Utah- Day 2

 After a long drive we were all so happy to have room to spread out and get a good night’s sleep. We woke up ready to face the day ahead! 😉

Alayna and the boys met their cousin’s, Katie, Ben, Kiara, & Boston, for the first time and they made fast friends! 

 I wish they lived closer…both of these sweet girls could use a sister! 🙂

It was Pioneer Day and Utah celebrates it as a State holiday. It’s pretty much like a second 4th of July! People don’t go to work they have parades, fireworks, the whole shabang!

We decided to head down to Temple Square after the parades and marathon were over. 

The Salt Lake Temple really is a sight to behold. I still can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that they built it by hand without all of our modern machinery. 

Walker kept commenting on how cool he thought it was that they completed it exactly 40 years to the day. 

We took Kiara along with us so that the girls could spend as much quality time together as possible. 🙂

Isn’t she a beauty? 

We hadn’t ever been to the Conference Center so we strolled across the street to check it out. 

Here are just a very small sample of the art work in the Conference Center. 

Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother owned this painting. 

An artists depiction of the Tree of Life.

This painting depicts when Stephen looked into the Heavens in his Biblical vision,
he saw Jesus sitting on the right hand of God:

This wall was really neat. It was made in effort to show everyone that comes that “everyone” is in this image. As you approach the wall you can see your reflection as well as the image and you become apart of the art work. 🙂

There was so much to see and take in. I’m so glad we were able to go and that the kids were able to see in person the Conference Center where they watch the Prophet and Apostles speak. I hope that it will bring the experience closer to their hearts and minds as we watch this upcoming conference in October! 🙂

After all that walking we worked up an appetite and headed over to Kneaders. They just opened one here in Mesa but hand’t gone yet. We felt it was time to give a whirl. It didn’t disappoint. It was super tasty! 🙂

I guess we walked more that I thought…all 4 kids crashed out in the car on the way home! LOL!

Katie and Ben live in South Jordan. As you walk out their front door you see the top portion of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple! Now how would you like that as a view every morning!?! Pretty awesome if you ask me! 🙂 We drove by for a quick look before we headed back to the house for the Ashby Cousin BBQ. 🙂

Jared’s cousin’s the Ashby’s all live there pretty close to one another. Tommy is the exception he moved to Colorado. The cousin’s that were available that day came out to visit and it was really good to see them!

Those 2 girls are hatching plans again! 😛

It was a great day filled with the Spirit, family, food and memories! We ended the evening watching fireworks out the back window at Katie’s overlooking the whole valley. She has some pretty amazing views! It was our 1st Pioneer Day and we celebrated it in style! 🙂