Does anyone live in Utah?

[Mom21]

I am thinking about moving. I live in South Florida now. What kind of things would be different? How are property taxes, insurances, car registration, schools, or the homeschool climate( I have homeschooled before and could again but prefer she go to school--dd is 3rd grade now), etc? I am looking near Salt Lake City. I have found a nice house in Herriman. Is that close enough to drive to Salt Lake City airport to work everyday? I appreciate any info to help me make a decision.

 

[motherhen17404]

I lived in Utah for a year, please feel free to PM me with your questions. Some of my answers may not be appropriate for the open forum.

 

[Rajah]

May not be PC to ask, but I will anyway -- are you Mormon/LDS?

 

[jx3smom]

I was a teenager when we lived there for 9 months while my dad got his D.Ed. from Utah State. I hated every minute of it. It was very hard if you were not a Mormon. They were nice but I just did not fit in.

 

[Rajah]

I was a teenager when we lived there for 9 months while my dad got his D.Ed. from Utah State. I hated every minute of it. It was very hard if you were not a Mormon. They were nice but I just did not fit in.

My point exactly. I was also a non-Mormon kid raised there, and it was not good.

 

[kasar]

I think I'd read that "Question about Tithing" thread if I were you. It sounds like the Church and the whole culture in Utah are really enmeshed. If that's okay with you, I'm sure you'd be fine. I would not be.

SLC is so beautiful, though.

 

[Mom21]

Uh-Oh. This isn't sounding good. No we are not LDS. I have an 8yo dd I would have to worry about making friends. I have heard they aren't very friendly to non-LDS. Is that true? Too bad, if it is. It is gorgeous country.

 

[jx3smom]

Yes, it is beautiful but I would say that they were not very accepting of non Mormons. They weren't nasty or anything like that but it is very difficult to fit in or find friends.

 

[jgmklmhem]

We live here now and yes the culture shock at first is a bit weird but it is not nearly as bad now as people are making it out to be. I guess it depends where you want to live. In Salt Lake it is not too bad. In some of the smaller cities it would be worse. We currently live in Holladay which is what I would call a suburb of Salt Lake and it is great. My DD was in pre-K last year in the public school system and we had no Morman problems. She is in private this year only because we wanted her in full-day K and they only offer half day in the public schools. We also moved here from FL where I lived most of my life (Pensacola and Tallahassee). I will also say my DD5 has plenty of friends...some are Morman...most are not or I don't know if they are or not. My wife also has many friends who are both Morman and not. So far we have been here over a year and have not been treated bad at all and we are not LDS.

 

[ZachnElli]

Look a little farther north to Boise, really. It's great here, very family friendly, extremely safe to live here, housing costs are good to average and you don't have to be LDS! We do have a large LDS population here too, but it's not like in Utah. Do a search on Boise/Meridian/Eagle Idaho. You can always drive to Salt Lake for a weekend trip from here!

 

[jgmklmhem]

Mormans in Utah

here is an article from the Salt Lake Tribune that I found interesting.

One good thing that derives from the Morman infulence is that Salt Lake is a very family friendly town. There are parks everywhere and plenty of activities geared towards families that are not Morman related. We have found that aspect to be very pleasant.

 

[Rajah]

All I can say is having grown up there until I was 15, by not being Mormon I was usually the one left out, I was not allowed to go to some kids' bday parties because of religion, and by jr high I was starting to become the target of harrassment.

Yes, I did have friends, but 95% of them were other non-LDS kids and we were banding together as much as really friends. I only had 2 or 3 LDS friends.

I would *NOT* go to Utah planning to raise kids if you aren't LDS.

Visit, *absolutely*. It's beautiful, and for visits the people are very friendly. There's a *lot* the state has to offer that is positive.

But raising non-LDS kids is not one of them. Unless something's changed since we left.

 

[motherhen17404]

I have to agree with everyone, SLC is a very nice city to VISIT. We moved there with every intention to make a new life and have it work out. Well, we kept hitting our heads against the LDS wall. I know it is hard for people to understand, but the church really does run everything. Think about this. I had a sort of friend who had a baby who died 5 days after he was born. She begged me to attend his funeral. I tried to do that. I got to the church (LDS) and was not allowed in. I was told that if a non LDS person touches the inside of a LDS church that they have to rip out and throw away everything to "clean" it.

