Temple Open House and Volunteering

I can hardly believe this time is here. It's finally time for our temple's open house. 
It's been so amazing to watch our temple be built and get to experience the excitement in our area. 
Tanner and Bailey were able to volunteer at the open house during the very first week, before the temple tours were even open to the public. They got to put booties on people before they entered the temple during the volunteer shift. At the very end of their shift, Elder Bednar came to the temple and Bailey put his booties over his shoes and then he took all the youth that were volunteering through the temple on a private tour. It was such a cool experience. I've never met an apostle, but my kids have now and I doubt they realize how special that experience truly was. 

On another day, Tucker and I got to meet up with his sweet little friend, Ivy and her mom Laura Rose. 
They met us at the temple and we toured it together. It was such a sweet experience. Laura and I have become good friends through Tucker and Ivy's friendship. We often meet up for lunch and we have talked about our religious beliefs more that once. She was so excited to see the temple and get to go inside. 

While we were touring the temple, we entered the celestial room. Laura loved this room so much and we said "I loved that heaven room . If I could I would just come and sit in there all the time."

It was cool to see her reverence and love for such a holy place. 

Tucker and I loved getting to take our friends through the temple for a tour. It was so cool.

Later that same week Laura and  I met my parents at the temple to tour it again. 
They had driven over with my old boss and sweet family friend, Susan Wallace. Her boyfriend came with her as well and we all toured the temple together. 

Again the spirit was able to testify of the sacredness of the temple and our group was able to talk about the holy work that happens in the temple and Susan was really curious about the baptisms for the temple. 

I love our temple so much. It's so gorgeous and I love the blue color scheme throughout the temple. 
There are also dogwood flowers engraved throughout the temple as a salute to our state. 

Here are some pictures from the online gallery- its such a beautiful temple. 

Here is the room that Laura called the "heaven room" and I really couldn't think of a better name for it. 

It's as close to heaven as possible and I love it. 

The blue is my favorite

I really love the dogwood flowers. 

The landscaping around the temple was also really pretty!

Then finally, today, we were able to attend the temple open house with our whole family. We took all our kids along with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Johnny and their kids, Aunt Laura, Aunt Julieta and her boys and Nanny and Papa. 
It was such a sweet experience to have all the grandkids together in the temple. 

I was surprised but thrilled that Julieta wanted to come. 
She later told Sarah and I that she misses going to church and it broke my heart. 

Here are Nanny and Papa with all their grandkids at the most sacred place on earth. 

I felt blessed to have my family together at the temple. 
When I image heaven, it feels an awful lot like this- my sweet family, close to our Heavenly Father and Savior  and together forever. 

These girls wore matching dresses and we didn't even plan it. 
They came out of their rooms wearing the exact same dress and we all cracked up. They are the cutest. 

After the temple we all went to get lunch and ice cream. 
It was such a nice day and I am so grateful for this time with my family!