New Cedar City Temple

It has been a delight to watch the building of the Cedar City Temple as we would fly by on Interstate 15 heading south to Arizona.  It is located on the west side of town and from a distance looking south from the freeway it reminded me of the Nauvoo Temple.  It opened for a public viewing last November so we stopped by on our way south last November.

It has simple lines but is beautiful both inside and out.  Each temple bears the words, "Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord" at the entrance.  This is the front of the Cedar City Temple.

It was a bright and sunshiny day, thus the dark blue sky.

I loved several features on the inside including a painting in the baptistery which is a larger version of the same artwork that I pass each time I provide service in my home temple, the Provo City Center Temple.  Columbine flowers, ceder trees, feathers, and other symbols of the area are part of the interior decor and stone work.  It was a pleasure to visit this temple.

New park near Manti Temple

After making our way down from the mountain tops and Skyline Drive, we stopped in Mt. Pleasant and bought some items for a picnic lunch.  We drove on to Manti and found ourselves eating in a beautiful new park across HIghway 89 from the Manti Temple.

It is still one of my favorites!

The little park has been created in honor of the pioneers who settled the Sanpete Valley.

The park sits on the south end of the cemetery and includes statuary and message boards.

Perhaps it is wrong to call it a small park.  The correct name seems to be "Pioneer Heritage Gardens."

Besides the reflecting pool located in just the right place to mirror the temple, there is a small amphitheater.

It was just the right quick stop for a picnic and chance to stretch our legs and enjoy the temple.

Payson Temple Open House

Today was our lucky day.  Our day had come to attend the Payson Temple open house and we arrived to sunshine and no rain.  Beautiful clouds but no rain.

We have watched the construction of this temple for years as we drove by monthly on the I15.  Little by little it progressed and soon it glowed at night as workers continued to work.

It truly is beautiful and glorious.  My nephew, Matthew, went with us.  We talked about the three temples we had toured during the last 14 months including the Gilbert Temple, the Phoenix Temple, and now the Payson Temple.

Each temple has been beautiful in its own way.  Each contained decorative symbolism inside and out appropriate to their location.  This temple uses the apple blossom in honor of the acres of fruit trees, particularly apples, planted in this southern part of Utah County.

This temple seems as if it were sculpted from a giant block of solid stone,  Just look at the detail at the corner of this building.

Mathew at one of the main entrances.

The attention to detail is really amazing.

A perfect day for photo taking.  Blue skies, dark clouds, and sunshine.

From the inside, these windows glowed in the sunlight.

The sun shines behind the Angel Moroni, so happy to be seen again.

That star like motif is found throughout the inside of the temple as well as out.

So lovely!

I loved that the flag was flying.

Blue skies contrasted with very dark rain clouds.

We wandered around a bit just south of Payson and showed Matthew Glen's favorite fishing pond in Spring Lake.  It is the one where every grand child catches a fish.  I made him pull over so that I could take a picture of this view of the temple.

New Phoenix, Arizona Temple

Before leaving Arizona last Monday, we went to the open house for the newly built Phoenix Temple.  It is located a couple of miles west of the I 17 on Pinnacle Peak Road.  It is a smaller temple than the other newest temple in Arizona, the Gilbert Temple, but is also incredibly beautiful.  It sits on the north side of Pinnacle Peak Road amid desert foothills with the main entrance facing east and a golf course across the road to the south.

We watched a short film about the building of the temple and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Phoenix area at the Stake Center to the east before being led by our tour guide on a quiet tour of the temple.  Pictures are only taken on the outside of the temple due to the sacred space it is for members of the Church.  My husband served others by taking their pictures for them at the end of our tour.

We were there in the early morning while the moon was still visible and the air a bit cooler.  A figure of the Angel Moroni, an important figure in the Book of Mormon and in the early restoration of the Church, stands atop a spire at most Mormon Temples.

Each temple has commonalities as well as special motifs which are personal to that temple.

The Phoenix Temple uses this leaf motif through out the temple and the oval shape is prominent.  These motifs are also repeated in beautiful inlaid marble floors.

This is the main entrance which is open by tour to the general public until November 1, 2014.

Later in November, it will be dedicated to the Lord and admittance will be for worthy members of the Church as they preform sacred ordinances and make sacred covenants. It will remain a place of peace and spiritual enlightenment like other temples around the world.  Temples have been an important part of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ for over 175 years.

To learn more about this beautiful temple go here.

If you live in the Phoenix area, plan a visit during the next two weeks.  You will be glad that you did.

A few fun things

I wanted to share a few fun things that came my way this week.  Someone contacted me wanting to use my Angel Moroni on the Provo City Center Temple photo for a seminary graduation program.  I was honored.

I have been participating in a Farmer's Wife Revival Block Class on Craftsy, 10 blocks per class with a new class each month.  Karen Walker, the instructor, asked to use this picture of my first set as the image for this month's class advertising.  Again, I was honored plus I received my month 5 class instructions as a gift.

There is one more great place in Tempe, Arizona celebrating a 50 year anniversary in 2014.  Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium began construction in 1962 and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  It was completed 25 months later in 1964.  One of the things I loved about my new school experience in Arizona was music appreciation.  We would study and learn to recognize classic pieces of music during the school year and then were bused to the Gammage to hear an orchestra play the pieces we had learned and studied about.  This unusual building sits on the southwest corner of the Arizona State University campus at the corner of Mill Avenue and Apache Boulevard.  When I went to ASU I would often park at the Gammage when there were no events scheduled.  I borrowed this photo from the ASU web site.  I picked this one because that is irrigation water providing the reflected image.  That is another great thing about Arizona, irrigation.  I loved it when the neighborhood would be flooded with their water quota every two weeks or so.

Manti Temple

From Fairview, we continued south on Highway 89 passing through Mt. Pleasant which my ancestors helped settle.  Then we came upon the beautiful Manti Temple.

I couldn't resist stopping on such a lovely day with amazing clouds and more subdued light.

There is truly something special about this particular temple, the architecture, the way it stands on a rise and greets travelers on the 89.

We pulled into the cemetery on the other side of the highway so that I could snap some pictures.  I really am showing just a few.

Then we drove around to the south side.

I loved those windowed towers and the way the sky shines through.

I've decided that this is where I want to stay in the future for an overnight.

A little cottage across the street from the temple.

Payson Temple progress

The Payson Utah Temple is now very visible from Interstate 15.

We decided to take the next exit to get a closer view.

In Arizona they fight the heat in the summer as they build the Gilbert Arizona Temple.  In Payson Utah they are fighting the cold.

It sits just north of an LDS chapel.

There are many new homes being built in the surrounding area.

These pictures were taken mid-day.  Utah has been under an inversion layer of cold air for days.  These pictures give one an idea of what that is like.  It gets old fast.  The temple, however, will be beautiful.  I look forward to following its progress.  A few days later when we left to drive back to Arizona early in the morning, it was still dark but as we passed the temple it glowed.  The lights on inside beamed through the plastic covering and it was beautiful.