Technically, it isn't exactly in our neighborhood. The Denver Temple, which is located south of us in Highlands Ranch, has been here much longer than we have (since 1986). It is about a one hour drive from our home here in Westminster. The new Fort Collins temple is located to our north at about a one hour drive in the opposite direction. So, we didn't actually get a temple any closer to us. But, we happen to be within the boundaries of the Fort Collins Temple District. Therefore, our stake was asked to assist with many of the activities surrounding the opening of this temple.
The Public Open House began in the middle of August. They started recruiting volunteers for ushering, parking, cleaning, etc. way back in June. We signed up to do whatever we were available to do! We learned during our service at the temple that this was a huge undertaking and that those who were coordinating these events had an enormous responsibility. We were so happy to be able to contribute in any small way.
On the very first day of tours (which was actually the first day of VIP tours), I was able to go up with a group of usher volunteers. That day I was assigned to work on "shoe cover" duty, which meant I got to put plastic booties over people's shoes before they entered the temple for their tours. This was seriously the best assignment. We were just outside the temple, under the shade of a tent, sitting down for the whole four hours. Plus, I got a personally guided tour of the temple by the head of facilities! The artwork alone in this temple is just stunning. And each room is beautiful and well-crafted. I love everything about it!
Here is a link to the official photos of the exterior and interior of the Fort Collins temple: Click Here for Photos
Then, on the first day of public tours, we were able to go up again. This time we didn't get to go inside the temple, but we went to fulfill an assignment in the hospitality tent (this temple is too small for its own visitor's center). The hospitality tent was set up to provide a place for people to get a little more information after they finish the tour; it was staffed by a whole bunch of sister missionaries and had displays about the materials used in the temple, the process of construction, and our beliefs about the temple. They also had a photo booth. But most importantly, they had live music playing in the background for the entire month of public tours. And our very own Chase and Avery were asked to fulfill an assignment to provide some of that music by playing piano for a few hours one afternoon. It was a blustery and cool afternoon in August, and I was able to take all of our kiddos and hang out in that beautiful place until Chase and Avery were done with their shift.
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| Chase playing piano at the Fort Collins Colorado Temple Open House hospitality tent on August 19, 2016. Incidentally, this is the picture that was flashed on the screen at the Cultural Celebration during the "All Things Bright and Beautiful" slideshow! |
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| Avery playing piano at the Fort Collins Colorado Temple Open House on August 19, 2016 |
One funny side note about that day...we had actually been at the Denver Temple the week before (we took the boys to do baptisms on the day we had been down south for Nate's swearing in to the Utah bar). While we were in the Denver Temple Visitor's Center, we noticed with some alarm that the Christus that usually stands in there was GONE! It was a mystery to us! However, when we went up to Fort Collins to the hospitality tent, we found it there as part of the displays. Hooray! It must have been on loan for the temporary period of the Open House.
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| Mystery solved! We found the missing Christus on loan to the Fort Collins Temple Hospitality Tent! |
The next assignment we were able to fulfill was on the first Saturday of the public tours. I was able to take Chase with me for this one! At this time, the assignments for shoe covers were going to the youth, so Chase and a bunch of other cute kids were able to do that. Meanwhile, I fulfilled a role as an usher, first on the temple grounds for an hour and a half, followed by an assignment in the Celestial Room for 2 1/2 hours. And, I've got to be honest, it was HARD to stand in one place smiling and nodding and guiding people for that length of time without a break and without food. I was having a decidedly Telestial experience in the Celestial room by the end, when I started getting dizzy and super hungry! By the time we left I was completely exhausted! However, it was still a privilege to be there and to serve and welcome so many people to the temple.
We didn't get back for another week and a half, when we took a daytime field trip during school hours. I wanted my little ones to get a tour to see the inside and we chose a day when it wouldn't be too crowded. It worked out perfectly and I was almost overcome by the privilege of bringing all my babies back to "heaven" with me. I hope they always remember from these early experiences how special a place is the temple and that they will always point their lives to it in the way they live!
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| Photo booth picture taken during our field trip for the little ones to see the temple! |
Our next visit was during the final week of the public tours, when we were able to take the Goodspeed family with us for a tour. We met there on a Friday afternoon and showed them around, explained the general purpose of the temple and each room, and answered their questions about the church and the construction of the temple. It was great to share with them. They are a good family! And of course, whenever Andrew (their sweet son with Down Syndrome) is around it is always fun and interesting!
