When I decided to extend my trip, I was really excited at the prospect of taking my kids to Temple Square for General Conference. I have lots of memories from different eras of my life where I would go to Temple Square with my family. Some of us would sit on the lawn listening to the talks over loud speakers, others would go inside one of the buildings where the sessions were being broadcast. I was so grateful that my Dad was able to quickly rearrange his reservations for rooms at Little America in Salt Lake so that he had enough room for my little family. It was much easier to pay for an upgrade than to pay for our own hotel room!
Once we were settled into the room, we went down to City Creek to look around. This was the first time I spent a lot of time in this new mall that the church developed a few years back--the old ZCMI mall has given way to a beautiful place! The Church builds nothing second class, and this mall area met all the standards of beauty that I recognize in church properties. (I should also mention that this area of development that the Church does is not with tithing money--it is paid for in cash, through all the business ventures of the Church. The church operates entirely in cash mode for all of their dealings. The sacred money of tithing is used spent carefully to directly build up the church--such as building/maintaining more church buildings around the world, providing lesson manuals, etc.)
We took the train 5 blocks in to reach City Center.
Grandpa is so good at relating with David. They were real pals over the course of our stay.
Anyway. Once we were at the central area with all the splash pads and water fountains, David got right down to business and tried to see down the drains. How many pictures do I have of this boy trying to inspect the mechanical features of drains and vents?
Alina, on the other hand, was more interested in chasing the birds.
Until she saw the escalator. Then she preferred to ride that up and down.
Alina was thrilled to finally have the freedom to push her stroller, instead of just ride in it.
It wasn't long before Tanya and her family showed up. David and Cayson pulled up front row seating to the waterfall.
It would have been fun to be a pigeon at their feet, but these two were a couple of peas in their pod with whatever they were discussing over the there.
Meanwhile, Alina showed her interest in all things pretty and shiny. Sorry, baby girl, Daddy's not here today to buy you your first Swarovski crystals.
We spent a little bit of down time in the hotel room before bedtime, then we called it a night so that we could go onto Temple Square in the morning for conference.
Between the morning and afternoon sessions of conference, my family has a designated spot where we meet up for lunch. We all bring coolers full of lunch food, and we enjoy each other's company. After nearly 3 full weeks, Alina was finally warming up to cuddles on Grandma's lap. The treat that Grandma offered certainly helped win her over, too.
Such a beautiful place--This is the temple were the Sam and Carmin Sponseller family started when we were married here nearly 10 years ago.
I was met with limited success at trying to get photos with my children around the Christus statue.
Since Shayla was fresh off her mission, one of her friends hooked her up with some great tickets in the Conference Center. This building seats 22,000 people, and my sister and I went to the Sunday morning session with these golden tickets: Look in the bottom left corner, they were distributed from President Monson's office. We had pink tickets, which means we got special treatment wherever we went. We had to have our bags checked through security, but once we waved our ticket at any usher, they just kept pointing us farther and farther forward in the auditorium level seating.
We ended up in Row 13--which was amazing proximity to the pulpit. Thank you to my sisters, Dacia and Capri, who watched my kids while I went in during this session!
The hotel had a swimming pool, and I couldn't get enough of how cute this little girl looked in her shiny new swimsuit. David was too fast for me to snag a photo in his Superman swim suit, but he sure had a good time!
Many thanks to the older cousins that helped to entertain my kids in the water. They kept them safe and showed them a fun time! I was in the water for a while, but when the splashing got to be too much, my kids continued to play with their cousins, Uncles Logan and Matt, and Grandpa.
I went to Deseret Book to look around, and I got to pin the only pin representing Anchorage.
We went out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (which just about did me in . . . it was a little stressful with the long wait for food, and my kids were getting rowdier by the minute). I'm sure there's a photo somewhere of the whole group, but here's a boy, patiently waiting for his mac 'n cheese.
Alina did a few silly games as well while we were waiting.
A few more shots from the lawn at Temple Square.
She looks hot and tired to me in this photo . . . I hope she took a nap right after this!
After two days of staying in a hotel, attending conference, playing with cousins, swimming in the hotel pool, and enjoying ourselves, we headed home. David had a keen interest in the fact that Grandpa's van had a "wheel hump" in it. I don't think he was supposed to be sitting on it--Grandpa asked him to stay on the seat, and just sit next to it.
But sometimes David's curiosity gets the best of him. He intended to fully obey Grandpa in that rule--I can tell by the seat belt still being fastened around his waist.
When this kid sets his mind to something, there's no stopping him. Oh, he tries to resist and do just what he is asked to do . . . but this is usually how it ends up. He finds a compromise that he finds suitable (even if the other parties involved may not agree to the compromise.)
As for Alina, she was tuckered out as well.
This marked the end of our stay in Utah. All that was left once we arrived back in Mapleton was to pack our suitcases and head back to the airport the following day. We were ready to be reunited with our Dad, but we were sad to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa's wonderland filled with their love.
