October 4
Temple Square and General Conference
Hi Lincoln,
Happy Pday! I'm so excited to share our weekend with you. What's more, I'm so excited that you'll likely be able to do the same thing next year, if you want. I'll explain.
But first, a recap of our week.
Ned had his last team tennis matches and while they qualified to go to State, he opted out to join us for General Conference.
Gwen is looking forward to a choir concert tomorrow night at Basic and then getting her braces off on Tuesday!
Nyle and West have been enjoying soccer practice, but missed their game on Saturday as we were out of town. I don't know how their team did in their absence.
Dad has been enjoying his SketchUp but is nearing completion. He's also enjoying being an amazing Soccer coach.
I'm ramping up for parent-teacher conferences this and next week.
Above all, we had a wonderful weekend. We drove up to Annabella Friday night. Then woke up and rolled out at 7am to catch the Front Runner train from Orem to SLC, then hopped on the UTA Trax Blue Line to Temple Square. We found their transit system to be really convenient and comfortable. We were joined by a lot of BYU students who had hopped on in Provo. That's something that wasn't available when I was a student. You may want to take advantage of it when you're up there. It's super convenient and cheap! We didn't have to pay anything at all because we had General Conference tickets. But even if we had, they never checked anyone's tickets! We did that to avoid having to pay for parking, and it saved us on gas as well.
We met a young couple, the women had just returned from a mission on temple square so she was able to give us some great tips on how to get there and what to do. Upon arrival, we walked into temple square and were immediately overwhelmed with the beautiful landscaping and peace. The first session had recently begun as was being broadcast from speakers all over the grounds. It was very reverent as we walked passed the beautiful assembly hall, and looked at several of the impressive bronze statues. We went through the tabernacle so the kids could see the tabernacle pipe organ. Then we went over to the newly opened visitors center and jumped into their new guided tour. The tour took us through replica rooms of the temple. It was really special! After that, we continued walking through the grounds and then went across the street to the mall to get some lunch. It was a good thing we did because as soon as we had ordered our food (at Costa Vida) and sat down, the 1st session rush of people started coming into the restaurant. In no time, every restaurant in that mall was FLOODED with people.
Once we finished eating, we headed over to the conference center to find our seats. The conference center is so beautiful! We were seated on the top balcony, up against the wall (the nosebleeds), but it didn't diminsh our experience. We enjoyed the talks, some of our favorites included the one by the new YM general president, the one by Elder Fale and the one about tithing. We also loved the music, which was so rich in that giant room!
Afterwards, we headed back to the blueline to catch the light rail back to the train, then back to Annabella. It was such a full and good day!
Today, we watched the first session with Jodi and Chris' family and then had a birthday lunch for Libby and on the road again for home during the 2nd session.
It was so fun to be at the church's headquarters. It really is an impressive church we belong to! Nyle mused during our walk around and amongst so many people, that he wondered what Joseph Smith must think as he looked at the majesty and scope of the church now.
We look forward to speaking with you tomorrow and hope you're doing well!
Love you!
~Mom and Dad
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| Holey Socks! He refuses to break out the new ones until there's nothing left of these? |
- Ned attended Driver's Edge course at the Las Vegas Speedway with dad and learned how to drift, among other important things.
- Gwen and I went out to BC to take some of her Senior photos.
- Gwen and Ned went out to UNLV to attend the Church's youth music festival. It was Ned's first concert! They had food, games and then the concert. I think they both had a lot of fun and it's super cool that the church put that together.
- Dad and I went up to the Rec center to watch the BYUvNotre Dame football game- which was pretty exciting.
- I got back into baking and was able to make some pizza and sour dough. We love baking season!
