Temple Square

I had hoped that all the kids would sleep in after our late night. All the kids did sleep in till 10:00 - all except this little one....

Kate was up bright and early at 7:30.  I really would have appreciated a little bit more sleep that morning.

By the time the rest of the family was up and ready for the day, Kate was crashing.  I had taken her into the empty condo to feed her a bottle, and she had fallen fast asleep in my arms.  She got about a half hour nap in my arms before I had to wake her to head out for our sightseeing.  Poor little thing.

We drove to Salt Lake, with Temple Square on our agenda for that day.  We parked at the City Creek Mall (right next to Temple Square), and walked through the mall for a few minutes.  The kids loved the pond stocked with fish in the middle of the mall.

We walked over to Temple Square and started our tour in the South Visitor's Center.

Savannah looked up our ancestors.

This sums up Owen and Kate's opinion of the Visitor's Center.

We had such a fun time all over Temple Square, spotting the flags on all of the sister missionary's name tags.  We met Sisters from all over the world.

Our next stop was at the Assembly Hall.  Kate was fussy, so I offered to stay outside with her, while Scott took the others in (so no pictures).  While he was in there, Sara made Owen cry, so he brought Owen out to me, and I push him and Kate around in the stroller.

Then over to the tabernacle.  Again, I stayed outside with the unruly kids.

After the tabernacle, I tried to get some pictures of the kids in front of the temple (they are teeny tiny at the base of the flag pole).  Kate was so happy to be out of the stroller, and just ran around and around and around.

Next we headed in to the North Visitor's Center.

We went up to see the big statue of Christ, then we said goodbye to Scott and Savannah.  As soon as Savannah heard we were going to Salt Lake, her first question was, "Do you think I'd be able to do baptisms in the temple?"  I figured the Salt Lake Temple would be a busy one, so I called to see if I could set up an appointment.  They said as long as it was just her, she could drop in any time (only groups need appointments).  She got some family names from Grandma Jo to bring, and she and Scott packed their recommends and church clothes.  After seeing the Christus, they went back to the van to change and then go do baptisms, and I kept the other 6 kids to entertain by wandering around the Visitor's Center.  

We explored the basement and saw all the paintings of the prophets of the Book of Mormon.  We watched the movie "Family of God".  It's a fun series of films that has you move from one room to the next, and a cute pair of sister missionaries guided just our family through it. 

Even though the sign says NOT to let your kids play on the escalator, I let them go once.

We tried to go over to the church museum, but it was closed for a year for remodeling.  On our way there, we saw a homeless man outside the gates.  I had a package of chocolate chip cookies out, handing them out to my kids as we walked.  My sweet kids took a cookie over and handed it to the man.  Right about then I got a text from Scott saying they were done, so we met them on the steps of the conference center.

Every time we got Kate out of the stroller for a picture, she took advantage of running and climbing before being strapped back in. 

We had a guided tour of the conference center.

A sweet moment when I caught these two boys holding hands.

Kate fell asleep for 30 minutes.  It was like 5 in the afternoon, and it was her only nap the entire time we were out that day. 

The kids loved getting to go out on the roof of the conference center.

Next we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (the old Hotel Utah).  We took the kids to the top floor to show them the view.

Kate loved the fountain up there, and wanted to play in it, but I kept her dry.

By this time, it was getting late and we were all starving and tired.  We walked back to the City Creek Mall, thinking we'd get something to eat in the food court.  But at the last minute, we changed our minds and walked down to the Lion House and had dinner there.  The Lion House was one of Brigham Young's homes, and we figured it would leave a more lasting impression than some fast food joint in the mall.  It was cafeteria style food, and each kid got to pick what ever they wanted.  Josh and Sara proclaimed it the best restaurant ever!

Yes, Owen's dinner was just chocolate milk and chocolate cake!

Kate enjoyed feeding herself jello.

When we finished with dinner, we went next door for a tour of the Beehive House (another one of Brigham Young's homes).  Kate and Owen were uninterested, so Scott took the other kids in for a tour, while I stayed out with my two littles.  Both Owen and Kate loved climbing up and down the Beehive House stairs and running around on the sidewalk.  By this time of night, Kate was a dirty tired little mess.

After the Beehive House tour, we walked back to Temple Square, and sat in on a Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice.  Scott and I took turns out with Owen and Kate, while the other five wanted to listen to the choir.  I was in with the kids listening, when I decided it was time to go, and started gathering them.  A kind lady who was a row behind us, and who was a volunteer for Temple Square, leaned forward and tapped me on the shoulder, then whispered, "Your children have been wonderful and good.  They have been so reverent."  After the long day we'd had of visiting sacred places and having to behave, I was thrilled to hear that compliment.

We walked back through City Creek Mall to where we had parked.  The fountain was going in the middle of the mall, so we let the kids stop and watch.  It was choreographed to music and had fire mixed in with the water.  They were fascinated.

And then we loaded up in our giant van, and drove back to the condo in Pleasant Grove.  Kate and Owen fell asleep almost instantly and slept the whole 40 minute drive.  It was an exhausting day, but one full of memories.