Salt Lake City: Deep in Mormon Country

In addition to all of the wedding festivities we were able to squeeze in some tourism as well.  Friday was Pioneer Day.  Pioneer Day to us is an LDS (aka Mormon) holiday.  It is the day we celebrate the pioneers arrival in the Salt Lake Valley after crossing the plains in search of a place they could safely live and have religious freedom, their Zion.  In Utah it is also a state holiday because it is the beginning of Utah's history.  There are parades, fireworks, and celebrations.  Friday morning we attended the SLC Pioneer Day Parade.  This was our first real day in Utah after being too tired to function the night before.  The parade route was only a few blocks from our hotel.

It was really awesome to get to watch a parade in which our values and history as Mormons was celebrated.  There were lots of genealogy based floats as part of this years theme.  It was especially exciting to see Elder Henry B Eyring in the parade with 4 of his grandchildren.  He had more security than the govern.  Elder Eyring is the 1st Counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS church.  Amelia also enjoyed seeing horses, floats with bubbles, and all of the princesses "Miss Utah, Miss Salt Lake City City" etc.  After the parade we walked to up to temple square, just for the sake of finding it and got some ice cream.  It was 98 degrees and we were pretty hot.  We got ice cream at Farr's Cafe and Creamery.  We were shocked by 1) the amount of ice cream, 2) the inexpensiveness of the ice cream, and 3) the deliciousness of the ice cream.  Amelia got Play-Doh flavored ice cream which was a colorful blend of three fruit flavored ice creams.  I enjoyed Coconut Almond with hot fudge.  It was like eating the best almond joy bar ever.  Aaron can't remember what he got but it was good too.  It was so good that we stopped back the next day for more.  

By the time we got back to our room it we were late for the pool party, so we got ready fast and took off.  After the pool party Aaron took off to the lobby to read his work book and Amelia and I watched TV and napped a little before the dinner celebration.  

On Saturday we spent the day at Temple square.  We visited the Tabernacle, the South Visitor Center, a number of monuments, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for Lunch, the Family Search Center (genealogy center for the church) and the Temple grounds.  Amelia loved running around temple square and all of the water features.  She also loved listening to the organist play in the tabernacle.  By the afternoon, when we were attending the wedding, temple square was packed with tourists and wedding parties.  In the Family Search Center they had a play area for kids which Amelia enjoyed with some other little girls while Daddy tried to solve the mystery of his ancestor Sophia Stopyak's parents.  As a genealogy hobbyist I have spent a lot of time trying to finding this information for Aaron with no luck.   Sadly they weren't able to find it for him either but referred him to a specialist in the 2nd floor who would be better equipped to help him.  We never had time to go there but someday we will figure out who her parents were.  

After leaving the Family Search Center and enjoying our 2nd ice cream at Farr's we went to Deseret Book, and LDS bookstore.  We wanted to buy everything but settled on 5 books, 1 DVD, and 1 CD.  A clerk was helping track down the books on my list when a woman asked him a question about the start of a new sale.  He answered her and then as we walked toward the section with my book he whispered to me that that woman was Sister Nelson, the wife of the Elder Russel M. Nelson President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  Aaron and I were very much LDS tourist and were giddy to be so close to her.  We know they are normal people, but they are special people too who we usually only see on TV and read talks from in books and magazines.  And to make our Mormon sightings complete, Elder Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles along with 3 members of the Quorum of the Seventy were in our Sacrament meeting on Sunday.  We restrained ourselves from hugging and autographs and behaved ourselves in all of our Mormon sighting experiences as if we lived in Utah and saw them all the time.  Tourists, lol.  

Parade Fun, and Amelia had the Best Seat for Watching and Resting.

Elder Eyring in the Parade

Ice Cream at Farr's after the Parade

The view from the mall bridge.

Walking through Temple Square with Daddy

The SLC Temple

Running in Temple Square, "You can't catch me"

Listening to the Organ in the Tabernacle, Amelia loved this part.

Trying to get to the water.  There were many water features in temple square and Amelia loved them all.

Throwing in her penny.

Admiring the Flowers

Our Temple Selfie, we couldn't see what we were doing because of the sun. But we laughed.

The SLC Temple

One of the beautiful water features

Resting....

The replica of the temple in the South Visitor Center

The inside view of one side of the replica.

Tired and Hungry waited for the wedding to be over.

"Fine Take My Picture"

Guarding "Her Tree" from other children

It was a hot day and the crowds were hogging the shade.

"Look Mom"

"See Mom"

More Running in Temple Square

Playing in the Family Search Center

She loved playing house with these girls.

The chapel in which we attended Sacrament meeting in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (before church started).  3 wards meet in this building.