Brave Mom

I was a brave mom and decided to take the kids downtown via trax to go to temple square. There was no school Thursday or Friday for UEA. I wanted to not be rushed so we could spend our time doing and looking at things. I wanted to do this during the summer but just ran out of time. We almost always go at Christmas time but it's always so crowded and there's not enough time to actually look at things, look at everything in the visitors center, touch the temple, any of that. Plus it's always freezing.

So I was brave! I took all three kids by myself on trax. Spent almost the whole day there. We left about 10 or 10:30 and got home about 4 or so. I'm just guessing here, because I really wasn't watching the time (fun huh!). I had Lexie in the Moby while we were on the train and my jogging stroller is super easy to pick up and carry, so that was great. Right when we got off, I knew she was tired so I put her in the stroller and she actually took a pretty decent nap!

We started on the temple grounds by the Assembly Hall. 

Then walked over to the tabernacle. It was closed right at that moment and we never made it back to go inside. I wish now that I would have done that... Then we went over to the North Visitors Center. We looked at everything - all the big pictures of Christ, read all the descriptions, the replica of Jerusalem. Then we went up to see the Christus. 

I didn't mean to, but Nora got a little scared by Jesus. She said she didn't like the marks in his hands. I was just trying to show her why it was so special but she was a little nervous about it...ha. Then we went to the basement and walked around all the stuff they had about the church's welfare system and watched a movie about it. Then saw the Books of Mormon in all the different languages. They have displays and statues for Bible prophets and Book of Mormon prophets and little video clips you can watch about them and about different scripture stories. The kids loved it. Nathan wanted to watch the one about the stripling warriors over and over again. 

We decided we were hungry so we walked through City Creek and went to The Cheesecake Factory. 

After our bellies were very full and we had 2 pieces of cheesecake to take home to share with Dad, we headed off to the grounds again. The kids touched the temple, spotted angel Moroni, walked up the steps, touched the door, walked around the temple, and saw a couple getting married. We headed over to the South Visitors Center and looked at the cool replica of the temple. Then we stretched our legs a little and played on the grass by the reflection pond and by the visitor center.  

After talking to some sister missionaries, we decided to head home. It was time. 

What a fun and exhausting day. I would totally do it again, too! The kids were good, I had fun, it was a great thing to do on a day off. And the weather was gorgeous. Perfect temperature, pretty flowers and leaves, and an awesome experience to remember.