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.