Sacred Places

Last week, after business meetings in Rochester, New York, I drove to Palmyra and visited the Palmyra Temple, the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah visitors center. Photos really don’t capture the special spirit in those sacred places, but serve as reminders of my tender feelings when I spent a few moments there.

The Palmyra Temple is located in beautiful woodland setting. This shot was taken from the west side of the temple, facing east.

The Smith family farmhouse, where Joseph lived when he experienced the first vision and where he first met Moroni, is located near the Sacred Grove.

Spending a few minutes in the Sacred Grove at dusk is a humbling, enlightening experience.

A thick carpet of multicolored leaves is a fitting covering for this sacred ground.

By the way, these photos were taken with my iPhone camera and edited with TheBestCamera iPhone application.

Newport Beach Temple

Sunday evening, Jeff and Janeen drove us to see the Newport Beach Temple. We arrived just as the evening lights were coming on. The gate was locked, so we were unable to walk around the temple, but we admired it from the street. It is located in a calm, beautiful setting. We enjoyed the peaceful feeling that seemed to permeate that sacred place.

Our good camera had stopped working earlier in the day, so we were limited to this somewhat grainy photo, taken on Mark's mobile phone.

Twin Falls Temple - Eternal Dixon Family

Finally, here are some photos of the Dixon clan when we gathered after the Twin Falls Temple open house. You can view more photos in Mark's Flickr photo set for the occasion.

"Oh, Ken!"

Salt Lake Temple

One item on Ryan's mission "bucket list" was to attend an endowment session in the Salt Lake City temple while we were in Utah on our vacation. So, Claudia and Mark accompanied Ryan to the temple Wednesday morning. Prior to the session, we walked through the beautiful gardens east of the temple, snapping a photo of Ryan with the temple in the background ...

... and admiring the gorgeous flower gardens near the Church Administration Building. It has been great to see Ryan's interest in plants and flowers grow while working for Gold Medal Gardening.

You can see more Dixon Road Trip photos on Mark's Flickr photo set.

Wedding! Rachel Redd and Brandon Hepworth

This is a bit late, but we thought you would enjoy a few memories from the trip Mark and Claudia took to Idaho Falls to attend the wedding of Rachel Redd and Brandon Hepworth in the Idaho Falls Temple on April 12, 2008.

Grandpa and Grandma Dixon started it all with their marriage in this temple in September, 1950, commencing a long tradition of temple marriage and temple worship in the Dixon family.

Mark was endowed in this temple in September, 1972. Mark and Claudia were married in the Salt Lake Temple in August, 1976 - almost 32 years ago. It was great to be back in the Idaho Falls Temple. Our last attendance here was at Chad and Becky's wedding many years ago.

Derek Romer, DeAnn's son, is contemplating which lucky girl will stand here with him one day!

Several more photos taken at the temple and the subsequent reception are included on Mark's Flickr set, Rachel's Wedding. You can see some more fun photos on the Rach Bec Hep and Redd Family blogs.

God Bless and Good Night!