Salt Lake City, UT

Dear Friends:

As mentioned in the last post, I'm in Utah to attend my wife's family reunion.  Before heading up to the reunion, we decided to take the kids to Salt Lake City, to tour Temple Square.

On our way north, we caught up with friends (Andertons) that had just moved away from Austin to Colorado.  It was so nice to see them for a little while...we love just talking with them. Their kids are awesome and I love watching them together as a family:

Our main purpose in visiting Salt Lake City, was for our 7 year-old to experience Temple Square.  He's been there several times before, but he's much more aware of his surroundings now...and loves to ask questions.  We started with a look at the amazing Salt Lake City Temple:

We took the family inside the South Visitor's Center.  They had an incredible model of the temple interior..something I'd never seen before.  It showed any visitors what the interior looks like, particularly those who aren't members of our faith.  The detail of the model was extraordinary:

Next, we took everyone to the Salt Lake Tabernacle - a dome-shaped auditorium that houses a giant 11,600 pipe organ.  This is where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir gained its name, as they performed in this building.  The acoustics inside are amazing:

We traveled to the North Visitor's Center.  The centerpiece of this collection of exhibits is the Christus statue by sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.  It's placement under a star-and-space painted dome is dramatic, particularly when you walk up a large ramp to witness the 11-foot statue of the Savior.  His arms are outstretched, showing the crucifixion nail prints in his palms.  It's always moving to me...something I consider quite sacred:

We took G-Man over to the Conference Center - a stunning piece of architecture.  It has a 22,000-seat auditorium with no obstructed-view seats...the entire thing is made without support beams.  G-Man watches our semi-annual General Conference on TV, and these are held inside this auditorium.  It was fun for him to see this live and up-close:

We went to the roof of the Conference Center and loved the view from on top:

Our last stop was the Museum of Church History.  It has some wonderful exhibits, especially for families.  I really wanted to see the special exhibit on Scouting, as the Church recently celebrated it's 100-year anniversary with the Boy Scouts of America.  They built Camp Good Turn with lots of displays about the history of Scouting within the Church:

Elsewhere, they had some great exhibits for kids, including a ship respresenting a scene from the Book of Mormon:

There was also a fun "kitchen" exhibit that had kids preparing meals to share with the missionaries ; )

That evening, I wanted to spend time with my family.  I managed to eat dinner with my two brothers, my sister and her husband.  I love seeing all of them, and ended up grilling each of them on what they were doing and how they were doing ; )  We talked about getting together for another reunion.  I'm glad that they were doing well...as the oldest child in the family, I want them to be happy, and try to figure out ways to help them - even when I don't live very close.

Next up, the trip north for the reunion....