6 other Temples over time

There are 6 other Temples that Gini and I have been to over the years.  Since we live in San Diego, and have traveled many times over the years to Utah, we have obviously been through Las Vegas.  Not only do we drive through Las Vegas, but my sister, Jana lives in the area and she has 7 children, most of which have been married in the Las Vegas Temple.  So we can cross that one off my list as we have been there many times. 

Las Vegas Temple

The other Temple in Nevada is in Reno.  We went to the Reno Temple years ago when my son was working for the airlines.  One of the employee benefits was free air travel for his family.  We tried to take advantage of those benefits while he worked there so a trip to Reno was planned.  We took a taxi from our hotel to the Temple which is a good distance from town, but it gave us a chance to talk with the cabbie about the church.  It was the first small Temple I attended.

Reno Temple

We were able to attend the Portland Oregon Temple years ago when my parents retired and moved from San Diego to Oregon.  My sister moved there too.  That of course led to more family weddings to attend, so yea, I've been there too.



Portland Temple

More siblings, more nieces and nephews, and more sealings and marriages also took us to the Mesa Arizona Temple.  My brother Dan lives in the area and we went to the see the sealing of his 2 daughters to him at the Mesa Temple.



Mesa Arizona

The Nauvoo Temple was a special treat.  Gini and I had been to Nauvoo back in 1976.  There was no Temple there at that time, only the empty lot where the original Temple used to be before it was destroyed.  Following the death of my father, Mom served a mission in Nauvoo so we wanted to return to see the newly restored Temple and visit the other historical sites there.  Gini had a business trip to Chicago, so we rented a car and toured Nauvoo and Carthage.


                                                                       Nauvoo Temple


And finally, Gini and I travel to Denver on occasion to see my son Mike and his family.  They live in Colorado Springs, just 50 miles south of Denver, so a trip to the Denver Temple was not going to be missed.

                                                                    Denver Temple



So, there you have it.  I've done Temple work in 51 of the 68 operating Temples in the United States.  It is my goal to attend all of the United States Temples and try to keep up with the newly constructed ones as they are completed.  I've still got a few more trips to take.  One trip will be to the Southern United States where I served my mission years ago.  Another trip will be to the North East but I'm waiting for 2 of the Temples under construction to be finished before I make that trip.  Gini and I will be headed for Florida when Ft. Lauderdale is complete and we'll go to the one in Orlando at that time too.  St. Paul, Bismark, and Winter Quarters in another trip as well as another trip to Hawaii for the Temple in Kona.  I'm having a great time.  I'll keep you posted ....   

Ok, let's talk Utah Temples

Gini and I have lived in Utah while we were in school, and for a few years of our married life.  We've lived in Hyrum, Plain City, Ogden, Midvale, and Provo.  So over the years we've made it to all of the Temples in Utah.  My first was the Salt Lake City Temple when I went on my mission.  I went without any Temple preparation class, and totally unaware of what to expect.  I went once, during the week in the Mission Home, and not again until after the mission was completed.  I was lost, confused, inspired, overwhelmed, and a few other adjectives.  As missionaries, we got to spend an afternoon in the upper assembly room with the Prophet, Joseph Fielding Smith, and could ask him anything about the Temple or whatever we wanted to know. 




Following my mission assignment, I was invited to attend the Temple in Provo to witness the marriage of a man I had baptized on my mission. What I remember about their wedding was the extremely long kiss over the alter of the Temple.  Awkward! 

Provo Utah

My first job out of college was selling veterinary supplies to dairy farmers in Northern Utah, Southern Idaho, and Southern Wyoming.  We lived in Cache Valley Utah, and attended the Logan Temple several times during the year we lived there.

Logan Utah

We only lived in Cache Valley about a year and we loved it there.  Then we moved to Plain City and didn't love it there.  Plain City is just west of Ogden so we attended the Ogden Temple whenever we could.  Soon we moved into the City of Ogden and bought our first home.  The Ogden Temple used to look like the Provo Temple but has since been remodeled.  When we attended, it looked like this.

Ogden Temple before remodeling

When I first decided to attend as many Temples as possible, I went to 4 Temples in one day.  That's only possible in Utah.  I started early in the morning and went to the Temple in Bountiful.

Bountiful Utah

I then drove down the I-15 to the Jordan River Temple.  This one has an escalator in it which seemed odd to me. 

Jordan River Utah

My next stop of the day was just around the point of the mountain, into Utah County and the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  This one had just been opened and was quite beautiful. 

 

Mt. Timpanogos

The fourth Temple of the day was about 100 miles south to the Manti Temple.  This one is quite historic and beautiful.  Something quite humorus happened in the session I attended.  The endowment session there is done with live actors and not with the film shown in most other Temples.  During the endowment, two of the actors accidently reversed their lines.  One of them was to say, "What are you going to do now?" but it was said by the wrong guy.  So the second guy returns the line, "No, what are you going to do now?"  It caught us all by surprise and there was quite a chuckle by all.  Maybe, you had to be there.

  Manti Utah

So, that was 4 more Temples in 1 day.  Quite a trip!

