Salt Lake Temple Exhibit & Temple Square

Steven and I went to Temple Square a couple weeks ago to see the miniature Salt Lake Temple replica. We went on the perfect day. It had just stopped raining and the weather was wonderful.

The replica was so amazingly detailed! It's like they cut off the side of the temple and let you look inside. VERY cool to see.

I had no idea that the corner spires were staircases. But then, how else would they get from level to level years ago? Crazy cool! Now we are spoiled with elevators and escalators inside.

Of course I remember (and most of you will too) this room the most. I spent many a mutual night doing baptisms for the dead at the Salt Lake Temple through my teenage years. Brings back lots of memories. Especially two bishopric members baptizing me who were about a foot shorter than me. You learn to "crouch". :D

I was amazed at the attention to detail of the Celestial room. It looks EXACTLY like this! I love this room for it's beauty and the peace I've felt while sitting in there. I've sat and talked with my mom in here for hours. I love the Celestial room. I've never felt more that we are all brothers and sisters and Children of Heavenly Father than I have while in the celestial room with my family AND many complete strangers. Man, I need to go again! Everyone should, it's a wonderful place to be.

Here you can see about how big the replica is. They have touch screen TV's around the exhibit that tell you about each room and show you up close pictures of them all. Everyone should see this exhibit! It's in the south visitor's center if you're interested!

They have changed the whole upper floor of the building to relate to temples and tell about their history, specifically the Salt Lake Temple. I loved the Angel Moroni and the exterior close up displays.

We walked around the temple for a while afterwards and just sat and stared. Being on the temple grounds is just so peaceful and makes you ponder everything. I love being on Temple Square!

This is the tree my parents sat on the day they were married. Now it's chained off and supported by metal rods, and they placed a chair in front for people to sit on.

The flowers and landscaping are spectacular. I especially liked this cluster of flowers and really want to find out what they are.

We were leaving just as the sun was setting, and the reflection pool was glowing gold and making the temple shine.

I think the Tabernacle looks great since they refinished the roof. And don't forget the sister missionaries! Temple square wouldn't be the same without them. Steven and I "get" to talk to them every time we go. He knows what I mean by "get" :)

I don't think I've had a better time at Temple Square my entire life. Of course it helps when you have someone's hand to hold as you walk through. That makes everything there that much more amazing.

Curfew......what curfew?

After the YSA summit carnival and dance, Rachel and I drove downtown to browse temple square a bit. It was 11pm, very dark, lots of weirdos(including us), and very entertaining. For me at least.

While I was trying to take some pictures, Rachel entertained herself by swinging on objects, running around wildly, and making the occasional "whoop" noise. I pretended not to know her

I tried to get some symmetrical and close up pictures of the temple, but there were millions (ok, like 5) couples glued together in their smushyness practically making out, all of them of course in the way. So Rachel and I trekked off to find a better place with no PDA involved. We found a secluded spot by one of the church's office buildings.


We even got rained on a bit. We didn't mind though, it got rid of some of the overly affectionate couples.


It's been fun visiting all the temples in the valley. Last night my parents and I went to do a session at the Jordan River Temple. We're so blessed to have so many temples nearby. I need to go more often. So should you all. guilt............


Rachel took the camera. Again she succeeds in taking the worst picture of me possible. I don't know how she does it.


Rachel had a thing for swinging on the poles that night. Right after this picture, she hit her head. She then moved on to the whooping at random cars. I have no idea where the insanity comes from.


This week for family night we drove off to see another work-in-progress temple. This one is the Draper. You have to climb quite the mountain side to get to it. It's surrounded by mansions and castles. I'm not even joking. Many were up for touring in the parade of homes. They were gigantic. I thought it was unique how the angel Moroni has a golden platform on this temple. Like they wanted to make sure he was extra tall or something..


We have the worst timing as a family. Each time we go see a temple, it's getting dark and I can only get couple pictures that are really dark. One of these days I'll go alon during the day and get some good ones.

Entrance at the conference center. Did you know the garbage cans along the doors aren't bolted down? I refuse to reveal the outcome of Rachel and I gaining that knowledge for fear of criminal charges. It wasn't that illegal.

All in all, it was a fun night with the carnival and then a couple hours downtown. We didn't exactly keep track of time and got home around 1am. We don't officially have a curfew at home. We never needed one because we were responsible teenagers. Just don't mention anything about garbage cans, random cars and a security camera to my parents and we'll be fine.

