Rexburg Temple Celebration

What an awesome experience our family had tonight. You see tonight was the celebration for the Rexburg Temple. The main celebration was being held in the Hart Auditorium on the campus of BYU-Idaho. There were very few tickets available and so most everyone would be watching it broadcast to the various stake centers in the area. They were going to broadcast the live celebration at 5:00 and then at 7:00 they were going to rebroadcast the celebration. I figured we probably should try to be at our stake center at 4:00 in order to get a good seat. It was about 3:00 and I was still in my housecoat. I had just pulled Logan out of the bathtub and gotten him dressed. I had just yelled outside to Sam and Conner, who had been out playing in the snow, that it was time to come in and start getting dressed. No sooner than I had done all this and my good friend, Brenda Floyd called. You have to know Brenda. She is an awesome friend. She has been determined to see the production live. She said she decided to drive up to the college and just try to get in on standby tickets. She told me the line wasn't long and if we hurried, we could probably stand a really good chance at getting in. I have never kicked it in gear faster. We were heading out the door by 3:30 p.m. Brenda was the first one in line. She had been there since 2:00. So we sat there for waht seemed like an eternity to try to get in. Then someone in our old ward came by and had two tickets that they weren't going to be able to use. Brenda and two of her children used those to go in and get seated. By now it is 4:30. We were told they were going to release the seating at 4:35. Bryon and I knew that our chances of sitting together were pretty slim. We picket out a spot to meet at once the production was over. Pretty soon, Brenda's daughter came out with two extra tickets. Another one of Brenda's daughters went in and I took the other one and took Natalie and headed in. The lady taking tickets at the door, asked if I had been in before. It being a church production and all, I decided to try and tell the truth. I told her actually we hadn't. Then she starts looking at my ticket closer. Then she asks how old Natalie is. I told her two. She informed me that everyone two and older had to have their own ticket. I informed her that Natalie was just going to sit on my lap. She said for fire code reasons, Natalie needed her own seat. The ticket lady ho-hummed for what seemed like an eternity. Finally she told me I was probably right and let me go in. I got to sit by Brenda and her son Braden. As soon as I got in Brenda had tears in her eyes as she told me how desperatly she wanted me to see it live. I was still so worried if Bryon, Sam, Conner, and Logan would make it in. What I didn't know is shortly after I went in, they came and told the standby line that they would not be releasing any seats. Bryon figured he had waited there for quite a while already he would just wait until the production started "just to make sure". Pretty soon another guy from the ticket office came and said they had four available seats. Bryon said he needed three. They followed the guy inside. They walked right by me and so I grabbed Conner so Bryon wouldn't have to wrestle three kids.

Our seats were awesome. Yes we were on the bleachers but we were not that high up and you could see the General Authorities from where we were seated. Bryon sat almost directly behind Elder Russell M. Nelson. Bryon wants to watch the newspaper the next few days because he is sure that he is going to make the paper. The paper came and took pictures of him and Logan. I also think if any pictures of Elder Nelson were taken, Bryon stands a good chance of being in those because he was sitting so close to him. The prophet wasn't there but Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder Bednar were there. It was so awesome. As they came in, everyone stood up. You could feel the Spirit so strong. It was a feeling I hope not to soon forget. The program was wonderful. It had so much fun singing and dancing. I think one of my boys favorites was a dance some men did with sprinkler pipes! I think I cried from the beginning all the way to the end. One thing Brenda and I found amazing was it talked about the Teton Dam flood. The flood happened in June and the city held a 4th of July parade down the middle of Rexburg, just a month after the flood. I loved the ending how a small choir of children dressed all in white sang "I Love to See the Temple" and "The Spirit of God". As they sang, more and more children dressed in white joined them. It was awesome!

Tonight I am just feeling so blessed that we were able to see this production live. I don't think seeing it in the stake centers would do it justice. It was just so great to be there and see it in person and feel of the Spirit that was in that room. I am so thankful Brenda thought of calling us and getting us to go up there. I am also so thankful for having a temple in our town. Indeed, we really are a blessed people.