Day 8: Seeing The Prophet & Apostles

Let me just say, this was the most unexpected and exciting part of my trip. Today we were a little on the late side of getting ready, but still a decent time. We got to the temple and mom realized that she forgot her recommend. For anyone who is not a member of my church, to go inside this building, you have to be interviewed by a local leader who will ask you a series of questions in regards to your activity in the church, your faith, etc. before you can go inside the temple. Why? Because it is such a sacred place that only worthy members of our faith can go inside. Luckily for my family, we have the opportunity to all go inside together. But without that slip of paper, mom was not going to be able to go in. Mom and I had to go to the other entrance of the temple. If you've never been inside the Salt Lake City temple, it's on the complete opposite end of the building. We then had to wait for a gentlemen to call our Bishop or a member of the Stake Presidency. He called and Mom was approved and we walked all the way back.

There was a huge line up at the baptistry. Which was out of the ordinary, Salt Lake City temple is usually very, VERY quick. Then after my mom and I had received our jumpsuits, we were ready to go across the hall to go get changed. That is when one of the volunteers told us that we had to wait. We were confused. The change room was right across the hall... No one was going across. I was confused. But we stood there, waiting for whatever reason. Then one of the gentlemen told us that the prophet and his counsellors and some of the Quorum of the Twelve were coming down from their meeting that they hold on Thursdays. (Mental Note: Only go to Salt Lake City temple on Thursday mornings.) I was beyond excited. I was ill-prepared. I was beyond giddy and they hadn't even come yet.

Then I heard them talking in the hall, and they came around the corner. I couldn't even believe it. It was like I was imagining this - it was that surreal. Then Monson piped up and said: "Guys, conference is over!" We all laughed. He then asked is anyone there spoke German or Spanish. I replied (yes, I spoke to the prophet.) "Français?" To which he said, "Oh no, there's too much romance in that language." Then he waved and went on. A man in the group thanked them for his mission call to a Deutsch speaking mission. Then after the First Presidency was gone, the apostles started walking by. The ones that I saw were D. Todd Christofferson, Richard G. Scott and M. Russell Ballard.

It was so amazing and I can still hardly believe it happened. After being in the temple, we went to tour the conference centre and our tour guide was awesome. As always! He talked to us about scouting, the First Vision and a lot of other fun facts about the building. Did you know that they had been talking about building a new Conference Centre to replace the Tabernacle for about 50 years before they broke ground? I thought that was really interesting!

Then my mom really wanted to go to Welfare Square... Honestly. It was boring. We might have gone at the wrong time. I honestly don't know. I was always disappointed when I didn't go to see it when I went before but it really wasn't that interesting. Did I miss something? Did you see something more interesting there?

After that, we went to Deseret Book and I got some great books, CDs and other souvenirs for friends back home. I'm really excited to give it to them too! I know they'll love it. I got my sister some more stuff, and Brittany some great stuff too. I'm ready to be heading home tomorrow, it's been a great vacation. It was replenishing both spiritually and physically. I got to sleep in and hear the prophet and apostles speak. I can honestly say that packing was a bitter sweet moment.

Day 7: Sales, Embryos & Embarrassing Sunburns.

Mom finally bought some clothes! Such a great successful day! But lets start from the very beginning... A very good place to start.

We had another lazy morning yesterday. I got up extremely early, 6:30am, because my face was killing me! Every time I rolled over in my bed, put my face on my pillow or just moved in general, my face hurt. It was awful. Then when I finally accepted the fact that I wasn't getting any more sleep, I went downstairs to hang out with my parents. Once I had had breakfast, I went to get ready... And put on a tone of make up to cover up my sunburn as best as I could. I was really embarrassed and didn't really want to leave the house. We then decided that today was Provo Day. We were going to go shopping, pop by the BYU bookstore, do a drive by of the MTC and go to the Provo Temple to get some pictures. I also had some friends in Provo that I wanted to visit. After our lazy morning, however, we didn't get out of the house until 11:30am.

