The Ninth Temple: Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple

For the month of November, Tyler and I visited the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple. We went on November 6th, 2010. It was a great experience.

History:

The Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple was announced in General Conference as a new temple in Utah County on October 3rd, 1992. It wasn't until the next conference that it was announced that it would be built in the southern part of American Fork that was once a farm operated by church welfare. The ground breaking and site dedication was on October 9th, 1993 by Gordon B. Hinckley. The open house was then from August 6th to September 21st, 1996. Then it was then dedicated October 13th-19th, 1996.

Architecture/ Decor:

The Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple was designed after the floor plan of the Bountiful Utah Temple. Just like the Bountiful temple this temple is filled with open rooms filled with 90's style designs. That uses geometric shapes.

Helpful things to note when visiting this temple:

Location:

This temple is well of the main freeway, yet easy to find because you only need to take one main road to get there. The roads are decently busy yet all there is after getting on to that road is four way stops (which can be fun when driving in Utah County if you know what I mean).

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

This is a fairly large temple so you don't need to worry about calling ahead to schedule a time. There are also clothing rentals available there as well as a cafeteria.

The source I used and a great source if you want to learn more is:

Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/mounttimpanogos/

The Eighth Temple: Draper Utah Temple

It has been a while since my last post. I have been really busy but I have finally found time to post the next two temples that we have visited. For the month of October, Tyler and I went to the Draper Utah Temple on Oct 30th, 2010. It was a nice trip (as every trip to the temple is).

History:

The building of the Draper Utah Temple was announced as an anonymous temple in the October 2, 2004 session of General Conference. At that time it was only announced as a temple to be built in the Salt Lake Valley. It wasn't until Sunday November 21, 2004 that through a letter from the First Presidency members in southern Salt Lake County learned this temple would be built in Draper. In 2005 Draper City Council changed zoning laws making it possible for this temple to be built (before that buildings could not reach 90 feet in hight in residential areas). President Gordon B. Hinckley broke ground for the dedication of the site on April 5, 2006. The open house was then held from January 15th through March 14, 2009. The temple was then dedicated on March 20th-22, 2009 by President Thomas S. Monson.

Architecture/ Decor:

Some interesting facts about the Draper Utah Temple is that it was made with Granite from China, Makore wood from Africa, and limestone from France. All of the art-glass windows actually survived a fire while the studio that they were being made in all was destroyed. The art theme of the temple is that of the sego lily which is the state flower. The temple also has beautiful murals of the local landscape. This temple also has the largest sealing room in Utah. Over all it feels like a large temple built with very high end materials (I won't say that is is elaborate like SLC temple or Manti though).

Helpful things to know when visiting this temple:

Location:

Overall just get off at Draper and head up the hill. There is pretty good signage as to how to get there. It is a bit harder to get to though then the other temples in the area aka Oquirrh Mountian or Jordan River Temple.

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

This is a large enough temple were you don't need to schedule ahead of time and there is also temple clothing for rental.

Other things to note:

Over all if you go to this temple be prepared to be confused as to where things are. Out of any of the temples I have gone to this temple was the easiest to get lost in. Temple workers are nice but just assume you know where you are going so if you look lost don't expect someone to give you directions. Also there are tons of random huge wood doors without labeling where you are like "where does this go?" and no help to tell you. I would recommend going with someone who has gone there before.

A Source I used to write this and one I would recommend looking at is:

Draper Utah Temple: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/draper/