A Temple Open House-- Ephraim

 September 11, 2026.

Mike and I took a little two day trip to Manti and Ephraim, Utah, to enjoy yet another beautiful Temple open house together . 

Ephraim was built right near the Manti, Utah temple because the Manti Utah was renovated a few years ago and did NOT become ADA compliant. It restrained it's mostly inaccessible stairs throughout the building, and thus it's historical authenticity. So Ephraim was built! 

It is VERY accessible. And VERY beautiful. 

Mike even commented that it was the prettiest he's ever seen. The marble floor work was so pretty.  Colors throughout were so pretty in the many, many stained glass windows. One particular  large sealing room had had three lovely large windows facing the morning light that were so bright and beautiful. The grand staircase was curved and stunning.  

The flower motif throughout was so simple, but significant. I had to ask one of the guides what it was. I thought it looked like a simple five- petal design an elementary school child could draw. But she told me it was a forget me not flower. They are white. And every where in the decor and design. The only place in the world that forget-me-not flowers are white ( normally they are blue) is is Scandinavia. It's a shout out to the Scandinavian settlers of that valley who came with the Mormon pioneers and developed the area, built the Manti Temple, and stayed to strengthen the farming communities.

After our tour of this lovely new temple in Ephraim, we headed back to Manti, Utah, to visit with our friends, Dave and Carol Kunzler. I hired Carol to work nights and weekends in the Sherratt Library. She stayed there, working her way into a faculty position, and eventually they moved to Sanpete County about 5-7 years ago. She works for Snow College Library now. David is a retired Seminary teacher. Mike remodeled their Cedar City home years ago and got to be good close friends with Dave then. 

We spent the night in their guest room, then left early the next day in order to be home in Cedar City for our Second Saturday Temple office shift. Except not Mike. He traded that shift ages ago because ( to him) staying home and watching BYU play football is way more important than working in the temple office! But I had a great time working with Marty Larkin. 

It was a fun little excursion for us.