It was only Colin, Mom, Dad and I today. Andre was feeling better and Daniel had an awful sunburn - his face was actually swollen. So they were ready to spend the day in the apartment and play Andre's new xbox 360. The younger boys were all set up for a day of gaming and we went off into town. We stopped at the Missionary Mall and picked up some ties and shirts for the boys. Mom and I went to the Sister Missionary Mall, she was being extremely difficult. In her defence, the clothes there were not as nice as I would have liked either. But we left with a gorgeous lace, brown skirt. Other than that, the store was a bust.

We then decided to go to Coney's Frozen Custard. The funny thing about this was that mom was saying how much she hated custard as we were walking to the Sister Missionary Mall. That it was always inconsistent and there were little chunks in it... Well, let me tell you. She loved frozen custard. It was smooth and much much better than ice cream. Dad and Colin split a chilli dog and a peanut butter sundae. Mom and I got a turtle pecan sundae which was SO delicious. I definitely love frozen custard. It was love at first bite. The first bite was in Nauvoo on a hot summer's day, after a long day of touring and learning. It was amazing and definitely cooled me off. Nauvoo is not only hot, but humid. It's sweaty and sticky and awful. It's more humid than Toronto - that's super humid, if you ask me.

Once that was finished, we decided it was time to head to BYU. But on our way there, I saw the store Nordstrom that was recommended to me by not one, but two people back home. I told dad to let us go in. Mom and I went in and it's about the size of a Sears or The Bay... But so much nicer! The service there was amazing and it was actually just classy. I was so impressed. My mom had so much success. She found another skirt, three shirts, a dress, a cardigan, a coat and a swimsuit! It was definitely a shopping spree and if you know my mom, you know that she hates shopping. She's picky and gets discouraged when she doesn't find everything she wants in the first store we go into. Obviously this store was a great success. The dress that she bought is going to be worn at a wedding that's coming up in a few months. Now, when I zipped her up and she turned around we were both in shock. She looked amazing. I'm really excited for her to wear it out! She's going to look so good. Her swimsuit also looked great, basically everything she found looked amazing. I'm so excited for her, because she never spends money on clothes for herself.

After that, Colin came to find us because there was a 50% off sale at Aeropostale that he wanted to go to. He got so much new clothes. Shirts, shorts - preparing for summer. I wanted to get some stuff for myself but the shirts just weren't fitting right. Then we went to another store for Colin where I found an extremely cute necklace. I was bored though, none of the clothes there suited me. I went off to Forever XXI and looked around. Again, nothing that suited me. It was just not my day for shopping. Finally, I found my parents and Colin on the way into American Eagle. I finally found a pair of pants that I liked!

After that, I went off to my friend Josh's party. It was an embryo party. Yes, that's right. An embryo party. We watched the movie Embryo. I asked when it was made and Josh said 2007... Liars go to hell, Josh. It was probably made around the same time as The Sound of Music. It was kind of an odd movie. Then Noelle got to the party, a friend from EFY that I have kept in touch with over the years. She brought me my pillow that I left at her residence room after staying there a night back in October. She took good care of it while it was there. It even matched her bed spread. We talked a bit, enjoyed some tasty jell-o embryos and fetuses. Just as we sat down to enjoy the movie, my dad texted me telling me that the party was over and I had to leave. I got a photo with them before I left for the second time in 6 months. Just as I was leaving, Josh looked at the photo and said "you look like a raccoon." That is what made me not want to leave the house this morning. I knew Josh would make fun of my stupid sunburn. And I told him I knew he would. We laughed, hugged and Noelle and I left. We took her back to her residence on the BYU Campus. She needed to call someone to find out the address of her residence. It was Brent! Another member of our EFY group! I said a quick hello and a quick goodbye. I also told him to have a great mission and that I'd see him, eventually, after he got home. When I said that he was like "Wow, that's scary!"

The baby fetuses that Josh so kindly made for us... A little weird to eat. Can't lie. 

After I left my friends, I got back in the car and headed home with my parents and Colin. We got home late at night and I was TIRED. Mom showed off her purchases to the rest of the family, and I tried on my new spanx. Then I got into my pyjamas and crashed in my mom's bed. No blogging was done last night. This morning we're going to do everything on Temple Square. It's going to be a busy day.

