Back in red

Aspen went to see my friend Kristin again (she does hair). And she came back looking super cute! And since Aspen likes it, I like it. I especially love that she isn't afraid to try new things even with her hair.

Temple Square is one of my favorite places. I love visiting. I think that every time we go to Utah I take my children to Temple Square. And I think we see different things every time.

This trip we saw the exhibit about the temple. There was an 8 foot model of the Salt Lake Temple. It was cut away to show some of the rooms inside. They were even decorated the same. Pretty cool.

We also went to the Conference Center.

We tried to get in to hear Music and the Spoken Word. But we couldn't find a parking space. Then Maddy broke her heel on her shoes and somehow started bleeding so we had to find the first aid station.

Then I didn't realize that children under 8 aren't allowed in to hear Music and the Spoken Word because it is a live recording performance. So we had to go to another theater. We sat down just in time to hear the last half of the last song. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Afterwards, we toured the Conference Center. It had some cool art,

nice kaleidoscope skylight, fountains, and observation decks. So we had a good time.

16

Today is our anniversary. 16 years ago we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. It still doesn't seem like that long ago. We've come a long way.

• Two degrees
• Four children
• Four dogs, three birds, numerous crabs, and fish
• 11 addresses: 7 apartments, 1 rental house, 3 houses, (we've lived here the longest: 6 years)
• 10 jobs ( I think) in 16 years (both of us combined)
• 5 cars: a VW Rabbit, Hyundai, Ford Escort, Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Durango (we've had our current two (Escort and Durango) for 8 years and 12 years)
• 6 surgeries
• too many church callings to count
• 9 vacations to the beach
• lots of trips cross country (185K miles on my car to prove it)
• Three vacations outside of the country (that we took together)
• and everything in between

But the best is yet to come! I love you Nate.

Hiking the "Y"

One night in Utah we took all the kids to Provo to hike the "Y". It's one of the things I loved to do when I was at BYU. (Amazingly, Erika had never done this.) I did kind of forget just exactly how steep the hike was. And it was a first hike for some of the kids. Kind of a trial by fire. But they were troopers and everyone made it on their own (for the most part). We were trying to get up to the Y for the sunset. We didn't make the sunset, but it was still a fabulous view.

Golden Spike

On the way from Idaho back to Salt Lake we stopped by the Golden Spike National Historic Monuement in Northern Utah. Erika says we went here when I was a teenager. I have absolutely no recollection of the visit. So I am counting this year's visit as my first time here.

This is where the transcontinental railroads met back at the turn of the twentieth century.

The steam trains still run daily, at least back to where they keep them at night. This whole leg of the train route is now largely unused. Twenty years after building the railroads, they built a new one out across the Great Salt Lake. The original route was too steep and traffic moving through was too slow. I didn't know that; so it was fun to learn something new.

The 119 train came from the east. They started in the midwest. East of the Mississippi there was already an extensive train network. Then they just laid track across the plains.

The Jupiter train started in the west. They didn't build as many miles of track as the 119 crew because they had to cross the Sierra-Nevadas, blasting through miles and miles of rock and utilizing thousands of Chinese workers to build their side. They also had to raise the grade for their tracks in many places.

It was a really educational visit.

But this is really is the middle of nowhere!

Granny's Drive In

In Heber, there is a small drive in called Granny's. They are famous for their shakes. They are big and tasty.

So I dragged everyone on a drive through Provo Canyon to Heber for some shakes and fries. We got the last shakes of the day. Right after us, at 6 o'clock in the evening, they ran out of ice cream. Oops. Glad we got there when we did!

Hmmmm. Totally worth the (beautiful) drive.

Kennecott Copper Mine

One of my 37 Goals is to see new things. While I was in Utah I wanted to do things that I'd never done while living there. So visiting Kennecott was at the top of my list. I lived at the base of this mine for over 20 years and never got up there to see it. (I think that I tried one time, but they were closed.) In fact, most of the families that lived on my street worked at the mine or for them in some way.

When I lived in Riverton, the waste rock that was dumped over the side of the mine was mostly only in the center part of what it looks like today. The mine has taken over about 20 towns. And though I have mixed feelings about the effects of open pit mining, I must admit that I think it looks kind of beautiful. The many colors of rock and dirt look nice against the colors of the desert.

P.S. This is the view (above) from my parents' back yard. Pretty impressive.

The pit is 3/4 mile deep. It can be seen from space. The mine produces more copper than any other on earth. They also produce gold, silver, and a few other ores as waste products. Those dark specks? Those are giant dump trucks.

Luckily, our visit overlapped with Karl's visit, so he came with us. It was kind of breezey.

The kids liked looking through the binoculars.

at these giant trucks. A grown man isn't even half as tall as one of the tires on those giant machines. Each dump truck can haul 340 TONS of rock!

Next time you are in Utah, this is a pretty cool place to go. The movie they show in the visitor's center is really interesting as well. I wish they had tours in the other parts of the mining operations (the smelter and refinery parts) It looked cool on the video. I think I'd like to go again!