Temple Tour 2k15

Here in Utah we are SO incredibly blessed to have temples within a 15 minute distance of us. When we live in South Jordan, we were blessed to have two temples in our own suburb. While living here in Orem, we have the Timpanogas and Provo temple so close to us. On top of that, we knew that the Provo City Center Temple would be completed in early 2016. We decided we would make it our goal to visit every temple in Utah before the years end.

Our criteria was:

• Visit each temple before the end of 2015
• Attend either an Endowment session, Sealing or Initiatory
• Attend even the temples we had previously been to

 The tour was an adventure to say the least! We mapped out each trip, made sure we could fit it into our calendar and our budgets. 

The Temples to visit were: 

• Logan
• Brigham City
• Ogden
• Bountiful
• Salt Lake City
• Jordan River 
• Oquirrh
• Draper
• Mount Timpanogas 
• Provo
• Payson
•  Manti
• Monitcello
• Vernal
• St. George 

SO, I have posted these pictures in the order in which we went to them, except for the Salt Lake City Temple..

Our first Temple on the list was the Provo Temple. We have been here countless times. Me especially since I went almost every week for the two years Bryan was on his mission. But, no matter if we had been before - we wanted/ needed to go again per our criteria. During this visit, we decided to do a sealing. We had done endowments here quite a few times, but had never experienced a sealing in this temple. The sealing room was small, beautiful and HOT. I had woken up late this Saturday and had only eaten a granola bar. I figured it would be fine since we were going to lunch afterwards. Welp. That was false. As we were kneeling across the alter, I began to feel dizzy. I didn't want to say anything because we were in the middle of a sealing. Before I knew it, they were waking me up because I had passed out. Smooth move Chels. Man, that room was incredibly hot. They opened the door and allowed me to take off a lot of my temple clothes so that I could cool down. We definitely made sure to get me some food right after that!

The Timpanogas Temple is a beauty. I've also been here quite a few times, but this was my first time doing an endowment. It was beautiful and we had a great time. We did have a hard time finding someone to take a decent picture afterward though! I swear we had like 5 different people take a picture for us.. Thank goodness we finally got one. However, you can bet Bryan was not a happy camper about the amount of pictures we had to take to get this one!

The Bountiful Temple was amazing! I had been here for baptisms once before. I don't recall if Bryan had been before... Anyways. Last minute we invited my childhood friend Laura (Farr) Haws. Her husband and her were free and decided to meet us there. I really enjoyed being able to go to the Temple with her! I couldn't help thinking how crazy it was to be in the Temple with her. We grew up together since we were five years old. We had always dreamed of "Going to the Temple someday". It was amazing to me that we were there together, and with our husbands. She even has a son. How crazy is that? This temple was beautiful as well. I especially loved the veil room.

My favorite picture from this day. Loved being together.

Oquirrh Mountain. This was my second temple. When I say it was my "second", I mean that I grew up with the Salt Lake Temple being "MY" temple. But this was my second after we moved to South Jordan. I was in the Temple Celebration choir before this temple was dedicated. During that time I gained a special testimony of President Monson. We sang "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet" as he entered the conference center. I felt so strongly he was our prophet. At the end, he passed by me and shook my hand. He even cracked a little joke. Every time I got here, I remember that experience.  I was also endowed here, so it reminds me so very much of that special day with Bryan. When everything was becoming so real that he was going to be my husband forever. Anyways, tangent over. We actually did baptisms for the dead for this one. My little sister Lizzie received her first recommend. We decided to go as a family and do family names. What a special experienced it was!!! AH. Seeing that sweet little girl do baptisms, and being able to do work for our Great Grandparents. Incredible. She was so nervous about being dunked in the water that we went before her so she could "see how it was done". It was also so fun because Bryan was able to baptize and confirm all of us. I sure love being able to call him mine. I'm so grateful we were able to enjoy that experience together.

Next up: Jordan River Temple.