Day 6: A Slippery Slope

I woke up at about 7am today. I never get up at 7am. Ever. I stay up late and wake up late. It's just how I like to work. So I stumbled into the shower and got ready for skiing... which really means got back into my pyjamas. I got into the car after checking to make sure that my gear wasn't moved after yesterday's disappointments. However my brother's did not do the same and we had to go back to the house to discover that Colin's hat and mitts were still in the car.

So frustrating.

We drove to the mountain and found that the road the GPS suggested we take is closed during the winter. Yay! So we got to turn around and go all the way around the mountain...

So frustrating.

Did I mention I was frustrated when I got to the mountain? Andre was still sick. My parents thought it would be best for him to come along so that he could join us, if he felt better later on in the day. He ended up staying in the car all day. Poor kid. He started feeling a little better when we got home today after having some ginger ale. Ginger ale is heaven's blessing for sick people. I'm convinced. I was sick about a month ago and I'm pretty sure that's all I drank. All I ate was saltine crackers. Best diet.

Once we got to the mountain, it was just unbelievable. It was so beautiful, no pictures could ever do it justice. But I did try to get some good ones. It was also remarkably warm. There was so much snow and it was such mild weather. Mind boggling. When I go skiing at home for an hour, I'm freezing and that's only on a little hill! I had my jacket unzipped and had to ditch my scarf. I almost left my coat in the car too, but I didn't want to fall and get all wet.

Some of the highlights of the day:
Click to enlarge any photos.
- Going down the first slope and watching Colin do somersaults and landing flat on his face.

This isn't this specific incident, but he did fall here. it works.

- Colin trying to go pee on the edge of one of our runs and falling into the ditch. I was laughing so hard and had to go pee so badly that I had to dance around a bit to avoid peeing myself.

Yepp, that yellow snow is pee. 

- The views. Oh my gosh. If you ever get the chance to ski or snowboard in Utah. DO IT!

It's so much better in person, but this photo is nice!

- Daniel standing on the edge of a double black diamond to get pictures. I was having a heart attack. "STAY AWAY FROM THE EDGE!" Honestly, it looked like if he fell backwards, he would have fallen into the pits of hell. That is how steep this slope was.

Can you see why I was freaking out?

- My mom snatching my camera out of my hands when we were on the lift. I almost cried. I was being so careful. She was not allowed to hold the camera without having the strap around her wrist. AND SHE JUST TOOK IT! It was awful. But after realizing that my precious camera was not plummeting to its icy death, I was okay.

I was freaking out.

- Going to get groceries with my mom. P.S. No Philadelphia cream cheese dips here... Disappointing. I was craving so hard.

None of this... :(

- Getting a fresh, classic Wonderland sunburn, in April... Sunglasses lines all over my face. I'm so embarrassed.

- Taking pictures with Colin in front of those giant snow banks I mentioned yesterday.

We had lunch in the cafeteria and it was surprisingly busy because when you're skiing you might see like 3 other people. It's so great! We got some chicken tenders, onion rings and french fries - meal for champions, right? I also had some problems with my ski boots. They were too tight and were cutting off the circulation. I went up the lift after the first run and after adjusting them once already, in absolute PAIN. It hurt so much. I am not someone who gets shin splints or cramping in general. I hated my life for about 10 minutes (not exaggerating) while I went up the lift. Once I got to the top, I popped off my skis and a nice guy heard me complaining and told me to undo all of my bindings and loosen them all. That being fixed, I enjoyed the rest of my day skiing.

I also got some one on one time with my dad when my mom and brothers decided to go down a black diamond. My exact words were... Hell. No. So we took a blue down to the lift and waited for them to come down. It felt like a year ago and we were in Utah again together. Just some daddy-daughter time. I actually love my dad. He gets me. I'm a daddy's girl. What can I say? Hanging out with him was a good time. I also got some really great pictures of him. I may hack into his facebook and make it his profile picture without him knowing. I've done it for my mother before.

