We got tickets to go to the Manti Temple open house and I was so excited. This is where I went for baptisms when I was a teenager, where I had my endowment when I was preparing for my mission, and where Bryan and I were married. My ancestors helped build the temple and my grandparents were called as temple workers there in the 1970s. So I have a lot of history with the temple and was excited to see it.
In June of 1985, I was at the rededication when they did the last remodel so it was fun to go through again with this remodel. They mainly updated the structural integrity so it would withstand earthquakes and they put in media components to take the temple from live sessions to film sessions. It was beautiful (although I was a bit disappointed because I expected a huge change like the St George temple and it wasn't a huge change) and I really liked being there.
I had seen posts about long lines and how horrible it was even when you have tickets, so we decided to go first thing in the morning and be there as close to 8 am as we could. We got up really early and drove to Manti, which had SNOW! We got in line and it wasn't a very long one, so we were lucky. There were a lot of people but the stand-by line was the long one at that point. Later in the day, when it was time for our actual tickets, the ticket line was down the hill and around the front of the temple so I am very glad we weren't when we did.
Students from the Geospatial Services lab speak to the Provo City Council about their findings. The students estimate they spent more than a combined 150 hours on their tree coverage analysis. (Ethan Pack)
BYU Geospatial Services lab students presented the results of their months-long analysis of Provo’s tree coverage to Provo City Council on Tuesday, March 20.
Matthew Rowley, Josh Newman, Abbie Crookston, Jacob Bellows and Andrew Miller spoke to the city council about their efforts to analyze how much tree coverage Provo has, a task given to them by the city, according to Teresa Gomez, geospatial data analysis and technology specialist.
Gomez manages the Geospatial Services lab and led the students during their analysis.
“This was not an easy task, right? There’s a lot of information, there was a lot of trial and error … it was a lot of work,” she said.
The Geospatial Services and Training lab helps students, faculty and staff with map-related projects and needs, according to the information on the Harold B. Lee library website.
The lab received the request from the city council in the summer of 2023, Gomez said. Understanding how much of Provo is covered by trees is an important aspect of the city’s Conservation and Resiliency plan, according to the meeting agenda.
The team used geographic information systems to analyze several maps together. These systems allowed the teams to compare and contrast aerial images with topographical maps in order to better determine tree coverage, Gomez said.
The majority of time spent on the project went toward gathering data from aerial light detection and ranging scans and satellite photos, Matthew Rowley, one of the students who worked on the project, said.
“It was kind of a start to finish project, which is more than we usually do, where we had to figure out what data we were going to use and how we were going to manipulate the data to get what we wanted to give back to Provo,” he said.
According to the students, 17% of Provo is covered by trees. Along with determining tree coverage, the team developed a land coverage model, led by Andrew Miller, a geography major.
“Tree coverage is just one part of the land cover program. There’s also buildings and asphalt and all this other stuff,” he said.
By running aerial photos and other maps through geographic information systems, Miller made a multipurpose model that shows how much land area things like buildings, grass and asphalt use.
“I made a land cover, which can be used for whatever you want,” he said.
Andrew Miller, Josh Newman, Abbie Crookston, Matthew Rowley and Jacob Bellows were the students who presented their findings to the council on Tuesday, March 20. Teresa Gomez, pictured third from left, is the Geospatial Services lab manager. (Teresa Gomez)
Because of the length of the project, some students who originally began to map tree coverage in Provo weren’t available to present on Tuesday.
“They’re in grad school in another job. So that’s also why it took a little while because we had a little rotation in between, but it’s fun and I think the students feel very rewarded, to see that something that you’re doing is actually so meaningful for the city,” Gomez said.
During their presentation, the students expressed how useful maps are to city development.
“The hope we have is just that (Provo City) uses maps more and that they’re able to see how much they can use (geographic information systems),” Abbie Crookston, a wildlife and wildlands conservation major, said.
The team said they were grateful for the project, as it gave them the opportunity to give back to the community, Gomez said.
“Contributing to where you call home is something that makes us who we are as BYU students, as a BYU community. We are here to serve. So this is a way that in our own realm of expertise, we can serve by mapping,” she said.
More information about Provo sustainability efforts, of which the Geospatial Services study was a part, can be found at the Provo city website.
