A Post-Christmas Tale Of Two Temples

A holiday tradition our family has enjoyed doing for the last few years is taking an overnight trip to the Phoenix area. We stay in a hotel (or with a friend), and Nathan and I will do a session inside the LDS temple (until last year, the temple in Mesa was our one and only option in the area). Besides that, we will take the kids to see the Christmas lights and nativity display outside the Mesa temple; we'll have a family dinner at a nice restaurant; and we'll usually have one or two extra family activities planned.

This year, due to budget reasons, we scaled back our Phoenix trip somewhat. We decided not to do an overnighter. Instead, we left early in the morning and returned late in the evening. We also didn't eat out multiple times, and we scaled down the number of paid recreational activities. Even with this downsized day out, we still had an enjoyable, peaceful day together.

One new bonus of our Phoenix trip this holiday season was that we had multiple temples to choose from when planning our visit! In the last year, two new LDS temples were opened in the Phoenix area; we were lucky enough to attend both open houses (and attend both temple dedications via satellite in our local meetinghouse). Both temples were now "open for business," and I wanted to visit one of the new temples as a change of pace.

Luckily, I have a friend/former mission companion named Heidi who lives close to the Gilbert temple. She agreed to watch our kids for a couple of hours while we did some initiatories there. The Gilbert temple wasn't as decked out for Christmas as the Mesa temple always is...but they did have this cute little nativity on the temple grounds!

 

We are really lucky to to have friends willing to offer their services to us so that we can enjoy the blessings of the Lord's house. The visit had added meaning because it was on December 27, 2014...our thirteenth wedding anniversary!

It's always nice to visit the temple on our anniversary. It reminds me how fortunate I am to be married to a good, righteous man, and to have made covenants that will help me live with him forever, so long as I remain worthy and do my best to be Christ-like. Marrying Nathan was one of the best decisions I've made in my life, and I am so grateful for the happiness that decision has brought me.

After our visit to the Gilbert temple was finished, we decided to do something fun, to help the girls get their wiggles out. They were very well-behaved at Heidi's house, but they needed a chance to play! We spent a couple of hours at Makutu's Island, an indoor play area we've visited a few times. It had been closed for renovation for the last several months, but luckily it opened up in time for us to pay a visit.

The girls ran and played and ran and played and ran and played for about two hours inside Makutu's Island. In the meantime, Nathan and I got a lot of reading done! The kids were able to coax me inside one of the bigger slides, but for the most part I was happy to sit back and watch them play.

There were a couple of new additions to the amusement center, including a bungee-cord jumper and a short zip line, which the kids used over and over and over again.

After they all struck their requisite poses with the animal sculptures (and got photo-bombed by Daddy a few times), it was time to collect our shoes and head for the exit. It was dinnertime! We ate dinner (as we so often do) at Rudy's BBQ, a delicious Texas-style BBQ joint in Chandler. It never fails to disappoint.

Once our bellies were full, it was time to go check out the lights at the Mesa Temple...our second temple of the day!

 

Even though we always see these lights after Christmas is over, they never fail to get me back into the "Christmas spirit." The light displays are tastefully done, and the music and words piped through the gardens is inspiring.

 I especially love the statue of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, which rests just above a reflecting pool:

It's simple, yet powerful. I am so grateful for the birth of our Savior, and grateful for the hope that gives to all mankind.

After checking out the lights outside, the girls wanted to go inside the visitor's center, and take a look at the large marble Christus statue. It's one of their favorite parts of visiting the temple! There was a large crowd in the visitor's center that night, so we had to wait to see it for a few minutes.

The girls sometimes have a hard time waiting.

After enjoying the lights, we piled into the car and pulled onto the freeway, headed home. It was a long drive late in the evening, but we were overall very satisfied with our trip. We might head up to Phoenix again for a mini-trip during Spring Break; we'll see. But we were very grateful for the chance to visit two temples and have fun as a family. There was still more fun ahead for the rest of the holiday break!