He really did love the temple and he'd get a little frustrated if he saw a staircase that we didn't get to go on. He was getting tired by the end, but he was still upset because he said we didn't get to see all of the rooms. He told me that his favorite parts were the pictures and the sparkly lights. They do have some amazing pictures and murals. And the chandeliers were absolutely gorgeous.
One other thing that concerned him was our shoes. I had told him that we would have little booties that we'd wear over our shoes so we wouldn't get the temple dirty. Well, they no longer have the booties, they have plastic runners that protect the carpet. There was a part where the plastic ended because the floor was tile, Riley was so worried and said we couldn't walk on it because it would get messy. I explained that it wasn't carpet so they'd be able to clean off any of the dirt. Later he walked right up to the end of the plastic runner, where three ushers were standing and he said they couldn't stand there. Of course they were a little confused and I had to explain to them that he didn't think they should be standing on the carpet without any plastic. Luckily, they understood and thought that he was very thoughtful.
Here are some interesting facts about the Draper Temple. (These are some of the things they told us on our 6 minute bus ride to the temple.)
The Draper Utah Temple was the twelfth temple built in Utah and the third built in the Salt Lake Valley, following the Salt Lake Temple (1893) and the Jordan River Utah Temple (1981).
All of the art-glass windows created by Utah artist Tom Holdman for the Draper Utah Temple miraculously survived a fire that left only a portion of one window damaged, even though the art studio itself was so badly burned, it was condemned. There are 221 exterior windows, 50 interior windows, and 432 door panels for a total of 35,420 hand-cut pieces of glass. The windows incorporate the Log Cabin quilt pattern used by the early pioneers.
The Draper Utah Temple is built of the finest materials including granite from China, Makore wood from Africa, and limestone from France.
The theme carried through the Draper Utah Temple is of the sego lily—Utah's state flower.
The Draper Utah Temple has the largest sealing room in the state of Utah.
Ordinance rooms in the Draper Utah Temple feature hand-painted panoramas of mountain scenes, a depiction of Draper's Corner Canyon and its view of the Salt Lake Valley.
The baptistry of the Draper Utah Temple is located on the downhill western side of the building, which allows for natural light through floor-to-ceiling windows.
