What better way to celebrate your fourth birthday than splashing with your friends in a pool just your size? For my daughter’s big day this week, we called up a few neighbors, grabbed a birthday cake, sunscreen and towels, and headed over to the Splash Pool in Founder’s Park.

    The Daybreak Splash Pool reminds me of a big bathtub full of happy kids and tub toys—especially when they turn off the two spraying water jets (the on-site Daybreak employee will turn them off on windy days or whenever someone makes the request). Surrounded by concrete decking and shady lawn, the pool itself provides a big blue circle of summertime splashing for Daybreak’s youngest residents. A zero-depth entry gently slopes down to an 18-inch “deep end”, which is plenty deep for preschoolers showing off their water tricks. I love the “No Diving” warnings set along the pool’s edges—as if that three-year-old getting ready to do her best belly-flop yet can read them. And water toys? Don’t bring your own (you’ll lose them)—just dive into the yellow lost-and-found bucket and borrow a few.

    I broke my toe at Eastlake Pool the other day. I can’t blame anyone but myself for stepping on it while I was tripping over my own towel. Yeah, it was pretty classy. But now I’m chomping at the bit. Here I live in this incredibly beautiful, walkable, bike-ridable, boat-rowable community and I limp along slower than the HOA responding to resident complaints. What’s a newly disabled Daybreak girl supposed to do? Hang out on my front porch, of course.

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    We all have one, you know—a front porch. They’re one of the standard features in Daybreak.  But I tend to forget about mine; even our visitors use the back door. Why are front porches so great anyway?

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    First of all, they add a lot of character and classic American architectural style to a home. Just imagine your Victorian-style house without its characteristic spindle railings and gabled porch roof—it just wouldn’t look right. If houses that were built with a front porch over a hundred years ago are still attractive today, you know that your home has long-lasting architectural appeal. That front porch isn’t going to go out of style in ten years.

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    Summer fun at Daybreak: splashing at the pool, boating on the lake, yoga on the lawn in front of the DCC. Our community is at its best in the warm weather. But what if you want to share it with friends and family who don’t live here? I know a lot of people, myself included, who avoid the whole idea altogether out of sheer confusion. Who can get a membership card? How much does a guest pass cost? And do they have life jackets big enough for Aunt Sue? After a long conversation with Clint Warnick, Program Coordinator, I can finally say with confidence that I’ve figured it all out. I think.

 

 

    If you have a brother living in the basement, roommates upstairs, a tenant in your detached garage apartment, or a college student home for the summer, they can all have their own Daybreak membership cards. For $10, any resident age 14 and older can stop by the DCC and pick up a proximity card. It’d be a good idea to bring along proof of residency.

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  Several years ago, I stepped into the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and, looking up at an original rose window, I thought of the people who had dedicated so much time and material and artistic talent to construct the building, of the hundreds of thousands of people who have visited through the centuries seeking solace, sanctuary, and God, and of the French people today, whether believing Catholic or not, who are proud of their historic building. And I thought, this is a special place. Walking into the newly finished Oquirrh Mountain Temple built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and located right here in Daybreak, while it has neither the spaciousness nor extravagant decoration of the famous cathedral, I felt immediately that I was in a special place.

 

     With its façade the color of dry native grasses—comprised of Uinta gold granite from China—and straight-forward lines, the new temple reflects its arid valley setting and the hard-working, down to earth culture of the people around it. And yet it is breathtakingly beautiful.

 

     The prairie themed colors and no-nonsense architectural style continue in the interior. Gorgeous fabrics in muted browns, golds, greens, and cream complement the dark-stained oak woodwork and abundant brown limestone from Morocco and Egypt. And although the 19,447 Swarovski crystals in the Celestial Room chandelier are imported from Austria, local artisans also helped furnish the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Bronze handrails on the grand staircase are made from Julius Blum components forged in the United States. Fluted, struck with stars and bordered by circles, the fabulous art glass windows were brilliant cut by John Quist of Salt Lake. Local volunteers, asked on a special Church-service mission and supervised by Utah artist Linda Curley Christensen, hand-painted the lovely murals of Utah mountain country that appear in the upstairs instruction rooms. But best of all, a local landscape architect and Daybreak resident (my very own neighbor, in fact), Greg Boudrero with MGB+A designed the plantings on the grounds surrounding the temple.

 

     It struck me as I moved through the building that while the materials used in the temple are of the highest quality and the craftsmanship is evidently first-class, the space does not have a fussy, extravagant feeling. Beyond the many framed prints taken mostly from well-known LDS paintings and a few carefully placed vases, there is very little extra decoration. Clean-lined moldings and classic, contemporary furniture, including some very comfy chenille chairs in the upstairs sealing rooms, focus the space to its purpose. These rooms are meant to be used by hundreds of people every day. This temple is built for work.

 

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