It's Good to be Back--I think?!

We are now back from vacation and I am thrilled to be able to share it with everyone. We had a great time in Utah. My hubby decided that he wanted to go to Utah so since it has been way too many years to remember that he has gone with us, I was eager to go. (thank goodness for Fall break from school) Our main objective was to attend General Conference since no one but I has ever gone. We were able to get tickets for the Saturday afternoon session and wouldn't you know, it was pouring rain. I was so looking forward to laying out a blanket on the grass and listening to the talks with K. Instead, the two of us had a wonderful time going around Temple Square while my hubby took the other kids into the session.

My parents get the privilege of working all the conference sessions as they are service missionaries on Temple Square. My father was able to get the guys RED TICKETS for the Priesthood Session. They were seated in about the 6th row with all the family members of the General Authorities. As me and the girls were having dinner, he would text me to tell me that he had just shook hands with L. Tom Perry, or that he just had a conversation with Elder Tah, or Elder Russell M. Nelson was standing behind him talking to his relatives. They were in heaven and I was glad that T especially could experience that.

We had a great time going to Hill Air Force Base and getting the royal treatment (thanks Scott). That is T's favorite place and we never miss a chance to go see the museum. We were able to see a new "Pave Low" helicopter that had just arrived a few weeks earlier still with the dirt and grim from Iraq. It had stopped off to help with Hurricane Ike on its way to the museum. Thanks to Scott, we were able to go behind the ropes and go inside where he gave us the run down on this big beast. Of course, we had a blast playing on the simulators as well. I even got to visit with his wife (an old friend from CO) for awhile too.Our family has developed a love for caving and whenever we can go inside one, we do. So we took a trip up the mountain to Timpanogos Cave. It is quite the hike--1.5 miles but very strenuous as it is definitely uphill all the way. The kids beat us adults up with no problem, even K. We are not as young as we used to be that is for sure. It was a beautiful hike though as the leaves were still changing colors and they were brilliant. The little girls became JUNIOR Rangers and got their badges to go along with the 10 or so others that we have for National Parks and Monuments.

We heard a storm was coming in from Alaska and would hit Saturday night. Since we were planning on going home through Wyoming, we decided that we would try and beat the storm and leave Sat morning. We made it to the mouth of the canyon when it started snowing and it didn't let up. In fact, we ran into a traffic jam east of Evanston that had us at a dead stop for over 2 hours. And as we were stopped the storm got worse and worse. We were afraid that we would be in this kind of snow the whole way home. Just a hint---make sure you go to the bathroom before you get stranded in a snow storm. I almost........well, I won't go into it, but I'll just say that I couldn't hold out much longer. It must have snowed at least 3 inches by the time the plows came and cleared a way for us. It was quite the adventure which seems to always be the case for our family vacations recently. After that, it was smooth sailing . We ran into rain, fog, flurries, and sunshine the rest of the way. We still don't know what the hold up was...an accident, just trucks getting stuck, who knows. But we did see a big semi jack-knifed going the other way and traffic was backed up for almost 6 miles (we clocked it). I have never been on a road that has so many semis, but I think we like going I-80 better than I-70, even though we have the wind to contend with. Anyway, we had a good time all the way around. Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun and food and memories. We always have such a fun time and I hate to leave when the time comes.