What? No Pictures!?

The day before we left for our weekend in Utah, my husband pulled our camera out of its handy carrying case and discovered that it did NOT work anymore! Argh! Luckily we have a warranty (somewhere...) and we'll be getting it fixed soon...we hope! :) So because we didn't have a camera, you're going to have to rely on my words to paint you an amazing picture in your heads!
The day we left was hot and not a lot of fun. We had planned on leaving town by 1:00 so that we would get to Utah with PLENTY of time to check into the hotel, eat a delicious dinner, and leisurely make our way to the Conference Center to watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Tribute to the Pioneers concert. Unfortunately, we almost never make it out of town at the time we plan, but we were close this time...leaving at 2:00! I mean, only an hour later than we normally wanted!!
We decided to drive down with my parents and brothers, but this caused a bit of a problem. My husband is 6'3'' tall and we had to fold him up into a wad to stuff him into the back seat of my parents' suburban. The poor guy had several cramps because of this shoving and squeezing, but he's fine now...I think. We thought we were doing pretty well in our travels until we got STUCK in the road construction. Ugh! I hate sitting in the middle of a non-moving line of cars, trucks, minivans, and semis all waiting to move. After realizing that instead of getting to Salt Lake by 5:00, like we would have if there hadn't been a wait for the construction, we called my grandpa and his wife to tell them to get dinner without us, because we were stuck and most likely would have to find a quick fast food place to eat at along the way. My mom gave my dad the directions to the hotel and low and behold...there was a Wendy's RIGHT next to the hotel. We went to the drive thru and ordered our meals, when the drive thru lady told us the total, it didn't sound right at all. We have since learned that 1: Wendy's makes yummo food, and 2: they're quick, but 3: they almost always screw up any order they get.
We finally got the food figured out, and went to the hotel. I had made reservations weeks ago, and put different people in the rooms and thought all was well, I was wrong. My parents went into the hotel, leaving us out in the car to try and get out. (Not a fun thing...) Once we got in, they couldn't find our other room reservation anywhere. My dad was getting grumpy (his usual trip mood...) and I said, "The room was reserved under Steve's name." My dad wanted to know why I didn't tell them earlier, I sighed, and hurried to the room so we could quickly change out of our sweaty, icky clothes into our clean church duds. I had planned on wearing the same shirt for the whole day, not worrying about changing it for the concert, but I had slobbered Frosty all over my boobs...normal procedure for me when eating any yummy meal. If it's not good....then my shirt is clean. So I grabbed another shirt, and we all hurried and tried to catch the next Trax to the Conference Center. Let me just say right now, that I LOVE public transportation!! YAY! We were crammed into this train like sardines in a can. Not only was it crowded, but it was WAY hot! Anyway, we got to the stop and hurried to the concert. I highly recommend that if you plan on doing a lot of walking on a trip, break in your NEW shoes before you leave!! I ended up blistering up both feet, and was kind of miserable the whole weekend because of it. We got into the building and found our seats....we were like 10 rows back from the stage! HOW COOL IS THAT!? We sat down and waited for the concert to begin. While we were sitting there I watched as several apostles walked in and found their seats. I was so close it was awesome! I watched as Dallin H. Oaks and Joseph B. Wirthlin came in. Their presence just amazed me. I was in awe like some star struck teenager. I found myself whispering to my parents, "Hey, look!! It's Dallin H. Oaks....Look!! Wirthlin! It's Joseph B. Wirthlin!!"

After a while of sitting in our seats, my mom and brothers decided to visit the bathroom before the concert started. We kept our eyes peeled for who would come out next. After my mom came back, my husband and other brother decided to take their turns. Just as they left our row, the room became still and people came to their feet. I knew from a previous experience that actions like that meant that the prophet was entering the room. I stood and watched as President Hinckley walked into the room. He was just 10 rows away from me! Following him was Thomas S. Monson, and wheeled in behind him was James E. Faust. The three of them came in and found their seats and motioned for the rest of us to sit. My husband hurried back to our seats and told me that he was upset that he missed him walking in, but wasn't going to miss him leaving. Soon after they came in the concert began, and it was wonderful and so spiritual! I bawled a couple of times!

