The Seventh Temple: Monticello Utah Temple

First off I would like to say sorry for this late post. I have been super busy with school, work, sickness (cold), family functions, and wedding planning. Now with that said, I will continue to post on our latest temple that we have visited. On September 4th, 2010, Tyler and I drove to Monticello/Moab area for our Labor Day Weekend. We also went with my roomie and good friend Melissa. We dropped her off in Moab as we went on to Monticello to go to the temple for the 12 o'clock session. Then afterwards we spent the rest of the weekend at Arches National Park (hiked Delicate Arch), Dead Horse Point State Park, Canyonland National Park, and eating the amazing and cheap burgers at Milts Dinner in Moab. We also had a great time camping:) In all a great Labor Day weekend. Enough about the non-temple fun and lets focus on the Monticello Utah Temple.

History:

The Monticello Utah Temple was announced on October 4th, 1997. The ground breaking and site dedication was on November 17th, 1997. The first open house was on July 16th-18th, 1998. Then dedicated on July 26-27, 1998 by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. This temple was the first of the small temples. It was actually the smallest temple until an an expansion project. The temple was then rededicated on November 17th, 2002 after an open house from November 2-9th, 2002. Another interesting fact about this temple is that the Angel Moroni was originally white but due to it being hard to see when it was cloudy the statue was replaced by a gold leafed Moroni.

Architecture/ Decor:

The Monticello Utah Temple is interesting in that unlike the other Utah temples this one is really small. It seems more like a temple outside of Utah. The temple grounds seem like a little green park next to all the dry desert landscape. The temple does have a really cool mural of the Monticello landscape. In all its a nice little temple.

Helpful things to know when visiting this Temple:

Location:

The Monticello Utah Temple is on the North West corner of the town. It was hard to miss because Monticello is incredibility small. I think you could probably walk the whole Main Street in 10 minutes.

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

Due to this being a small temple there are no clothing rentals and there are also a limited number of sessions. You don't need to call in though because the sessions aren't overly busy. In fact when I called ahead (which I did due to it being a small temple) the lady kind of thought I was crazy for calling ahead (I guess small temples in Utah aren't like visiting small temples in other states).

Other things to Note:

If you are hungry Monticello has two food places: Taco Time or Subway. If neither of those seem up your alley stop in Moab before heading out to Monticello. While in the area try to go to the awesome National Park.

The site I got my info and if you wish to learn more:

Monticello Utah LDS Temple: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/monticello/

The Sixth Temple Visited: The Bountiful Utah Temple

On August 13th (Friday the 13th hehe), 2010, Tyler and I went to the Bountiful Utah Temple for the 4 o'clock session and then out to dinner. It was a nice evening and the temple was moderately busy with couples on temple dates for date night. In all a great night!

History:

The Utah Bountiful Temple is no surprise named after the town in which it is in, which interestingly enough is named after a Book of Mormon city. The town was actually first called Session's Settlement and was settled by Perrigrine Sessions and his family on Sept 27, 1847. It wasn't until 1855 that they changed it to be named after the Book of Mormon city and due to it being known for their gardens (I really don't blame them Bountiful is ten times cooler of name than Session's Settlement not too creative). This temple was announced to be built on April 6th, 1991. The ground breaking was on May 2, 1992 by Ezra Taft Benson. The open house was from Nov 4, 1994 to Dec 7th, 1994. The temple was dedicated on January 8-14, 1995 by Howard W. Hunter (one of the two temples he dedication during his short time as president of the church). Interestingly enough the Bountiful temple has the record of having the most people physically attend a temple dedication with a total number of 201,655 people in their 28 dedicatory sessions (fascinating to compare to temples today where wide broadcasts of dedications are made).

