Temple Square, Take Two

When we visited Temple Square on Monday we weren't able to see everything that we wanted to so when the forecast for Thursday was rain we decided to visit one more time. We started off by seeing the Joseph Smith movie which was fabulous! My sister Kelly who has helped with various research for the Joseph Smith papers told me a funny little story about one of the men in the mob who killed Joseph and Hyrum. He was one of three men who was shot by Joseph Smith as Joseph tried to fight off the men storming up the stairs. This particular man was an Irishman and didn't care about Mormons or who Joseph Smith was, he was just there because he had heard there was going to be a good brawl. So Irish! I had known that Joseph had a gun but I didn't realize that anyone had actually been hit by him. I love finding out new things and Kelly has been able to provide me with a bunch of interesting tidbits that one doesn't usually hear about.
As we watched the scene where Joseph was killed I realized that Savannah was crying so we comforted each other. After the movie was done she told me that she had felt the Spirit so strong. What an amazing girl I have!

Next we headed to the Conference Center which Xander had really wanted to see. The kids really enjoyed the tour, even though we were all disappointed that we couldn't go on the roof due to the pouring rain. When we walked into the General Conference area Noah got so excited, saying that he recognized this place where the prophet talks to us. It's nice to know that some of General Conference is making its way into his head!

Yucky rain!

Later that afternoon we got to see Dan and Cherish's house as well as Liz and Jason's. The kids' favorite part was getting on David's old motorcycles that now reside with Liz. Too bad we couldn't take them out for a spin!

The Fourth of July

We started off our Fourth of July celebration with a hike around Silver Lake. What a beautiful place! We have definitely missed having the beautiful canyons and mountains to escape to whenever we want.

Xander even spotted a nest of baby ducklings - they were so cute!

Just as we arrived back at the car the local parade had started. Since we weren't able to go anywhere we decided to just enjoy it. Noah loved seeing the fire trucks.

There were tons of families driving in their cars, on bikes, on motorcycles, as well as kids in wagons, in motorized kid cars, and even a few bouncing around on pogo sticks! The thing the kids loved best was everyone was throwing candy; not just candy but GOOD candy, especially the Saltwater Taffy.

That evening we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Dave and Jackie. Dan and Cherish, Liz and Jason, and Kelly, Jared, and Aveleen were all there to enjoy it with us.

One of the Shrek movies kept people occupied while we waited for it to get dark outside so we could do fireworks.

Let the fun begin!

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Camping and Fishing

Monday afternoon David and the kids, along with Dave, Dan, Cherish, and their dogs headed up to the Uintas to do some camping and fishing. The kids had a great time! Xander ended up being the winner, catching 9 fish, with Savannah close behind with 7. Noah even caught a few!

Camping just wouldn't be complete without enjoying smores around the campfire!

And just in case they had wanted to do a little hunting the kids made their very own bows. The camping overnighter turned out to be one of the highlights of our Utah vacation, at least for the kids.

Camping is not my thing so I enjoyed a wonderful evening with my sister Kelly, her husband Jared, and little Aveleen. We got Cafe Rio for dinner, watched a movie, and enjoyed some great conversations. I slept in the next morning and did some reading in Kelly's beautiful library. I think I enjoyed my time with my sister as much as the kids enjoyed the great outdoors.

A Little Sightseeing

For our family there were some definite "must-sees" in Salt Lake - the University of Utah and Temple Square.

We stopped by our old stomping grounds to show our kids the most wonderful University of Utah. Go Utes!

We spent some time at the Bookstore to stock up on our Ute gear.

Next we took the kids to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. One must always take a picture with the big Joseph Smith statue.

We were excited to show the kids the Wasatch Room where David and I had our wedding reception 17 years ago.

What a beautiful view of the temple!

We were supposed to meet David's dad but apparently Dave had forgotten his cell phone and we had no idea how we were going to find him. As we were mentioning this difficulty Xander shouted, "I see Grandpa!" Seeing as we were on the 10th floor in the JS Memorial Building I didn't think he was serious but sure enough, Xander had spotted Dave all the way down on the street. We took a picture because we thought it was so funny! Xander with the eagle eyes!

Next stop was Temple Square. The temple is so beautiful and we loved seeing all the sister missionaries and where they were from. We each threw a coin in the reflection pool in front of the temple and were in awe when Dave told us that all the coins that are vacuumed out each month total in the thousands of dollars and it's all donated to Primary Children's Hospital. We then went through all the Visitors Centers that are there and admired the beautiful displays and paintings.

Xander said this was his favorite picture because he's going to be baptized this October.

What a beautiful and spiritually uplifting morning!

Yummy!

The very first thing we did upon arriving in Utah was rent a car and head to Cafe Rio for dinner. We have definitely missed that place! Although they now have one in Maryland it's still too far away so the kids haven't  been able to partake of that Cafe Rio yumminess! Unfortunately they didn't appreciate it as much as David and I do but they DID enjoy the Tres Leches dessert.  We ended up eating there about 4 times throughout our visit.  Another restaurant that is one of our favorites is Tepanyaki which is a dining experience in and of itself.

The kids totally enjoyed watching the guys do all their tricks and cook up the food right in front of them.   Poor little Aveleen was traumatized by the fire (she was sitting next to the female George Constanza) and spent the rest of the meal in Jared's arms far away from the table.

Ready to catch some shrimp!

If only they would bottle up their salad dressing and sell it...