Conference Weekend

One of my good friends, Emily, who goes to church with me had a friend, Amy, visiting from Australia. Em had lived with Amy's family while she studied abroad and Amy came out for a visit. Emily was taking Amy to Utah for the weekend to go to General Conference, which is a worldwide conference for all 13 million members of our church. Last minute, they convinced me to join them so at 5 am on Friday morning (Oct. 1) we started driving, kidless, to Salt Lake City. Don watched Sam all weekend so I could go have a girls' weekend; he is such a great husband and dad!

We got to Utah about 2 pm, picked up tickets for a conference session, did baptisms for the dead (by proxy) in the Salt Lake Temple, ate lunch in a little cafe in the Joseph Smith building, watched a movie about Joseph Smith, and went to the Family History Center. Then, we drove to Provo and met up with Emily's brother Kevin and sister-in-law, Rachel, for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in the area, Tepanyaki. It was so fun getting to know Em's brother and sister-in-law and the food was delicious. After dinner, we drove to my parents' house and spent the night there. 

On Saturday morning, we ate a wonderful breakfast, watched the first session of conference, and then headed up to Salt Lake for the conference session. Emily and Amy had tickets to the session and my mom and I waited in the standby line. We got there pretty late so we knew the likelihood of getting in was slim, but when they told us we wouldn't get in, my mom and her amazing persistence wouldn't take no for an answer. So, we ran to the end of the standby line that was going in to the session only to realize they had been given small pins with a cloverleaf to indicate they were supposed to get in. When we realized this and were talking about how we guessed we wouldn't get in after all, some man just handed us two tickets. We got in the doors just as the session started and crawled over some seats and ended up smack dab in the middle of the enormous conference center with a great view of the speakers, choir, etc. When you're with my mom, never say never. It seems she always manages to get things done when everyone else says they can't be done.

After the session, we went to the church history museum and ate dinner at a place called Blue Lemon that was delicious. Then, we headed to Provo and met up with Em's sister-in-law, Rachel, and got some ice cream at the creamery on 9th right by BYU. Then, we took a quick tour of BYU, hung out with Em's cousin and his wife, brother, sister-in-law and then headed back up to my house.

On Sunday morning, we got ready and headed up to the Sunday morning conference session. As soon as it was over, we started our drive home. We stopped in Park City to look at the alpine slide and eat some lunch then drove and drove 'til midnight to make it home.

It was such a whirlwind trip but we had such a great time. The conference sessions were so uplifting and helped me renew my dedication to focusing on the important things in life. I wore myself out with the lack of sleep and got a really bad cold afterwards, but it was well worth it. I also really missed Sammy (and Don of course). It was great to come home and give him a cuddle (Sam...well, I guess Don too. :)

In the elevator from the parking garage! We finally made it! 

In the lobby of the Joseph Smith building. 

Amy and Em getting some assistance from one of the lovely ladies in the Family Search Center.

Enjoying the beautiful weather on Temple Square.

We checked out the old Tabernacle. This is where I attended conference for the first time when I was 12. It is crazy to me that they used to have conference in here, especially after attending in the conference center, which is packed to the brim and probably 10 times the size. Maybe more. 

Kevin, Rachel, Em, and Amy at Kevin and Rachel's house

The girls! Rachel was due the next Thursday but went a week over. She and baby Adelaide are doing great.

Yummm...I miss Tepanyaki. I was so happy to get to go there again!

Checking out an old wagon in the church history museum. 

Em taking a little snooze in one of the steamer bunks.

There is a really neat model of the Salt Lake Temple in the visitor center that shows the rooms of the temple just as they look in real life.

Amy got fed up with me and my incessant picture taking. 

Me and my mom in front of the Christ statue in the visitor center at temple square.

At the creamery on Saturday night. Oh, the college memories!

In our seats at the Sunday morning session.

 A view from our seats of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They sound so amazing in person!

Standing on the balcony of the conference center. What a great day!

Amy eating her "poo burger" at about 11 pm in Laramie on our way home. Emily is really interested in how food is processed, transported, and the politics behind food in the US so she scared Amy off from eating quite a few things. For example, she told Amy about how the USDA allows a certain amount of fecal material to be present in ground beef without requiring it to disposed of or recalled. So, when Amy decided to eat her first "poo burger" as Em called it, I had to take a picture to document the moo-ment.