This day brings back a lot of memories. We had planned to go to the Temple after work. Bryan was working at his Summer job. The plan was for me to ride the FrontRunner to work, ride it to South Jordan after work, and then be picked up by Bryan. I got to work late due to the FrontRunner having issues. I waited forever for it at the stop, but it didn't come. A girl waiting with me decided she wasn't going to wait any longer, and she offered me a ride. I was thankful especially since work had been stressful as of late, and I felt bad being so late to work. When we arrived, I thank her and went straight to work. I got going and it was a crazy morning. I was trying to get a few things straightened out when Brandon came in and told me to do something that was no longer in my job description. Angela had told me not to do those kinds of things for him, so I explained that to him and he FREAKED. He was really angry. Shortly after that, Angela and Ron wanted me to go to Ron's office. Ron shut the door and said "Chelsea, it isn't working out. It is time for us to part ways." I was stunned. I had given them everything. He said if I signed a document saying they weren't at fault and neither was I, then they would give me severance pay. I signed the document, took the check and waited for him to excuse me. He said he "hoped that the check would help us get by until I found a new job since he didn't want us to struggle". I'm sure. Well, I told him "Oh, I already have a new job". Oh the anger that came to his face. I'm not going to lie, that felt good. He asked why I hadn't told him sooner and when I was planning on telling him. This wasn't any of his business especially because he was letting me go because of nepotism. I said "I was going to give you a few weeks notice, since the last person that did was practically forced out since you didn't want to pay her anymore". It felt good to tell him what I thought, and I cleaned out, and got out. When I realized the betrayal, I began to cry. I didn't have a way home, because Bryan wasn't supposed to pick me up for hours. I called Staci and she came to get me. I was hurting because I had given them so much of my last 3 years. It hurt to know that they were willing to throw me away for Angela's sister who had been there not even 2 months. I'm just so grateful that I had listened to the prompting to find a new job, and that I had taken a teaching job. I cried a bit. Waited at Bryan's parents house and they consoled me and reminded me of my prompting. They were very sweet and I was grateful. They decided they wanted to take me to dinner for "getting a new job" that night. I said yes, but that we still wanted to go the Temple first. I fixed my face, got ready and waited for Bryan. We went to the Jordan River Temple and did initiatories. I remember feeling so much peace in there. I knew, and we knew that what they did was wrong - but that the Lord was truly watching out for us. We knew that my new job was the answer. We felt so blessed that day, in spite of Angela and Ron.

Selfie in Beautiful St George

The St George Temple was amazing. A more detailed most is linked here. I LOVE pioneer temples. They are so special and so beautiful. It amazes me at how pioneers were able to create and build such a beautiful building with their resources. The veil room was my favorite. Such beautiful colors and so wonderfully designed. We had a wonderful time together here. I was so grateful that my first time attending this temple was with Bryan.

Brigham City. This temple is so cute! It is the so small, but incredibly beautiful. Sadly, we only had time for initiatories because we had to get to a family event. We plan to go back again to experience and endowment. The ladies in the temple were the sweetest. Bryan and I had had a rough start to our day. It's crazy how Satan will try and ruin your day to make it so you don't go to the temple. Thankfully, we did. We had a wonderful time while in the Temple, and while driving back and talking about it. The funny thing is how tiny the temple grounds are! They are beansy. We couldn't get a picture of the whole temple within the city gates! Thankfully we got this beauty!

Man, if we thought the Brigham City Temple was small, we were sure mistaken. The Monticello is the tiniest temple I have ever seen! As we were coming up on the temple, we saw the steeple in the distance. We expected we were still a little ways away from it and that it would get bigger as we got closer. Oh how we were wrong. We were actually just like 3 minutes away from it and it did not get any bigger. You can walk around the whole thing in like 2 minutes. The temple didn't even have a chapel. As we walked in there was the baptistery to the left and the changing room for endowments to the left. We opted to do initiatories because they only had endowment sessions every 2 or 3 hours because of how few temple workers they had. We needed to get back to set up our campsite, so this was really our only option. We enjoyed this temple very much, and we were so glad that Mark Woodbury and Brian Larsen came with us. More about our trip is here.

Be still my heart, The Manti Temple. I have dreamed of attending this temple for years. Growing up we would go to the Manti Pageant. I loved going with my mom so much. She would take us with friends and wed spread out a big blanket, play games, eat food, admire the temple and watch the pageant. The thing is, we couldn't attend the temple during the pageant. I have still never done baptisms, but man I am grateful that we were finally able to participate in an endowment. We went with Bryans whole family. Sam and Erika did baptisms while Janet, Rick, Bryan and I did an endowment. As we walked in, we were in awe. Bryan and I just could not believe the incredible work the pioneers had done. Obviously things have been updated a bit over the years. But man, the work they did was astounding. There were like 4 instruction rooms before you even got to the Celestial room. Each room was painted beautifully which incredible detail. When going to the next room, we had to walk up a few steps. Janet and I loved how this symbolized going up in glories. Each room becoming more light and beautiful. After the endowment Janet and Rick asked to tour a staircase. It is a circular staircase and so amazing. Janets ancestors worked on the staircase. Bryan and I couldn't believe how high up the staircase went. And the hand carvings were just something to see. This, was my favorite temple of the whole tour.

