Angel Moroni

I am a little behind (ahem) but I wanted to share this little adventure we had in April before moving on to other more recent things.


Troy is the temple prep teacher in our ward. We have had some really neat blessings and experiences that have come of his calling. The DeSpain's are a fabulous couple in our ward that took the class, and it just so happens that his father is THE guy who does the gold leafing on all of the Angel Moroni's. Who knew? Such a small world! Anyway, this last April, he invited us and few others to tour the place where the statues of Angel Moroni are made. It is right here in the valley over in the Taylorsville/Kearn's area. It a warehouse building in a back out of the way place that you would never imagine, and they have made all the statues for the temples for years.
What made this particular Angel Moroni so special is that it is going to the Philippines to be placed on the Cebu temple. I thought this was really neat since we obviously have a interest in the Philippines right now. Mom and Dad might even go back to the Philippines (after the retirement is official) to attend the Cebu temple dedication.


A few fun facts that we learned about the Angel Moroni that day:
1- There are 2 sizes of statues. They started making a smaller size to
accommodate the smaller temples that are being built.
2- All gold leaf is put on by hand with a brush.
3- There is less than 1 oz. of gold that is put on the entire Angel Moroni. It
seems like it should be a lot more doesn't it?
4- They have to repair the statues in some places where it gets blasted by sand
more frequently. Or perhaps hit by lightening. They do a lot of the repairs
also.

The room is surprisingly small and Moroni pretty much takes up the whole space. It was a little tough getting a full length photo of him. On the right you can see the tip of his horn, which they gold leaf separately and attach when he is put in his rightful place at top the temple.


The detail is amazing! It looked so real. I really loved his feet.











The hole where his mouth should be made him seem a bit surprised. Of course this is where his horn will eventually go.










This is the cute little man, Mr. DeSpain, who does the gold leaf by hand. He started doing this after he retired. Just wanted to keep busy he told us.

Troy really wanted me to take his picture "shaking" Moroni's hand. They were really patient with him there. He was in true "Troy" form and he must have asked 100 questions about everything!


Just us with Moroni.



This is the whole gang. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot also. They do not do tours for the public so we feel very lucky to have had this opportunity.

Public Service Announcement(s)

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING FOR THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS:

When you come home late one night after work,(extra late because of the 3 week's of symptoms that suddenly became an "emergency" at 2 minutes to closing) and you are thinking to yourself; "My husband works so hard and he gets up very early in the morning to get to work". So being the thoughtful person that you are you decide to not turn on any lights in the bedroom so as not to disturb his peaceful sleep. (And you know he is deeply sleeping from the moderately loud snoring you can hear from the hallway!) DO NOT DO IT! I know you want to be thoughtful and all, but you will trip over the clothes that your husband left in the middle of the floor and hit your hand on the dresser and your head on the closet door that has been left open. There might be some crying out and a swear word may or may not slip out, and your momma didn't raise no potty mouth girl! No sir! You will eventually turn on a light anyway and said husband will have slept peacefully through the whole experience, his snoring not even sputtering, and he will not even have the faintest recollection of why you have a large bump on your forehead in the morning anyway.

The next morning, (because you may be still a little "off" due to the mild concussion and the late night) you might realize that you need to change the water out in the garden. You will be tempted to just quickly throw on the shoes that are sitting outside the back door. Please, please I beg you NOT to! You don't have your socks on even, and there will be a spider in the right shoe that has taken up residence there. It will be sooo horrifying (as you are deathly afraid of spiders, second only to moth's) and well, really just plain ICKY! There may or may not again, be some screaming out, swearing, and/or, uncontrollable weeping that could take place. Trust me on this, I am just trying to help out here you know? And that's what I am all about. Helping others.


Your welcome.


WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING. HAVE A NICE DAY!

Philippines Part 5!

The last day before I left we took a trip to Pagsanjan Falls. It was very beautiful. It was so green and there were smaller waterfalls all the way because it had been raining. We had river guides that paddled us up the river and back down again. The were cute and kept asking us if we were having a good time.



Our guides literally "pushed" us up the river. They would hop out of the boat and push or just stick their feet out and push off the rocks.



People live up and down the river and these guys were out washing their clothes!







Me and mom heading up the river.





Dad and I in our lovely lifejackets in front of one the smaller falls.




