Bountiful

Married in the Bountiful Temple

December 16, 2010 by rickety 7 Comments

Jacob and Rachel were sealed in the Bountiful Temple

Yesterday Jacob and Rachel were married in the Bountiful Temple. For those not familiar with Mormon weddings, I will explain. Members of the Church believe that marriages performed in temples are “sealed,” or blessed to last for eternity. Those who are sealed in the temple have the assurance that their relationship will continue forever if they are true to their covenants. They know that nothing, not even death, can permanently separate them.

Bind On Earth

The Bountiful Temple has sealing rooms similar to those of the Vancouver temple pictured here

The concept of eternal families comes from scripture and modern-day revelation. For instance, the New Testament reference in Matthew 16:19 records Jesus Christ telling the Apostle Peter: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The Church equates the word “bind” with “seal.”

In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles proclaim that “marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” When a man and woman are married in the temple, their family can be together forever.

Photographs

After the sealing ceremony, Jake and Rachel changed into traditional marriage clothes for photographs in the temple grounds. Family and friends, after witnessing the sealing, waited patiently for them outside the temple doors. Here are a few photographs, mostly via my camera. Click on the images to enlarge.

Jake and Rachel have yet to emerge from the temple. Brothers wait.

Sister and cousin wait.

Families wait.

Everybody waits.

Rachel and Jake appear.

Rachel, the beautiful bride.

Photographs. Parent of the bride.

Parents of the groom.

Parents of the bride and groom.

I'm not sure what caused this response. Maybe a snowball fight started.

Family of the Bride.

More family of the bride.

Family of the groom.

Siblings of the groom.

Baby Cassandra was amused by all the posing and picture taking.

Snowball fight (originally started by the groom).

Reception

Jacob's boss (and mine and Paul's) with the bride and groom.

Paul readying the slides using my TV, laptop, and Nexus One hot spot. With a family of engineers, everything has to be complicated.

In the end, it all worked. Photo Credit: Susan Ward.

Jake had the usual decorating done on his car.

Here are some more photographs, courtesy Still Timeless Photography, of the Wedding of Jacob and Rachel.

Rachel and Jake at the Bountiful Temple

December 11, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Rachel and Jake at the Bountiful Temple patron doors

Today Rachel, my soon to be daughter-in-law, went to the Bountiful temple to receive her endowment. With her were her family and fiancé, Jake. Jake’s parents Rick and Jill; siblings Steven, Sarah, and Paul; and a brother-in-law Derek, were also in attendance. Daniel still has three days of his mission left to serve.

After the ceremony we took some photographs (click to enlarge) in the temple grounds. The temple had a few Christmas decorations and a nativity scene that I haven’t seen before.

Bountiful Temple Nativity Scene

The Gift of the Endowment

For my readers that are not familiar with the temple endowment I will give a short overview.

An endowment is a sacred ordinance. Endowments take place in a dedicated House of the Lord, or temple. Temples were centers of religious worship anciently and Mormons build temples today to administer the ancient ordinances of salvation that have been restored to the earth.

The dictionary defines an endowment as a gift given by a higher power. The temple endowment is a gift of knowledge that helps Mormons understand who they are, where they came from, and where they are going. It helps members understand what they should do to prepare to meet God, and how Jesus Christ offers salvation to each of us.

The temple endowment conveys information in a highly symbolic manner. Symbols used in the temple endowment and the meanings of those symbols are sacred to Mormons. Mormons don’t talk about the details of what goes on in the temple—it is too sacred to be discussed, except in the most holy of places.

Temple Covenants

When presenting the endowment, Church members are required to make very specific covenants with God. A covenant is a two-way promise. In religious terms, a covenant is a sacred promise made between an individual and the Lord:

The celestial room of the Vancouver temple, smaller but similar to, the Bountiful temple

The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King, the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions. (James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord, p 84)

Moroni atop the Bountiful Temple

About the Bountiful Temple

In 1897 John Haven Barlow Sr. purchased forty acres of land from the United States government. There was little that could be done with the land until in 1947 some of the land was cleared and four hundred apricot trees were planted. Bountiful City requested the use of the soil from the site to build a dam and over two hundred thousand cubic yards of soil was removed, leaving the area an ideal spot on which the temple would later be built. The temple is the 47th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I remember well helping to direct traffic at the open house and being one of 200,000 members attending the temple dedication. Sarah and Derek were married in the Bountiful temple. Some temple details:

Announced: 28 May 1988.
Site: 11 acres.
Exterior finish: Bethel white granite.
Architect: Allen Ereckson.
Rooms: Baptistry, celestial room, four endowment rooms, eight sealing rooms.
Total floor area: 104,000 square feet.
Dimensions: 145 feet by 198 feet. 176 feet spire.
District: 30 stakes in central and south Davis county.
Groundbreaking: 2 May 1992 by President Ezra Taft Benson.
Dedication: 8-14 January 1995 by President Howard W. Hunter; 28 sessions.