Architecture/ Decor

The Bountiful Utah Temple has some interesting and unique features about it. One is built on a mountain over looking the Great Salt Lake and the whole northern valley. It is also surrounded by some pretty nice multi-millionaire homes. It also has underground parking a feature not seen at any of the other temples I have been to so far on this temple challenge. It also has beautiful arches by the entrance and really cool formal sliding doors. Those doors feel like nice doors you should open but instead slide open for you (makes sense because there are no handles on them). The temple is also filled with many windows bringing in a natural light. This temple is very simplistic and not really historically based like many of the temples Tyler and I have gone too. It does have a slight 90's feel inside in the furniture that is used, especially with the chairs in the endowment room (kind of reminds me of 90's movies office chairs). The Celestial Room was Tyler's favorite Celestial Room yet (this was due to having small palm trees in it, he loves palm trees). One thing that surprised me is that I also thought Bountiful was a small temple but it is fairly large and the rooms are pretty large compared to a lot of temples.

Helpful things to know when visiting this Temple:

Location:

Not far off of 1-15 exit, just drive towards the mountain and their are signs to help point out where it is. Basically look for the mountain, Angel Moroni, and expensive homes.

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

You don't need to call ahead because they have two Endowment rooms that are large. They also have sessions that start every 30 minutes. They do have temple clothing rentals for a small few

Other things to note:

If you're hungry and in the mood for cafeteria food they also have a cafeteria. I have to admit one of my dreams is to eat at a temple cafeteria. I will live this dream sometime during this challenge (probably at Provo Temple). They also have a lot of fast food restaurants in the area if you go down to Main Street but not so many sit down restaurants (that aren't shady). Also come early because parking lot is packed. Their parking spots are also very tight to get into compared to most temple parking spots that are abnormally painted large.

The sites I got my info and if you wish to learn more:

Bountiful Utah LDS Temple: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/bountiful/

Bountiful, Utah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bountiful,_Utah

The Fifth Temple Visited: Vernal Utah Temple

Last Saturday July 31, 2010, Tyler and I went on a fun road trip to Vernal, Utah to go to the Vernal Utah Temple. We went to the 1:30 session. We had a great time at the temple. It was cool in that the session we attended there was a pregnant lady who was very close to being due who was going in through the temple for the first time and her mom who had cancer was her escort. It was interesting to think of how the lady going through for the first time was going to be sealed that day to her husband and her soon to be child would be born in the covenant being sealed to both of them. It was also neat to think that her sickly mother could be there and that even if she died from cancer because of the temple she would be able to see her daughter, son-in-law, and her soon to be grandchild again. That truly is the power of the temple, to make it possible for ones family to continue forever. That no matter what happens if you are all true to your covenants made there in, dead has truly lost her sting and her bitterness but instead it just means a bit of a wait until you get to see them again.

History:

The Vernal Utah Temple is the first temple to be built in an already previously built building. The temple's outside is the renovated original Uintah Stake Tabernacle. The tabernacle was built in 1907 and fittingly was dedicated as a temple in 1997. While the tabernacle's outside still stays with a few new touches such as two domes instead of just one, the inside was totally changed to become that of a temple. The original tabernacle was dedicated by the prophet Joseph F. Smith which prophesied at that dedication of one day having a temple their with in their mists. The Vernal Utah Temple was announced to be built on Feb 13th, 1994. The ground breaking was on May 13, 1995 by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. The open house was Oct 11-25, 1997 and it was finally dedicated Nov 2-4, 1997 by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley.

Architecture/Decor:

The Vernal Utah Temple was interesting in that the outside reminds me of a barn. It doesn't seem very templeish from the outside other than the angel Moroni statue on one of the domes. It just looks like a barn/ old tabernacle. Once inside though it defiantly feels like a temple and the way it is decorated is like a temple. It has beautiful stain glass windows. One is of the Savior below one of the domes and another is of a mountain and quaking aspens in the chapel. It also has a lot of grain designs in the painting on the walls. It is not at all like many of the other temples in Utah because this one is very simplistic. It is very simple yet elegant inside. It also has a very colonial feel to the furniture. One thing that is very beautiful is that there is a huge mural of the resurrected Savior in the Celestial room very pretty.

