Gila Valley Temple Open House

We decided to make our visit to the Gila Valley Temple Open House a little vacation.  Friday morning May 7th we drove to the Gila Valley, about 150 miles southeast from Mesa.  The temple is just outside the cities of Safford and Thatcher.  It was supposed to take three hours, but because of accidents and construction, it took us four hours. That meant lots of extra singing in the car, especially "I Love to See the Temple" and "Trucks, Tractors & Forklifts."  The boys were so excited to see angel Moroni ("angel Ni-ni").  They did well during the tour, although David didn't like the foot booties and wanted to take them off the whole time, and Spencer didn't like being held in Steve's arms.  They liked the big mirrors in the sealing room and the baptismal font.  We all enjoyed the cookies and water afterwards.  The Gila Valley Temple is beautiful, and we feel blessed to be able to take our family to the Open House.  There is always a special feeling when you are inside the temple, especially with your family.

We didn't take this photo, but this is what the surrounding area looks like.  Find more photos here.

After the Open House we went to a children's production of Jungle Book at Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher.  It was hilarious!!  Over 100 children from ages 3 to 12 performed Jungle Book.  David and Spencer were mesmerized, and Steve and I couldn't stop laughing.  The costumes were home-made and eclectic, and the 3-year old singing bumblebees were our favorites.  Definitely a highlight of the trip.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and went swimming in the pool.  David and Spencer loved pretending to be fish in the pool.  We then drove to Graham Mountain Swift Trail and ate lunch at the Wet Canyon Picnic area.  It was 20 degrees cooler in the canyon and everyone loved playing in the nearby stream after lunch.  We love being in the mountains because it reminds us of the Rockies.  We had a great weekend and glad we made it into a little vacation.