We have friends who moved to Boise from SLC and they love it there.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

Ive lived here for some time and I agree its pretty "different" but some ways thats good and others bad.

I live in Utah County (south of Salt Lake) and while pretty, the tolerance level of most people is very very little for those who are "different" (I know its ALOT better in the Salt Lake area though...) and the religion is very much inbred to society as a whole.

Just for an idea- We just the first Starbucks in the whole County (almost 400,000 people) about 2 months ago

I don't know much about the religion but the whole kicked out of church thing is new to me- and I know not practiced by the church as a whole (cause if it was true- why would people still be trying to get me there every week.....)

Its a nice state to live and very pretty but I'm getting the (*^$ out in 10 months when I graduate college

-em

 

[Rajah]

I was told that if a non LDS person touches the inside of a LDS church that they have to rip out and throw away everything to "clean" it.

Now that's the first I've ever heard that one. I don't remember ever going to an LDS funeral (hmm, or wedding for that matter... :hmm ), but I *do* know I joined my best friend at the time (LDS) for several activities at their church.

I *do* know that in the Book of Mormon, it says that your best friend should also be Mormon. No idea where, but I do remember my best friend coming to me when they studied that section and saying that we couldn't be best friends any more because of that. Or, rather, she said we weren't supposed to be but we still were.

That marked the beginning of our separation as best friends, though.

 

[hydster]

I've lived in Utah my whole life and I was born and raised Mormon although we don't go much anymore for personal reasons but I can say that whoever was told that non mormons cannot go into the church or they have to rip out and clean everything was not in ANY WAY correct! We had several non mormon's visit our building and they were welcomed not shunned. 3 of my best friends growing up were non mormons but they still came to activities with me and even came to church a couple of times with my family just to see what it was like. I'm sure it is a culture shock to most people coming here but our state is getting less lds every year. My kids have several member and non member friends as do I and my husband.
It is a very family friendly city and if you live near SLC proper or in Park City the religion aspect isn't nearly as terrible as if you lived in Provo or Logan.

I guess since I've lived here my whole life I don't see anything too terrible about it other than some of the strange liquor laws and not understanding the mormon culture could make people wary but honestly we aren't all that bad

If you would like to pm me I'd be happy to help.
Heidi

 

[malibuconlee]

I was told that if a non LDS person touches the inside of a LDS church that they have to rip out and throw away everything to "clean" it.

I think you're confusing the churches with the temples. Non-mormons are not allowed inside the temples once dedicated. Even LDS members have to have letters of reccommendation from church elders or something like that to visit. (We took a tour of the Nauvoo temple after it was re-built and before it was dedicated.)

I grew up near Nauvoo and I lived in Salt Lake City for awhile. Life there is VERY centered around the church. Even the news. Things that were huge, breaking news events there weren't even heard of other places in the country.

Oh, and there is a "bad" part of SLC. We lived there by accident as we found our apartment over the internet. Live and learn.

 

[Rajah]

Except I do remember going to one of the temples or tabernacles or something (that I think was a temple) for Christmas a few times. And I think we got to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir once (which is a *fantastic* chior)...

 

[malibuconlee]

Was that in SLC? Because I think the choir performs at another building in Temple Square, but not the temple.

ETA: I found this on the web, it's an excerpt.

This beautifully landscaped 10-acre plot of ground in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City is one of Utah's most visited attractions. Centerpiece of the Square is the 6-spired granite Salt Lake Temple, and adjacent to this imposing edifice is the domed Tabernacle, home of the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the great Tabernacle orga

 

[Rajah]

Yeah, it was in Temple Square.

I also remember going to one place that had some neat room-sized diorammas or something like that (it's a vague memory) that was neat. Probably a visitor's center at Temple Square or something.

And I remember *going* (but not what I saw) to a major new temple that was open to the public for a short period.