Salt Lake City Temple

Last night, February 23, one of my lifelong bucket list dreams came true--I got to go participate in an endowment session at the Salt Lake City Temple. It was an incredible experience.

Our NYC friend Matt, is in town this week, and he invited us to go to a session with him. We of course said yes. Not only would we get to see Matt, but go to the SLC Temple. Brian and I were both very excited for both of those reasons. 

Yesterday, Brian was able to get off work about 3:45, and I picked him up at his office. We drove to Salt Lake, which only takes about 35 minutes when traffic is light. We got there in no time, and parked in the City Creek Mall's underground parking. I'd brought some leftover homemade pizza for Brian to eat before we left the car, to ensure that his blood sugar would be okay until our late dinner. I had a late lunch before we left, so I was good to go. After he finished eating we made our way up to street level. 

It was a bit chilly out, but sunny. Temple square was as pretty and striking as usual despite the lack of leaves, green plants, and flowers. As we were crossing the street from the mall to the square, we spotted Matt on the other side. It was so great to see him, and we spent some time catching up.

We were there quite early for the 6 pm session, but it was really too cold to wait outside so we headed into the temple. It was nice to have the extra time after we were ready and while we were waiting for the session to begin to talk. Matt caught us up on the lives of all our friends from NYC, and we caught him up on our life here in Utah. 

Eventually the session began, and from there on I was amazed. The interior of the Salt Lake Temple is so beautiful and ornate. I tried to take in every detail of each room and hallway that we walked through. It was all so pretty, and there was definitely a special feeling the entire time we were in the building.

I loved the live session so much. It was such a great experience, and one I hope I'll get to have again. I want to say so much more about it, but I'll leave it at that. There is just so much history in that building and getting to be inside was such an honor for me. I loved every second of it, and was sad when it ended and we had to leave. 

But alas, we did have to go, and quickly. We were meeting Tom at The Garden Restaurant on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Building, and we were already late. I hadn't taken any pictures of the temple before our session when it was still light out, which now I wish I would have. As we were hurrying over to the JSB, I stopped to snap a couple quick shots. What a special place!

It was probably around 8:30 pm when we made it to the restaurant and found Tom. We enjoyed a nice dinner and good conversation. Again, I'm not always so good with the picture taking, and it wasn't until we were back in our car and heading home that I thought I should have gotten a picture of the four of us. Oh well, I'm sure there will be a next time.

It was an incredible evening with good friends. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to see Matt and visit the temple with him. It was a special evening that I'll always remember.