her sweet friends, Brooke & Maddie
Families are Forever!
We're so grateful that we were able to go through the temple, after being able to watch it be built the last couple years.
After the open house, we enjoyed lunch at Joe's Farm Grill and then drove past our home in Mesa. We were disappointed to see dead grass in the front yard. Oh well! Then we took the girls home and went back to the timeshare where the kids swam. Kerianne met up with Emily to go prom dress shopping and hang out with friends. We just relaxed and had dinner from Fresh & Easy. On Sunday we slept in a bit and I made breakfast (our tradition!). We packed up and checked out at 11am and said our goodbyes to Kaish & Boi. We were sad to leave them. We had a good time - even having to sneak the dogs in/out like babies wrapped in blankets to drive them off the property to potty! The things we do for these babies!
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