LDS faithful flock to Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication

It was just another Sunday at the Hukill house. Mom was styling little Annie's hair in between mascara applications, 14-year-old Whitney was frantically searching for her brown high heels, and Josh, 12, and Doug, 16, were curled up in the living room sneaking in some extra zzz's before shower time.

But then, once everyone was neat and tidy in dresses and ties, something odd happened. The Hukills, devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, didn't go to church.

"It's kind of weird," said Whitney Hukill, a ninth-grader at Kennedy Junior High in West Valley City. "Every Sunday for my whole life — unless I'm sick — I've gone to church."

Statewide, Sunday, nearly 2 million perfectly healthy Latter-day Saints, like the Hukills, skipped out on worship services. For the first time in the state's history, LDS President Thomas S. Monson cancelled church.

The prophet wanted to free up members' schedules so they could attend the dedication ceremony for the newly completed Oquirrh Mountain Temple, said Robert Homer, coordinator for the temple's open house and dedication. The building, which Latter-day Saints consider the house of God, is the 13th to be dedicated in Utah and the 130th in the world.

"I think President Monson just wanted to do something nice for the saints," Homer said. "From a Latter-day Saint perspective, temples have great significance. To be able to participate in a dedication ceremony is huge."

Over the past three days, during nine separate ceremonies, more than 14,000 Latter-day Saints sat in on dedicatory services at the new temple, which is located at 11022 South 4000 West. Hundreds of thousands more watched via satellite transmission from select meeting houses.

Annie Hukill, 9, digested the numbers over breakfast, pausing with a scoop of milk-soaked cereal just inches from her mouth.

"Why do they do so many dedications?" she asked her father, Mark Hukill. "Do they just dedicate it over and over?"

Mark Hukill, who is bishop of West Valley City's Deerfield Ward, shrugged his shoulders.

"I think the Lord is trying to tell us something," he said. "The number of dedications, the cancelled meetings — he's trying to express to us the importance of temples. He wants us to focus on temples and families."

Family, Mark Hukill said, as he watched his four children scramble to get ready for the dedication ceremony, is what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is all about.

"Going to the temple, binding families together forever — that's why we're here on earth," he said.