Happenings of late

Tonight for family night we all jumped in the car drove to see the progress of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in Daybreak/South Jordan. The angel Moroni is up, but still lots of exterior and interior work going on. They don't have windows up yet and you can see the lights of the workers inside. It's still gated off because of the construction going on, but I still got some decent pictures. I'm excited for it to be finished because our stake is being re-assigned to this temple instead of the Salt Lake Temple.

Here is the back view (facing east). Right now it looks like a yellow temple with no windows.


Here's a view from the front (facing west) of the angel Moronit that was recently put on the spire. The spire itself isn't quite finished, I think it looks like lace though. Kind of cool. Lovely chain link fence for added depth.


Silhouette of the spire.


How did this beast get in here?


This was my first attempted picture with a slow shutter speed and high ISO while we were driving. I waited until a car drove past to get a cool picture. BUMP!!!! It made it look like the car jumped over the median and disintigrated.


Cool B & W version of the spire.


Another back view.


Lots of construction going on even at 8pm. All the lights were on inside.


Oh, I finally cut Rachel's bangs like I promised. It only took 2 weeks from when I dyed her hair. She loves them, and now I'm debating wether or not to chop some of my own.

Yay for music!

I finally have music on my blog! Shuffle on down to the bottom of my page and you can pick the song to listen to from my playlist while you visit. If you can't find anything you like, suggest it (by email, still no blasted comments yet) and I'll add it. I have 60 more slots available for new songs, so gove me some suggestions. Sweet no?


I've been doing spring cleaning, well pre-spring cleaning that is, the past two weeks. I felt so guilty just throwing things away or giving them to the D.I. for nothing. Guilty as in I-paid-good-money-for-these-I-want-something-for-them, guilty. Greed I guess you could call it. So I set up my seller's account with KSL.com and EBAY. So far I've made $30 on ebay for a glass dish I originally bought for $3, and $20 at ksl.com for a dress I originally bought for $5. I was so excited I almost peed my pants. Not really, but I was excited none the less.


I added a link of KSL stuff to the left if you wanna hop on over and have a look. Not an ebay link yet, I only had one item there. I'll add a link when I have lots of stuff. Also my facebook link. Yay.


I see Tony finally joined this past week. Boy are we all internet-aholics or what?


I get sustained for my new calling tomorrow. Don't tell anyone I told you, but I'm the new 11-12yr-olds primary teacher. It's a co-teaching thing with another lady in my ward. I play volleyball with her and love her to death so it should be fun. Although, secretly, I'm hoping someone will object in the "any opposed?" question so I can get out of it, but I doubt it. I don't think I'm a very good teacher. I always feel like I'm rambling. Plus I'd much rather take the easy road in church. Go, sit, listen, enjoy, go home. Not, Prepare, study, get nervous, mess up, bore children to tears, go home, do it again next week. I guess I need a calling sooner or later. I could opt out and just go to a singles ward. But no car yet. Hmmm, we'll see. Oh Tony, I think I'm the new teacher for one of your nephews. Is one of them 11 or 12?


I have been avoising the temple these days. Hassle to drive there, iron my dress, get someone to go with me, etc. I love being there, but Satan works his magic to give me reasons not to go. You wanna know the recent lame excuse? My shoes don't fit in my temple bag very good. I can't zip it shut. Plus the shoes I got are toe-squishing. So Friday I was determined to get rid of all excuses and plan a day next week. I even ordered new shoes that are more like slippers so I can fold them in my bag. I'm going next week, no if's and's or but's.


How is it that no matter how many bobby pins a girl purchases, she always loses every SINGLE one of them, and has to buy more? I've gone all week without being able to find any bobby pins, which I use about 8 in my hair daily, and I was going nuts. I went to Walmart with Michael and bought two stacks of them. Maybe I'll just make it a monthly regular purchase. Like toilet paper, or deoderant. I think I will.


So I got sick of staring at my debit card picture. I had my family on it and the picture was blurry, the numbers faded, and I needed an update. So my new debit card will look like THIS!!

I love America First because they let you choose your own picture.(yes, join this credit union for that SOLE purpose) and what better thing to look at than Gir from Invader Zim? Such a cutey pie.

Lately I've been up all night unable to sleep with migraines, (big change there) and tonight no exception. As you can tell this post is at 4:30am. I think I may die tomorrow if I have to wake up earlier than 2pm. But I have to go to church to get sustained and set apart. i better run off to bed I guess.