The other Temple in Utah is in St. George.  I attended the Temple there on a trip with the Priests Quorum from my ward in San Diego.  We decided to take the Priests to Utah to visit some of the historic sites in Salt Lake.  Along the way, we arranged to attend the St. George Temple and do some baptisms.  It was a great experience, and we learned a lot about the history of St. George, and the Temple there.  The Temple workers showed us around and told us about the vision Wilford Woodruff had with the founding fathers of the United States, and how they had appeared to him requesting their Temple work be done.

St. George Utah

There are now 14 operating Temples in Utah and I've attended all of them.  Still to come, Provo Center City, Cedar City, and the Payson Temple will be done by early 2015.  I'm already planning my next trip.

Saturday morning in Southern California. Two more Temples

If you had a free day in Southern California, what might you like to do?  How about checking out another couple Temples ?  There are 4 Temples in Southern California, and we've been to two already.  I've already documented the visits to the Los Angeles Temple, and my wife, Gini and I are Temple workers in the San Diego Temple.  But there were 2 other Temples that we needed to visit.  The Newport Beach Temple was completed in 2005, and the Redlands Temple was completed in 2003.  So I was thinking, we need to do a road trip!  Newport Beach is only 100 miles from where we live, and Redlands is only 65 miles from Newport Beach.  We can easily do these 2 on a Saturday.  Newport Beach in the morning, Redlands in the afternoon, and home in time for dinner. 

Newport Beach Temple

   Redlands Temple



Family Reunion and 2 more Temples

Last summer (2013) the Nutz's held their bi-annual family reunion.  This time we all made our way up to Creswell Oregon to spend a few days together.  It was (and always is) a blast.  I suppose you would call it a Nutz family reunion although my sisters have all married out of the name, so there were only 3 actual Nutz there, but there were a whole bunch of Nuts still in attendance.

Since I've taken on this Temple quest, I let no trip go without getting in a couple Temples along the way.  How's this for a crazy trip?  I left San Diego at about 3:00 am and drive 350 miles to the Fresno Temple.  I had gone to the Fresno Temple before, but it was closed for renovation.  So this was my 2nd attempt there.  Got there around 9:00 am.  Did some initiatory work.

  

Fresno California Temple

Then, I hopped back into the car and drove another 480 miles to the Medford Oregon temple for more initiatories that same evening. 


Medford Oregon

So, thats nearly 1000 miles and 2 Temples in 1 day!  I must be NUTZ!

Here's some pictures of the family reunion and some of my favorite people.  These are some of the adults, there were far too many children to document.  



April (my favorite Niece)

Bruce and Judy



Cathy

Conder and Gina

Dan

Gordon and Toni

Jana and Phil

Lori (my other favorite niece) and Mike

Pete and Jessica

Next family reunion, scheduled for Summer of 2014.

Another 9 Temples in 2 Weeks!

Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, and Arizona!

Since I've decided to go to all the Temples in the United States, all of my vacation plans center around the idea of "How many Temples can I see in the shortest, most consise trip?"  With that in mind, my wife and I headed for Utah for Christmas to see a few Temples and a few of the grandkids.  There are currently 14 operating Temples in Utah, and I had already been to 9 of them.  So during our first of 2 weeks vacation, we enjoyed Christmas with family, took the grandkids skiing, went to a Jazz game, and went to the Draper and the Oquirrh Mountain Temples.

Skiing Brighton with Tom, Madi, Cade, and James

Jazz vs. Dallas with Cade



Draper Utah Temple



                          

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Gini only had 1 week vacation, so following Christmas, she flew back to San Diego, and I took off to find more Temples.  The brand new Brigham City Temple was first.




Brigham City Temple

And then back to Boise.  Remember, I had been to Boise before but the Temple was closed for renovation.  It was just a short 300 miles to attend an evening session later that day.

  Boise Idaho

Is this crazy or what?!  Back to Utah to rest up a little before heading east to visit the Temple in Vernal Utah.  This one is a renovated Vernal City Tabernacle and is beautiful.  One note, this has maybe one of the smallest Celestial Rooms I've seen. 

Vernal Utah

This trip was in early January 2013, and was bitter cold!  Next stop, another 300 miles, south to Monticello Utah.  This is one of the small floor plan Temples of the Church.  They said President Hinckley called it a Templete.  I was also told that it is the only small Temple with murals on the walls of the endowment room. 

                                           Monticello Utah

Let's see.  Now where?  Oh, I know.  Albuquerque, New Mexico is only another 330 miles southeast from Monticello.  I've got time, gasoline, and just enough craziness to go for it.  At least the weather is getting warmer as I head south.  I was able to do sealings there and even saw some people I knew there.