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| Photo booth picture taken with the Goodspeed family! Andrew refused to smile because he didn't want anyone to see his braces. Ha! |
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| But we sure got a smile out of Andrew here! What is it about a fountain that makes all kids happy? |
Finally, Nathan and Avery and I were able to go on the very last day of the Open House to serve as ushers (Avery worked as a "bootie" boy!). Based on my many previous visits, I knew the assignment that I wanted was to work from the video rooms in the church across the street from the temple, walking each tour group to the entrance of the temple. Being inside the temple is great, of course, but this assignment had a few benefits that I think made it easier. First of all, we got to sit in the video room while the sister missionaries showed a video to introduce visitors to the temple. It's a great video and I didn't mind one bit listening to it over and over! Then we got to walk the group over to the temple and drop them off at the entrance where they got their foot covers. So, there is both sitting and walking in that assignment, which to me was much preferable to standing still in one place for four straight hours Plus, Nate and I were serving in adjoining rooms, so we got to see each other often, and we got to see Avery when we dropped off our groups. So, that was the best assignment of all!
At that point, it was the middle of September, and the temple closed down for the next month to prepare for the dedication. But we weren't finished with the temple yet! Since the middle of July, Chase and Avery had been practicing with the youth to prepare for the big Cultural Celebration which was scheduled for the evening before the temple dedication. For this, they were attending 1-2 practices a week in a variety of locations and with different groups with whom they would be performing. This definitely took a lot of time and coordination, but the experience was such a great and meaningful one that in the end, every one of them felt that it was worth it!
The Cultural Celebration was held on Saturday, October 15th. After many practices, lots of changes, some serious chaos, and tons of faith, they finally got together with about 4,000 youth from all across the temple district to prepare for the final performance. Chase and Avery had to leave before 7am to go to the rehearsal that lasted all day until the show began at 7pm.
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| Leaving the house at dark thirty to spend the whole day rehearsing! |
The performance was held at Hughes Stadium at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Those of us at home had a full Saturday of yard work, soccer, and errands before heading up there. When we arrived at the stadium, the weather was just beautiful. The sun had gone down, the full moon was rising, and the excitement was intense! The boys said it was just like Christmas Eve! We got inside just as President Uchtdorf and Elder Renlund were coming out of the tunnel and getting to their seats. And seriously, it was the sweetest and cutest thing ever: those 4,000 youth erupted in cheers and waved to them like they were the biggest rock stars in the world! You could just feel the love of these youth who were so excited to be performing for these representatives of Jesus Christ. It was so touching and utterly adorable!
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| This was the opening scene! I spy Avery Merrill, that cute kid in the back! Actually, you can see Avery in this picture if you know where to look. He is the very last person in the column that comes back to the lower left corner of the fortress platform. Can you see him? Chase is somewhere up farther in the same column, with a blue scarf. He's the tall one...see? Ha! |
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| This dance was done by another stake, but it shows the early settlers and soldiers in Colorado, and the fort walls up and complete. |
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| A larger view of the whole stadium. I think this picture was taken during the "Helping Hands" dance. |
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| Throughout the show, the pieces of the fort were moved around to create a replica of the Fort Collins Temple. That's why the show was sometimes called "Fort to Temple." |
And then, the performance itself began and was just outstanding. The theme song was powerful and the dances were awesome. I was amazed and excited that my boys were part of that group! It was so hard to spot them, though! At first we could see Avery pretty easily because he was on the very back of his column (and texted us to tell us where to find him). It was harder to pick out Chase because he was in the middle. But he's so tall that I did manage to catch a glimpse of him in the crowd a few times. And one time Chase was up on the big screen! Someone had asked us to send in pictures of the youth doing things to develop their talents for a slideshow that would play during the "All Things Bright and Beautiful" segment of the show. I sent in a couple of them, and they included a picture of Chase playing piano in the hospitality tent (see photo above)! Ha! That was so cool!
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| This is Trey at the Cultural Celebration while we were seated in the stands. Cute little munchkin! He was so excited to look for his brothers there! |
We all came home that night after a crazy day (and after we spent a good 20 minutes trying to find them after it was over) and the boys were pretty worn out and just wanted to rest in the car. But after a good night's sleep, the next day we got to hear more about it. They had just the greatest time and both felt like it was one of the best things they had ever done. Avery kept wishing they could do it all again! They learned a lot and had a great time with friends. But most importantly, they increased their faith and their love for the temple and felt the Spirit so strongly. It was SO great!
