France Trip - Travel and the Paris Temple
Travel from St. George to Paris
Here we are, on a flight from Denver to Newark. I was most organized yesterday and was in bed by the decent hour of ten. I was able to get almost five hours of sleep. No tossing and turning and no leg issues, for which I’m so grateful. Chris on the other hand, struggled to fall asleep and then had to read a few studies in the middle of the night giving him maybe two hours. Even still, he will manage better than I will with my five.
At 2:45am we quickly showered, changed and got in the van headed for Las Vegas. Katie and Taylor have been with us for the last few days and it’s been heavenly… and now fun to start the journey together.
Besides a late night chat about earning and saving money before Chris got back to St. George, 🤫 we are keeping all finance talks on hold until we can get to France. Boarding our flight to Denver Taylor said… ‘we’re excited about the discussions. We’ve read and we’re ready with questions.’ Chris couldn’t help but just smile.
We have been working on the financial lessons for weeks now, and even longer for Chris. It’s taken some time to organize and condense all the information he thinks they should know - and he’s so excited.
When Ryan and Casie graduated from BYU and UVU we gifted them the ‘White Coast investors…’ book 📖 with a promise for a future ‘financial retreat’. Even as we handed it over I wondered when it would happen. We love gifting experiences and trips but wow - with our own crazy adventures of moving to St. George and then traveling the world with the boys, we had to put this retreat on hold for a bit. Meanwhile Katie and Taylor graduated from BYU and we gifted them the same book and retreat promise. 🎟️ Perfect. We’ll take them together.
With cheap flights to Paris, an overwhelming desire to see some of the Château region of France (it’s been on my list for awhile now) and excited married children, we changed our weekend ocean side idea into a full week of ‘Finances in France’ 🇫🇷 and we couldn’t be happier.
Chris and I have been able to visit Paris quite a few times…
Once as a whirlwind trip with our Maryland friends before we lived in Germany.
Once with our six kids as one of our very first weekend adventures living abroad. (While we lived in Germany.)
Once as a couples trip with Scott and Elisha and Dan and Sarah. (While we lived in Germany.)
Once with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson for a night before heading on to Normandy. (While we lived in Germany.)
Once as a fabulous girls trip with Emma, Heidi, Megan, Brittany and Melissa. (While we lived in Germany.)
And once with all six kids for a ‘Back to Europe Expedition reunion tour, 3 years after moving to Colorado Springs (and missing Europe so badly we could hardly stand it).
So this is trip #7 and although I feel a little bit spoiled, I’m so excited to come back - this time with our married kids and two in law kiddos who have never been. We’re going to do all the things and I can hardly wait - but first we’re headed to the Loire Valley.
Our first flight was good. Chris lovingly provided me with a window seat and I slept deeply for most of the flight with my blue pillow against the side of the plane. A quick walk through Denver’s airport and right onto our second flight to Newark. ‘Come see me!’ Megan texted when she heard we’d be so close. It’s P-Day so we’ll talk later today when we have a longer layover. She has just two months left and we can hardly wait to have her back.
Chris and I headed straight for the United Lounge in Newark, filled up plates of delicious food and settled down in some lounge chairs as we talked to Megan for awhile. She’s doing great. Then we met back up with Katie and Taylor with presents of fresh fruit and sandwiches. Our flight from Newark to Paris was 7 hours and went by pretty smoothly. Both Katie and Taylor and Chris and I had a full row to ourselves and it was great.
We landed in Paris at 7:15am, picked up our luggage, waited for our rental car, took a shuttle to a different Terminal because our van was too large for the parking garage, and loaded everything in the van. Ryan and Cassie were waiting for us at a nearby hotel with happy smiles and big hugs. Chris just barely saw them two weeks ago on the way to Chicago with Emily but I haven’t seen them since Mexico in January so we’re thrilled to be back together again. We quickly changed into dresses and nicer clothes and hopped in the van, both energized and exhausted, ready for our first stop… the Paris Temple.
Temple de Paris France
Sealings
We took a picture outside and then headed in to the temple and changed into white clothes and were ushered upstairs to the sealing room. We were joined with a french woman who had brought family names. It was a pleasure do the work for her ancestors — some of which were from the Normandy area in the 1400’s. The sealer spoke in beautiful French and we were given a copy of the ordinances in English to follow along. We were definitely tired but it was wonderful to start our trip being together in the temple. After the sealings, we were able to spend a few minutes together in the Celestial Room. We changed, added names to the prayer roll and then spent some time wandering behind the temple in the gardens.
So grateful to be back in Europe with my love.
In the Visitor’s Center was a beautiful model of the Paris temple showing what it looked like inside. Below is the view into the entry way with the Celestial Room above and to the right you can see into our sealing room. The sister missionaries explained to us that the mirrors and several windows were designed to look like the Savior. The temple was small but absolutely gorgeous.
