Doug and I realized we are only going to have a few more years with our kids and the "next year we will go on a vacation" was going to not work much longer. We decided to take the family to General Conference since we have never been and all the kids are old enough now to go. We booked a beautiful resort in Midway Utah for a week and invited Judy to come since her sister lives in Utah and we knew she would like to see her.
Day 1
Doug had a deer hunt in Arizona and Derrik was with him so us gals went up ahead and had a great trip. We stopped at Aunt Betty, Judy's sister's, house on the way up and at a sister who is a winter visitor in Judy's ward.
I was able to score Relief Society Broadcast tickets to start off our week. We stayed our first night with Judy's niece, Paula Burr and her family. They were so sweet and I enjoyed getting to know them.
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| First things first. Got a little pedicure so we can be cute. |
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| We did a little bit of temple hopping. This one was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. |
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The most beautiful view off the steps of the temple.
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| Utah is such a beautiful state with all the mountains surrounding the valley. |
We then headed to go to Salt Lake for the Relief Society Broadcast. Since we didn't have anywhere for the girls to go they said we could bring them. The Conference Center is so beautiful and grand.
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| What a special day to have my girls with me at the RS Broadcast. |
When we started to walk in the ushers kept motioning for us to keep going down down down. My Stake Executive Secretary kept forgetting to get the tickets I had asked for so our Stake President had to request them special. That is the only reason I could figure why we got such great seats.
We ended up getting to be even closer because the very front rows, which are reserved for general authorities families etc were not all full so they had us come down even further. We were in row 8 almost dead center. What a treat.
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| President Uchtdorf and his wife waving goodbye. |
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| President Monson and Sister Monson |
It was such an uplifting conference. After the conference we drove up to Midway and found a great resort waiting for us.
Day 2
Since Doug and I joined a travel club to help with our quest to do more family vacations we got a really good deal for the week at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah. This small town was settled by Swedish Pioneers because it reminded them of their home country. The Swiss influence is felt in all the buildings.
The next day we went sight seeing. There is a tall hill in the middle of Midway and this was the view. Just breath taking. We went to church in the town building. It was the most unique building I have ever been too. Of course Judy knew people there! She knows people everywhere we go.
Day 3
Doug and Derrik got in super late and drove straight from Eagar to Utah so they were super tired.
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| Derrik loved the fancy hotel robes. |
Day 4
While Derrik and Doug were resting us girls decided to see what we could find in Midway. We found a cheese factory and lots of cool shops. We happened to come across a movie being filmed. It was a documentary for the History Channel. It was so fun to watch.
Day 4
Judy left to go visit her sister for a few days. Doug and I took the kids to Park City to the fun park there. The leaves were so beautiful. They had a zipline and fun toboggan thingy. I was the picture taker since I hate heights.
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| The kids loved the zipline |
We then went to the outlet mall and got tons of great bargains.
Day 5
This was temple square day. It takes a whole day to see everything too.
We saw everything there was to see. Loved every minute of it.
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| Salt Lake Temple |
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| We ate lunch at the Lion House. One of Brigham Young's houses. |
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The old Tabernacle
The best part of the trip was when I was able to have my whole family inside of the temple. It was Kamryn's first time inside since she just turned 12 a few weeks ago. We brought some names and after really searching to find the entrance we went inside the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms for the dead. Doug did the baptising and I handed out towels. It was so special. |
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| On top of the Conference Center |
Day 5
Doug's Mom got back and so we decided to do the Heber Valley Railroad. It is an old train that goes up around to Provo Canyon.
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| Kamryn, Derrik and Sadie |
There is a fun show with robbers that board the train in the middle and have a hold up. They end up singing songs and having a comedy type show.
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| Sadie visited the concessions and we had some yummy popcorn |
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| The cowboys enjoyed interacting with my family for some reason. |
Once we got to Provo Canyon we took some pictures for my Christmas card.
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| If I could only get Derrik to smile! |
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| It is quite the effort to get ready for a picture. |
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Still no smile dang Derrik!
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| Sadie, Judy, Kamryn and Derrik (still no smile maybe it is the cool glasses) |
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| Doug and his Momma |
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| Me and my Babe |
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So pretty on the way home too.
With all the changing leaves it sure was pretty. |
Day 6
For our last play day we went to Lagoon. Doug said he has always loved this park and he still does. He had so much fun with the kids on the rides. Judy and I were the official picture takers again. She is not one for fast rides either.
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| Kamryn did some rides but she was particular on which ones. |
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| This one went up high and then plummeted to the ground. |
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| Lots of fancy roller coasters. |
It was Halloween Fest so there were zombies and scary things all over. They really got into character. We went from when it opened to almost when it closed. It was a long fun day. Derrik even saw people he knew there from Arizona.
Day 7
We had Saturday Morning General Conference tickets. They were up in the balcony so not as good as our RS Broadcast tickets but still so awesome to go. It just so happened it was a historic session too. This was the session that President Monson announced that Tucson Arizona was getting a temple and the big one of the missionary age being dropped to 18 for boys and 19 for girls. It was so fun hearing the gasps and commotion when he announced it all around.
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| President Monson |
We then left to make our way back to Arizona. It was a very long drive home especially cause we stopped at Aunt Bettys house on the way and then drove the 11 hours straight home. We didn't get back till after 1 am. Poor Judy was so tired. We really enjoyed having her on our trip with us. We need to start planning for next year!
