On the 7th I turned 34. Woohoo!
Michael got this delicious cake from some fancy farm in Pepperidge. (Guess who likes making forts in the living room, btw?)
Half-naked boys helped me blow out the candles.
The week before my birthday, Michael surprised me by informing me that he had gotten me a plane ticket to fly out to Utah to see my family for a few days. (He hadn't officially bought the ticket--he wanted to get my okay first, but he'd researched everything and contacted my family, etc.) I was so pleased and surprised.
So for my actual birthday, the kids/Michael hid little travel goodies around the house and I played "hot and cold" to find them.
I was nervous to leave, especially with Clara dealing with homework in middle school, etc., but I knew Michael would be fine and everyone would have a good time with Daddy.
I arrived in Salt Lake safely and was met by my parents, who are serving an eighteen-month mission in Salt Lake in the interpreting department of the church. Their office was in the Church Office building but was moved for six weeks over to the Conference Center to prepare for General Conference.
Here's a chart of the 95 languages that conference is translated into--my parents are over 27 (?) of those languages. A lot of the languages I have never even heard of!
You can see little plaques with the name of a language on each of these cubicles.
This is the monitor that the interpreter looks at as he interprets. He typically has the talk in advance to prepare. He is supposed to stand while he's interpreting and really do his best to be like the speaker. I like the thoughts on the yellow posters above. There is also someone sitting next to him to jump in/help as needed.
Pretty exciting and amazing! One fun thing is that there were two different water fountains by the interpreter cubicles--one for cold water and one for room temperature water. Since people in some countries don't like ice/cold water, it is a thoughtful touch.
My parents worked hard before my arrival so they could take some time
off of their mission to hang out with me. We enjoyed walking around
temple square and had a yummy lunch at the Lion House Pantry. We took a
brief tour of the Beehive House and I even got to walk in the tunnel
that goes underneath the temple to the Conference Center--that's how the
General Authorities get around without having to go above ground. They
use little carts. Pretty cool.
The lower two windows on the first floor of the building behind me are President Monson's office. And all the flowers everywhere? So beautiful and peaceful.
In the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, there is a really neat family history center with interactive screens where you can visually learn about your ancestry. It was really fun!
After temple square, we drove around to see the houses where my parents grew up in Salt Lake. I don't think I'd seen any of these places before, so it was neat to imagine my parents playing here as children.
The house my dad grew up in as a young man.
The house my dad lived in as a young boy.
My mom's grandparents' house--she played here as a girl. I couldn't get a good shot of her house on G Street--there were lots of trees in front, unfortunately.
We also visited my dad's parents' graves. They died before I was born, and I can't wait to meet them someday.
That night we drove down to Provo to do some sealings in the Provo City Center temple with Heather and Bryan and Emily. Sadly, they stopped doing sealings at 7pm (we missed it because we were taking pictures outside, haha!), so we drove over to the other Provo temple and had a great time being in the temple together. And fortuitously, I ran into Susan Wilson, a woman I sang with in the Augusta Collegium Musicum down in Georgia--it was wonderful to see her.
The next day I hung out with Bryan and Emily. Emily and I went to BYU and I got to see one of our former Laurels from our ward, Maddie Allen. I really enjoyed just hanging and talking with Emily. Bryan showed me around the house they are renovating (check out the view of the mountains!), which is a lot of work but will look awesome when it's done. I also had a great time just sitting on the porch and hanging out with him.
He got a box of Dunford Donuts, one of which is a meal in and of itself.
On Saturday morning, Michael's brother, Joseph, and his wife Jenna, made me a yummy waffle breakfast and we went on a hike to Slate Canyon Park. I had forgotten about this place, and it has a beautiful view.
I am so blessed to have such great family as my in-laws.
Later that afternoon, I hung out with Heather. Here's Heather with her youngest, Duncan (age 11) at his soccer game. It was great just talking and being together and hearing and learning from Heather throughout this trip.
Hanging out in the sun at the game.
And then later, we all went out to Cubby's for burgers/salads/fries. Really good! Here are Bryan and Emily. I sure like them.
Four of my nieces and nephews--Duncan, Grace, Caroline, and Clay--and you can see my sweet parents in the background.
On Sunday morning I flew home. Here's the Great Salt Lake from my airplane window around 7am. It was a wonderful trip, and I was missing my family and ready to go home. Michael and the kids all survived and I came home to a clean house with roses on the counter.
Such a generous and thoughtful birthday gift from my favorite person.
