Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeekI came across a story in the local newspaper this morning, about a website called
Stoodthere.com This is a website where people can log on and tell stories and post pictures of the amazing places they have visited. You can also vote for the places that are already listed -- which are then compiled into a top 100 list. The lists are in constant flux as the votes are coming in (number one is always changing) -- until the voting closes.
There are established lists for the UK and the United States, and some other areas, but they are currently compiling the list for the 100 Greatest Places to stand on Planet Earth. Some of the places in the running I have been to (the Golden Gate Bridge, the Las Vegas Strip), but most I haven't.
I love things that take my breath away, and the list of places I would love to stand on this planet is almost endless (the pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu, the Lincoln Memorial, the Great Wall of China...).
Though I haven't been to many places, some of the places I have been are spectacular.
I'd like to share two with you, one made by the hand of man, one by the Hand of God.
First: The Salt Lake Temple.
This is the building I was married in, so it holds a very special place for me, but beyond that, the story of it's construction is one of struggle and faith and sacrifice.
More than once called the St Paul's of the American West, the Salt Lake Temple took forty years to build. It is constructed of granite blocks, quarried from a canyon twenty miles to the south. Those giant blocks were hauled -- essentially dragged -- from the quarry to the building site, sometimes taking as much as four days to haul a single block.
Today you can still walk through the meadows of Little Cottonwood Canyon and see the debris of the stonecutters -- for me it's like touching the past, connecting with my own ancestors.
Once the blocks made it to the building site, they were cut so precisely to fit together, that no mortar was used in the construction of the building. Many who laid the foundations of the Temple in 1853, were gone before it's dedication, in 1893.
Every time I stand before the Salt Lake Temple, I stand in awe.
Second: Mesa Arch, at sunrise.
Utah is full of some astonishing natural landmarks, and I've seen many of them, including some that are more famous than this one -- particularly, Delicate Arch in Arches National Park (practically our state symbol).
Mesa Arch is located in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. It's an incredible natural arch, poised on the precipice of a 1,500 foot cliff -- and I mean RIGHT on the edge (if you fell off, you could whistle three choruses of Yankee Doodle before you hit the ground).
But this isn't just a story of where, but when. Many people visit Mesa Arch during the course of a year -- almost none of them comes at the right time.
Mesa Arch, Sunday morning, just before sunrise.
As you stand before the arch, amongst the boulders and sage brush, you are treated to a show like no other. The sun comes over the Eastern horizon like a nuclear blast. It fills the ancient valley with golden light, and blazes right through the center of the arch. For nearly five minutes it sets the sandstone on fire, changing it from brown to yellow to orange to red and back.
And the only other people I have EVER seen there, at that time, were other photographers. Those who chase the light.
So now, I'm curious -- where on earth have you stood?
May 21: Self Portrait
May 22: "No Dad! Don't take my picture! I HATE it!" 
May 23: I decided to make chocolate chip cookies on Saturday. I followed the recipe EXACTLY (well, I doubled the chocolate chips) and instead of chocolate chip cookies, I got these. 
May 24: Sharon has always maintained that Matt is her best snuggler.
May 26: The sweet smell of summer. 
May 27: And the sweet taste of summer!
May 14: Matt says this shot makes him look like a ninja. I say it looks like a shot from the closing credits of Grease 2.
May 15: Another weed. Is this a dandelion too -- are there different kinds of dandelions? Either way, it's a bit of sunshine. 
May 16: Action shots. 
May 17: The great sunday night water balloon fight! My kids are not great shots from a distance -- so they decided to try the up close and personal approach.
May 18: At first glance it looks like a stand of aspens in the Autumn afternoon...but it's not Autumn and these are just weeds in the field behind my house. 
May 19: I think May is the best month of the year for sunsets. The longer evenings are still a novelty, and we have yet to barricade ourselves in our air conditioned homes, from the hot summer nights. 
May 20: Self portrait. 
April 30: Another Spring surprise. Our home was landscaped by the previous owners, and we keep finding new surprises. When we moved in, last July, there were daisies and roses and ferns in the front yard. We thought they were very beautiful, but we had no idea what was awaiting us this Spring. 
May 2: Matt got some sweet new prescription sunglasses. He doesn't usually wear his hair like this, but it was a special occasion. 
May 3: Ah, the hammock. The perfect place to kill time. By this point -- 48 hours before the trip to Disneyland -- we were all pretty much useless. 
May 4: This is one of the luggage tags sent to us by the Walt Disney Travel Company. That's right, we went in style! This picture was snapped very late, as I finished packing -- narrowly avoiding the mistake I made on Friday (May 1).
May 5: Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the eighth wonder of the world, coming to you straight from the World Famous Jungle Cruise....The Backside of Water!
May 6: Pssst. Have you ever heard that Disneyland is home to a super secret, and exclusive private club called Club 33? Well this, my friends is a shot from the lobby of Club 33. 
May 7: Self portrait. Plus one. 
May 8: Our last day in Disneyland, we finally got to one of my favorite attractions -- the Mark Twain Steamboat. This is a shot of one of the massive stacks. 
May 9: Heading home. 
May 10: This caricature was drawn, and painted, in Disneyland (duh). The artist did a portrait of Jordan last year as well. She commented on something that I had never noticed before:
May 11: For those of you with short memories, did I mention that our home was landscaped by the previous owners, and that we now have a yard full of tulips?
May 12: I title this picture "Bored and waiting in the Bronco for soccer practice to end, and looking for something to photograph, because I am now paranoid that I'm going to forget again."
May 13: Have you washed your car at a self serve car wash lately? The suds that come out of the foam brush are rainbow colored. I was so mesmerized that I failed to notice that I was flooding the place in rainbow soap. 