After skiing, we went to go pick up some sick people food for Andre. My dad went into the store and everyone else waited outside. When he came out he had bought himself a bottle of pop. He sat in the front seat next to me and opened it. It sprayed all over him. It looked like he had peed himself. So my mom and I hopped out of the car and took a picture with him.

She should buy a shirt that says "I'm with stupid"

Anyways, I'm dying. My knees are killing me, my face is so hot and sensitive and my right quad was cramping up after avoiding an edge from the very top of the mountain. The slopes were slippery and had much MUCH longer runs than my Toronto born-and-raised self is used to. It was totally worth it, by the way.

Day 5: A Day of Dissapointments

Today was a day where absolutely nothing worked out. My mom told me that apparently this always happens to her and my dad when they travel together. Our plans for today included: skiing. That was it. Go to a nice hill and ski all day long until we just couldn't ski no more. But we are on vacation, so we should have a slow morning. Sleep in, get bribed out of bed by delicious breakfast, the usual vacation stuff.

Once we finally got out of the house, we all piled into the car and drove into the city to go skiing. We got close to Park City, I noticed that there was a sign on a shops window saying they sold discount lift tickets! Intrigued, my dad went inside. Good news: they did in fact sell discounted lift tickets. Bad news: Not to Park City. The gentleman who spoke to my father however mentioned a store that did sell them. It was about a 20 minute drive. We all decided that it was in our best interest to drive there and save the money on lift tickets.

Finally we got to this store, we realized that the lift tickets and rentals were way cheaper than anywhere around. We got a night lift ticket, a morning ticket for the next day AND our rentals for... drum role, please! 700 dollars. Now, keep in mind that this is for 6 people. It came to about 115 dollars per person. That is only a bit more than it costs to go in Toronto and these are mountains we're skiing on. Not bunny hills. So, we gladly spent all of our allotted ski money at this store and loaded our skis and snowboards into our car. Once we got in the car, Andre announced that he wasn't feeling so hot. We went to a pharmacy and picked him up some drugs to make him cheer up and to help him get doped up.

We then drove to the mountain. Note: I did not say ski hill. I said mountain. This ski "hill" was in fact a gigantic mountain. The snow banks were the size of two cars piled on top of each other... HOW? It was mind blowing, so much so I did not think of taking a picture. Brilliance at it's finest, people! Once we arrived at the hill, we parked our car and decided that it would be best to eat our lunches in the car before going up to ski. My dad returned to the car with more news. Good news: It was Monday, family home evening. Now, I expected the bad news to be "it's extremely busy because every one is here to ski together as a family." But... Bad news: The mountain closes early on Mondays. Why? Family Home Evening. This is when everyone in the car agreed that it was a "only in Utah" moment. We all asked the question - what if people want to go skiing as a family? WHAT THEN?

Sigh... Disappointing.

We then went to the grocery store and picked up some more food for our kitchen. I also got some hair product in my desperate attempt to fix my hair. It's really the only thing that I'm extremely vain about. Deal with it. My hair just cannot be a mess. Ever. I don't really care about the clothes I wear out in public, if I'm wearing make up or not, etc. My only thing is my hair. It's been driving me crazy. Anyways, groceries + hair product. Great success! I also picked up a box of trix cereal for my friend who is so infatuated with them. It's almost ridiculous.

As we cruised along I cracked open a glass bottle of root beer. Glass bottles of root beer are SOO DELICIOUS. It's superior root beer. I love root beer normally... But this surpasses any tap or plastic bottled root beer. It was so great, it has been chosen for the photo of this post.

Epic, right?

We got some pies while we were out too. When we got home, we devoured half of them. So delicious! I love pie. Andre, however, was still not feeling well so he went straight to bed. The rest of us watched dancing with stars and other great things. Those other great things being the news. I was done after about 10 minutes of the news, so I bade my family goodnight and came upstairs to begin blogging for the day. Andre got up and went to the bathroom. All of a sudden, all I could hear was him throwing up. Daniel was all over it and called my dad to aid. Dad went into sergeant, general and captain mode. Get me water, get me a new garbage bag, STAT! He has clearly done this many times. Take a moment to appreciate your parents who have watched you throw up when you were sick. I couldn't even listen. I'm going to be a great mom...

