Provo City Center Temple

At the end of January, we had the opportunity to go back up to Utah with Tom's parents to attend the open house of the Provo City Center Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a fun, quick weekend trip, and attending the open house was a wonderful, special, and spiritual experience.  I loved getting to see what became of the Provo Tabernacle after its interior was destroyed by fire 5 years ago.  I know I've read many places about the symbolism of the repurposing of the Tabernacle into a temple.  I feel like its such a beautiful example of what can happen in our lives - the Lord knows what He wants us to be and where we are to go.  Sometimes events in our lives leave us wondering what is going to happen (just as the fire in the Tabernacle left many wondering what would happen to that beautiful building).  Even if we can't see through our "fires" while we are in them, if we stay close to the Lord, He knows where we are to go, and He will lead us to something even more beautiful than we can imagine.

I tried getting Ian to take a nap before our tour, but was only semi-successful.  He ended up falling asleep part way through, and finally woke up once we were back outside again.

We went with Tom's Aunt Jennifer (his dad's sister), who took the pictures for us.  Jennifer helped paint the flowers on the murals in one of the endowment rooms, so it was neat hearing her talk about that experience.

The Christus in the gazebo by the temple.

I sure do love this sweet little family of mine.

The beautiful temple.  And it was a perfect day to go to the open house.  It was about 45 degrees and sunny.

We went around to the other side to take a few more pictures

My two sweet cuties

Ian checking out the beautiful door handles

This was a side door, and we thought it was interesting that there are so many hinges on the door

 The next day before we drove back home, we stopped by the Monte L. Bean museum (it was open this time, unlike when we were there in December).

Ann had a lot of fun running around and exploring

Ian decided it was pretty cool to try and stick his face in between these glass panes

Resting his head in a "water fowl" display room.  He was getting tired and hungry.

There is a small kids area there now, which included this cute little slide

After lunch we came back to BYU campus because Tom's parents wanted to look around the Museum of Art for a little bit.  I walked around outside with Ann and Ian.  They were thoroughly enthralled with this grate

This little girl is growing up so fast.  I can't believe she's almost 5 and will start kindergarten in the fall.

This little dude is also growing up quickly too.  It's fun to see him become more communicative and independent

Love these two so much!

This was back in Las Vegas the day after we got home.  I got this cute suit from my friend Stephanie back in Rochester at my baby shower when I was pregnant with Ian.  It fits him great now and he looks like a little stud every time he wears it.

And Ann is really just a goof :)