Helpful things to know when visiting this Temple:

Location:

The best way to get to Vernal, UT from the Provo/ Salt Lake area is to go through Heber. Once at Heber take the road South going out of town, continue following signs to get to Vernal. Once in Vernal the temple will be on your right in the middle of town, two blocks from Main St. You can't miss it if you look for the Angel Moroni. The trip is rather nice and scenic :)

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

Although it is a small temple, it is still rather large. We didn't call ahead and I think that if you don't you will probably be fine just to go ahead and go. Interestingly enough they do have temple clothing to rent there (I really thought they wouldn't for the size of the temple, but they do).

Other things to note:

The town is actually bigger than Manti, so believe it or not they actually have places to eat. We ate at Cafe Rio, always delicious! They also have a lot of stuff for people who love dinosaurs in town. We went to the dinosaur museum there, it was a bit over priced if you ask me. (6 dollars for adults, 3 dollars for kids). Highlight of the museum include bones of the only juvenile stegosaurus, and it does have some cool early mammal bones, but over all hardly any dinosaur bones (lame!). The Dinosaur National Park aways out of town is also not worth going to because it is closed due to rebuilding the wall where most of the dinosaur bones were found. So if you want to drive out to a stone quarry to wonder around in your car, then by all means this is the place for you to go!

Where I got my info and if you want to learn more:

Vernal Utah LDS Temple: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/vernal

The Fourth Temple Visited: Manti Utah Temple

This past Saturday Tyler and I took a little road trip down to Manti to attend a temple session and go to the pageant there. It was a random thing we decided to do the day before. We ended up going to the 12:30 session Saturday afternoon and we were glad that we did. The temple is beautiful! I think a picture doesn’t really capture how beautiful the temple is there, but I am posting several that we took though hehe.

History:

The Manti Utah Temple is the third temple dedicated in Utah (the first being St George, then Logan). It was announced on June 25^th, 1875. The groundbreaking was on April 25^th, 1877 by Brigham Young. At the time of the ground breaking Brigham Young told Warren S Snow that the site had been where Moroni, a prophet of the Book of Mormon, had dedicated for a future temple. There was a private dedication on May 17^th, 1888 by Wilford Woodruff and a public one on May 21^st to 22^nd, 1888 by Lorenzo Snow (the only temple dedicated by him). It is interesting to note that it cost 1 million dollars to build the temple in the late 1800s, which is a lot of money now but just think of how much that was then. It was also completely built by people who volunteered their time to build it. I think this shows how great of sacrifice these early pioneers made to build this temple. They truly saw the importance of giving their all for the Lord and building up His Kingdom on the earth. The Manti Temple was also closed for four years in the 1980s for renovations. It was then rededicated on June 14-16^th, 1985 by Gordon B Hinckley.

Architecture/Décor:

The Manti Utah Temple is one of the castle style temples (the others being St George and Logan). Its architecture was influenced by Gothic Revival, French Renaissance Revival, French Second Empire and American Colonialism. The outside looks like a random castle from Europe places in a small secluded town in Utah. The insides are amazing. The murals in this temple are awesome! I loved the inside. The creation room and world room where beyond description. The creation room showed evolution of animals in the murals, and the world room showed the history of the world in the murals. Every room had new eye candy. I would highly recommend this place if you are temple worthy and want to see some amazing architecture.

Helpful things to know if visiting the temple:

Location:

The temple can be seen quite far away as you drive towards it. It is on Hwy 89 on the North side of town. It is built on a beautiful hill overlooking the town. If you are driving from the Salt Lake/Provo area, I would highly recommend driving to Nephi and then going down through the town of Moroni to go to Manti. It is the most direct route. Beware though there are a lot of speed traps (with many small towns to go through with reduced speed limits), and the road has many curves and deer (hence possibly dangerous at night).

