Temple Square Day

For awhile now, I have been wanting to just go and spend the day at Temple Square.  I have been there lots of times, but not usually with a lot of time to spare just enjoying all the things there are to see and learn.  When we dropped off Scott, I vowed that soon we would come back and just take our time there.  So on December 28th, my parents came with us and we did just that.  We went to both visitors' centers and watched a lot of videos (those visitors' centers are really interactive), we went in the old Tabernacle, we had a snack at the Nauvoo Cafe in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, we took a tour of the Conference Center, we ate dinner at the Lion House Pantry, and of course, we watched the Nativity presentation and saw all the beautiful lights. 

We parked under the Conference Center, so we started with a tour of said Conference Center

On one of the lower levels of the Conference Center

There are so many beautiful paintings there

Cool hanging star

Matt taking a picture of us in the mirrors across the balcony from that cool hanging star

Skylight with mirrors

On one of the upper levels of the Conference Center

Sculpture of the First Vision.  Hallie read the entire plaque for us!

The Hall of the Prophets

This is the section where they have portraits of all the Latter-Day Apostles, past and present.  Rob is related to Orson Pratt, so we got a picture by him.  Rob said "Do I look like him?" What do you think?

 After the Conference Center, we walked over to Temple Square

 First we went to the South Visitors' Center, which I had never been inside before.  It has lots of historical information on the initial establishment of the Church, the exodus to the West, and the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.  There is also a nice section where you can sit down and watch videos about the family and how to be better parents and live closer to Christ.  And I liked the section on the Family: a Proclamation to the World too.

The scale model of the Temple

Cross-section of the inside of the Temple

View of the Temple from the South Visitors' Center windows

 Next we went to the old Tabernacle.  General Conference used to be held in this building, which can only seat about 6,000 people.  The new Conference Center can seat 21,000 I believe.  This is another building I had never been inside.  It reminded me a lot of the old Provo Tabernacle before it burned down. 

Pretty Christmas decorations

Majestic old organ, pictured on the front of every LDS hymnbook

 After the Tabernacle, we went to the North Visitors' Center.

The Christus, my favorite part.

Kneeling at His feet.

 After the Christus, we went and watched a progressive series of videos documenting the story of one family, birth, life, choices, death, and the reality of the resurrection and the doctrine that families can be together forever.  That was probably my favorite part of the whole day--such a powerful video, it made all of us cry. 

This sculpture of Adam and Eve was at the beginning of a chronological set of paintings depicting the progression of stories in the Old Testament

In the basement of the North Visitors' Center, there is a big section on welfare, a section on prophets, and a section on missionary work and scriptures.  This display shows all the languages in which the Book of Mormon is published. Pretty amazing!

Then we walked over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for a little snack at the Nauvoo Cafe.

The Jerusalem tree.  It was literally transplanted from Jerusalem.  It is old and huge!

Yummy cookies and hot chocolate at the Nauvoo Cafe. 

Beautiful tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

 After the JSMB we went to the Church History Museum.  It was way cool--lots about the pioneers and the trek across the plains, and at the time they had a big display celebrating 100 years of Scouting

 After we came out of the Church History Museum, it was time for the lights to come on!  Everyone loves the lights--including me!!! It was really great to take pictures of the lights before it was fully dark.  That is a trick I will remember in years to come. You can actually see our faces in the pictures:

Jess the Photobomber

Beautiful temple!

That's the Jerusalem olive tree

Breathtaking

Then it was time for dinner at the Lion House.  This is always a favorite.  Can't go wrong with good home cookin'!

Mike and Lacey joined us at the Lion House

These lanterns were so cool!

Christmas lights are the best way to dress a leafless tree! Transforms it from ugly to beautiful.

Holiness to the Lord

Those spires just focus your mind straight up to God.

 Lastly, we watched the Nativity presentation and listened to the beautiful Mormon Tabernacle Choir music.  Although it was after Christmas, it was still a good reminder that we should keep Christ in our hearts all year long.  A perfect way to end a wonderful day!

Goodbye Temple Square!

It was a wonderful way to spend the day! The Doha Merkleys stayed with us until New Year's Eve, then they left to spend a little time with family in Utah before flying home across the sea.  We sure enjoyed having them with us!