Indianapolis Temple

One of the many things we were grateful for having had the chance to live in Indy was the new LDS temple that was being built there.  We were able to see a little bit of its construction and also be apart of the open house and cultural celebration.  It is a beautiful temple and although having lived in Utah I was able to go to a couple of open houses, I was never lived in the temple district of those new temples so we didn't have the chance to really participate in it.  There is a lot that goes into opening a temple and I have a new appreciation for all of the hard work and service that the members in the area gave.  There is a lot of moving parts to make it successful and the Indy members really stepped up.  Randy and I even signed up to help one Saturday with giving tours to visitors.  That was an amazing experience that we will never forget.

Before we volunteered, we decided to take the whole family on a tour so they could see it.  The older one's had been to the Draper and Oquirrh Mt. open houses but they don't remember all that well and so it was really neat to be able to take them to another one now that they are older.

After the open house was done and the open house clean up was complete, it was time for the cultural celebration and dedication.  The youth in the district got together and put on a performance that gave an idea of Indiana's past and culture.  McKenzie was able to participate and Morgan missed the cutoff by 10 days.  She was really sad to not be able to participate but she survived.  It was a really awesome experience.  The theme was "Gather to the Light" and the youth practiced all summer to put it together.  Our stake is in the orange shirts.  Kenz is in there somewhere in the middle of it, but I can't see her right now.

We were able to sit with some of our ward family.  These are our best buds the Durtschi's.  We were fast friends with them and tried to get together as much as we could.  It helped that most of our kids were the same age.  They are pretty much the coolest family ever.

More of "our" family.

Morgan a couple of girls from the ward.

The beginning of the performance.  Each stake stood in a different area of the field and slowly walked into the center singing the theme song.  

Our stakes individual number was to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Kenz is in a hot pink skirt to the left of the line on the bottom of the circle.

 Each stake did a different dance each one showing a different side of Indy.

 I was so proud of these kids.  They spent all day rehearsing in the blazing hot sun.  They did awesome!

 This is just the kids from our ward.

 One of the Durtschi boys.  Kenz became really good friends with him while we were there.

 The twins, Steph and Mal.

 The girls 

 It was totally worth the crowds and the heat to see these guys.  Wish we could do it again.

The next day was the temple dedication.  We were able to be apart of it by going to a ward building and watch by satellite.  Our Durtschi friends, because of their father being in the Stake Presidency, got tickets to go to the temple itself for the dedication.  While standing in line at the temple to get put into one of the rooms inside of the temple, someone came up to them and pulled them out of the line and gave them special tickets to be able to sit in the celestial room and where the actual dedication takes place. We were so excited to see them in the broadcast as the camera panned around the room.