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

The temple is a large enough temple you don’t need to call ahead to schedule a time. A session is every hour on the half hour. During pageant times the last session is earlier at 3:30, to keep in mind if you want to go to a session and then go to the pageant. Rental temple clothes are also available here too.

If you wish to learn more about this temple check these places out (these were also the places where I got my information):

Manti Utah Temple. http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/manti/

Manti Temple sign at the Manti Utah Temple grounds.

Third Temple Visited: Jordan River Utah Temple

The third temple Tyler and I visited was the Jordan River Utah Temple. The other temple located in South Jordan. It is named after the close by Utah Jordan River. The Jordan River is named after the Jordan River; the river Christ was baptized in, due to its similar characteristic is linking a fresh water lake to a salt water lake (the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, and in Utah, Utah Lake to the Salt Lake). Tyler and I went here for our June temple visit on June 4^th, 2010. We had a nice session there and a good time over all (but then again every time you go to the temple you have a good time hehe).

History:

The Jordan River Utah Temple announcement to be built was on February 3^rd, 1978 in a news conference. The ground breaking was on June 9^th, 1979 by Pres. Spencer W. Kimball. In the groundbreaking ceremony Pres. Kimball didn’t use a regular shovel to move the first dirt but actually a caterpillar tractor to remove the dirt. The open house was from September 29^th to October 31^st, 1981. The dedication was on November 16- 20^th, 1981 by Marion G Romney, Pres. Spencer W. Kimball 2^nd counselor. It was the only temple Marion G Romney dedicated. It is also interesting to note that at the time people believed that President Kimball could not attend the dedication due to recovering from surgery but he happened to make it right before the ceremony started. Once dedicated it was the 20^th operating temple of the church and was the second temple built in the Salt Lake Valley (the first being the Salt Lake Temple).

Architecture/Decor:

The Jordan River Utah Temple is very similar to the Provo and Ogden temple in lay out and to some degree the outside too. Like the Provo and Ogden temples it has 6 ordinance rooms, which allows for a session to start every twenty minutes. The outside differs in that it has more of a pointy exterior than round exterior. Instead of a plain pole design for the spire like the Provo and Ogden temple it has more of a cone shape spire. It also has fascinating window designs, while the Provo and Ogden temple have plain windows. Another interesting fact is that the Angel Moroni on this temple is one out of five temples that has an Angel Moroni carrying golden plates.

Helpful things to know if visiting the temple:

Location:

You can get to the Jordan River Utah Temple by taking Redwood Rd and turning east on Temple Lane. This is a small road that drives by many senior living homes, and will end in the temple parking lot. This temple is especially great for senior citizens in that it has escalators instead of stairs and has a lot of handicapped parking (so if walking is hard for you, this is a great temple to go to).

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

The Jordan River Utah Temple is a highly busy temple and is made for high capacity. You do not need to call in to go to this temple. There are plenty of sessions with one starting every 20 minutes with a lot of room in each session so no worriesJ. For those wanting to rent temple clothes, temple clothes are available for rental.

If you wish to learn more check out these sites. These are the sites I used to find the facts used in this post:

Jordan River Utah Temple. http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/jordanriver/

Jordan River (Utah)-wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River_(Utah)

Jordan River Utah Temple pic. http://www.dlmark.net/images/tjordan1.jpg

Second Temple Visited: Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

The second temple Tyler and I visited on our quest to visit all the temples in Utah was the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. We went on May 14th, 2010 to the 4 o'clock endowment session. It had been a busy day at work and I was rushing to meet up Tyler on time for this session. Once I finally got there though it was nice, peaceful, and set a wonderful tone for the rest of the evening. In all we had a great time there :)

History:

