Yet again, the Browns escaped on a very short, last-minute getaway. I wonder what it looks like from the outside -- jetting away to San Diego one weekend, and then Arizona 2 weeks later. Just because we want to.
Well, two things have been making these spontaneous trips possible -- hotel points & some freedom in Scott's schedule. And the fact that the kids were out of school. So we're going to take advantage of it as much as possible! Because once school sets in, we aren't going anywhere. :)
This trip to Scottsdale was great because our rooms included a full kitchen. We brought a bunch of food with us -- breakfast foods, PB&J for lunch, and hot dogs for dinner -- and we only went out for one meal. With the hotel covered by points, food mostly taken care of, and all free activities it made for a very low-impact vacation.
Because we rolled into town on a Sunday afternoon we decided that temple hopping would be a great family activity on the Sabbath. There are 3 temples in the Phoenix valley now and two of them are very new. How great that we could drive around in one afternoon and see 3 temples!
First we checked out the Gilbert temple which I have seen so much in pictures from bloggers & instagram friends who live the area. It is beautiful!
(the poor temple was missing the "R" in Lord - that made us sad. I'm sure they will fix it very soon.)
Next up . . . the Mesa temple. My brother was married here 10 years ago and we came to his wedding with a 3 year old Conner and 1 year old Payton. What a fun day. Compared to other LDS temples, the Mesa temple is very unique in it's design. The box structure reminds me of what ancient temples may have looked like. I think it is very cool.
It was a crazy hot afternoon, so after walking around the temple we found refuge and air conditioning inside the Visitors' Center. Ahhh. I love it when they have all the translations of the Book of Mormon on display -- so many different languages! It's always fun to find the Vietnamese translation -- Scott served his mission in Melbourne Australia among the Vietnamese people.
And lastly we made our way north to the brand new Phoenix temple. It isn't even open yet - the open house is scheduled for October - so we couldn't get super close. I took all of these photos through a gate. But boy, oh boy, it is beautiful! I especially loved the brilliant blue & gold stained glass. And the sharp spires on every corner.
Absolutely gorgeous!
The temple hop has become a family tradition. We've done it a couple times in Utah -- managing to visit 5 temples in one day. Which is pretty awesome. After we left the Mesa temple visitor's center Scott asked the kids, "why do you think we always do this? . . . .Trying to visit temples whenever we go some place new?"
Our answer: We want them to know how important temples are and that we hope they always make good choices in their lives so they are worthy to go to the temple when the time comes. Also, the work that we do inside the temple (sealings & ordinances) is what enables us to be a forever family. We kinda like each other so keeping our family together forever is on the good list.
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There are 143 operating temples around the world.
Anyone can visit the temple grounds and they are always so so beautiful!
Find a temple HERE.
a few FAQ's about temples HERE
