Temple Pictures for the Boys

In General Conference earlier this year President Monson suggested that parents have a picture of the temple in their childrens’ bedrooms, and that stuck with me.  So I had a really good idea – this year when the grandparents sent money for Christmas gifts for the boys, instead of getting them toys like we usually do we could get some really nice framed temple pictures for them.  I originally thought I’d just go and order some from deseretbook.com, but then I actually checked their site and found that their really nice framed temple pictures are way too expensive (and that’s not even including shipping prices).  But I really liked the set of pictures they had – they were all sepia and had kind of an antique-looking finish to the photographs.  So I went online in search of something similar.  I wanted to find really nice looking photos with colors that would go well with any kind of room and pictures that would last a long time, and I wanted pictures of the temples that are meaningful to our family.  After a lot of searching around, Michael and I narrowed it down to these pictures on several different photographers’ websites (It was surprisingly affordable to order photographic prints from most of the websites that I was looking at, so we were able to go with the 11x14 pictures):

Then I was very pleased when I went to Michaels and found the frames that I loved, and they happened to be 40% off in the store, plus I had a 25% off coupon on top of that, so they were very affordable.


After the photos all arrived in the mail and Michael got them all in the frames, I typed a few paragraphs for each boy about the temple, and we attached that to the back of each frame. I’m really pleased with how they turned out. I think this will be the kind of thing that can last for years and the boys can even take with them when they grow up and move out. So, thanks so much, Grandma Faun and Grandpa Dick & Grandma Debbie! (I thought it’d be nice if you got to see what you were getting the boys before Christmas).   :)

So on the back of each of the photos I included the quote from President Monson:

In a 2011 General Conference talk, President Thomas S. Monson said, “Until you have entered the house of the Lord and have received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the Church has to offer. The all-important and crowning blessings of membership in the Church are those blessings which we receive in the temples of God. . . .

To you parents of young children, may I share with you some sage advice from President Spencer W. Kimball. Said he: ‘It would be a fine thing if … parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so their children from the time they are infants could look at the picture every day until it becomes a part of their lives. When they reach the age that they need to make the very important decision concerning going to the temple, it will have already been made.’” When Mommy and Daddy heard President Monson say this, we decided that we wanted a nice framed temple picture for you and for each of your brothers.

And then I added a little more info about the specific temple and why it is especially meaningful to our family:

Kolby:
This is the Salt Lake City, Utah temple. You were born in the state of Utah while your parents were attending college. And both sets of your grandparents, Nana & Papa and Grandma Debbie & Grandpa Dick, were each married and sealed in the Salt Lake temple. Because your grandparents and parents were all sealed in the temple, you can be connected to your family forever.

Lijah:
This is the Nauvoo, Illinois temple. At the dedication of the Nauvoo temple in 2002, President Gordon B. Hinckley invited those attending the dedication to take a walk down Parley Street and remember the Saints who left so much behind to build a new home in the west. This view of the temple from Parley Street reminds us of that invitation and helps us to reflect on our pioneer ancestors and the tremendous sacrifices that they made.
Elijah, you were able to visit Nauvoo twice as a young child – once when you were only a baby, and a second time when our family moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Utah after Daddy finished medical school. And Mommy also attended a semester in Nauvoo when she was in college, where she got to live right across the street from the temple grounds and watch as the temple was built. Her favorite memory of that is the beautiful day when they placed the large golden statue of Angel Moroni on the top of the temple.
[This picture of the Nauvoo temple came with the quote about President Hinckley, so I basically copied that word for word because I thought it sounded cool.]

Camden:

This is the San Diego, California temple. Our family is looking forward to moving to San Diego next summer – so you will be able to go to the San Diego temple when you get old enough! Mommy grew up in San Diego, and when she was a little girl she remembers when this temple was built. Mommy got to attend the temple open house and dedication. She remembers singing “The Spirit of God” when the temple was dedicated, and it has been one of her favorite hymns ever since.

Isaac:
This is the Draper, Utah temple. Our family lived in the state of Utah for one year when you were a baby while Daddy did his training after medical school. While we were there, the Draper temple was built not far from where we were living and we got to attend the open house – so you got to go inside the Draper temple when you were about 15 months old. When we walked through the different rooms in the temple that day you were fairly quiet for such a small child, except for when we went into the celestial room and you started making loud “talking” noises until we left that room. We also got to go into a sealing room, and mommy and daddy told you and your brothers that it was like the room in the San Diego temple where they were married. Also, you have another connection to the Draper temple: the town of Draper was originally settled by your 5th great grandfather, William Draper.

Courtland:

This is the Palmyra, New York temple. From the time you were just a few months old until the age of 3 you lived in Fairport, New York, a town not far from Palmyra. We were actually part of the Palmyra Stake. Our family would visit the church history sites in Palmyra, and you and your brothers became familiar with the Joseph Smith cabin and frame home, the Hill Cumorah, the Grandin Press building where the Book of Mormon was printed, and the Sacred Grove. And whenever we were in Palmyra we would drive past the temple so you could see it, and you would always point to the Angel Moroni statue on the top.