It is named Oquirrh Mountain because it was built on the base of the Oquirrh Mountain range. This mountain range is on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley and while the Wasatch Mountains lay on the east side. You might be thinking Oquirrh is kind of a weird name, it is actually an Indiana name. The word means "wooden mountain" in the Goshute Indian language and in the Ute Indian translation it means "the shining mountains." At first the planned named was going to be the South Jordan Utah Temple, but was figured to be too confusing for people so it was changed to Oquirrh Mountain. This was believed to be too confusing due to the fact that the Jordan River Temple is also in South Jordan. In fact South Jordan is the only town in the world to have two temples. The temple was announced October 1st, 2005. The groundbreaking was on December 16th, 2006 and it was dedicated August 21st-23rd, 2009. One interesting fact about the open house of this temple is that Angel Moroni was actually hit by lightning during a lightning storm on July 13th, 2009. It blackened Moroni's face, arm, and trumpet. No worries it was replaced before the dedication. The dedication was interesting in that on August 23rd, church was cancelled statewide for the first time ever so members could attend the dedication.

Architecture/Decor :

As said above the temple is located on the base of the Oquirrh Mountains, so much of the decor of this temple is based off of the natural beauty of these mountains. Inside there are beautiful murals of the Oquirrh Moutains, and designs of the native plant life with in the architecture. One thing I really liked as well was the wonderful use of natural light throughout the temple. It gave it a bright outside feeling to this temple. The temple is also amazing to look at from I-15 or Bangerter highway because it is such a large beautiful building sitting on a mountain ledge looking over the Salt Lake Valley from the east.

Helpful things to know if you are visiting the Temple:

Location:

The Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple is located in South Jordan off of, the highly traveled highway, Bangerter. It is very easy to get to and is right off of Bangerter, no need to weave through complex subdivisions to get there. It is also a nice new area of town, with the starter home development of Day Break and on the other side of Bangerter is the District, a wonderful shopping park. It really is an ideal date night area: temple session followed by dinner and a movie (the District's movie theater you can reserve your actual seating spot when you buy tickets in advance. This is perfect for opening night).

Scheduling and Temple Clothes:

Unlike many other Utah Temples you can not rent temple clothes here and you need reservations. They do let some people in without reservations if the session isn't full (I know this because we forgot to call a head b/c we didn't know you needed to), but it is always nicer to the temple workers as well as less of a worry if you call a head.

If you want to learn more, read more at these great sites. These are the sites, I used for my facts and pic:

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple:http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/oquirrhmountain/

Oquirrh Mountains-Wiki:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oquirrh_Mountains

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Wiki :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oquirrh_Mountain_Utah_Temple

First Temple Visited: Salt Lake Temple

Today is June 9th, 2010, and as of today Tyler and I have visited 3 of the thirteen temples together. I will try to make up the other two posts for those temples as soon as I can. The first temple we visited was the Salt Lake Temple on April 24th, 2010. We went to one of the last sessions that Saturday. It was a nice peaceful evening and just a nice night in Salt Lake. Now to Mormons and to non-Mormons alike, the Salt Lake Temple is probably the most iconic of the LDS temples. Maybe it is because it is one of the most famous landmarks of Salt Lake City (maybe even in Utah in general), maybe it is because people saw it over and over again during the 2002 Winter Olympics, or maybe it is just because it is an amazing architectural structure that took 40 years to build.

Architecture/ Decor:

The detail in the Salt Lake Temple is amazing, and from looking at it it is no wonder it took 40 years to build at a time with very little technology (at least compared to today), and with it starting to be built in the middle of an untamed desert. The design was based off of many other famous architectural landmarks in Europe, as well as a vision Brigham Young had as to what it should look like. Every feature in the temple has tons of little details. It is one place where you can sit in one room and be amazed for a long period of time by just looking at the decor. Then after doing so turn to your friend to say what you saw and realize that that same person who spent the same amount of time as you in that same room saw something else completely different. It just has that much detail! Even doorknobs have exquisite detail. It truly is a testament to the faith of the early Mormon pioneers who gave up all they had to move to the Salt Lake valley and then spend so long to build it. These people truly had faith! They didn't just say"hey, I have faith in Christ." They lived their faith in Christ in everything they did, giving up all for Him.

