Monday, May 8, 2023

The Casper Wyoming Temple

Casper Wyoming Temple

The Casper Wyoming Temple, my 65th Temple

I remember when the Casper Wyoming Temple was announced in general conference in April 2021. I immediately started getting texts from friends and family who knew how excited I would be to have a temple so close-by! The Casper temple is about 2 1/2 hours from us! We watched with anticipation as progress was made on the temple, driving past the site each time we visited Casper. Unfortunately it took much longer to construct than we expected, but finally it was completed and an open house was held from August 29th until September 14th, 2024. The original dedication date was October 13th, but it got pushed back nearly a month and a half.

The temple was finally dedicated on November 24, 2024 by Elder Cook from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It is located at 3011 Independence Court in Casper. My favorite thing about the Casper Temple are the paintings in the foyer of Devil's Gate and pioneers crossing the planes. It makes me happy to know that our pioneer heritage in Wyoming is being commemorated in the artwork of our temple. I also love the painting of a woman in the women's dressing room, that I think may be Rebekah.

The temple is only 9.950 square feet. There is one endowment room, one sealing room, one baptistry, 2 initiatory booths in each dressing room, and one Celestial room. There is no chapel, so patrons go directly into the endowment room when going on a session. The sealing room can double as an endowment room if needed, but I've never seen it done. Also, it is probably the only sealing room I've ever seen that doesn't have the "eternity mirrors" in it.

The completed temple in January 2024

These photos were taken in April of 2023 during construction:

We visited the temple again in February 2024 and saw what appeared to be a completed temple:

The completed temple in December 2024, the first time we attended the dedicated temple, my 65th temple!

Location of the Casper Temple

The Casper Temple at dusk in August 2025

These beautiful flowers were on the grounds of the Casper Temple in September of 2025

September 2025

Visiting Casper

Casper does have a small airport. I've never flown out of it, but my son did fly into it once. Flights are limited. There are a lot of places to eat in Casper, my favorite being the Olive Garden. There is also a fun diner in Casper called Johnny J's Diner. Its google maps location is here: Johnny J's Diner

There are pioneer sites within an hour driving distance of Casper. Martin's Cove is the most famous, but Independence Rock is only a 52 minute drive from the Casper Temple. The google maps location is here: Independence Rock The official state parks website is here: Independence Rock You can easily walk up the rock as long as you have tennis shoes on -- it's pretty steep so I wouldn't recommend trying to climb it with flip flops on.

Climbing Independence Rock in July 2025

Jordan River Utah Temple

My First Temple

My own endowment in 1995 at the Jordan River Temple

A Relief Society trip in 2014 at the Jordan River Temple

I received my own endowment at the Jordan River Temple. It is located at 10200 South Temple Drive in South Jordan, Utah. It was dedicated in 1981, and rededicated in 2018. I chose to receive my endowment at the Jordan River Temple because the Bountiful Temple didn't open until my wedding day, so I chose the next closest temple besides the Salt Lake Temple. I received my endowment 3 days before my wedding day.

I have attended the Jordan River Temple many times since then. I love the landscape paintings that hang in the temple, the stained glass, and the absolutely spectacular view from the temple at night. When we attend the Jordan River Temple, we usually like to eat at Mod's Pizza, which is very closeby. We had a funny experience related to this temple! Jamey's fiance Ellie also received her endowment at this temple. Jamey was on his way from work and called us on his drive over. James and I were eating dinner at Mod Pizza. He said he'd arrive at the temple soon. We headed to the temple, got dressed and went to the chapel. We met Ellie's grandma and other relatives in the chapel. We didn't see Jamey, though. We headed up with the group to the endowment room and I told the workers standing outside the door that my son wasn't there yet. They said, "that's all right, he can go on the next session." I said, "no, this is his fiance's living endowment session!" They said, "oh, OK, let's go find him!" They took James to search for him. I went in the endowment room and saw Ellie there, looking around nervously, obviously wondering where Jamey was! Then finally, after waiting for what felt like a very long time, Jamey and James came running in, and the session began. We found out after the session, that Jamey had driven to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, thinking it was the Jordan River Temple. He got dressed and went in the chapel. When he didn't see anyone he recognized he went to talk to a temple worker. They figured out that he was at the wrong temple! He raced out of the temple and sped to Jordan River, and barely made it into the session! He was certainly lucky to have made it! It will always be a memory that we can laugh about for years to come!