Source: 2011 Church Almanac, p 210

Family

Paul, Jill, Sarah, and Steven

Sarah at the Bountiful Temple

Family photograph at the Bountiful Temple

Paul, Steven, Rachel, Jake, Jill, and Rick

Rachel and Jake

Jake and Brittney Wed

May 14, 2010 by rickety 8 Comments

My son Jake was at the wedding of Jake and Brittney this morning. He took a few photographs afterwards outside the Bountiful temple. Click on the photographs to obtain the high resolution versions.

Rickety signature.

Bountiful Utah Temple

September 21, 2009 by rickety Leave a Comment

In October 2008 I visited all thirteen Utah temples. It was then that almost all of the photographs were taken that appear in this series of posts. To download a photograph click on the image to obtain the full resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels with a file size of 3 to 4Mb.

The Bountiful Temple in August 2008

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Dan at the Bountiful Temple

August 15, 2008 by rickety 10 Comments

The Bountiful Temple showing the entrance at the north

Yesterday Daniel, my youngest son, went to the Bountiful temple to receive his endowments. For my readers that are not familiar with temple endowments I will give a short overview.

The Gift of the Endowment

Daniel at the Bountiful Temple

Temple Covenants

The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King, the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions. (James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord, p. 84)

A Family Gathering

All endowed extended family members met at the Bountiful temple to be with Daniel when he received his endowments. Not present were Jake who is serving a mission in Mexico and Derek who is building a school in Guatemala.

All available endowed extended family were at the temple

We gathered after the ceremony in the Bountiful temple grounds and took some photographs. In parenthesis is the relationship to Daniel. Left to right: Rick (father), Jill (mother), Daniel (himself), Miguel (Melissa’s fiancé), Susan (aunt), Melissa (cousin), Kent (uncle), Connie (cousin), Mark (Connie’s husband), Sarah (sister), Paul (brother), Steven (brother), and Adelaide (Steven’s wife). By now it was 8 pm and we were very hungry so we headed out to Chuck-a-Rama to eat all their food and ruin their profits for the day. For Jill and I it was a great feeling to have all five of our children endowed and active in the faith.

About the Bountiful Temple

Source: 2008 Church Almanac, p 518

The Bountiful Temple showing the entrance at the north

Bountiful Handcart Days

July 24, 2008 by rickety 4 Comments

July 24th is Pioneer Day in Utah and a state holiday but for me it is work as usual. Yesterday I was musing about what to post for the 24th when my wife Jill asked me if I wanted to go to the Bountiful Parade. I said, “sure!” There is one thing about blogging and that is it gets you out of the house.

There were a lot of marching bands in the parade and of course the biggest and best is the Davis High School Band led by instructor Mr. Hendricks. There were the usual cars and even though some were old there were none that were rickety. The governor and his wife were in the parade as well as Rob Bishop in a car that could barely hold him. Byron, my nephew, was playing his trumpet on the Jazz Band float, watch out below for the handsome chap with red hair. There were the beauty queens and horse drawn carriages which looked like they got around fifteen miles per hay bale. Emergency vehicles were bountiful in the parade which had me thinking who was going to respond to an actually emergency? No worries about that as most of Bountiful was at the parade anyway.

Bountiful Handcart Days start at 6pm on the 23rd July. It is quite lengthy at over a hundred entries. The parade route was packed and we had to take the sunny side of the road. I wanted to stay with my family so I was taking pictures into the sun. That seemed to interfere a little with the focusing of the camera. However, I was able to get some shade with the beach umbrella the Wards had erected. That is me in the photograph.

Rick in parade shade

I am going to let the photographs speak for themselves. First up are the family that save us a place, bring water, and always manage to find some high quality shade. And don’t forget to save me a place at the next parade!

There were many floats, led by the sheriff and the National Guard, and followed with the martial arts. Click on the photographs below for a larger image.

Utah Highway Patrol

Katie Angerbauer, Miss Davis County

Byron, my nephew, plays jazz on the trumpet

Family History float

Handcart Days has to have at least one handcart

KSL TV float

Wagon float converts to space shuttle

Sarah says: People! Just what is all the fuss about?

Related Websites

Handcart Days Channel — See the video of the 2008 and 2009 parades.
2010 Handcart Days Website — Events, media, volunteers, sponsors, and blog.
2010 Handcart Days on Facebook — Become a fan.