The House of the Lord

"Holiness to the Lord- The House of the Lord"

We believe our temples are the literal houses of the Lord on the earth and we feel it a great privilege and blessing to receive the sacred ordinances there and to serve those who have passed on that did not have the opportunity during their lifetime to receive such ordinances.  Leonard and I try to serve in the temple often and we try to visit new temples whenever we travel.  This summer we were able to visit SIXTEEN temples!!  Which brought our total up to 38 temples we've served in together (we don't count temples we've only seen in that number).  Our original goal was to visit a new temple each year for our anniversary (we're above 17); now our goal is to visit a new temple each year for our birthdays (in October we reached our age with 39 and we're hoping to make it to 40 before the end of the year!).  There were 16 temples before we were born and 49 before we were married.  There are now 144 operating temples with another 26 under construction or announced, so soon the total will be 170!   It is so wonderful that there are so many temples throughout the world for all the Saints to have easier access to.  However, I think we need to modify our goal again to be able to serve in each of them in our lifetime- we've got to get moving!

 

Our first stop was to the Toronto temple in Ontario to see our beautiful friends, the Martin's sealed together as a family.  One of my most happy times in the temple!

It was a joy to serve in the rebuilt Nauvoo temple in Illinois.

While driving though Billings, Montana we drove by the temple.  Our temples are closed on Sundays and Mondays, but we were happy to see it.

Leonard was able to baptize Kaleb and Noé in the Cardston temple in Alberta with his brothers and their kids.  Another most happy memory for my kids to serve with their cousins!

We drove through Rexburg on a day the temple was closed, but we were so glad to be able to walk around the beautiful grounds and see all the cute BYU-Idaho students visiting at the same time.

While we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Green-eyes, Len was able to take Kaleb and Noé to do proxy baptisms again.  I took the little ones around the pretty grounds too.

When we were first married and lived in Utah we were able to serve in all 10 temples that were there at the time.  There are now 4 more and 3 under construction.  On this trip we were able to serve in the 4 new ones.  On a Friday night we served in Brigham City.

Saturday morning we served in Draper.

On Sunday we met my sister and her husband at Temple Square in Salt Lake.

(Monday the temples are closed and it was my birthday, so we took a break from our temple tour.)  Tuesday morning we served in Oquirrh Mountain.

Tuesday afternoon we took all the kiddos up to Ogden for the open house after its renovation.

Wednesday, Len took Kaleb and Noé to do proxy baptisms in the Provo temple- the busiest temple on earth!

While we were visiting Gramma and Grampa Blue-eyes, we were able to go to the Las Vegas temple 3 times.  Len and I went on a date there, we went on a double-date with my other sister and her husband, and Len was able to take Kaleb and Noé to do baptisms again.

On our journey back home we swung back up to southeastern Utah to serve in Monticello (the first "mini" temple).

While visiting the sites in Independence, Missouri we also drove by the temple in Kansas City, but it was a Monday, so it was closed.

The last temple stop on our trip, we were able to serve in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

*I am so grateful for the blessings of the temple and would encourage anyone reading this to visit a temple soon!