I love to see the Temple!

On our way home from Logan, we stopped to explore Temple Square.  It was so, so awesome.  The flowers on the grounds are so beautiful. I couldn't get over it (ask Kim, she heard me talk about them, a lot.  Her response "I always think the summer flowers aren't as pretty as spring." She's spoiled)   The temple was closed for AC repairs so we couldn't get close, but we did see the windows open, which was cool. 

We loved the south visitor's center. If you haven't been in a while you should go. Remember how it was always the "lame" visitor's center with not much to look at? It now has great exhibits all about the temple- how it was built, old furniture and examples of the awesome workmanship (wood carving, metal work, etc).  It also has a cool exhibit showing pictures of the inside rooms of the temple and explanations for each. Really neat and takes away some of the "secret mysteriousness" of the temple.

Then it was off to the Church History museum. The kids got to see the kind of space and ship their ancestors would have taken from Liverpool to the US.  It was also the Int'l Art exhibit with all kinds of beautiful (and some less beautiful) religious art. 

Then we explored the new children's BOM exhibit. It was by far the kids favorite.  

They got to take a trip on Lehi and Nephi's trip (Birdy did NOT tie her sister to the mast, however).

EJ checked out some plates and tried her hand at abridging.  Not pictured: Birdy, who wouldn't get off the boat for about 45 min.

There were all kinds of wooden dolls to dress up and use to tell scripture stories. Here, Bear and Dad play "when Jesus was born".

They have a special exhibit all about Latin cultures, complete with dress ups and dance instructions, which leads to this moderately embarrassing video:

C'mon. You can't tell me that if you had a chance to wear one of those awesome swirly skirts and swing them around, you wouldn't take it, too.

The skirt and "crown" were definitely Birdy's other favorite part. She wore the skirt until the last second, and walked around carrying it high up in front of her. If anyone knows how to sew, I will commission a Christmas present from you!

We visited the Tabernacle. 

 Then we rushed over to the beehive house because we were afraid we'd miss the tour. Out of all the beautiful flowers at Temple Square, the Beehive House is always my favorite. I want to have a flower garden just like this some day...

The tour was great and there were a lot of little kids, so it was very age-appropriate.  Trust Bear to find a choo choo everywhere we go (if you look closely you can see it carved into the post...)   Sadly, it started POURING while we were in the beehive house so we had to cut our visit short.  It was a very soggy walk back to the car! 

It's OK, though. Just like bacon, cheese fries make everything better! I can't remember the name of this burger place, but it is by Litza's Pizza.  Best cheese fries EVER.