We took an eleven day trip the beginning of July. We drove to Washington State and stayed in a beautiful lodge with Kevin’s family. A good time was had by all.
Next time we’ll fly.
I said that last time.
With all the kidlets, it took us a couple of days to drive there and a couple of days to drive home. Pit stops were required every two hours and generally lasted an hour. I knew this in advance so I tried to plan something interesting to do on our way to Washington.
It just so happens that our church has several temples along our route and we made them our pit stops. The first temple we passed was immediately as we got on the freeway – a quick glance toward the Ogden Temple and we were on our way!
Next we came to the under-construction Brigham City Temple. We’d been on the road maybe a half hour and there was no need to stop. A quick drive-by was all this temple got too.
A couple hours down the road, we were ready for lunch and our first real pit stop. We grabbed some fast food and picnicked on the lawn of a church next to the Twin Falls Idaho Temple.
It was really handy having a church right next to the temple – we could get our wiggles out there and then respectfully walk around the temple. 
The boys were fascinated with the fountains and they were pretty good about keeping their hands out of the water. At each temple we visited, their first question was, “can we go see the fountain?”
There was another advantage to the church next door – clean bathrooms! There was a group of missionaries there doing interviews and the church was open. The missionaries never said a word to us, but I think they assumed we were members. As Rusty and I passed them in the foyer, Rusty pointed to a large painting on the wall and yelled, “Jesus!”
We headed on our way to the next temple. As we got closer, we played “who can spot the temple first.” I think we were all surprised when it was Rusty who yelled first, “TEMPLE!”
The Boise Idaho Temple is right off the freeway and Rusty was the first to see it. Again, there was a church next door where the boys could run and wiggle before we actually went onto the temple grounds.
First stop, the fountain.
We met a young woman on the temple grounds who was chatty. She told us how the temple is about to be closed for major reconstruction and where her favorite spots to sit and mediate are. She was nice enough and she offered to take a full family picture.
She also shared some very important information with us – that there were clean public restrooms in the on-site Distribution Center.
Another stop at the fountain …
And some snacking and running on the church grass …
And we continued on. We spent the night in a slightly run-down Super 8 Motel in Pendleton, Oregon. Not even a discount for sharing a name with the town!
The next morning we headed out early and before long it was time to break. Thankfully, there was another temple nearby.
This one is in Richland, WA and is called the Columbia River Temple.
I believe it was at this temple that Rusty and Billy enjoyed watching “Mater.” A car was being towed in the parking lot and the tow truck reminded them of Mater from CARS.
They liked this staircase fountain okay, but it wasn’t as much fun for the boys as the ones that shoot water in the air.
There were sprinklers going though. Rusty kept walking into the spray and then shivering once the water hit him. Then he’d do it again. There isn’t much he does that isn’t cute right now.
These two can be pretty cute too (totally spontaneous hand holding = adorable).
Okay … these two are cute, too.
We ended our day at a hotel in Renton, WA and a visit with Kevin’s grandparents. We’d hoped to get up to see the Seattle Temple to finish off our temple tour, but the boys were DONE with the car and I was DONE with being in a car with the boys!
They weren’t bad travelers, really. Tommy likes to move constantly and being confined to his car seat was not in his plans. Ricky doesn’t sleep in cars and Billy barely does, so they just got tired and cranky as the day wore on. Okay, and I might not really like being confined either. Good thing we had Kevin along to keep us in good spirits!