History:

So some of you might not be familiar with the amazing story of how the Salt Lake Temple came about. The Salt Lake Temple was announced to be built on July 28th, 1847. That was four days after the first company of saints had reached the valley. Brigham Young was the one who announced where this temple would be built. The ground breaking though didn't take place until Valentines day Feb 14th, 1853 with Brigham Young doing the first shoveling of dirt. This was six years after the original announcement. You might ask, why did it take so long to get started on it? Now I don't know the official reason but I would imagine it was because they moved to the middle of nowhere and had to do the whole survival thing. You know build homes, plant fields, recover from walking across America, etc. On April 6th, 1853 the cornerstones were laid. The basement and foundation where made out of sandstone with granite serving for the upper levels. By 1855 the foundation was complete. Then in 1858, they had to bury the site to hide it from approaching US army troops (who had been sent out on false reports of a Mormon uprising). Construction didn't resume until 7 years later, in 1865. When the foundation was uncovered they realized that there were cracks in the foundation, da da dah. I think if I was one of the Mormon pioneers I would have cried then, because it turned out the foundation had to be pulled out and redone (bad news bears). It was a blessing in disguise because if they had not found out that it was cracked/could crack due to the way it was built it could never have supported the granite top. Anyway they had to start all over.

One of the biggest problems was the transportation of the granite from Little Cottonwood Canyon. It took four days to transport just one stone by wagon ( only forty miles road trip). As the railroad companies planned to build a railroad into the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young stopped work on the temple construction to have the men work on the railroad. Through the railroad the stones were then able to be transported much faster to Temple Square (the site of the Salt Lake Temple). Once the railroad was in the men continued work on the actual construction and the work greatly progressed due to the technological wonder of the railroad. On April 6th, 1892, the capstone was laid and a 12 foot angel Moroni was placed on top. Then the pioneers had one year to complete the interior to finish the project. It was then dedicated April 6th, 1893 by Wilford Woodruff (fourth prophet in this dispensation). After forty years, 3 prophets time as the acting prophet (Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff), and 3 other temples having been started and finished before this one had been dedicated (St George, Logan, and Manti), the Salt Lake Temple was finished!

Helpful things to know if you are visiting the Temple:

Transportation:

There is parking around Temple Square but you have to pay to park. If you are up to walking you can go a bit farther away and you can park free on the street in a residential area. I personally recommend Trax it is a nice light rail and not too expensive. Five dollars for a day pass and only four dollars for a round trip pass. That way you don't have to mess with parking.

Scheduling and temple clothes:

You don't have to schedule an appointment to go. This is the largest temple in the world! It is also fairly busy but don't worry you don't feel squished. They also have temple clothes for rent if you don't have your own.

Other Random Info:

It is a live session so it will take a bit longer to go through an endowment session. This is a great temple to go to if you have a lot of time but if you are on a tight schedule with a babysitter waiting at home best to go to another temple. Temple workers there though are super great. They are used to people not knowing where they are going because many people visit this temple from around the world. They are super helpful and will approach you to help you if you look confused about where things are as opposed to you approaching them for help. All temple workers everywhere are nice and helpful, its a true fact :)

Hopefully you have found this helpful. There is so much to say about the Salt Lake temple. Below I put the sources I used to make this blog. I highly recommend reading them if you wish to learn more about this beautiful House of the Lord. I loved the session I went to there with Tyler. It was a great evening. I hope this post has inspired some of you to go visit this amazing temple, either to stroll the grounds (all temples have nice grounds, and the larger they are the larger their beautiful grounds are), or to do some ordinance work there.

The sources I used for my information was:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint:Salt Lake Temple. http://www.lds.org/temples/main/0,11204,1912-1-40-2,00.html

Salt Lake Temple History. http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/temples/salt_lake_temple_history.html

Mountain of the Lord. (Awesome Church Video on the history of the Salt Lake Temple)

Riding UTA. http://www.rideuta.com/ridingUTA/payingFare/fares.aspx (for Trax info)