Preston England LDS Temple

This past Saturday, we took a daytrip down to the Preston England temple in Chorley, England with some new friends. 

We got up extra early that morning and were out the door by 5:35 am to catch a bus to Waverley Station. From there we took a three hour train ride down to Chorley. Then we caught a bus to the temple. The bus driver didn't make us pay to ride the bus when he found out we were going to the temple. It was so sweet of him.

We came to the temple with Neal and Dani Lutz and their adorable daughter Eleanor. They are Americans here for school just like us. Neal is doing an MBA at Napier. They were actually on our flight from Chicago too. Jen and I were pretty sure they were LDS too because of his BYU shirt. Happy coincidence that they also in our ward. 

We watched their daughter while they did a session in the temple and then they watched our girls so we could go. It felt so calm and peaceful to be at the temple after a while away from it. 

Once we both were done at the temple, we caught the bus back to the station, grabbed a bite to eat, and rode the train home. Oh how the girls loved riding the train! They have been asking since the moment we got to Scotland to ride the train. It was a dream come true for them.

It was a long day, and the girls were all very tired and needing sleep, so there were a few tears on the ride back, but mostly overtired and slightly hysterical giggling. It was so fun to watch all four girls interact and keep each other entertained. That little Eleanor is sure a doll!

We hope to be able to visit the temple again a few more times while we are here. Once we got back to the city, we caught a bus home. It was wonderful to see the city at night. The castle was all lit up and gorgeous and ready for photographing. 

Overall, it was totally worth getting up early and being exhausted to get to see and go inside the temple. We had a wonderful time and we're SO grateful to Dani and Neal for inviting us to go along with them. It's sometimes been hard for us to find the motivation to get out and explore with the girls while juggling nap times and strollers and backpacks and long walks, so it was nice to have some friends to go with!

A successful weekend for sure!

*Visited 20 September 2014