Immediately after all that had been dealt with, our entire family gathered in my parent's room for Andre to be blessed. As I watched my dad and brother, Colin, place their hands on Andre's head, I felt absolute bliss. We all know the miracles of God and how greatly we've been blessed, especially to just be able to take this trip together, to strengthen our testimonies together. I know that blessings work and that God hears and answers our prayers. I have had my prayers answered way too many times to ignore this truth. I love this gospel and I'm so glad I've had this opportunity to come to conference with my family. I hope that Andre will have a speedy recovery and I know that his health will be restored. I just hope that his illness is not passed on to any of our other family members! Now, it's time to sleep - I'm getting up early tomorrow for skiing. Wish me luck!

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!

Day 3: It's Uchtdorf!

Today, I woke up in a strange bed. Uncomfortably close to the ceiling. I was on the top bunk of our apartment's bunk beds... As I shifted around to find my computer, I remembered how noisy my bed is. There seems to be a plastic type of sheet under the cotton sheet. I guess it saves other guests from our cooties. It felt like I had just had the most relaxing sleep of my life, and it was 8:30am. Gotta love that time difference!

I went downstairs to the kitchen to see that Colin's murphy bed was stowed away. How did he get that beautifully large bed? And I'm on the top single bunk? What happened to seniority?! Anyways, mom was making egg mcmuffins and offered to make me one. My dad, my mom and I all sat around the kitchen table while we ate our eggs, Colin came in shortly before we finished and mom whipped him up a breakfast sandwich too. Then it was time to get ready for conference.

I don't know why, but my hair has been extremely uncooperative lately... So this morning's preparation included many "How does my hair look?" Finally, after all six of us had showered and groomed ourselves well enough to see 20 thousand members, we were ready to leave. But classic family move, we didn't leave until the first session of conference had started. But since we were in Utah, that was not an issue. We had it playing on the TV as we got ready and listened to it on the radio on the way into the city. Honestly, I love General Conference. The talks we listened to were so fabulous today and I encourage you all to take the time to listen to them. I teared up a bit in the car while we listened to one about women. Such a powerful talk.

After that talk was finished, we pulled up to a farm with a dog and some donkeys. They were so adorable, Daniel and I got out to take pictures. One of the donkeys came over and was so friendly, I gave him a little rub on the front of his face. I have no idea what the proper term for that is...

Cutest dog EVER!

After Daniel and I were done taking pictures we hopped back into the car and a new talk had just started. My mom, unable to contain her excitement, exclaimed "IT'S UCHTDORF!" Now, what most of you don't know, is who Uchtdorf is. Not only does he have a wicked last name, he's a general authority. He's one of the men who run the show at church and he too gives amazing talks. He is also known for being German and having an awesome accent. The man who was speaking on the radio did have an accent, however... It was Spanish in origin. We obviously had a good time making fun of mom for that one.

When we arrived in Salt Lake City, we drove around for a bit trying to find our parking and helped a family find the parking lot they were looking for (since we were, after all, going to the same one). We then walked the 2 blocks to Temple Square. I took my family the more scenic route, instead of just walking right up to the temple, I wanted them come around the corner and see it. So that they could get the "there she is" effect. I even made a little hand gesture as I was way ahead of them. Side note: I went to Utah with Dan last time I was there. He walks so fast, and he also towers over me. The combination of his long legs and fast pace leaves me at a light jog trying to keep up. Naturally, I have been walking at a quick pace for most of this trip out of habit. Returning to this trip, my family was pretty impressed with the numerous fountains and the view of the temple. (I'm an awesome tour guide.) This is when I took my opportunity to hang out at the back of the pack and take pictures of everyone having their first walk through temple square.

One of the great shots I got before conference!

We toured around a bit, going through the North Visitor's Centre and through the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. But honestly, I felt like we were really killing time because it's so much better to be on temple square when there aren't 20 thousand people walking around. By the way, I'm not even over exaggerating when I say 20 thousand. That's how many people fit in the conference centre - that's excluding all the people who watch conference in the Tabernacle, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and the North Visitors Centre. We went to the afternoon session of conference shortly after getting some food in our stomachs. The session was amazing and we had PHENOMENAL seats. We were close enough that we could see all of the general authorities facial expressions, and not just the one at the podium either. Elder Holland was just hanging out, on the stand, no big deal.