Finally, we were blessed to participate in the temple dedication itself. Actually, our Trey was too little to attend because you have to be a baptized member to get a special recommend for the dedication.
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| Here is Courtney showing us her very first temple recommend! She was able to get one to attend the dedication in the Stake Center. She is also showing us her white handkerchief on which she embroidered a monogram for this special occasion. Courtney (with a little bit of my help) actually embroidered monograms for each of us in the family who were going to attend the dedication. Such a sweet keepsake for all of us and a fun way for her to serve! |
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| Here she is showing us the results of her first embroidery project! You can't tell from the smile on her face, but she was actually not feeling very well. I'm so glad she was able to make it to the dedication that day! |
There were three sessions throughout the day. Nate was able to take the three oldest kids to the early morning session at the stake center. Our Coco had been showing some symptoms of getting pretty sick over the previous day, so I was really concerned that she might not be well enough to go. However, she woke up cheerful and excited and got ready very quickly. Fortunately, her illness held off just long enough that she could participate...because after all that she was miserable for the next several days! But, they all got to hear the wonderful talks, see the cornerstone ceremony, join in the beautiful dedication prayer, and participate in the hosanna shout. Such a great and rare privilege for these young kids!
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| The cornerstone that President Uchtdorf "ceremonially" surrounded with mortar. I didn't see this part, but the kids tell me that President Uchtdorf was really funny during this process...that he spilled some on the ground and told them all not to worry but that the professionals would be coming to fix it later, etc. |
Here is the text of the dedicatory prayer offered by President Uchtdorf: Click Here
Finally, sometimes you get blessings that you don't even ask for or expect, and this was one of those things for us. A few days before the dedication, our Bishop had called to tell us that he had ended up with two extra tickets to one of the dedication sessions inside the temple itself, and that he wanted to offer them to me and Nate. Nate took the call and asked me, "Do you want to go?" Ummmmmm...what??? Heck, yeah! So, after the morning session ended, Nate rushed home with the kids to pick me up and we headed up to Fort Collins one more time.
We were seated in the large sealing room right on the front row. Because of the tight schedule and the fact that we had to rush up there after the morning, we were the last ones in the room before it was filled. My heart rate was just coming down from all the rushing when the prelude video ended and...who should walk in the door but President Uchtdorf and Elder Renlund and their wives?! We were so close to them, they nearly stepped on our toes! Ha! They had come in to greet the congregation and smile and welcome everyone. It was awesome to finally "meet" someone we feel we have known and loved for a long time.
Incidentally, the night before, just before the Cultural Celebration started, Avery had texted us something goofy like, "I have trouble imagining Uchtdorf's lower body." What he meant was that he had only ever seen President Uchtdorf behind a podium and it was strange to finally see him live and in person. But, after meeting him up close and personally, I can assure Avery that President Uchtdorf's lower body is exactly as normal as it should be. Ha!
Anyway, after that the dedication ceremony began. The talks were great and the prayer was lovely. The choir was really amazing, and so small! The video feed from the Celestial Room into the sealing room where we were seated was interrupted twice because of technical difficulties, so we missed the instructions about the hosanna shout and almost missed joining in. But fortunately, with the door to the sealing room open we could hear enough to know when it started. We also missed almost the entire closing prayer, but when people started moving in the other rooms, we all knew it was time to say "amen." It was a sacred experience, carried out in a mortal world that has flawed humans and technology, so even with the bumps and stumbles we enjoyed the spirit of it very much.
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| Nate and I following the temple dedication. It was super windy that day! But so special and fun to be there. |
So, now we have a new, dedicated temple to attend! And we made our first visit for ordinances as soon as we possibly could, taking Chase and Avery to do baptisms on the first Thursday of the open baptistry. We are completely in love with our temple and are so humbled and grateful that we got to be a part of the 153rd temple on earth today. It is, besides our home, our most holy place to be and to connect with the heaven that we long for so deeply. We are so, so, so, so thankful!
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| The first trip to the temple for Open Baptistry! Thanks for the bunny ears, Avery. Ha! |
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| These two cuties waited outside with me while the boys did baptisms. |
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| Cutest crew! |
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| I mean..for real! These kids are adorable! And we love to see the Temple! |