Courtney mentioned that she hasn't had any of my cake since her birthday in August. So I decided to be a fun mom and send the kids some cakes in a jar for Easter. I heard about this from a missionary mom when Ethan was on his mission but I never tried it. I found the instructions online and tried it. It worked great...until the next morning when I realized that the bottom of the cake had liquified. Ugh. They looked fabulous and the toothpick came out clean when I baked them but the steam that is trapped inside when you seal the jars made the bottom liquid. I tried doing it a second time with another batch but it did the same thing.
I decided to send them anyway and the jars made it through the mail to the kids (except I think they both had one that was broken). I sent frosting too and Ethan mixed the frosting with the liquid cake and said it was good. Courtney and Charlotte ate the tops with the frosting and threw out the liquid part. I don't know if I'll ever do it again but it was fun to try.
Courtney and 5 friends went to Destin, Florida for Spring Break. They had so much fun playing on the beach and getting sunburned. She has a lot of stories so you can ask her how the trip was but here are some highlights she told me.
They left in the late afternoon on Sunday to drive all night to get to Destin. They stopped for a snack at Buckees and ate pulled pork sandwiches before eating later at a Waffle House. They were pretty nervous to go into a Waffle House at 3 am (or whatever time it was) because there are a lot of murders that happen in Waffle Houses, but they survived and got some food. They made it early in the morning and went straight to the beach because they couldn't check into the Air B&B yet.
They stayed in a nice place. There were beds for everyone.
Courtney and Charlotte had matching goggles that they bought special for this trip. Aren't they so cute? haha!
At one point, the beach patrol police came over to ask if they could smell the drinks in their waterbottles. They were checking for underaged drinking. The girls told them sure because they don't drink (one girl had her mission call and another was opening her mission call while they were there). The girls thought this was pretty funny.
There weren't too many people on the beach so they had tons of space to themselves. They had a great time sunning themselves although they did forget to reapply sunscreen. But you have to give them points for actually putting it on once.
Before they left, they had to do a photo shoot on the beach. I think the pictures turned out cute!
This is where they were staying.
They all got matching Destin sweatshirts to commemorate their trip.
They drove home Thursday and said driving during the day makes the trip feel a lot longer than driving at night. But they all made it home safely. They took 2 cars and Courtney's car didn't have any problems. The other car got pulled over because they didn't move over when passing a police car on the side of the road. So they were all safe during the trip, which was good.
Members of the BYU Supermileage club work on their vehicle’s engine in preparation for the 2024 Shell Eco-marathon competition in April. The team is using what they learned from last year’s victory, combined with new tools, to further improve their vehicle’s performance. (Ethan Pack)
After taking first in 2023, the BYU Supermileage club hopes for another victorious year.
At the Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2023 competition held at the Indianapolis Speedway, the team’s supermileage vehicle turned out roughly 1,916 miles to the gallon, securing them the victory, according to the competition’s website. This year, the team is using what they learned to optimize their vehicle, according to Dino Christensen, the vehicle’s driver.
“Last year, since we’re so close to 2,000 miles per gallon, we definitely want to get there and that’ll help us beat the school record. But there’s been some talk of getting closer to 3,000 miles to the gallon, so we’ll see how we go,” he said. Christensen was the driver for last year’s competition as well.
The team’s reach goal is to achieve more than 3,000 miles to the gallon, which would put them in range of the competition record, according to Christensen.
The team is using a new tool this year, called a pressure transducer, which allows them to see exactly what’s going on in the engine as it runs and how it can be improved, according to Austin Kofoed, a member of the supermileage capstone project.
“It shows us exactly what’s happening for one combustion event, how the engine is responding and that’s been new this year and really helped us diagnose exactly what’s going on in the engine and what can be improved,” he said. In addition to the engine, the team is also focusing on redesigning the air intakes to make them more efficient.
The team ran into issues at the competition last year that threatened their chances of winning, Christensen said. His biggest takeaway was the team’s resilience.
“People just put their shoulder to the wheel and just did what they needed to do to create solutions, find solutions and make the systems work together,” he said.
At last year’s event, the vehicle ran six miles, or three times around the track, on 17 milliliters of fuel, according to Dale Tree, BYU mechanical engineering professor and the club’s faculty advisor.
