This is the place.

This weekend was the completion of the 99 day challenge that we gave to the youth in our ward. And as promised, we took them to SLC to finish reading on Temple Square. We had an amazing weekend!
Are you ready for some pictures? Cause I've got a bunch!

On the way down, we gave all the kids T-shirts. We all wore them, we were a sea of brown. "What can 'brown' do for you?"



The first thing we did when we got to SLC, was head to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to watch "Testaments". Afterwards, we visited for a few minutes in the lobby. The youth (and us leaders) were so affected by the movie, many of us were teary and everyone appreciated having a few moments to reverently ponder what they had just watched.





We headed over to the North Visitor Center to take a picture of all the youth at the Christis. On the way over we passed the temple. I was touched as I watched small groups of our kids walk up and touched the temple. Many of them were on Temple Square for their first time and were in awe at this wonderful building.







We took the kids to get dinner then headed over to our host homes. There were three families who graciously welcomed us, strangers, into their homes to stay for the weekend. We had two YW homes and one YM home. We are so grateful for these three families!

Saturday morning we all had tickets into Conference, which means No WAITING IN LINES!!! Yeah! But that would be the ONLY time we would get off so easily!









Here is a photo taken just after the 1st session was over. It is blurry - sorry! I have a non-blurry one from before session, but I'm showing this one because one of those blurry black suits, is the prophet.



We ate lunch at the cars while a couple of the leaders held a place in line for us. When that line started moving, he called over to us and we hussled ourselves there just in time! We made it across the street into the line outside the Conference Center and waited there in the HOT sun for a little over an hour.





We were split up during this session, but we did all make it in. I was fortunate to have a seat in the center of the room. This picture was taken after the session was over as the prophet was leaving.



After Conference, we took some treats and drinks to the YM who had to stand in line for Priesthood Session. Then we split up. Most of the girls went with some leaders to the mall. I took 3 girls with two other leaders and went to the Church History Museum. My favorite part was seeing the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.



I really enjoyed seeing the girls look at the things in the museum. Here S. and K. are looking at Wilford Woodruff's journal entry from his wedding day.



Just for Mom...



This was my second favorite part. It is kind of the same as my first favorite. There was a replica of Joseph's death mask. This one was for us to touch. It was an awesome feeling to touch the face of the prophet. Again, I was touched to see how much the girls were appreciating this experience. This is S. touching the prophet's face.



After we finished at the Church History Museum, we stopped by the Family History Center to see if (by chance) the Pellets were there. We found out that they were now working at the Joseph Smith Memorial building, but not that day. :( Because of the crazy schedule that we had with the youth, there really wasn't any way to try to arrange seeing them. So, we went on to the mall.

We were able to see Cherie Call and Julie De Azevedo (sp?). I bought a book and had it signed by Sharon Larson (the author) to give to my neighbor who watched Acadia for a couple of days for me while I was there. I also got the new Paul Cardall CD and then found out that by buying it, I got a live CD of his for free! Score! I love him!!!

That night we had pizza at one of the host families homes. Then we played out in the dark for awhile before hitting the sack.

Sunday morning began VERY EARLY for half of us. We wanted to go for it and got to Temple Square early to stand in line, trying to get into the morning session. While waiting many of us read our Book of Mormon. I finished, right on schedule completing the 99 day challenge sitting right next to the temple. It was such a wonderful moment! Some of the other kids finished then as well.









Things were looking really good for us! We weren't very far from the front of the line and we made it across the street and into the line at doors of the Conference Center. And here we waited for another couple of hours.













Unfortunately, only about 20 people from the stand by line made it into the Conference Center. It was just too full. So, instead we were taken to the Conference Center Theater. It was cool to watch conference on a movie screen. But we still would have rather been inside! So, at the moment the closing prayer was over, our fearless YM president made a mad dash to get us a place in the stand by line for the next session!

As the rest of us quickly tried to follow him, I snapped this picture. It made me laugh! There were alot of protesters, but this kid holding the small sign that said, "People with signs are stuped!" was awesome! On the other side of this sign, he had written "If you can't be right, be LOUD!" lol



It was rather cold on Sunday. So as we waited to get into the next session, some of my girls got... creative. They put their jeans on under their dresses to keep warm. In taking this picture, I uttered words that these girls will most likely NEVER hear me say to them again! "Lift up those skirts and show me more leg!"



We ate lunch while in line this time. You would think that spending hours in line would get tiring - well, yeah it did. But we didn't mind. We were so happy to be there! The kids were wonderful! They didn't complain, they made the most of it! They had fun, they sang hymns, they read scriptures, they visited, they made it a great experience!





Once again, we didn't make it into the Conference Center. This time we weren't even close! We split up, finding places to watch it seperately. My group ended up in the theater in the North Visitor Center. After the final session of this General Conference, we met up for a group photo. On our way to take the picture, we ran into a couple who used to be in our ward! We couldn't have planned it better if we had tried! And only minutes after seeing the Mosers, we saw Tanya and Miranda Nisse, from another family who had moved away last year! It was awesome to see them and it was a miracle that amongst tens of thousands of people at Temple Square we ran into these former ward members that we love and miss so much! They didn't know we were there and we didn't know they were there, but we found each other! And then they helped to take this picture...





We had a couple of hours to look around, so we split up again. I took a couple of girls who had gone to the Church History Museum with me the night before and we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building. I am so disappointed that this picture is blurry! But it was kind of the woman to offer to take it for us, so I really shouldn't complain!



We went up to the observation deck where a worker there pointed out President Hinckley's apartment to us. It is in the upper left, with all the green windows.





Then they showed us this chapel, where President Hinckley and President Faust's ward meets. It is beautiful! When the building used to be a hotel, this was a ballroom. Because it is a chapel, we didn't take pictures inside, but the doors were open, so I took this picture instead.



We then went to the Conference Center to go up on the roof. I can only imagine how much more beautiful it is in the spring when the flowers are all blooming. As it is, this was very pretty and the view was cool. It was also quite windy and rather cold. We didn't stay up too long! lol







We wanted to walk down the steps instead of taking the elevator down. Here are S. and K. ouside the waterfall that flows down the side of the Conference Center.



Our host families insisted on providing dinner for us on Sunday. They hosted us to a WONDERFUL dinner and we were surprised when yet another family who had recently moved there from our ward showed up to visit with us! (This was obviously planned!) It was great to see them!



The Blackham's, the main host family - they are AWESOME!!!



Acadia's friend, Brinlee. She misses her and still asks about her every now and then!



After dinner we went to the church building (across the street, lol) for a fireside. The Bishop talked to the youth about the theme of our trip, "Where will it lead?" He encouraged them to always ask themselves this question when faced with a choice. And then he gave them each their own pocket hymnal. I played "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet" on the piano as they sang from their new hymnals for the first time. It was a great end to our time in Salt Lake.

I had about 8 young with me and another leader at our host house. We stayed in their basement. They had a pool table that four of the girls decided to sleep under - squished together! It was fun to watch.





At one point, 7 of the girls squeezed in there for a photo!



My girls were so good! And we had alot of fun!



On Monday we had a smooth, yet long drive home. We got back at about 8 pm and our trip was over! I will post notes and feelings that I recorded in my journal in a seperate post - soon. This post is long enough, I think! lol

Here's a link to see all the pictures I took. Soon, I will be adding pictures other leaders took as well. But for now, I've got 161 pictures up there! Enjoy!