When the concert was over, I felt a closer connection to the pioneers who made my life here in the West possible. Soon after the end of the concert we stood as President Hinckley and his councilors left. I watched as people around us waved to him and saw the smile on his face as he hurried out. Then we waited and were rewarded with seeing MORE apostles!! Boyd K. Packer, Russell M. Nelsen, and Deiter F. Uctdorf. It was a fun time!
After the concert we caught up with my sister and her husband and decided to get something cool to eat and talk at the hotel. We ended up at McDonalds, which was right next to the hotel...eating yummo shakes and then heading back to the hotel for bed.

When we made the reservations we planned on having my brother Doug sleep in the same room as us. We all got ready for bed, and climbed in for what we thought would be a good night's sleep. The first thing wrong with that picture was my brother watched tv until 11:30. And since the tv was on, Cam wanted to stay awake to watch. I had to make Doug turn it off, and we all tried to sleep. I heard snoring by midnight. (Which woke me up for a while.) Then at 3:30 my husband's mouth was hurting him, so he got up to take some ibuprofin, after that I was awake. I decided that since we were going to do a session in the Salt Lake Temple at 6:00, we needed to be awake by 4:30. We both got out of bed and hurried to get dressed, then we were off to catch the Trax, again. This time, the train wasn't full at all...we actually got to sit and enjoy our short ride!

We then hurried to the temple and went to do a session. It was so cool there! I was admiring the woodwork and artistry the whole time! I can't believe that pioneers did all of that with the little resources that they had. WOW! After our session, which was small, cozy, and very spiritual, we went back to the hotel for breakfast. We hurriedly ate and then we cleaned and repacked and hurried to Lagoon.

Lagoon was so busy! Cars were EVERYWHERE! Following a parking attendant, we parked the car, and went to enter the park. The first ride we headed to was Colossus. I knew Cam wouldn't be able to go on the ride, so I took him for a quick ride on the carousel. I had taken some Dramamine before, but apparently it wasn't early enough. I went with Cam and he picked the swirly seat that spins as the carousel spins. ICK! I almost threw up. Luckily I kept it under control, we went and found my family had just gotten off the Colossus, and was getting ready to go again. This time I got to ride with them. The metal from the walkway was hot and very miserable to the touch, but the ride was AMAZING! I love that ride...I could go on it over and over!! For the rest of the day we tried to keep cool. From what I heard it was over 100 degrees! The line to get into Lagoon-a-beach was so long we didn't want to wait, so we ended up going to the fountain that they have at the front of the park and walking through that! It was heaven!!

Since I had only slept for 4 hours the night before I was grouchy and needed a nap. So around 4:30 in the afternoon, I found a shady spot by the log flume and napped for an hour. It didn't matter that people riding the log flume were screaming or that the people in the pavilion next to me were playing Bingo (really loudly) I slept! I rolled in the dirt and got gross. And since I had been in the shade and was still damp from my romp through the fountain, I was freezing! (How crazy is that in 100 degree plus weather!?)

We went on a few more rides, and then we headed out. We went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner (yummy!) and then we followed my sister and her husband to their house in Logan. We arrived at their house at 11:00, exhausted and ready to crash! My sister and I set up their tent in the backyard, and then we quickly set up the beds and slept.

The next morning started very hot! The heat woke me up and got me going. We all had to share my sister's ONE bathroom, and found that we didn't get as clean as we'd thought! We hurried and went to her church, and tried VERY hard not to sleep during sacrament meeting! I ended up going to Primary with Cam (until he stopped crying) and then I joined my mom for Relief Society. I haven't been to actual Relief Society for YEARS!! It was nice, but I missed Primary! What can I say, I'm where I'm supposed to be!!

Then we went back to my sister's sauna...uh, I mean, her apartment. We ate dinner, snoozed a bit, cleaned up, packed, and then we left for home.

It was a crazy, busy weekend, but it was a fun time! I'm just glad to be back home where the HIGH temperature is in the lower 90's! Ahh.....the cool air!!