Albuquerque New Mexico

Now, I head back west.  Snowflake Arizona is next.  This one comes with a story of a tender mercy.  Albuquerque is about 260 miles from Snowflake.  I left Albuquerque in plenty of time to make it to the last session in the Snowflake Temple at 6:30 p.m.  What I didn't anticipate was a large accident on the freeway that stopped traffic for hours.  A big rig truck had overturned and there was no way I was going to make it to Snowflake by 6:30.  While I was sitting, stuck in traffic, I noticed I was low on gas.  So I made a U-turn on the freeway and headed back to find a gas station.  I only drove a couple of miles to the nearest station, and after I filled up, I noticed a small two-lane road running parallel to the freeway.  It was the old Highway 66!  I got onto it and headed west.  I was able to pass thousands of trucks and cars that were stuck for hours and miles and I made it to Snowflake in plenty of time.  I did sealings there, and enjoyed the evening in Snowflake with some recently aquired In-laws.  Sweet!

Here we are at the Snowflake Temple (on a different trip)

Ok.  One more to go on this trip.  The Gila Valley Temple is just a short 180 miles south of Snowflake so off I go.  I do sealings there and meet friends of friends.  The people in the small towns that have Temples, really love their Temples.  Doing sealings also allows a time to visit with the local patrons and workers and really enjoy the Spirit of the work. 

The Gila Valley Arizona Temple



So, there's another Temple trip.  Over 3200 miles, in 2 weeks, and 9 more Temples crossed off my list.  I need a vacation!

Oakland, Sacramento, and Fresno?

In case you're wondering, yes I am married, and not all my temple travels are with my friend Marshall.  My wife, Gini and I have been married 38 years, we have 4 children, and 19 grandchildren.  My work schedule allows me more time off than her's does, so sometimes I get a vacation when she doesn't.  I try to go on Temple trips with her when I can, like the one we took last spring to central California.  This one I really enjoyed.  We took the Amtrak from San Diego, up the coast to Santa Barbara.  What a beautiful, relaxing way to travel.  From Santa Barbara, we rented a car and drove to Fresno.  We had been by the Fresno Temple years before with the children, but we did not have time to do any temple work.  This time, when we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed right away, something was wrong.  There were construction trucks in the parking lot, and the front door of the Temple was wide open.  I walked up to the front door, and spoke to a construction worker.  The Temple was scheduled to be closed the following week, but was supposed to be open when we were there.  But, since the carpets were being replaced with marble, the Temple had closed earlier to allow for the construction.  Grrrrr.  We traveled all the way to Fresno, only to find it closed. The Temple President was there, and allowed us to walk through the construction, but I didn't feel I could check it off my list unless we did some type of Temple work there.  But there was nothing we could do, so we had to leave. 

Next, we drove to Sacramento, California.  The Temple there was open for business and it is beautiful.  It's on a hill outside of town, and there are animals roaming around the Temple grounds.  Really a nice setting.

 

Here we are at the Sacramento Temple

From there, we hopped into the car and headed for the coast.  Next stop, Oakland.  The hotel in Oakland was scary!  Lots of loud, ugly talk coming from right outside our door until the early hours of the morning.  The Temple in Oakland is beautiful.  It's way up on the side of the hill overlooking Oakland and across the bay to San Francisco.  One thing different about the Oakland Temple is the mirrors in the Sealing rooms.  They are not on the side walls, but in the corners of the walls.  It gives you a different sense of reflecting into eternity. 
 

 

Jim and Gini in Oakland
 

We spent a day checking out San Francisco and going to the aquarium in Monterey Bay.

From there, we traveled down the coastline of California along the Pacific Ocean.  What a beautiful ride.  Back to Santa Barbara, and another Amtrak ride back to San Diego.  With the exception of the Fresno Temple being closed, and a scary night in Oakland, it was a great trip. 

Kansas City Here We Come (plus 8 more)

In May of 2012, the Kansas City Temple was dedicated and Marshall was itching to go.  Marshall is retired but since I'm still working, I don't have the flexibility he enjoys.  I'm a teacher in a year-round school so we planned our trip for the first week of October, 2012 during my break.  Marshall had already been to all the other Temples in the mid-west but I hadn't.  So we planned our trip to Kansas City and as many other Temples as we could in our one-week vacation.  Coordinating the travel, motels, gas, and Temple schedules, took us several days to plan out.  To complicate matters, the first Saturday in October is General Conference, and all the Temples are closed.  So, we really only had Tuesday through Friday to go to as many Temples as we could.  

We left San Diego Sunday and drove through the night to Kansas City, arriving Monday afternoon.  We visited the Liberty Jail, got some dinner and headed for bed.  Tuesday morning early, we went through a session in the beautiful, new Kansas City Temple.

 

Hold on to your hat, it starts to get crazy now.  Off we go, 250 miles east for an afternoon session in the St. Louis Temple with my favorite niece, April.

Dinner, motel, and headed for Memphis, Tennessee for a Wednesday morning session.

 

 Wednesday afternoon, and a visit to the Baton Rouge Temple

 

 Thursday morning found us at the Houston Texas Temple

Thursday afternoon at the San Antonio Texas Temple

This one is a beauty, you should go there!

More driving, meals on the road, and another motel takes us to......

Dallas, early Friday morning....

 Oklahoma City, Friday afternoon.....

 Lubbock, Texas on Friday night!

Can you believe it?!?  That's 9 temples in 4 days!  Nearly 5,000 miles.