The Payson Temple was completed the spring we began this Temple Tour. We had to wait for the tours to end and for the Temple to be dedicated. We loved the open house, but we could not wait to get in there and do some work. This temple is beautiful. probably in my top five. The grounds are fabulous and done so perfectly. The windoew are fabulous, and there is a staircase that is to die for. The artwork in the temple is all about pioneers, and there are some pieces of art in there that we had never seen before. We loved them. We are so glad that this temple is so close, because we want to be able to go back many times.

The Ogden Temple. While babysitting Bryan's siblings for a week and a half, we decided we might as well take a trip up to the Ogden Temple. I had heard that this temple was renovated, but I had never paid attention to what it looked like before or after. This temple is pretty far north from us, so I have really just never seen it. Wow. I couldn't believe all that they had done once I looked at a "before" picture. The fountain was beautiful and the inside was wonderful. We chose to do an initiatory because we had promised Erika we would take her to a drive in movie afterwards. We plan to go again to do an endowment, but I am so grateful we didn't this time. The workers in the initiatory booth were amazing. This one women said the words in a way I had never heard them before. She was passionate and emphasized different things than previous workers had. She made me look at the blessing in a whole new light. She was full of light. She made me smile from ear to ear with her joy and friendliness. At the end I just had to give her a hug and thank her. I remember that I just couldn't wait to get out and talk to Bryan about the experience. He thought it was pretty awesome.


Next was the Draper Temple. We love this temple. We had been there before for baptisms and endowments. I've always loved this temple because I  remember walking through the open house, and it was one of the first open houses that I have been to that I could actually remember.  We have always loved this temple, so we couldn't wait to go back! Because we had experienced endowments and baptisms here, we decided to see what the initiatory would be like here. We had a great time and took a trip to Swig afterwards.

The Vernal Temple. I've always known that this temple existed, but I had never seen a picture of it before we went. It is a very small temple, and not your average looking temple because it is brown. It was an old Stake Center. Bryans dad actually used to attend here when he was a boy. We did an endowment, and that was very enjoyable. Bryan, Jake, Rick, Janet and I were all able to go. Erika and Sam did baptisms. This one had a chapel, but I think ti was pretty comparable in size to the Monticello temple.

Salt Lake City Temple Okay, so I said Manti was my favorite. When I say that, I mean favorite after the Salt Lake :) Salt Lake was the very first temple I ever attended, and the place where Bryan and I were married. This temple will always hold a special place in my heart! I have a more detailed description of this day in my Anniversary post. To sum it up, we had so many things we wanted to do that day, on top of a funeral that we had in the morning. We had the funeral, and we wanted to do sealings in the Salt Lake Temple, go to Cheese Cake Factory and go the Color Me Mine. When we got to the temple because they had SOOOO many live sealings that day that they really didn't have much time to be able to do sealings with us. Thankfully, there was one big family who had reserved time to do some of their family names. They let us join them and we were able to do one sealing, which was really just perfect. We had desperately wanted to do a sealing in the temple we were married on our Anniversary. So this was so special, and we were beyond grateful. This was our most special moment throughout our temple tour.

Knitting

Janet is fantastic at knitting. Each time I have seen her knit, I am just amazed at what she is able to make. I finally decided to ask her to teach me, and she said that she would. Over the summer while at the Frandsen Cabin, she began to teach me. I started out just learning the basic stitches, which are the knit and purl. I really struggled to get those down for a bit. I was asking Janet to fix my mistakes over and over again.

Once I was able to get the knit and purl down a bit better, she had me start a cute pattern for a dish towel. I made a couple of those with the help of Janet. I didn't know what do try next, so Janet suggested a pair of mittens. I picked out a navy and royal blue to make some "BYU" inspired mittens for Bryan. She had me pick up some needles called "double pointed needles" or "DPN's", I wondered why there was a set of 5 needles in the package. Little did I know, I was supposed to use ALL 5 to make the mittens. Janet set the needles up for me, and worked with me until I could knit "in the round". Thank goodness of Janet, because those mittens took a lot of work. She taught me a lot of really cool things. These mittens had a "pop over" top, so that was definitely something that was new and fun to learn. I couldn't believe how she was able to create the "pop over" so seamlessly.

Since then, I've practiced a lot and begun a few other projects. I've made 3 kinds of adult sized hats, two types of baby hats, some booties and most recently - an adorable baby cardigan.

Everyone is pretty shocked at how much I love to knit, even myself. I guess with not having a whole lot to do after I get home from teaching that it has really been something to keep my mind and hands busy.

I have started and Etsy Shop, called PurledPoppy. I am not sure if I will get much traffic on it, but I would just like to sell a few things so that I can keep up the knitting. I've made a bunch of hats, and I gave quite a few away as Christmas gifts.  Even with giving those away, I still have left overs. My friends encouraged me to open the shop, so here is to giving it a shot!

Here are a few of the projects I have completed.

