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.
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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.
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.
First of all, there are two kinds of membership cards. The most common kind have a chip them that opens the gates at the pools, these are called “proximity cards”. Each household in Daybreak can receive two of these for free. If you don’t have your membership cards yet, fill out the paperwork your builder gave you and bring it by the DCC (they also have forms there if you don’t have any). Don’t forget to comb your hair for the photo!
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.
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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A great big thank you to user jarmcguire for supplying most of the information in this article.
5/13/2009 UPDATE:Due to miscommunication, invitations will NOT be required to attend the Neighbor’s Tour. Whether you receive an invitation or not, if you live in the Daybreak area you are invited to attend the special Open House from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Saturday, May 23. They request that you don’t bring extended family and friends to the Neighbor’s Tour, but instead invite them to make reservations for a tour during the Open House for the general public.
UPDATE: A Neighbor's Tour of the temple will be held Saturday, May 23, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM for all residents living in Eastlake Village. The local LDS youth will soon deliver invitations to every home in the area and the temple hosts/ushers will check for these invitations as guests arrive for the Neighbor Tour.
Ticket reservations begin today, Monday May 4, 2009, for the upcoming Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. Whether you belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or not—whether you’re thrilled, or curious, or concerned about the new temple in Daybreak—the Open House will be an opportunity to explore a local Daybreak feature that you won’t want to miss.
The Oquirrh Mountain Temple will be open to the general public from June 1 to Aug 1, Mondays through Saturdays, with breaks for the Fourth and Twenty-Fourth of July. One-and-a-half hour tours will begin at 8:00 AM and run every ten minutes until the last one each day at 8:50 PM (except Mondays when the last tour will end at 4:30 PM). Tours will include a short video in an air-conditioned tent about the history of South Jordan and the importance of temples to LDS people, a tour of the interior of the temple building, and light refreshments (it wouldn’t be a church function without those refreshments!)
. You can make reservations by calling 801-240-7645 or online at www.lds.org/reservations. Only groups up to ten can be accommodated online, to make reservations for larger groups you’ll need to call. Everyone is welcome to attend the Open House including children in strollers and people requiring wheelchair assistance. There will even be Spanish language translators on hand.
Elly (Get out and Explore)
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.
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.
