Day 4 - Salt Lake

Tuesday was a busy day! We first stopped in Lehi and visited my friend Kristi who moved there from Texas a couple of years ago. It was fun to see you Kristi, even for just a few minutes!

Then we headed to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. If you're not a member of our church, this is a historic and special place for our church and the kids had never been there. Our first stop was the Conference Center. Twice a year our church has a general conference where we hear from our prophet and leaders. It is broadcast all over the world and this is where it takes place. It is a HUGE building that is 1.4 million square feet of floor space and seats 21, 333 people (I just looked that up). Trying to get my kids to hold still when I'm not using the flash is pretty impossible. But here they are right below and in front of the pulpit and organ.

The building also has great sculptures and artwork. This is the original of a famous painting depicting a scene from The Book of Mormon. It is Christ visiting the people in the Americas after his resurrection.

"I Love to See the Temple"

The top of the conference center is an amazing garden representing the Salt Lake Valley. One half is forest and trees like the mountains and the other side is this...brush and prairie.

Our next stop was the Church Office Building. As we got closer Connor started asking if we were going into the world building. He had spotted this from far off. He loves maps and geography right now. This is on the outside of the building.

We rode the elevator to the 26th floor observation deck. The kids loved looking down on Temple Square.

You can't really tell, but we're all safely behind glass. This is Connor looking down at the top of the conference center. It's amazing how the garden roof really makes it blend in well with the landscape.

Landon was so mesmerized by this fountain that he absolutely would not turn around for a picture. Zach really wanted to collect all the money out of it.

Savannah made us stop constantly to take her picture in front of all the beautiful flowers.

The Salt Lake Temple. After this picture we walked over to McDonald's for lunch. Jacob couldn't believe how lucky we were to be eating McDonald's so often.

After lunch we went to the South Visitor's Center. They had this amazing replica of the temple, with the inside like a dollhouse so you could see exactly what every room looked like.

We stopped by the old tabernacle too. This was built in 1867 and was where conference used to be held until the year 2000. This is where I remember going to General Conference with my dad as a teenager.

Jacob took this picture of Dallin and I

We went to the North Visitor's Center. I was so excited for Connor to see this room and I had my camera ready. He loves space and was in awe. This was his favorite place all day.

The kids in front of the Christus statue.

Our last stop was at the Church History Museum. On the main floor we learned all about the pioneers. On the second floor they have exhibits about each of the prophets since Joseph Smith. I found Connor slowing spinning this globe to find Texas.

Zach loves museums and spent the whole time with Dallin asking all kinds of questions. Here they are by the Angel Moroni replica.

Also on the second floor is a great kids area that is all hands on about The Book of Mormon. Zach & Jacob went fishing off of Nephi's ship.

Connor & Savannah "building" Nephi's ship.

This was an area about different cultures in the Americas (I think). They had dress-up clothes and dancers on the big screens. Connor really got into it and could have stayed dancing for hours.

After all that we headed over to Liberty Park to let the kids play for a little while. Then we went to visit my Aunt Suzanne, Dan, and Emily in Draper. (We missed seeing you Melissa!) We ate dinner with them and had a fun time visiting. The kids were angels because they played Mario Party on the Wii the entire time.

Thanks for letting us visit. It was fun to see you all!