Gila Valley Temple Open House

madison absolutely LOVES the temple.  she wants to get married there one day, one of her favorite primary songs is I Love to See the Temple and she used to say, "bryce (one of her friends) is going to take me to the temple and put a ring on my finger." because of this, we made a last minute decision to drive 2 1/2 hours to pima, az and attend the gila valley temple open house a few days before it was dedicated last spring.  i know madison might not remember much of the trip as she gets older but we wanted to give her the chance to see the inside of a temple since the opportunity doesn't come very often.

stephanie and robert, dan's sister and her husband, happened to be going down the same day and we met up in the parking lot to walk through the temple together. she blogged about it here, in a much more timely fashion.  it was fun to be there with them and we needed their help to keep our girls under control (i think the perfect ratio of adults to children is 2:1). thank you for your help and for the pictures!

at the end of the tour we were all gathered in a sealing room with a few quiet minutes to think. i was by the door in case i needed to make a quick exit and grace was super fidgety so i turned out the door and shut it behind me. apparently at that same moment, madison left dan's lap across the room and came running towards me but i didn't see her since my back was turned. a total meltdown ensued and dan joined me in the hall with madison hugging his neck. i kind of chuckled - it wasn't being quite the experience i had hoped but sometimes thats just what life with kids is all about. thankfully, another guide saw our predicament and asked if we'd like to take madison in the neighboring sealing room. i was all over that! i took her from dan and carried her in.

all of a sudden, i felt the Spirit so strongly. i held my little girl and showed her where she will kneel one day with her "prince" in a temple of her choice. i showed her where we'd be sitting, as her family and friends. and then we looked into the mirrors. her and i. our reflections going on forever. i thought of all our ancestors, mine and dan's, who were sealed before us. i thought of the importance of the temple, the significance of the priesthood and the sealing power and how real it is to me, especially after everything i've experienced in life thus far. i thought of dan and i and how much i hope we will all be together as a family. forever. and lastly, i thought of madison all dressed in white in the temple one day. it was a sacred, sweet, humbling experience and i left with a greater love and appreciation for the temple.

after the tour we ate dinner at casa manana in safford and got ice cream cones at taylor freeze in pima. on our way out of town we stopped in ft. thomas and saw one of my very best friends, janae and her family, who happened to be visiting az for the temple open house as well. it had been WAY too long. it was so fun to see them and watch our kids laugh and play even for just a quick visit. it was such a great day and even though we pulled into the driveway late that night, exhausted and two girls asleep in the back seat we decided it was a much needed quick getaway and such a wonderful trip.