Utah - The End

Day 9 - Thursday, July 30 continued

We drove back to Salt Lake, finding out later we narrowly missed a HUGE traffic jam that held up Aimee's & Regina's family. Phew.

Instead of going back to Todd & Becky's house right away, we went straight to Temple Square. We still wanted to try and see the Joseph Smith movie in the Legacy Theater. Turned out that TJ and Karen were there too, so we had a chance to hang out for a bit before they left to catch their plane home.

It was hot, of course, but a gorgeous day for some pics.






We went through the visitor's center, and it was there that I told the littles about Mac's death. In front of the large statue of Christ I explained that Mac had died. They were surprised, but calm. They wanted to know how and I told them it was a rattlesnake. They were surprised again, but still calm and no tears. The Spirit was very strong as I reminded them we WOULD see Mac again and that he was being cared for. I knew I'd told them in the right place, anywhere else and they would have cried for sure.



We had time to kill before the movie so we let the kids play in the fun little kid area of the Geneology Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial building. There was a great kitchen set there, and I decided right then that I wanted to copy the cupboard and give it to the littles for Christmas.







Aimee's family met us at the Legacy theater and we all enjoyed the movie. Well, honestly I found myself wishing I hadn't brought the littles to it. Not because they weren't good, they did just great, but because it's scary. There are a lot of difficult scenes and I covered their eyes quite a bit. While they can learn and hear about Joseph Smith's life, I just don't think they need to SEE him being tarred and feathered, beaten, etc.
It occurred to me while watching the movie one of the reasons WHY it was important for Joseph to be so young when he had the first vision. I think it was because while he did face persecution for saying he'd had a vision, an adult would have fared far worse. And now, in our times, it would be so much easier to dismiss an adult who may have had visions of grandeur. But a KID, what did he have to gain? Not that I needed the testimony boost necesarilly, when it comes to Joseph Smith my testimony is rock solid. I was blessed with that years ago when I visited the Kirtland Temple with the YM/YW. We had the good fortune to have a testimony meeting there. It was. . . amazing. The air is different there. Thicker. It's like time slows. I bore my testimony, when I sat down I couldn't remember what I'd said. But I knew, I KNEW that Joseph Smith was a prophet.

After the movie we slowly made our way off Temple Square. We were all loathe to leave that sacred place.



Mama and the littles. . . sit in front of the temple.



We drove straight to Ken & Sheila's house (Jeff's aunt and uncle) for dinner. It was delicious and the littles had an absolute ball jumping on their trampoline. We also got to eat the most amazing Dairy Queen cake EVER in celebration of Dale's (Aimee's husband) birthday.

Day 10 - Friday, July 31

Ikea is such a tease. They offer all this great stuff, but have very few stores and do NOT ship hardly anything at all. But we'd decided we wanted a certain bunk bed for the girls so we went back to buy it and ship it ourselves. We ate lunch there again, their meatballs are delicious, and the Rome and Capri got to spend an hour in their kid watch.

The object of our desire, the panels are white on the other side and can be flipped

After we bought the bunk bed, and a mattress for the top bunk, we hauled the darn thing to Fed Ex and paid them a large chunk of change to get it to KC. The thing was 7 feet long and over 100 lbs, so we crossed our fingers that it would make it. We'd had a hankering for Jamba Juice since we got to Utah, and the friendly Fed Ex lady pointed us in the right direction - which turned out to be about a block away. In Utah, the Jamba Juice flows like water. Yum.

We watched these deer decimate Todd & Becky's neighbor's flowers. Sad yet funny (for us) at the same time!





That night we had dinner at Todd & Becky's and then a bonfire in their backyard. It was a gorgeous night with smores and REALLY good company. We knew we were going to miss them and their kids greatly.

Day 11 - Saturday, August 1

Going home. Our plane wasn't leaving till the afternoon, so we had time to pack and hang out. Becky made a great breakfast, yum again. The kids used every remaining moment to play with Jeff's cousins - Anna, Laura & Emily.

Regina, Justin and their kids were on our same flight, so they came over to relax and talk before we all had to skedaddle to the airport. It was SO hard to say goodbye, we had an amazing time. Thank you SO much Todd, Becky and family - we are in your debt for such a wonderful stay.

The plane ride went just fine, we made it home without any problems. Cathy had been kind enough to keep our car for us while we were gone, she left for Utah after us and returned home before us. So she picked us up and I quickly realized she'd had it DETAILED and filled the tank. Glorious I tell you, glorious. Thanks Cathy!

It will take a lot to match this trip, we did everything we planned and more. It truly was a trip full of amazing memories.