A Trip to Temple Square

Yesterday Jack and I picked Eliza and Luke up from school at noon (early pick-up time every Friday) with sandwiches and other lunch components in the van and drove straight to SLC.  I'd been wanting to go to Temple Square before General Conference, so I told the kids we would make a quick trip under the guise of checking out the progress on the temple renovations.  It was a warm, sunny fall afternoon and an hour was the perfect amount of time to watch the construction crews at the temple, walk around, and take some pictures.  The kids were pretty good sports, too!

The kids were very ready to be done by the time we were walking
to the van, but were interested enough in this squirrel dextrously gathering
acorns that we stopped and watched for a few minutes before heading home.

It felt great to be back at Temple Square, a place I used to frequent 2-6 times a week but can now count on one hand the number of times I've been there in the last 6.5 months.

On the one hand, it was crazy to see how different Temple Square looks (mostly because of the construction but also because there were so few visitors).  On the other hand, the changes are just the beginning of the many projects that will be tackled in the next 3 years.  It's cool to be able to check in on it periodically.

And I really appreciated just being in that special place, walking around, admiring all the Pioneer craftsmanship and modern craftsmanship and beautiful landscaping, and feeling the spirit.  I feel so blessed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and felt like I was a bit more prepared for General Conference after making this little pilgrimage.