"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills;and all nations shall flow unto it.
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths."
(Isaiah 2:2-3)
Well we have crossed something off our bucket-list! We did a temple trip all over Utah for Spring Break. We celebrated our year of marriage and hit one temple for each month of being married. It was such a wonderful experience! We decided it was now or never because we move to Medical School this summer.
We started Thursday March 8, by going to the Logan temple with our friends Chad and Emily. The Logan temple is five-stories and rests on a large grassy hill. It is an outstanding landmark to Cache Valley. At night it becomes this glowing beacon that is visible for miles around. It is just beautiful! Logan Temple was the second temple to be built in Utah.
Friday March 9, we went to school that morning and then it was off to Bountiful to do some sealings there. The Bountiful temple was the 8th temple to be constructed in Utah in 1995. There are over four thousand square feet of glass in 40 windows which increases the natural light inside the temple. It's so beautiful to stand on this hillside and overlook the Great Salt Lake and it's outstanding sunsets!
Saturday March 10 we got up early in the morning to go to the Jordan River Temple with Brian's parent's Laurie and Craig. A river is located just west of the temple flowing from the Utah Lake into the Great Salt Lake. The pioneers named the river Jordan because it parallels to the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. Both connect a freshwater lake with a salty sea. The angel Moroni, on top of this temple holds the gold plates. There are only four other temples that share this feature.
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| It was really really bright.. All our eyes are watering haha |
That same day Brian and I hopped in the car and drove to the Manti Temple. Now it is hard to pick and choose favorites out of the temples because they are ALL so unique and beautiful, but if I had to pick one, I think Manti would be in the top 3. It was magnificent!
It was a rattlesnake-infested quarry when it was chosen as the temple site in 1875, but Brigham Young prophesied that Moroni had dedicated the land for a temple. The temple has two open-centered spiral staircases ascending in both towers. One of the temple workers took us to see them and they were SO cool! The temple also has an arch that used to be on the outside of the temple, but when they expanded years and years later, they just kept the arch in it's place and now it is on the inside. It's this big beautiful stone arch!
One of the original settlers of Sanpete County was my great, great, (great something) grandfather James Allred. We found his name on the plaque in front of the temple.
After the Manti temple we drove to Zion National Park to spend the weekend there climbing Angel's Landing and other fun hiking trails. When Tuesday March 13 came around, we were off again! Saint George Temple was next.
The Saint George temple was the first temple to be constructed in Utah. Despite the swampy and unstable soil, Brigham Young insisted on the site of this temple saying it had been dedicated by the Nephites. We got to see the canon that the Pioneers used to pack down volcanic rock to firm up the foundation. One of my favorite little facts that I learned was that the top of the temple has castle like features with the ridges, but they were originally designed as chimneys. The top of the temple used to have little apartments for those coming great distances to stay in after they visited the temple. The chimneys are no longer in use and the apartments have now turned into more sealing rooms.
Wednesday March 14, we left St.George and drove to Vernal to visit the temple there. Vernal Temple was the tenth temple to be dedicated in Utah. It was dedicated in 1903 as the Uintah Stake Tabernacle and 90 years later was transformed into a temple and dedicated. When it was transformed, the Tabernacle was completely gutted except for the four walls and the roof.
The next day, Thursday March 14, was a long but beautiful day for us. We started early in the morning with Mount Timpanogos Temple which was the 9th temple to be dedicated. I was surprised at how large the grounds were and how beautiful they were as well.
Next came the Draper Temple, the 12th temple to be built. One of my favorite parts was the reoccurring theme of Utah's State Flower, the Sego Lily, present throughout the decor of the temple. I loved how I could see the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and the Jordan River Temple from the grounds.
Lastly on this day we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. This was the last temple to be dedicated, but not for long since Brigham City Temple is not too far away from being dedicated. I went to the open houses of Draper and Oquirrh in 2009 and it was a great experience to be able to go back and do temple work there. South Jordan is the only city in the world hosts two LDS temples!
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| When we came out of the temple we found this on our car! Isn't that such a cute idea to do? |
On Friday March 15, we went down to the Provo temple and met up with Brian's childhood friend Matt and his wife Kate. The Provo temple was beautiful with it's fountains and location. I had never been to it before and was really surprised by it's grandeur. It's gorgeous!
We visited our last temple, Salt Lake Temple, on March 17. The Salt Lake is the largest temple in the church. The Construction took 40 years to complete. The walls are full of symbolism and are more than 6 feet thick. It was so exciting to be back in the temple that we were sealed in 378 days before.
Here is a picture from a year ago when I received my endowments in the Ogden temple. We counted this as part of our temple trip! Now the Ogden temple is under reconstruction and we are excited to come back when it is finished and go through it again!
Now, if you didn't notice we do not have the Monticello temple on here. We originally had planned to drive there, but then found that we we wanted to go to Goblin Valley sometime and changed our plans. For our graduation trip we are going to climb some slot canyons in Goblin Valley and visit the Monticello temple when we are down that way. So more is yet to come!
Woot!