Yesterday I recieved my Endowment 6.14.07

All I can think of right now is, WOW. You think you know what to excpect when you go through the temple, but you can't even comprehend the feelings you experience when recieving your endowment. I wish I could write down every little detail and how I felt about each part. It was an awe inspiring event that I will cherish my entire life.
I chose to go to the Salt Lake Temple as they have the live endowment session. The Salt Lake and Logan Temple are the only two in the world that have the live endowment. All other temples have the videos. I also chose the Salt Lake temple because it's where my parents were married and is where I promised myself when I was 12 years old that I would be married in that temple.
There is SO much to learn in the temple! You wouldn't believe what a learning experience it is. I now understand completely why we need to go to the temple and return as much as possible. It pertains to our Eternal Salvation to recieve our endowment, be sealed in the temple and return often to learn everything in the temple.
I have never felt so at peace in my life and so happy that I knew I was clean to enter the temple and then come out an even better person with such a strong desire to do my best in this life, which desire I never thought possible for me. You gain an awesome understanding of the plan of salvation. You just have to go to the temple!!!!!!!!
When the session is complete, you end up in the celestial room. A ton of people came to the session I was in, as it was a live endowment. Even my coworker who's brother in law was going through for his mission was there. Anyway, the Celestial room, you can stay as long as you want and ponder, read scriptures, pray. whatever. The room is so GORGEOUS!!! I could stay there forever. It's on the top floor of the temple, so there are stained glass windows the sun shines through, and a magnificent chandelier in the center of the room. You see everyone in the same clothes, all there for the same reason. It's amazing how you feel a sense of belonging and that everyone there is your brother and sister. It's just amazing. I can't wait for all of you to eventually go through the temple (I believe all of you will one day be it this year, or 20 years away) and experience the spirit and power. I can't wait to go WITH all my friends. I wouldn't want anyone left out of it. My family came, Lema (Michelle's Fiance), and my grandma. My little sister of course couldn't come, but I will be able to go through with her. Randy also couldn't for his own personal reasons(He screwed up) and that was really sad. I felt real sorrow that he couldn't come. not the sorrow that is a pity "I'm more righteous than you" thing, but that he is my brother and I wanted him to be there, as well as with our family for eternity. I hope he gets his life in order and things taken care of. As I want all of you to partake in the blessings of the temple. You are all my brothers and sisters and I want you with me in the nest life and to have everything I've been able to experience. Make yourselves worthy and make this a main priority in your lives. It changes you and your outlook on life. I love the temple and am going to try and go once a week before I leave on my mission. I know I'll get to go to the Provo temple while in the MTC as well as the Manhatten Temple when I get to New York.
Holy Cow!! check out my mission countdown!!! I can't believe how time is flying. I'm not ready yet!!! A month and 2 weeks. Get your backside in gear Becca!!!!
Oh, I just remembered. I mentioned my grandma came, turns out she recieved her endowment 50 years ago to the day I recieved mine. Wasn't even plannes that way!! My Grandma and my mom both recieved a Spanish woman's name to go through for. Coincidence? I think not.
Right when we were about to leave The woman who played Eve through the session came up tp me and said, "You must be a missionary" turns out she just got back from the Palmyra, New York Mission with her husband. She said they learned to spot out the good missionaries after three years of being in the mission field. *grin* what a compliment!!!
Before you go through the session, they brief all the new people on the session so you're not completely confused about it. Their were a couple of girls getting married, and Me and another soon to be missionary. The other missionary leaves the same day (Aug 1st) to Pennsylvania, and the lady doing the talking said a girl went through a session before us that was going to the SAME mission as me and it was spanish speaking, and leaves August 1st!!!! That was probably one of my future companions!!!
Yesterday was quite the day. I came home exhausted and crashed on the couch for the night. I managed to survive going to Denny'swith everyone for dinner after the temple and stay awake. It was a three hour long session!! I was still pretty sick from my tea drinking day. I went thorugh a box of the temple tissues in the time I was there for the session. I didn't even go to work yesterday in hopes I would feel good enough to go to the temple by the end of the day. Today I'm at work still nursing a cold/allergies type of thing. My eyes won't stop watering and everyone thinks I'm crying. Oh well, only 3 hours left, and I am so far behind in my work I'll be nice and busy to make it go by fast. Then, the loverly weekend. YAY!!!
When I was getting ready my mom gsaid she had a flower for me kind of as an endowment gift (other than all thr temple clothes she bought me which was gift enough!!) She said sh wanted to give it to me now because it would go bad if we left it in the hot car during the temple session. She came out of her closet with this 2 ft tall tube of candy/chocolate covered sunflower seeds that had this big sunflower at the top. If you haven't seen or tried these little candies, you HAVE TO!!! they are so DELISH, possibly becoming one of my favorite candies next to Gushers and Hot Cheetos. Sad thing is, they are about 3 bucks for 4oz. Worth it though if you like them as much as I do!! My camera battery died last night so I have to charge it for a full 12 hrs before it will work again, I have pictures of all of yesterday and post them as soon as I can. Still working on the MOAB pics, please have patience.