Been Awhile

Well,I believe journaling may just be a consistent problem for me! I have the time, but I never take the time to sit down and gather my thoughts. Lately I've been realizing that I really need to make it a bigger priority. I watch Bryan's grandparents work on their histories and I see how much work and time it takes them. They also can't remember everything in as much detail as they would like to. So, here I am with another goal to improve my journaling habits.

The last few months Bryan and I have begun talking about having a baby. It surprises me that we are at this point. I still have a hard time believing that we are old enough to even consider having a child! Bryan always says "I can't believe they allow us to have kids". I don't know who "they" is, but it always makes me laugh. When we first began talking about the idea of having a baby, Bryan couldn't take it seriously. He would just make a lot of jokes. It was cute and entertaining to see him get nervous. I felt silly even bringing it up because like I mentioned earlier - how can we be old enough to be contemplating the idea of having a baby?! But here we are, realizing we want a baby. We are going to the temple to start really praying about it this week. We are excited and nervous.

We've been talking about names and it has been really great. The other night we stayed up later than we should have talking about names. We really need to come up with more boy options, but I am just too picky!

So far we have come up with:

Boys

Harrison O'dell Frandsen

Ezra Taysom Frandsen

Girls

Peyton Elaine Frandsen

Colbie Celeste Frandsen

Adeline Sawyer Frandsen

I am hoping for 4 kids, and Bry is wanting 5. His reasons for wanting 5 are a bit silly though. He always says "I need a basketball team". So, we shall see! 

I loveeee the name Harrison and the minute Bryan heard it, he loved it too. Mostly because of his hero Harrison Ford. 

He also likes Ezra. Mostly because of Ezra Taft Benson. I just think it's an adorable name. 

I have been obsessed with the name Peyton for as long as I can remember. Bryan isn't quite sold on it. He thinks it's a boys name, because of Payton Manning. He also thinks I love the name because of Peyton from One Tree Hill. I'm not going to lie, I have always loved her. That is not the reason for me wanting to sue that name though. 

During my Freshman year of college, I worked for Jason's Deli. I had this manager named Dan. One day dan said "you need to name one of your girls Colbie, for your last name". Ever since then, I haven't been able to forget about that name. Bryan really likes it as well. I've kept that one secret from my family, because I am hoping it will surprise them and make them happy. I know it won't be spelled the same way as my maiden name, but it still has the meaning to me. 

Adeline is our newest name. We watched "Age of Adeline" a couple of weeks ago. I suggested that name to Bry, and he really loves it. I also adore the name Sawyer f or a girl, but Bryan can't stand it. I am hoping that we can use it for a middle name. Maybe I can change Bryan's mind though...

It will be fun to see what names we use, and what other names we come up with. I really want a little Harrison and a little Peyton though :)

Moab

This was such a fun trip! Bryan and I decided to do our temple tour, and when we planned it we realized there were a few temples that we just shouldn't drive there and back in one day. Monticello was one of them. We thought "hey! Let's make it a camping trip!" So, we invited a few friends and planned the trip. We decided that it would be fun to drive, go to the temple, camp for one night, and hike the next day.

Brian Larsen, Mark Woodbury, Bryan and I all decided we were in on the trip. We drove down and went to the Monticello Temple. It was so pretty, but incredibly small. We didn't want to mess up our clothes, so we drove down in relaxed clothes, and then changed in the car. It was quite the event trying to get all of us dressed.

Afterwards, we headed for the campsite which was about an hour away. We set up camp, and had dinner. I had pre-made a hamburger, potato and carrots tin foil dinner for everyone. They took longer than we thought to cook, but when they were done - they were yummy. Thanks to Mamma Frandsen's recipe.

Saturday we got up early, which was really smart since it was quite hot down there. I believe it was around 102 degrees the majority of the time. We hiked Delicate Arch, and wow was that beautiful! The hike is steep, but not very long. We took pictures, snacked, explored and went back down.

We drove around a bit, looking for another hike. We decided on this hike that wasn't in the National Park. I am not sure what it was even called, but it was hard to find, short and pretty! We were so hot, that we wanted a hike with some water! We loved this place. There were a few others chilling there with bears and camping chairs. We thought that was pretty funny. We just played in the water and the boys got pretty soaked.

We decided to go back to Arches, and we went to this hike. There was a south and north window I believe, and this one. It was really really pretty, but ever so hot. We also went to the double arch and climbed around. That was was great because it was shady under the arches. A lot cooler than being out in the sweltering heat. The boys clothes were dry in NO time.

Sadly, we had to get back home. So, we said goodbye to arches, grabbed food and headed home. Excited to go back another time hopefully when it's a lot cooler! :)

Daruis Rucker

Anniversary

3.141592653 Day