When we were leaving, I ran into two people from our branch - Brooke and Janine, our stake president, his wife and two missionaries who served in my YSA branch - Manwaring and Hicken... now known as Cameron and Nick. It was so cool seeing them again. But I think the weirdest part was that when I saw them, I gave them a hug. Not that I don't like these guys, but you don't hug missionaries. Ever. So, it was just like oh my gosh, they're human again. I don't know - IT WAS WEIRD. But awesome. I definitely love those elders... or... guys. I got my mom to take a picture of all of us together, but she is blind and it came out blurry.

Blurry... :(

We walked Hicken over to Deseret Book and we lost Manwaring, Janine and Brooke somewhere along the way. We said our goodbyes and walked back to our car to get some sandwiches. Once we were there, Colin was making his sandwich and got mustard all over himself. At this point, he was totally upset and refused to eat any more sandwiches. No one really cared that he was making a fuss though, we just ate his share. We were starving! Mom and I then dropped the boys and dad off in front of Temple Square, agreeing that we would meet back there at 8:30pm to pick them up after their priesthood session.

Mother and I went shopping. It was a huge success for me. There were so many sales and the tax here is so much lower than in Ontario, I was like a kid in a candy store. Except I was really a teenage girl in a shopping centre. It was so exciting. I got a new skirt, 5 shirts and some shorts for the summer. I'm going to have to go again because although mom tried on about 10 pairs of pants, 3 skirts and a dress. She found nothing she liked. She is such a pain to shop with. Honestly, she hates shopping. Why? Because she doesn't know where to go to find things she likes. She doesn't know what kind of clothes look good on her body. She also has no idea what size she is in 98% of the stores because SHE NEVER GOES SHOPPING. Needless to say, I felt like a huge jerk because I was having a successful shopping day and mom bought nothing. On the plus side, I got my sister's souvenir or gift. Our family has a tradition that whenever we go on trips, we have to buy something for the people who stayed home. I'm really excited because a) I got her item on sale and b) it is super cute and I know for a fact that she will love them.

By the time we checked the time, it was 8:32pm. We still had to walk to the car and drive to the designated pick up spot. We got to the spot at almost 9pm and the boys were nowhere to be seen. So we waited for about 10 minutes and when they didn't show up, I decided I would call dad's cell phone. Immediately after dialling, I felt a vibrating sensation by my foot. Great... Dad wasn't here and he didn't have his cell phone. Then we heard the whistle. Every dad has one, every child and mother knows the distinct sound of their dad's whistle. When we heard it, mom and I were looking around frantically. Then mom saw him, right outside Deseret Book. "Oh, Dad in Deseret... That's dangerous." Her exact words. And I know for a fact, that that is no under exaggeration.

Soon after, they all came over to the car and they were all soaking wet. We decided to go to Cafe Rio. The food was delicious and the service was speedy and spanish, as always. The pork there is SO GOOD. If you ever go, do not waste your time on anything else, the pork is delicious.

After our meal, we headed home and I was done for the day. So I passed out in the back seat sleeping on my mom's lap. Then I was woken up, why? Because we had been pulled over and I needed to be awake. Dad had apparently gone into an off ramp without realizing, so naturally he veered off when he realized. The sheriff pulled my dad over to find out what the heck he was doing. He was super nice (obviously, he's from Utah) unlike all of the police officers who hate their lives in the Toronto area who pull over people who are on their way to work... me.

To be avoided... DAD!

After that, I went to sleep again. I got woken up again to see that we were in a blizzard. AWESOME! So now, that beautiful weather is gone. There is only snow - everywhere. I'm so sad. I hope it melts very very quickly... I came to Utah in hopes of escaping the snow and cold of Canada... Oh well, it will be interesting going to conference tomorrow with all this snow on the ground.

Well, Daniel is snoring in the bunk bed next to me... I should probably try to sleep now since I'm probably not going to get any real sleep tonight.