When we got to the big falls you could pay extra to go up under. Wendi, Mom, Benny and I were brave enough to try. (Along with a cute Japanese couple who were intent on wearing their hard hats the whole time.)



Look how much fun my cute Mom had! (Look at the guide peeking over our shoulders. What a look!)


The brave crew in front of Pagsanjan Falls.

Trip to Banue (Philippines part 4)

This is the part of my trip where I almost died! Oh yeah! I was on the brink. Did I mention before that there are no straight roads in the Philippines? I know I did, anyway that's where my near death experience comes in. We took a trip up to Banue where they have 2000 year old rice terraces. It was an 8-9 hour trip. A lot of slowing down and speeding up, bumpy crazy roads, and of course some killer switchbacks! I don't do well with motion anyway but this was crazy! When we got to the hotel I couldn't even sit up, let alone walk. It was all I could do NOT to toss my cookies :( I was pathetic, it really wasn't pretty. I had to get help out of the car and up to my room. I was a lovely shade of green. I did however live to see another day, yay! After a good night's rest (and a lot of medication) I emerged in the morning for another day of fun and adventures.
I think Benny thought that I had a weak constitution because when I came down the next morning he was pushing for me to buy a walking stick from a cute little lady in the lobby. I'm pretty sure that he thought I was a huge wimp and that he would have to push me all the way. (BTW he wasn't pushing a walking stick on Wendi or Erik!) So in the pictures you can see the famous walking stick and the cute little lady who sold it to me also. (She jumped in the picture in front of the hotel. The Filipino's love to have their picture taken!)
It was an amazing place and I'm glad that I didn't die :) and was able to see it.

Part 3 WWII Sites

There is a lot of U.S. history that occurred in the Philippines especially during WWII. We were able to visit Corregidor which is where the Japanese landed and where MacArthur returned later. The POW's from Corregidor were part of those that endured the Bataan Death March. We were also able to visit the American Cemetery in Manila which is pretty amazing. These 2 days were the only days when the weather wasn't fabulous. It poured on us the day we went to Corregidor (which is why I have such lovely hair in all the pics), and the day we went to the cemetery it was really windy, (again, the lovely hair). However the weather didn't affect us too much and I am glad I was able to visit these places.

Philipinnes Part 2

One of my most favorite things that I got to do in the Philippines was to go to the Mabuhay house with my mom. Through a foundation, children (and sometimes adults) are brought from all over the Philippines for surgeries to correct birth defects or other problems. While they recuperate or are between surgeries they stay at Mabuhay house. My mom and a group of ladies go most every week and do some activity with the kids. They bring lunch with them too, and usually it is the only day they get meat. They just don't normally have the funds. I was able to go and see my mom in action. She is loved by those kids and the people there. They all came running and gave her a hug and she loves them back, it was very evident. They welcomed me with open arms too. It is amazing how loving the Filipino people are! The children are adorable and I wanted to take them all home with me. Especially the little peanut in the picture below. She was singing Twinkle Twinkle at the top of her lungs and doing the actions and it was just too much. Sooo adorable!
As part of our Christmas tradition we as an extended family try to find someone to help with the money we would normally spend on each other. The last 2 years we have sent our money to Mom and she would get supplies for Mabuhay house. This year my mom saved the money for when I was able to come. I was able to shop for them and get what they needed and deliver it to them. It was an indescribable experience. One of the little girls got so excited when she saw the powdered milk we brought (she loves milk and they cannot afford to buy it in any form) I had to hold back the tears. We are so blessed, crazily so, and sometimes we need to see others in need before we really understand this. I am so glad that I was able to have this experience with my mom. She is really an awesome lady.

My cute mom in action!





The cute little peanut I wanted to take home with me.













The boy with the funky goggles was born with cataracts due to mom's poor nutrition while pregnant. They were able to remove them and he is now just seeing for the first time. The little girl on the left is having her club feet corrected. She took a big chunk out of the middle of her bangs with scissors. Hee! Hee! Kids are the same no matter where you are!

Back in the Saddle!

I'm back! I'm sure the few people out there who actually read my blog were starting to wonder what had happened. I wish I could give you a fantastic reason for my absence but mostly I just procrastinated, and got a little lazy. No more! I am up and running. So hold on here we go!