Bec
Hey, I'm coming down to the Provo/Orem area on saturday FYI. My mom, dad, sister and I are coming to see the museum @ BYU with all the paintings of Christ. I plan on taking tons of pictures. Also we are stopping at IKEA on the way home, just to scope out the place..

Life as of Late

My older sister got engaged last night. She has known him for 3 days. Well, not technically. SHe has been emailing him and calling him every day for thr past month and he just last weekend came (indefinately) to Utah to meet her. They have been attached at the hip since friday. Last night under some fake palm trees at the valley fair mall, he proposed on one knee. No one was around and their was no ring. Kind of sentimental I think. I hope it all works out for them. And there is a 50/50 chance of them moving back to Hawaii where he lives. If not, they will stay in Utah. He is polynesian (Somoan to be exact) he's 22 (she's 25) his name in Lemalea Laulu (pronounced Lema-lee-ay, La-oo-loo) But he goes by Lema. Michelle Laulu. Lots of L's in that name. She's getting married on June 30 (SOON!!) So, I'm hoping my bishop will let me get my endowments a week early and be able to go to their wedding.

Oh speaking of - When I do get my endowments I will probably invite all those friends and family who are endowed to go through the session, and then everyone (endowed & not) to dinner afterwords at Olive Garden. So June 23 is when I will probably go through the temple. Leave you calendar's clear! It will be the Salt Lake Temple btw.

Yesterday I did some research on Bermuda. My mom has gone nuts with New York and gotten every book from the library imaginable and my brain has O.D.'s on New York Facts and culture. I'm way excited though. But about Bermuda; Population is about 65,000 about half and half African American and White. English is the official language with portugese in second. They didn't actually mention Spanish at all. odd. It is $6/gallon for gas. Glad I'll be walking. You drive from the west side of the island in an hour and walk across it north to south in about 15 minutes. Very small place. It said on the website that tourists/visitors can stay no longer than 21 days no matter what and they are very strict about it. I wonder how that works with missionaries. Bermuda is sub-ruled by the U.K. but has their own laws and government so they are kind of like their own country. No one would even be living their unless a ship on course to Virginia in the 16oo's hadn't shipwrecked. They have a mid-high crime rate in Bermuda. They said on the travel site to lock your doors day and night, and never carry a purse because you'll get robbed. *comforting* So there is the history of Bermuda in a coconut shell.

Last night I ordered my Mission shoes. I knew is would be nearly impossible to find COMFORTABLE walking dressy church shoes that were approved for a mission. That would be like trying to find a tip of a needle in a hay binding plant. So, I started my search the day I decided to go on a mission. After 100's of shoe sites, I finally found some good ones with shoes that might work (Toni, pay attention!!!!!) Onlineshoes.com has large women's shoes(cute too) with decent prices, Footsmart.com has all the REALLY comfy ones, and Massey's.com has a small variety, mostly in the wide department. Also, Amazon.com has quite a selection for size 12 women's shoe. That's where I got my boots. So ina couple weeks when they all get here, cross you fingers they will all fit!!! Here they are!!!

Cute huh? They have to be conservitive, black or brown, close toe, closed heel and no more than 1 1/2' heel. But still, I think they are cute. These are the shoes I'll be wearing for 18 months other than P-days once a week. These suckers better last too. I spent $254 for all three. Big feet suck.

I bought my winter coat today during lunch. I got a wool one for less than $100!!!! sweet. Very good find If I do say so. This is a pic, but imagine it in black. I'll feel like I'm in the Matrix!!!

Well, there is the update on me as of late. Tomorrow The Orem (well, one of em') chicks will be getting together for a girls night out. Going shopping tonight to get everything for it. So excited!!!!!

Oh, for an ending story- Today after lunch I took a quick walk around the building to help me digest(McD's is not the easiest thing to stomach) and while admiring the greenery around the building I heard a *Crunch*. Looked down and I had just murdered about a thousand ants. My flip flop is a graveyard. GROSS!! From now on I'll watch where I'm going an try not kill things during my lunch hour.

Have a fantabulous day!!!!!
Bec

77 days till I leave to the MTC