Conference with Tyler

Chuck and I made the decision that for the kids' 12th Birthday, we would take them to see Conference "in real life". Well, for Tyler that meant going to the Priesthood session during Conference (we are taking the girls to the YW Broadcast when they are 12).

(WARNING: this is a long post with LOTS of pictures)

So we left on Thursday morning and drove up through Las Vegas, NV.

We stopped by Hoover Dam

Took a picture with the "Welcome to Nevada" sign!

Saw the Statue of Liberty in Vegas!

And Despicable Me watchers???

And the Eiffel Tower (also in Vegas).

Visited the M&M Store in Vegas

Tyler picked out his own M&M's... YUM!!!

He was excellent at posing when I wanted him to!

We had to see the St. George Temple as we drove through!

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We made it to Salt lake City quite late, but we were glad we just drove all the way through. That way were were up and ready to tackle our sightseeing day!

Finally! The Salt Lake Temple in person!

The Church Office Building.

We rode the elevator to the look out deck!

Looking down at the Conference Center. When Chuck and I came here last, the picture from this view was of a hole in the ground (13 yrs ago!), so seeing the Conference Center was really neat!

A view of Temple Square.

The Beehive House! Tyler had read about a bunch of the Church sites in the Friend (a magazine focused on/for LDS children) this past year and was super excited to visit the spots!

In front of the Beehive House!

From the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Tyler wanted to check out the door knobs of the Temple

because of what he had read in the Friend.

The Deuel cabin. It was so small!!! I can't believe a whole family would live in a place so small! I think we are super spoiled nowadays!

In the Museum of Church History.

This is just like the pulpit found in the Conference Center.

We finished seeing the things we wanted to see, so Tyler decided we should go see "Hop", so we ended our Friday with the movie and dinner! What a fun day!

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Saturday was our day to attend Conference

On our way to the Morning Session.

This place is HUGE!!!

Just waiting! We had excellent seats! We were the first row in the balcony, so no one was right in front of us and we sat on the aisle.

Viewing the Christus. I love this room in the North Visitors Center.

The Tabernacle

In the Tabernacle. This is where Conference use to be held. It seems so small now compared to the Conference Center! I love this picture of Tyler looking at the organ pipes!

I asked Tyler how this drinking fountain worked...

he had no clue, so I showed him the pedal.

He thought it was super cool!

The Assembly Hall

Olive Garden for lunch. Fun story... As we were walking in, I noticed a couple people walking out. The lady looked just like Reba McIntyre! After they passed, I told Chuck I totally saw Reba, but if it wasn't her, then it was her identical twin!!! Well, come to find out from a waiter, it really was her! No, I didn't get an autograph or a picture (I didn't want to make a scene), but I will always remember I ate where she ate! She has good taste in food! :)

The boys going into priesthood! My little boy is growing up too fast!!! While they were in their meeting, I walked over to Deseret Book and wandered around and bought a few items and met up with a friend I met at Disneyland last May. She had dropped her husband and son off at a Stake Center to watch Priesthood and we were going to meet up with them afterwards, but I'm so glad we ran into each other a bit early without the boys! :)

It was raining when I walked back over to meet my boys, so I put my purchase in my purse and used the store bag as a rain barrier! Tyler took one look at me and said he didn't claim me (jokingly of course). So I told him (matching his joking), "fine, then I don't have to buy you ice cream!" He changed his tune very quickly! :)

Tyler and W enjoying their ice cream creations. We went to a fun little place called Leatherby's. I would totally go there again, but maybe we would share our desserts. They were HUGE!!! They brought mine out and said, "Sorry, we made it wrong! It needs another scoop of ice cream." What??? More ice cream??? There was no way I would even finish the amount on what I had! So they discounted the price to a child's price. That was nice of them!

The G's (J & K) Our Disneyland buddies!!! When I saw this cute family at Disneyland, I knew we were meant to be friends with them! It was fun catching up with them and we are trying to convince them to come here to visit us! It would be so much fun!!! We even stopped by their place on our way home. Their girls were sad that our girls weren't with us. Another time cute girlies!

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When we went to sleep that night (Sat), it was raining. I wondered if we would wake up to snow. I kept dreaming I would get up, look out the window and there was no snow, but when the real morning came...

There was snow!!! It was so super cool!!!

Our Suburban was covered. Luckily we parked right outside a door, so it didn't take much to get our stuff packed!

I had Chuck drive while it was snowy out.

I didn't trust myself AND I had to take pictures!
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So, we made it home late that night, no thanks to Lola (our GPS). She took us on the scenic route, via Tuba City! Actually she wanted us to go on a dirt road in the middle of the night, I told her no, and drove the main road through Tuba City. Positive side, I've been to Tuba City now! Haha!!!

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Tyler had a great trip and we made some good memories! I'm looking forward to taking each of my girls on a fun trip like this when they are 12!