“So if you think one of the little syringes might give a child medicine with, I think either five or 10 milliliters … give [it] three of those,” he said. “You measure the distance and how much gas you’re using, and then you take the miles and divide it by the gallon. So you don’t burn a whole gallon, you just burn out a little bit.”
The team has spent time optimizing their vehicle to cut down on anything that might waste fuel, such as drag, friction or weight, Tree said. Once the vehicle is rolling, the key is to keep it rolling with as little energy as possible.
“That’s kind of the fun of it, to see how extreme we can go in each of these areas; with the weight, with the aerodynamics and with the efficiency,” he said.
During the last two semesters, members of the supermileage team have spent roughly 15 hours a week working on their vehicle, according to Kofoed. When asked what he’s most excited for, his answer was simple.
“Winning,” Kofoed said.
In addition to the prototype internal-combustion engine category, the team is also attempting to win off-track awards which are given to teams who make technical innovations, according to Kofoed.
The competition will take place April 3-7, according to the competition’s website. The team has chosen not to compete on Sunday, Tree said, and will instead complete their portion of the competition on Saturday, April 6.
One of Ethan's best friends, Monte Evans, got married and Ethan was a groomsman. It was hilarious leading up to the wedding. The boys were all given the color of pants they were supposed to get but none of them were really worried about it. The moms all ended up stressing and buying their pants to make sure they were what Maci (the bride) wanted. It was hilarious and very typical of this group of boys. They are so chill.
The day before the wedding they had a day-long bachelor party. They went to a location that rents rooms where you can play video games. So they played hours of video games, went to lunch, and then went to Top Golf to play games. They had a great time being together. They have a close group of friends who have been together since elementary and have grown up together. They ended up at Monte's house playing games and chatting. Ethan ended up going online and paying to become an ordained minister (just in case the Bishop didn't show up the next day, haha).
On the wedding day, they all got ready and went to Washington to the venue where they were briefed on how to walk down the aisle with the bridesmaids. They were told to walk not too fast and not too slow. They were trying to figure out how to walk funny to make it hilarious but they did have their limits and didn't want to mess anything up.
Here is Ethan with Duncan and Jackie who were married in March.
These are the boys they grew up with: Monte, Jaxson, Corbin, Duncan, Brennon, and Ethan.
Ethan took this picture to show us how handsome he was all ready for the wedding.
There were hours between the wedding and the reception. Monte asked his mom if they had to stay and she said they didn't so they all loaded into cars (I thought it was interesting that Monte was with the boys and Jackie was in another car, haha) and went to Duncan and Jackie's house to hang out. They played games and waited until it was time to go back for the reception.
Duncan didn't like the reception because people kept telling him congratulations and it annoyed him. The couple didn't want a line but people wanted to congratulate them and ended up forming a line anyway. So we went through the line, ate some treats, and then left. Ethan stayed and helped to decorate the car and send them off. Maci and Monte have been dating for about 3 years so she is used to the boys, which is probably good because they will be around a lot.
Here is the happy couple with this beautiful picture taken by Jaquel Reber who grew up on our ward and was their wedding photographer.
I really like the books by author Traci Hunter Abramson. She is a good friend of my older cousin, Connie, so I have met Traci a couple of times. We worked together at Connie's daughter's wedding (Traci did the food and I did the wedding cake). She was nice enough to sign a couple of books for me after the wedding before I flew home.
Traci had a couple of new books coming out in the Spring and was going on a book tour. I noticed that one of the stops was Seagull Book in St. George so I made plan to go and buy the books and get them signed. I showed up about 30 minutes early and got in line with a friend who just happened to show up the same time I did. They were pre-selling a book that wasn't coming out for a couple more months, so that was cool! After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, I got my books signed, she recognized me and we had a good chat, I was given a cinnamon roll (it goes along with the book), and then she took a picture with me. It was fun and now I have 2 new books to read!
Mallards spend time near the shore of Utah Lake. Mallards migrate north in March and April to breed, according to the Utah DNR field guide. (Ethan Pack)
Migratory birds have begun their annual trek north, exciting birders and bird enthusiasts who will be watching for them.
