What a fun experience! The twins were blessed to participate in the Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration, open house, and dedication. Here is a great summary video our stake put together. There were ~12,000 youth from 26 stakes.
We enjoyed the open house because it allowed our oldest three to understand more of what eternal families mean. Em was able to go 4 or 5 times with friends and as a guide. I was an usher for the cultural celebration.
We started practicing in December, first as a ward, then our stake, then the region. I got to fill in as a dancer when youth were absent, so it was fun to practice the cha-cha!
In this picture from the practice, the red group (4 stakes) is practicing. The other 5 groups also had a complete field to themselves. The park was so huge it was seemingly designed just for this event.
It meant a lot to have the temple in the background to remind us what it was all for, especially when it got dusty.
This weather-proof jumbo-tron set up was amazing, both because of its size and also its portability.
Here's one of the Pima dancers just after he did his part at the practice.
It was amazing to see 2000+ youth all doing the cha-cha together.This part made me emotional because of all the work these kids put in to make it happen.
Here all 12,000 youth have their titles of liberty while singing the army of Helaman song.
At one point, all 12,000 were told to take a restroom break. It resulted in 40 minute lines, even with over 80 toilets. What a sight to see. Every time someone came out of a John, the crowd in the line laughingly cheered and gave high fives. The kids really took the difficulty in stride.
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