Temple Trips: April 2023

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Bountiful Utah Temple

My second temple is my beloved Bountiful Temple. James and I were married there in 1995

When I was in high school, President Ezra Taft Benson announced in general conference that a new temple would be built in Bountiful Utah, my hometown! I remember attending the ground breaking, where we had to park very far away and walk to the site where my temple would be built! We walked in a huge group of people and I felt like we were walking to Zion! I decided that day that I wanted to be the first bride married in the Bountiful Temple, my temple!

I graduated from high school and went away to college, but when I visited home I checked on the progress of my temple. A couple years later, I got engaged to my husband James. We planned our wedding over Thanksgiving weekend in the Salt Lake Temple. But the Bountiful Temple would be dedicated only a couple months later, and I'd wanted so badly to be married there! So I talked James into waiting until the Bountiful Temple opened, and we were married on the day the temple opened, January 17, 1995. I could have been the first bride to be married there if I had wanted to, but I would have had to be married at 5:30 in the morning! I chose 2 o'clock instead, and I was the 35th bride married on the day the Bountiful Temple opened. We were married in sealing room 7.

Years later, in 2000, we were sealed to our twins in that same sealing room. We had adopted them after being their foster parents for 15 months, and were blessed to be sealed to them in the same place that our Eternity began. Our other three boys were also there with us, everyone dressed in white. And even many more years later, in 2022, our son James was married to his beautiful bride Ellie in the Bountiful Temple also. I have been to this temple more than any other temple, and it will always be "my temple." For many years as our children were growing up in Lander, Wyoming, we made monthly trips to Bountiful to stay with my parents and attend the temple. They knew how important the temple was to us, even from a very young age. And now for many of them, the temple is just as important!

If you are visiting Bountiful to attend the temple, don't miss trying out Nielsen's Frozen Custard. Every time we go to visit Bountiful, we always get some frozen custard and other treats at Nielsen's, it's our family's favorite. There are also lots of other fun places to eat in Bountiful, like Pace's Dairy Ann, and my all-time favorite, the Olive Garden. The Bountiful Temple is located at 640 South Bountiful Boulevard.

January 17, 1995

James' brothers Andy and Eric at our wedding

James and I with our parents at the temple

Our parents and grandparents at our wedding

All of our wedding guests and family on our wedding day, 1995

James' parents

my parents

The beautiful view from the Bountiful Temple

The Bountiful Temple on my son James' wedding day

James and Ellie on their wedding day

James and Ellie's wedding guests and family

James and Ellie and James' grandparents

James and I at the Bountiful Temple, 2022

2022 James and Ellie on their wedding day

The Bountiful Temple on our twins' sealing day, 2000

2000 on our twins' sealing day

Our family on the twins' sealing day

2000

2014

My son James in 2018 before his mission

2023, our daughter Rebecca attending an endowment session with us at the Bountiful Temple

2017, our kids at the Bountiful Temple

View of the temple from inside the atrium, taken in July 2024.

Monday, April 24, 2023

Provo Utah Temple

The Provo Utah Temple was my 3rd temple in 1995

2018 my son James and I at the Provo Temple

2018

View from the Provo Temple in 2023

March 2023, a frosty morning at the Provo Temple

James and I in 2016 at the Provo Temple

2017, my son Ethan and I at the Provo Temple

The Provo Temple was my third temple. When James and I were attending BYU, we attended the Provo Temple on a regular basis. This was in the days before the Provo City Center Temple had been built, and the Provo Temple was incredibly busy. Sometimes we waited in the chapel through three cycles of people leaving for their sessions before we finally got into an endowment session. Luckily the sessions were just twenty minutes apart at that time. After the Provo City Center and Mount Timpanogos Temples opened, it was much easier to get into an endowment session at the Provo Temple, even without an appointment.

It was a little bit entertaining to attend the Provo Temple because I felt so much older than everyone there! Missionaries and BYU students attend the Provo Temple in huge numbers and it is pretty fun to sit in the midst of them in an endowment session. The Provo Temple closed for major renovations in February 2024, right after the Orem Temple was dedicated. It will be hard on the missionaries and BYU students who are used to walking a short distance to attend the Provo temple. I was very blessed to be able to attend the Provo Temple one more time before it closed for renovations. I'll always remember it as the "Birthday Cake Temple," and I'm sure it will look much different when it opens again.

My favorite thing about the Provo Temple is the beautiful mural in the chapel where we wait to go into the endowment room. I especially love the way the little boys are looking at the Savior. I hope this mural will still exist in the newly renovated Provo Temple somewhere.

I have stayed at a few different hotels in Provo. The Residence Inn by Marriott is the closest to campus, and very nice, but a bit pricey. I've also stayed at Hyatt Place at 180 W 100 N, which was also very nice but didn't have parking when I stayed there. I stayed at the Ramada Inn by Wyndham on University Avenue, which was clean and affordable, and ideal for someone on a budget. But I also stayed at the Hampton Inn on University Avenue recently, and that is where I would stay again. It is only about ten minutes from BYU campus. I've stayed in a couple different Airbnb's in Provo. One is listed below, and we loved this one. It was very clean, modern, and had lots of beds for everyone:

Home in Provo

The other was at the link below. It is the upstairs of a house and has 2 bedrooms with king beds. It was nice, although the neighborhood did make me a little bit nervous. It was affordable, though, and clean:

Upstairs Home in Provo

Provo has just about every place to eat that you can think of. My favorites are the Olive Garden, Cafe Rio, Zupa's, and Leatherby's. If you come to Provo for the first time, must-see destinations include Bridal Veil Falls, the walking path along the Provo River, and BYU campus. Since it's a college town, there's always plenty of things to do. Hiking, biking, walking the river trail, dancing, events on campus, etc.