Day 1 & 2: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Now I apologize in advance, the promised blog posts may not come due to my parents' lack of enthusiasm for technology... As in my mom's lack of enthusiasm. My dad loves it as much as I do. This resort that we're staying at has limited to no wi-fi. Which will result in limited to no pictures in my posts but I will add some photos when I get home. But aside from that, this trip has been extremely fun so far!

Let me begin by explaining what the terms were for us all to be able to come on this trip. My parents suggested way back in September that we all read the Book of Mormon cover to cover for a free trip to Utah for General Conference. I've been to Utah before with my dad and with my friends Dan and Michelle and I love vacationing here. The people are so nice and friendly (I'm convinced it's because they love Jesus), the weather is so mild in comparison to Toronto and the mountains take my breath away - every single time. Anyways, I was so pumped to go on this trip with my family. But I am a huge procrastinator... Who rarely meets deadlines. So I'm sure you can all guess where this is going. I didn't finish the Book of Mormon. So my parents sat me down about 30 minutes before we left for our trip. They asked me where I was after my four days of pretty hardcore reading. I was only in Mosiah. (That's not even halfway and the biggest book of 60 some chapters was ahead of me.) They told me that they couldn't just let me go on the trip if I hadn't stepped up to my side of the deal. I. Was. Devastated. I had packed, I had cleaned the house, I was going on this trip. Period. In hind sight, I'm shocked I didn't cry. (This approach, no matter how sincere, does not work with my parents. Ever.)

After about 15 minutes of discussion, we decided that I would pay for my flight. Seeing that I had about 300 pages left to read, my dad said that every page I read from our house to Salt Lake City would count for a dollar off of my ticket. The whole time I was in awe with my parents ability to seriously teach me a lesson while still letting me participate in the family activity, contrary to when we were kids. I just kept thinking that they were showing, very effectively, how mercy and justice can coexist so perfectly. Which made me think of the atonement. Which made me think of General Conference. Which made me so much more excited for this trip!

All that, and we haven't even left the house yet. I'll spare you the details of the drive to Buffalo. From the moment we say "lets go." to the moment that we pull out of the driveway can range from an hour to an hour and a half. Leaving all the passengers in the vehicle stressed to no end.

Once we arrived in Buffalo, we decided that Olive Garden was the restaurant we wanted to go to. Once we got there, we ordered our meals. We usually play this game when we go to sit down restaurants that when the waiter brings us the bill, we'll all guess how much it is. Because we do have a large family, most of the time it will be $100 for one meal. This time Daniel was ahead of the game and asked our waiter is he could borrow his pen and keep a menu. When this happened, everyone was confused (even the waiter). But when he started asking everyone what they ordered, we all started making fun of him. Then I got the idea not to tell him what I ordered. It was genius. I even told our waiter not to tell Daniel what I got. So Daniel poured over the menu for our entire waiting period, he did not partake in any of the bread or salad and wrote furiously on his hand all of the things we had ordered so that he would have the most accurate guess. But he was still missing my order. When our food finally came, the waiter let it slip that I had ordered the Tour of Italy. Luckily, Daniel wasn't paying attention! It was awesome. Then as the waiter was walking away Daniel said, "Excuse me, is water free here?" This was definitely the joke of the night. Even as we returned to the hotel, we were still making fun of Daniel for his obsessive need to win our version of The Price is Right.

Our complimentary glass of water.

Being Canadian, we all forgot how big the serving sizes are at American restaurants and we all ordered our own portions. Usually if we know there are big portions at a restaurant, we'll split meals. This would have been an appropriate time to do so. We had so many leftovers. Needless to say, we had leftover Olive Garden in the airport for breakfast at 5am.

We stayed at the Marriott in Buffalo, which was great. The only downfall was that our room had 2 doubles... for 6 people. I don't know how my dad thought this was a good idea... Sure, we've done it before... But that was like 2-3 years ago. And apparently, he didn't notice but we have grown up a little bit since then. So the night was filled with tossing, turning, arguments and people sleeping with their butts hanging off the tiny bed.

