The Davis Fam: Gila Valley Temple

A week and a half ago, the family and Cecilia went to the open house of the Gila Valley Temple. We pulled the kids out of school early and headed to Pima. We got there a few minutes early, but they let us go ahead anyway. Yay... no waiting! The temple is beautiful! It is very small compared to the Mesa Temple, but it is still The House of The Lord. Beautiful work will go on in that temple, just like all the rest in the world. We are so lucky to have 3 temples in Arizona and 2 more on the way! Wow!! After we got through at the temple we stopped at Taylor Freeze (a little mom and pop joint) to eat. Everyone was happily full as we headed for home. :) When we were at Taylor Freeze I picked up The Beehive paper. It had a whole section on the Gila Valley Temple. It had facts about the 3 temples that we already have built, which I found interesting. The facts are as follows...

Mesa Temple:
First temple in AZ. Seventh operating temple in the world.
Dedicated in Oct. 1927 by Heber J. Grant
Mesa Temple was the first to present the endowment session in a language other than English. The first Spanish session was in 1945.
The Mesa Temple has a total floor area of 113,916 sq. feet.

Snowflake Temple:
Second temple in AZ. 108th operating temple in the world.
Dedicated in March 2002 by Gordon B. Hinckley
It was patterned after The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple.
The Snowflake Temple has a total floor area of 18,621 sq. feet.

Gila Valley Temple:
Third temple in AZ
Will be dedicated on May 23, 2010 (NEXT SUNDAY!!) by Thomas S. Monson
The Gila Valley Temple has a total of 18, 561 sq. feet.

Here are some of the pictures we took at the temple. It was a VEEERRRRYYYY Windy day!! :)

My gorgeous hubby! :)