KC Childes has been a birder for more than 25 years and is a board member of the Utah County Birders organization. He said the spring migration usually spans from mid-February to the start of June. Utah County can expect large numbers of waterfowl, such as duck, geese and swans as they move northward from Central and South America, he said.
“I went out this morning and it was fun to already start seeing migrants coming through, like mountain bluebirds, and seeing a lot more ducks out on Utah Lake starting to move through,” he said. Sparrows usually come next, followed by shorebirds, Childs said.
For birders — people who seek out sightings of birds — the spring migration is an exciting time to see birds that otherwise don’t spend time in Utah.
“You’re not getting to see all the same birds you see all winter. There’s starting to be a shuffle of birds,” Childs said. “So I’m just excited to see what shows up.”
Birds often stop in Utah to rest and refuel on their flight north, Keeli Marvel, BYU graduate and wildlife biologist, said. Utah is in the Pacific Flyway, a major migratory path for birds traveling north or south, she said.
In addition to Utah Lake, birds stop at the Great Salt Lake to feed themselves, Marvel said.
“We’ve got the Great Salt Lake and so we host a very large number of waterfowl and other shorebirds that migrate through and they stopped to fuel up at the Great Salt Lake,” Marvel said. “(The Great Salt Lake) has got a significant brine shrimp and brine fly population and a lot of shorebirds will stop over and double their weight eating the brine shrimp and the brine flies,” Marvel said.
Birds frequently stop in Utah County specifically because of its diverse terrain, Yvonne Carter, Utah County Birders president, said.
“Utah County is very phenomenal because we have all of the habitats … All the way from the alpine to the mountains, a lot of your water areas and wetlands (and) your desert terrain,” she said.
Birds have been migrating slightly later this year than they have in the past, according to Carter’s observations. Bird migrations are often so precise observers can pin exactly when the first of a species, such as Snow Geese, will pass through an area.
“They can almost pin it down to the day that (Snow Geese) will go through and we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of Snow Geese at once,” Carter said. “They just cover the fields, all of Gunnison reservoir; it’s crazy.”
Those interested in seeing any of the birds that will be traveling to and through Utah should know location matters. Areas with plenty of foliage and water are often the best to find many species, according to Marvel.
“Anywhere there’s a lot of trees — so funny enough, cemeteries are actually kind of good for bird watching, especially in the winter,” she said.
Utah has several bird festivals, including the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival in May. Apps and programs such as eBird can help birders identify the birds they see.
As any full-time missionary can attest, talking to everyone is part of the calling as a servant of God. It doesn’t matter if a person is rich or poor, lives in a nice house in a large city or a small hut in the jungle, is literate or illiterate—Christ wants all to come to Him. Why?
As part of His earthly ministry, Christ did everything “for the benefit of the world” (2 Nephi 26:24), ultimately sacrificing His life because of His love for us.
Think of someone you love. It could be a family member, a neighbor, or your best friend. How do you show love to this person? We often show love to those we care for by buying them gifts, calling to check on them, supporting them in an activity, or serving them. These are all great ways to show our love—but Christ has asked us to do more. He has asked us to give what cannot erode over time or be forgotten: bring others to Him so they can enjoy eternal blessings that only He can offer through covenants.
Does Christ want only a select few to have these blessings? No. He invites, “Come unto me all ye ends of the earth” (2 Nephi 26:25). Those who know Christ have been commanded to bring this knowledge to others and “persuade all men to repentance” (2 Nephi 26:27). Christ wants all of us to belong to His Church and have a “sense of belonging.” No matter what happens in our lives, if we honor the covenants Jesus Christ offered us, we can have a “powerful sense of belonging among the covenant people.”
Wilford Woodruff felt this desire to bring others to God as soon as he first heard the gospel preached on December 29, 1833 in Richland, New York. When he heard Zerah Pulsipher preach, Wilford knew it was what he had been looking for. He wrote, “I could not feel it my duty to leave the house without bearing witness to the truth before the people.” He was soon baptized, and over the next three months, he labored with other members in the Richland area to teach the truth they had found. He knew that he didn’t need to be set apart as a missionary to share the gospel.
Christ invites all to come to Him. Like Wilford Woodruff, we don’t need callings as full-time missionaries to speak of Christ. As members of Jesus Christ’s Church, we need to do our part to help those around us hear the invitation to come to Him.
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