Conference Center Tour

Utah.  My kids call it "Mormon Disneyland."  If you're a member of the church, Utah is a pilgrimage that most of us make every few years, or even more often in our case.  We all know someone or have family living in the Beehive state it seems.  As for me, my parents and 2 brothers live in Utah so an annual journey there is a must.  This year we made the trek for spring break so that we could say goodbye to my parents who are leaving for their mission soon.  (My mom is starting a mission blog www.millarmission.blogspot.com if any of you are interested in seeing what they are doing.)

The first day we were there, we just had to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake.  Our kids have seen it a hundred times but we made them go again anyway.  We started with a guided tour of the Conference Center.  I was hesitant to take the 45 minute tour with little kids but it turned out to be interesting and the kids were actually respectful and good.

This was our tour guide.  She, like so many other couples, lives in Salt Lake and serves daily at the Conference Center giving tours.  She was great and very patient with our many children.  (There were 9 all together).

The girls loved the HUGE Young Women banners hanging everywhere.  The Young Women's Conference was the following Saturday.

This is the inside of the Conference Center.  We were treated to hearing someone practicing the organ which we were told almost never happens during tour time.  The kids LOVED just sitting and listening.  I can't imagine playing an organ so grand.

One of the coolest parts to the tour was seeing all of the original art.  There were so many wonderful paintings that I had never seen before.

Thomas S. Monson

To conclude the tour, we got to walk on the garden roof.  There are trees and a huge field of grass and flowers.  You almost forget you are on the roof.  This is our group (minus Casey and myself).  

The view of the temple from above.

After the Conference Center, we walked through the City Creek Mall which is across the street.  They built the whole mall around the city creek which runs right through the center.  It was pretty amazing.

Following lunch at the mall, we headed over to the Book of Mormon exhibit at the top of the church history museum.  The little girls loved playing with the stuffed chickens.

A replica of the gold plates

Their favorite part was the dancing.  The little girls got to put on these huge skirts to dance.  (There was a video screen in front of them, telling them what to do.)  The top is Lydia, the bottom is cousin Julia.

Finally, every trip to Temple square must end with a walk up to the statue of Christ and a family picture taken in front of it.

That's it for now...much more to post but I'm too busy unpacking and catching up with my quickly blooming/growing yard.  Spring is certainly here.