We all got up without a fuss to catch our shuttle bus to the airport at 5:30am, got some smoothies and hung out at the airport until it was time to board. This was my brothers' first time flying so, needless to say, they were very excited. Daniel, the youngest, even felt the need to say bomb a couple times right after we went through security. I was like Daniel, that's a word you should never, ever... EVER say in an airport, okay pumpkin?

The flight was long and I was tired. But it was beautiful! (And at this moment, I am MAD that the internet sucks so much that I can't upload any more photos. Figures the only one that worked was the water...) The mountains were so gorgeous to see as we flew over them in Utah and I got some gorgeous photos... Grrr... Our connecting flight was in Chicago and Colin pointed out the skyline to me while we were landing. It was so gorgeous, I could definitely get used to this flying thing.

We then landed in Salt Lake City and - oh my goodness - was it ever beautiful. It was sunny, partly cloudy and almost 20 degrees. So gorgeous. I was walking around in a t-shirt. Such a nice change from that awful snowy weather in Canada. (Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. But there's always crazy weather on conference weekend... So I'm told...)

We went to go get our rental car which was supposed to seat six with six bags of luggage. When we got to our rental. It was not what we expected. So off my daddy went to talk to their customer service representative, obviously we got a better car for no charge. He's just awesome like that. So now, instead of driving around in some lame white SUV, that I can't be bothered to remember the name of, we're driving around in a large, black and spacious Lincoln. I love it. I want one.

As you can see, nothing fit.

We did a drive by of Temple Square on our way to In N' Out Burger. Colin couldn't help but express his confusion. "I thought this was the one that took them 40 years to build. I thought it was brown. I thought..." Which we explained to him that it did take 40 years to build, it was grey and beautiful! (I can't wait to go inside later on this week!)

In N' Out was a first time experience for everyone but my dad and I. Most of us got double doubles, animal style fries and milkshakes. (Again, a perfect moment to have a photo.) I always forget how delicious these burgers are until I have one again. I think I ate mine in like 3 minutes flat. I was so full when I left though, I had to take a nap in the car while my mom and dad went grocery shopping. We should get an In N' Out in Toronto. It's just THAT delicious. But my good Californian friend Lori would not approve of that at all. "There are no palm trees in Salt Lake City OR Provo. There should be NO In N' Outs." She thinks it should be very exclusive... I think she's stupid. :)

SO YUMMY!

After my parents got the groceries, they piled it all into our car with all our luggage. It was a tight fit to say the least. We got to our resort an hour outside of the city. Long but beautiful drive. We got into our rooms and the first thing I did after putting my bags upstairs was pop open my laptop to start blogging. (Yes, I'm dedicated.) Then I discovered... NO. INTERNET. I have mentioned in earlier posts that I am a city girl. I don't deal well with being in the middle of nowhere for long periods of time with no connection to the outside world. I immediately texted my two best friends and my sister. WHAT AM I TO DO? SOCIALIZE WITH MY FAMILY? Impossible.

Well, that's what I ended up doing. My dad, Colin and I went for a drive down a dirt road back to the highway where we stopped at a gas station and picked up some chips and pop (not soda). When we were heading home we saw a moose, which was kind of weird. Just because there are a lot of deer here too and in Canada, where were from, they don't really mingle in the same places. When we got home, my dad and I went off to the restaurant of the resort... To find internet. Yes, I was obsessing. In my defence, I had 13 facebook notifications when I finally got connected. Anyways, the hunt for internet was a bust. But we found out that the cook of the restaurant is a local, and so nice! He said he would find out where we could buy discounted ski lift tickets and give us some information. Solid guy, right?

Finally, we came back to the resort and I found my mom sleeping in her bed. So after cuddling with her for a few minutes, I decided it was time to get ready for bed. While I was in the bathroom, I also thought it would be a good idea to play music from my laptop, since it would be utterly useless otherwise. That's when I noticed the internet connection. Kids, God hears and answers our prayers. Especially in Utah. So, here I am. Ecstatic with my discovery of the outside world and ready to go to sleep after a long day of travelling on planes, ... and automobiles!