Church History Tour 2009: Part I

Two Saturdays ago Russell and I went on a church history tour downtown Salt Lake. (I know we live about 15 mins away, but it was still fun.) Russ planned the tour and we only ended up going to about half of the places, because we were pooped by the end.

We started our day doing a session at the Draper temple. It is such a beautiful temple and we had never done a session there before.

We ate at a yummy Thai restaurant named Thai Lotus then started our tour. We spent quite a while at the Church History Museum, which is great. There is a lot to learn there.
The original death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. One of the workers told us that "back then" they took molds of people's faces when they died to preserve how they looked. They didn't have photographs.

This desk was used by several of the past prophets
A pulpit like the one used in the Conference CenterThis was neat. A page of Pres. Hinckley's notes before giving a talk.
We went to see the Christus statue at the Visitor's Center
We walked past the Conference Center and the Tabernacle
We went to the cemetery in Federal Heights to visit Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley's grave

This was on the back of the monumentWe also ended up seeing the gravesites of Pres. John Taylor, Pres. David O. McKay, Pres. Heber J. Grant, J. Golden Kimball, and (I think) Orson Pratt.It was fun spending the day downtown with my hubby and learning more about our church's history.

BRAZILIAN CELEBRATION!!

Wednesday was my brother, max's ONE YEAR mark on his mission! It's hard to believe he has been there for a year! I guess it's downhill from here. It sounds like he has been a great missionary! We're so proud of you Max!

My family celebrated by going to a Brazilian Steak House called Braza Grill. It's down near Salt Lake. Everyone met at our apartment and we had fun hanging out for a bit.

Pa and the girls

Oh Ad, you're so cute

We enjoyed the great weather outside

Sophie was so smart and found a way to crawl without scraping up her knees. So cute! She looks like a little elephant.
At the restaurant

It was an all-you-can-eat buffet. This wooden post is to let the men with skewers know whether or not to keep bringing you a variety of meats.
Green-bring on the meat
Red- hold it for now
Lay it flat- I give up!
Crazy Bub!

The food was delicious and we had a fun time!

Cruise food

Let me just clarify about the food on the cruise.. So, the pictures I showed were of very small appetizers. The entrees were a lot bigger! Plus you could order multiple appetizers, entrees, and desserts! Way too much food! Plus they did have food available all night long. Russ loved the room service! (I seriously wonder how much weight we all gained.. shhh)

Plus, all the food was included in the price of the cruise!

Our Bahamas Getaway!

August 23-27 Russ and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas! My in-laws Doug and Heidi and our friends, Dave and Jessica went as well. We had such a great time!

We flew into the Orlando airport on August 22. We ate a delicious dinner and spent that night in a hotel.

After our cruise, we spent Thursday in Orlando. We went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. It was a lot of fun!

We flew home on Friday. Thanks to Russell for planning so much of the trip! We had a great time!