Day 4: Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I woke up to the sound of snow falling of the roof and pounding on our rental car. Always a joy. I went downstairs for breakfast and we all got ready for our PM session of conference while listening to the morning session. Was it just me or was this like the best general conference ever? I always leave thinking they could not be better. But they can be and they are, every 6 months. 

Honestly, I was so excited when I got here. The weather was so beautiful and warm, I thought I might even go home with a tan. I feel cheated. I'm 2,000 kilometres from home, farther south and here I am... stuck with an overwhelming abundance of snow. I am not impressed. After we were all ready, we left for the 7 mile dirt road that takes us into the city. We were all pretty scared that the road wouldn't be good enough to drive on, but we saw that other cars had already driven through and that the road would be, hopefully, safe. 

This was taken right at the beginning of the dirt road. The high water and fast current was intimidating.

We drove and took pictures. We also noted that the river may have overflowed part of the road and it had. I would have taken a picture of it, but I was honestly terrified. I didn't even have my camera on. If you know me well, you know that I worry about everything. I get stressed out extremely easily, for a Bee anyways... It reminded me of the feeling I had had on another family trip, from when we were kids. We went to walk in the mud flats of the ocean in Nova Scotia while the tide was out. I was cool with the mud and the cuts you got on your feet from stepping on clams. But as soon as the tide started to come back in, I felt a deep sense of urgency to go back to the car and head for higher ground. How quickly was the tide coming in you ask? Not quickly. But I had the clip from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang playing over and over in my mind. The happiest family, sitting on the shore in their favourite car and before they knew it, the tide was in and they were stuck! As a child, envisioning this scenario made me burst into hysterical tears. As a fully grown adult, it made my eyes wide to the point of them almost coming out of their sockets. Staring out to that river flowing over the road, I saw the clip of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang again. The scenery was different this time: there were mountains, snow and the chance of us being carried away. Another factor adding to my anxiety was that if we did get stuck, I was in a skirt and had stilettos on with no change of clothes. I would be abandoned at the car while the rest of my family went for help. But lucky for me and my adorable outfit, we had our Lincoln SUV and we made it across with no issues.

As we continued driving, we saw some horses walking around the valley. We stopped to take some pictures. When we went to continue driving, the horse ran alongside our car. This resulted in FABULOUS pictures taken by my mom.

Isn't it just the cutest?!

 After we got into town, we parked our car and walked to general conference. Our seats were AMAZING. Now in the conference centre, you can see the podium from wherever you are. But where we were sitting was so close that I could see the detail in the podium. The beehives and the faces of the speakers. For the time before conference, I found myself watching the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve interact. Henry B. Eyring was like a little school boy. He was clearly excited for the talks to begin. He was making jokes and leaning over to Thomas S. Monson to tell him... heaven knows what. Dieter F. Uchtdorf was just absolutely jolly. He smiled at everyone and laughed at everything. Thomas S. Monson was the most interesting. He seemed very pensive and then a second later would be laughing with his counsellors.

Awful quality, I know. But I was close enough to take this. I'm not lucky. I'm blessed, YES!

The thing that struck me most was that when the apostles were on the stand waiting for the First Presidency to come out, they were talking. It never really hit me, but these men are all extremely close. They're best friends. It just made them so much more human and relatable.

The session was amazing, and if you want to watch it you can click here. I got some great notes in my notebook and got to talk to Nick, Cameron, Janine and Brooke AGAIN! But once again, we forgot to get a picture together. So silly of me. I've been so good at taking pictures on this trip! Oh well, tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it.

After conference we walked back to the car in the snow. Yepp, it started snowing AGAIN. On the plus side of things, it was not a bitter cold like it is in Toronto. It was just a little chilly with some snow falling. It's weird, but so much nicer than Canada. When we were walking back to the car, my feet were beginning to feel the pressure from wearing stilettos all day. I trailed back a bit from my family so that I didn't fall and die. I was the last one in the car.

We went to wings for dinner at Wing Nutz, on Cameron's recommendation. We ordered 100 wings. We left with less than 10 leftover wings. I was stuffed with wings and happiness! So yummy. There were a bunch of different sauces which was cool. We had Jamaican Jerk, Teriyaki, a BBQ one that I can't remember the name of (which was my favourite sauce...) and another that I can't remember the name of... But it was HOT. I only had one wing with that sauce. Hot, hot, hot.

After we had pigged out on our wings and some of us were wearing the sauces, we headed home. I was surprised that I didn't get any sauce on myself. That's usually what happens when I'm being careful not to spill because I'm wearing white or something nice. But I was successful! YES!

On the ride home, we took pictures. We also saw deer, dart in front of our car. Nothing like hitting your head on the seat in front of you to realize that there's a deer ahead that you should be taking pictures of. The rest of the ride home, I played with the settings on my camera and came out with some cool water droplet photos. I think I might start getting into photography when I get home. I seriously love it so much.

One of my favourites :)

Once we got home, we had some pineapple and strawberries while we watched the apprentice. A nice relaxing Sabbath with inspiring talks and a loving family. I'm so blessed and I'm so happy to be here!