What an exciting year it has been for us watching this new beautiful temple come to life. We feel so lucky to live in the shadow of the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. 
It brought us many opportunities to serve even before it was dedicated. I worked with the Youth in our Stake as we prepared a dance to celebrate this new temple. We performed the dance for President Monson. Then Dan and I volunteered with the open house that was held during June and July. We helped with food, parking, security, and I even got the chance to sit at the front door and count (with a clicker) the many people that came from all over to see the beautiful inside. In my small 5 hour shift that day, I counted almost 2000 people. I read that over 600,000 people came to visit the temple before it was dedicated on August 23rd.
During June we had horrible weather. Rain, wind, hail, and lots of lightning. Angel Moroni was struck by lightning during that time and his right arm and face turned black. It looks like a shadow on his arm but really it's burnt. It stayed that way until right before the dedication. They replaced it with a new and very shiny Angel Moroni. We sat out in our driveway and watched them take down the burnt one and replace it with the new one. It was pretty fun watching that amazing task.
We went with Dan's dad Dave and sister Lacey and my family to the open house. The inside is beautiful. It was nice to be able to share this experience with the ones we love.
This is the view we get when we drive down Bangerter Highway. Every time we drive by it, Rylee will yell "there's the Temple!". You can see it from all over the southwest end of the valley, so she's constantly yelling that. Sometimes she'll break out singing I Love To See The Temple.
This is my favorite! At night, the the temple lights up the sky. It sits on a hill so it looks like it's just floating. Some times I find myself just staring at it. You could say it's breath taking!!
The Oquirrh Mountains behind it make the perfect back drop. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place! And we're extra lucky to have a temple so close to our house.
Temple DedicationAugust 23, 2009
