gilbert temple

On Saturday we went to the groundbreaking service for the new Gilbert Temple.  I had never attended a groundbreaking before so I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was interesting, they shared a lot of history about the area, mainly the church growing in the area.  I can't remember all the numbers but what they basically said was that in the last fifty years LDS people have swarmed to the Mesa/Gilbert area like flies on trash.  I think they said that the Mesa Temple is now servicing 70 stakes and is inadequate for that number, the new Gilbert Temple will service 20 or so of those stakes.  One number I do remember was quoted later in the day by the Stake Primary President that we have 1121 primary age kids in our stake!  I couldn't believe the number was so high but we do have kids galore down here.

It was very warm at the groundbreaking and Travis got a nice red burn on the left side of his head, I was sweating buckets because I wore my "winter" clothes since it was November 13th.

The reason you don't see Nic in the above pictures- he couldn't tear himself away from Harry Potter for a photo shoot with the shovels.

Trying to keep Austin entertained- when he is "ssssssooooooo HHHHHOOOOTTTT & bbooorrriiinnnggg!!!"

 This is an artist rendition of the Temple that will be in 22 - 24 months.

I wanted to show this picture to show how many people were there.  I stuck my camera above my head backward and snapped this.  They had 5000 chairs set up and we were sitting like 3rd row to the back, I think.  All the people behind that were on lawn chairs, blankets or standing.  I would guess maybe 7500 people were there!

We are excited to watch the temple be built so close to us and will keep you updated on it's progress.