We wanted to stay forever!

I have a lot of events to catch up on and a lot of blogs to catch up on!
We just spent a wonderful 13 days in Utah (20 for Kai!) with family and friends. I think I will break it up into a few different posts because we did so much and I just don't want to skimp on my memories.

The one very sad thing about these pictures is that they are raw and untouched because my beloved photo editing program became corrupted and is no longer on my computer.

First up: Salt Lake City.

We came to this beautiful city to witness the sealing of my cousin Johnny to his wife Leah and their little boy Alex. Kai stayed in Lehi to watch the kids so I could attend the sealing. When they finally met us in Salt Lake at 4PM my babies were starving because they hadn't eaten since breakfast. So While we were waiting for Johnny and Leah to come out of the temple for pictures, we took a walk to find something to eat. These are a few sights that we saw a long the way. I have always wanted to take a tour of these buildings and as of now that dream has yet to be realized. One thing that I love is physical evidence of history. So I had to take pictures of them.

The Beehive house:

I think this one was a reception hall of some sorts for guests to hold meetings and social gatherings.

The Lion House.

I think Joseph Smith referred to Brigham Young as the Lion because he was so fierce in defense of the church and Joseph. So it seems fitting that this would be the theme for his house.

Cambria had a very wiggly tooth and she wanted me to take a picture of it:)

Love this temple.

It is amazing to think that it took this temple 40 years to build. The temple corner stones were laid on April 6, 1853 under Brigham Young, the 2ND Prophet of the church, and was not finished until 40 years later on April 6, 1893 and dedicated by the 4TH Prophet of the church Wilford Woodruff. Those dates were not coincidental. The stones were cut from a place called Cottonwood some 20 miles away. It took the saints 4 days to bring the stones back from the quarry. At one point the saints actually abandoned and bury the work site of the temple and headed south because the feared and exploratory unit that came to check out the area.

I told Cambria that she was as pretty as a flower so she posed with the flowers and her hands on her head are meant to be her petals.

While we were walking back to the temple we saw Johnny and Leah walking the grounds taking pictures with their photographers. I yelled out, "Hey married people! Married people look over here!" I noticed that I got a few strange looks from the surrounding crowds surprised by the audacity of a seeming tourist no doubt. I think once the crowd realized that we knew each other they forgave me of my actions. I wish this was a better picture. I should have followed the photographers until I got a good one!

This is their little boy Alex. Watching the sealing of a family to one another is so amazing and sweet. I am so glad that Heavenly Father organized away for families to be together through eternity. The thought of being reunited in heaven with the ones I love most has always had special meaning to me. What God binds on earth he shall bind in heaven.

We took a quick tour of the conference center. It was so hot I don't think the kids really enjoyed it.

The conference center is where General Conference in held twice a year as well as other performances. President Gordon B. Hinkley had it built so as to accommodate the growing population of LDS members who wanted to attend General Conference. He built it to the highest standards because he said he wanted it to last through the millennium. He wanted to be able to seat 30, 000 people but the architect said he could build it to only accommodate 21,000. As our tour guide stated, it is the largest "stadium" in the world until someone builds a bigger one.

stay tuned . . . there is so much more to blog about!