On Monday morning we left Rexburg to drive to Utah. Natalie and the kids were going to be joining us in a few days, so no sad goodbyes quite yet. We saw a lightning started fire right at the Idaho/Utah border.
But soon enough we were in our fifth state - welcome to Utah!
Danny wasn't very excited to make any stops before Salt Lake, but we convinced him it wouldn't take too long. The next stop on our temple tour was Brigham City. At least I didn't make him stop at the wild bird refuge!
It was such a bright, clear day that the temple was almost blinding white. This temple was completed just under a year ago in September 2012.
Across the street is the Brigham City Tablernacle, this building was completed in 1890. We didn't have time to tour it, but I'd like to go back and do that.
The wireless headsets are a little too big for Grant, so he has to hold them on otherwise they fall off when he moves his head. We tried various methods for keeping them on during the trip with the random items we had in the car, but that didn't work. He loves to put his feet up on the back of the driver's seat while watching a movie.
The next stop was the Bountiful Temple, this picture was taken from the freeway and it didn't seem too far away. In reality, it is quite a distance up the mountain.
I don't like how this tree is blocking the temple in the background. Plus this sign is in an odd place with a side view of the temple. This temple was completed in 1995.
So we drove around the front to get a better picture of the building.
This is the view from the temple, you can see out to the Great Salt Lake. There were some enormous homes up in this area.
Our next stop was Salt Lake City. We were going to see the highlights of Temple Square and show the kids the Salt Lake Temple. We parked next to the conference center so we went there first.
We took a tour and told the tour guide to be brief with her descriptions as the kids probably weren't too interested in all of the details. They did like sitting in the seats in the same room where they have General Conference.
Then we went to the gallery to see the original paintings by Arnold Friberg. It is amazing seeing the actual paintings of the pictures that we grew up with at church. There are many more than just these, along with several other paintings and other art on display.
Claire checking out a bust of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
Then we went on a tour of the roof top garden. It has a great view of the temple.
There are a lot plants and a couple of waterfalls up there as well.
A view of the capital building.
Andrew took this picture from inside the building of the back of the waterfall looking out towards the temple.
After the tour we headed across the street to see the temple. It was hot and the kids were starting to get restless so we had to get them outside.
The picture we came here for!
I love this statue of a mother with her kids.
The temple grounds are so beautiful, the flowers were amazing.
We took a picture in front of the old wooden temple doors.
A close up of the amazing door hardware.
My mom was with us as well, and it was her anniversary just the day before and they were married at the Salt Lake Temple.
We briefly went to the old tabernacle. I say briefly because we in search of water. Once again, we should have brought a backpack with water and snacks.
We went to the visitors center and found water and really nice air conditioning. The Christus statue there is amazing. They also had other New and Old Testament art on display.
We had one last stop in Salt Lake before we headed to West Jordan. A few months prior, my grandma's headstone was placed, so I wanted to go see it. She is buried in the Salt Lake Cemetery which was started in 1848.
Here is one side of the stone...
...and the other. My mom and Rose used the pineapple motif because she loved Hawaii.
She is buried by many of her relatives. I believe this is her grandmother who was a doctor!
This is one of our ancestors who walked across the plains to get to Utah. Caroline R. Smoot died in 1915.
Elsie C. Mills is Claire's great, great Grandma. The C stands for Claire!
My mom in front of my grandma's headstone. My mom said later that we should have had me and Claire in the picture and it would have been 4 generations.
On the way out we went by President Hinckley's grave site. It is made from left over granite from the Salt Lake Temple and the Conference Center. I wonder where they have been storing that all this time.
We finally arrived at Rose's house after a lot of stops. We were greeted by my dad who had come to town to have meetings with the building of their new house. Speaking of new houses, this is their lot. It has a beautiful view of the mountains.
It sits up on a hill and these are the stairs that lead down to the sidewalk.
This is looking back at the lot. The 3rd house you see on the right (the red one) is Rose's house. This is actually the back of her house. The garages are at the back on a small side street.
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