dear kitchen witch,

thank you for making all my baking wishes come true:

but can you do anything about this?

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due: october 11th

historic draper

this post is a few weeks belated...but better late the never, right?!

when david and i decided to go to the draper temple in february, we googled "things to do in draper" and came up with "draper historic theatre". "the fiddler on the roof" would be playing in february, and we love that musical. we got tickets online for the saturday matinee and were really looking forward to the date we would have. having done a little theatre in my high school days, and almost joining a traveling theatrical group which toured historic theatres to put on their musicals, i was really looking forward to seeing this famous historic theatre. i thought it would maybe be a converted pioneer house into a theatre--very baroque, lavish, warm...historic. in one image, i was expecting this:

needless to say, the draper historic theatre was nestled between a spa and "dive addicts" (a scuba place)...i'll let the outside speak for the inside:

we left historic draper at intermission.

on to the draper temple. the temple fact sheet stated the theme carried throughout the temple was the sego lily. having read this, we were expecting rounded architecture, corners, blooms and blossoms throughout the paintings, wallpapers, decor, etc. the lily is representative of the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, so we were imagining lots of light, bright, rounded, warm images. imagine our surprise when we drove up the mountain to find this:

very prominent ninety degree angles,

sharp corners,

lots of hard, white and grey granite. it certainly took us by surprise, but as we walked around the grounds taking pictures, we talked about our first impressions, and again the mountain theme came up, but it was more than that. it wasn't just large, but it was stately, prominent, reverent, and it had a large presence. the architecture didn't erupt into peaks and valleys like a mountain, the whole temple seemed "hewn in stone" (luke 23:53)--it seemed as though this structure was representing a very important sepulchre. i'm not trying to be morbid by saying we walked into a building that looked like a tomb--it was probably one of the most quiet and reverent times we have had at a temple. the external walls, windows, doors played a part in imparting of this reverence. before we can celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we need to remember a very real part of His divinity: He died for us, was buried in a tomb, and then rose three days later. david opened the front door to the temple as we walked in and commented at how heavy it was. the door was solid brass, and you had to pull it open. in most temples they have now installed automatically opening doors, and maybe this door had a button we just didn't see, but the door was intentionally heavy--as heavy as a stone being rolled away from a tomb.

this visit taught us more of light and dark, death and resurrection, and the plan that was established long ago involving the Savior--for our sake.

2010 temple goal: jordan river utah temple

last year, we talked about visiting sites in utah once a month, to see its beauty before we moved away (at that time david's name was on the transfer list at work, and we were planning on moving within the next 1-2 years).  but then we bought a house.  we will be staying in utah for a little while longer, but we don't want to stay here forever.  david's name is currently off the transfer list, but we are planning on putting it back on in the next 3-5 years.

so this year we decided to really see utah, via its temples.  there are currently 13 operating lds temples in utah;  we've already attended provo and mount timpanogos temples very frequently, and live in utah county, so that leaves us with 11 temples to visit, in cities with sites to see.  we plan on being in montana in july, so we're hoping to sneak in visiting the billings temple while there.  we want to set aside the last weekend of every month as our weekend to take off, but if something pops up, we'll head off sooner.  

this weekend: jordan river temple in south jordan.  

our first impression in walking around the temple was the architectural design.  it reminded us of a mountain, with jagged peaks jutting from its core.  david noticed it wasn't peaks, but parabolas, which actually made it look more natural in its peaks and shadows, like a saddle in a mountain.  it was built to almost mirror its environment.  the temple sat at the top of a huge grassy hill with flowers at its base and evergreens climbing the sides, and then finally with trees surrounding its structure at the top of the hill.  it truly looked like a mountain meadow.  

(lovely slc smog)


i was wondering about parabola the whole day, after david mentioned it.  dictionary.com's cultural definitition: "a geometrical shape consisting of a single bend and two lines going off to an infinite distance."  nothing special with that mathematical definition, but if we look at the word origin and history: "1579, from greek parabole "parabola, application" (see parable), so called by appollonius of perga c.210 b.c.e. because it is produced by "application" of a given area to a given straight line."  the parabola is what it is due to the application upon the lines.  if we take the suggestion to "see parable", it gets a little more fun: (from the bible dictionary) "a placing beside; a comparison;...in the new testament, (1) a proverb, (2) a typical emblem, (3) a similitude or allegory; (4) ordinarily, in a more restricted sense, a comparison of earthly with heavenly things, "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning"."  a parable teaches us something due to the application of spiritual or heavenly pulls upon a given earthly lesson.  

  

the parabolas were everywhere, inside and out.  we felt like we learned more about the application of the creation, and literally ascended the mountain of the Lord to learn spiritual matters.




interesting fact: the jordan river temple is one of five temples featuring an angel moroni statue holding the gold plates.  (The other four temples are the los angeles california temple, washington d.c. temple, seattle washington temple, and mexico city mexico temple).  for more fun facts about the jordan river temple, click here.

instead of site-seeing in south jordan (i guess we could have stopped by ikea...), we decided to have a date nite at home: homemade pizza and rootbeer floats.   

dear food network:

i was smashing garlic to roast with sweet potatoes and onions for a salad.  i was talking with my mom on the phone, so perhaps i was slightly more distracted than usual while cooking, and applied more pressure for leverage than i realized, but...should a blade like that really snap in half?

i think i need some free stuff to calm my shock.

unless that'll just break in half, too.

thank you, holidays

thank you for helping us eat thanksgiving

thank you for doing ALL the dishes in your cute yellow gloves

thank you for letting us spoil your cutest-kids-ever-on-earth for christmas

thank you for helping us open presents christmas morning,

and for walking around temple square with us on a really, really, really cold night

thank you for jumping off a pier with me in mexico

thank you, helaman, for the meat snack on your tour

thank you for reminding us we are just a small part of the plan, and there were many before us and will be many after us

thank you for sunrises we breathe in

thank you for helping us test our underwater camera

thank you for your amazing upside-down push-up skills,

and for always making me laugh

thank you for all the game nights

even when one of us is really, really tired

(read: "a magician this monkey holds up a new york city bank in"

...translation: a magician and his monkey hold up a new york city bank)

thank you for the wrestling match--it had been a while

thank you for taking me out for a gourmet dinner every night at the resort

thank you for all the family photos...

on ek balam ruins...

on the stairs at the resort...

at the lunch table...

and wearing masks i never thought i'd see my family wear...