This week was a full one, with lots of appointments, meetings and activities. We tried to take advantage of the still warm weather to ride bikes to school.
On Wednesday night I went on another Covenant Path visit with the missionaries. This time Elder Evenson played the piano for us, right next to half a mannequin. The family was getting ready for Halloween. The daughter didn’t want a naked half mannequin, so she put a skirt on it. Kind of funny!
The kids found another use for the salt gun, popping balloons!
Thursday was full with back to school night, soccer practice and our very first Pack Meeting in our new ward. It was a great pack meeting and all the kids enjoyed it!
Very early Friday morning, like 5:00 am early, we were in the car headed to Utah and General Conference. Sunrise in the Columbia River Gorge is beautiful!
We were so excited for this trip! It was the best drive. The kids are old enough to enjoy road trips, it was fun. The best part was when we were playing the ABC game just as we were getting to the end of the drive. Isaac was on F and he called out “Fatigew!” We all looked at him and tried to figure out what word that was. We finally realized he meant the word ‘fatigue’. We all busted up laughing. For some reason we were really silly at this point of the trip and it was REALLY funny to us. Fatigew has since become a family joke that still makes us laugh.
We made it to our hotel in Salt Lake City where we met up with the Pederson’s who were also staying there. On our walk to find dinner we found a perfect restaurant for Gracie.
We decided on pizza though.
We decided to walk to a McDonald’s for ice cream after dinner. We could see the Golden Arches in the distance so we just walked towards them. When we got there we realized it was under construction and the restaurant was closed, but the drive-thru was open. They let us walk thru, it was pretty funny!
We went back to the hotel so the little kids could swim while the adults and teenagers talked.
The next morning we walked to Temple Square. We didn’t have Saturday morning session tickets, but we decided to watch in the tabernacle. We didn’t know that the ticket standby line is now in the tabernacle, but it was pretty full so we went up in the balcony thinking we wouldn’t be able to get in standby.
I was getting a little worried because it was hot and uncomfortable up there, I wasn’t sure we would make it through the whole session.
But we ended up super lucky. There were just enough standby tickets for us! We hurried over to the Conference Center and ended up in the very last row of the balcony. We missed the first talk, but we were much more comfortable!
It was so awesome to be in there. The spirit is amazingly strong. The twins were especially excited to be there since they had never been. The only disappointment was that President Monson was too ill to be there. We missed him.
After the first session we braved the crowds to find lunch.
We waited in the longest line ever at Chick fil a. They kept it moving pretty fast, thankfully.
Then we rushed back to get to the afternoon session. But not too fast to take a few pictures.
Lee’s calling as Stake Executive Secretary means he is in charge of our stake’s allotment of General Conference tickets. Somehow he shorted us a ticket for the Saturday afternoon session! He was able to get a ticket, although it was not in our section. It all worked out though, and he was able to sit with us.
Again, we just loved it!
Look at that note taking! The kids were amazing and paid such good attention.
After that session we tried to get our picture at the Christus statue, but the line was huge.
Then we went to Kneaders for a snack. Again, the line was HUGE. There a lot of people in Salt Lake during General Conference! While everybody waited in line Grace and I went to the American Girl store. So cute and fun, and sooooo expensive.
Then Lee went with the Pederson boys to the Priesthood session. The kids and I headed to the Church History Museum. I could spend a lot of time in there. Too bad my kids won’t let me read every plaque!
Then we went to Deseret Book so Emma could wait in line forever to see Al Fox.
She finally got to the head of the line and I was able to get a picture of her. She said it was worth it.
Our walk back to the hotel was pretty rough. It got really cold and windy for some reason, and we were very tired. But we finally made it and we settled in for a movie. We watched Trolls and decided the makers of that movie were on drugs. A little crazy! But it was cute and we had a lot of laughs.
Sunday morning we made our way back to Temple Square.
We were so excited that we got tickets for the Sunday morning session because that meant we got to be there for Music and the Spoken Word.
We are pretty big fans. We watch it every Sunday morning that we can. Last time we were in Salt Lake on a Sunday the twins weren’t old enough to go to Music and the Spoken Word, they were so disappointed. Which made this even more exciting!
It was beautiful and the session was just as good as the others.
One thing I would do differently the next time we go to General Conference is plan for Sunday food. We needed to eat, but a lot of places are closed on Sunday. We found a grocery store that was open and we bought food there to eat for lunch.
We didn’t have tickets for the Sunday afternoon session and the standby line was VERY long for it, so we made our way to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and we got some of the last few seats open in the theater. It was a much more casual atmosphere with lots of kids, but it was a great spot to watch conference.
And the twins liked exploring the building.
When the last session was over we spent more time on Temple Square, soaking up the spirit that was there.
Love this family of ours! And how thankful we are to be together forever.
We made our way back to the North Visitors Center where they twins played on the escalators, right next to the sign saying not to. Oops! They were enthralled with them!
We were able to get a picture in front of the Christus. Unfortunately, Grace was done!
Kind of reminded me of this picture…
In her defense, it had been a long day and we were ready for dinner. We walked back to our hotel, said goodbye to the Pederson’s who were flying home, and then found a Cafe Rio for dinner. Yum! Then we went back to the hotel and talked about our favorite talks and reviewed notes. I was so impressed with Isaac and Grace’s note taking!
Then we played games and laughed and laughed. For some reason, we were pretty silly that night! I had tried to convince my family to go on a hike in the canyon after dinner, but nobody liked my plan. Playing games was probably the right choice though, we were tired and the down time was exactly what we needed.
The fun continued late into the night. We laid in bed just talking and laughing for a long time. It was the perfect way to end such a great trip. It really was a good one. We were spiritually uplifted, everyone was happy, and everybody got along so well. It may have been a quick trip, but it was a good one and we made so many memories. We woke up early Monday morning and hit the road again. The fun continued on the way home. Isaac learned how to pump gas and wash windows, and Emma found a pretty sketchy bathroom. We even drove through snow!
We also enjoyed a tasty treat before we got home.
It’s always nice to be home, even better to have so many new family memories.
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