Spring Break - Day 1-

Elijah and I have been wanting to show our children Salt Lake City and its church history sights since we moved here. With my mom leaving in a few weeks, we decided that was a great idea for Spring Break. After celebrating Jefferson's birthday, and then Easter, I really needed a break. Although this wasn't the break I had in mind, this trip had me excited, since I would be showing my family where I served my mission (Temple Square). Elijah and I wanted our kids to see BYU and Provo, as well as BYU-Idaho. We both attended both BYUs, and two of Elijah's sisters and one brother with his family now live in Rexburg, Idaho. Salt Lake City, Provo, and Rexburg sounded like a good plan. The children were absolutely excited to see their family, and especially their cousins.

We started our trip today a bit later than we wanted to. We usually leave early in the morning, around 4 or 5 am, but this morning we either didn't hear the alarm, or Elijah forgot to set it, which sounds unlikely. Nevertheless, we were all in good spirits, and with the exception of James and Gillian throwing up a couple of times (they use a bag and clean after themselves without disturbing anybody else), we had a wonderful trip.

We had Elijah and myself up front listening to talk shows, my mother and Charlton feeding, napping and playing with each other in the middle section, and the three older kids reading, drawing, and playing in the back side. Elijah did give in after lunch time and allowed the kids to watch their new Narnia movie (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), mostly so I could take a nap without being disturbed.

We left Concord with good weather and later were greeted by misty roads and snowy hills around the Lake Tahoe area. Gillian said that the beautiful view of trees covered in snow reminded her of the world of Narnia. It did look magical. I didn't dare open the window too many times (I hate being cold), but here are a couple of fun pictures I was able to take very fast:


It snowed lightly the whole time we drove through Northern California, Nevada, and some in Utah. It was fun waking up from my nap and seeing the Bonneville Salt Flats stretching for miles and miles at a time. And then, as we were about to enter Salt Lake City, we were happily greeted by the Great Salt Lake and the majestic Wasatch Mountains:


We drove around down town and showed the children the Salt Lake Temple, and then headed toward our hotel. As soon as we were all unpacked, we took to the streets and found the Olive Garden restaurant nearby. We stopped and dinned there mostly for nostalgic reasons, since I used to frequent this restaurant as a missionary (the senior couples who served with us would take us there). After dinner was pleasantly consumed, we went back to our hotel, and enjoyed a relaxed evening watching some TV and reading. I couldn't wait to show my children Temple Square the next day.