Conference Weekend

Emily and I spent the weekend in Utah to attend the Young Women's General Conference.  We flew into Salt Lake Friday morning.  We went to the new City Creek Mall.  It had just opened up the day before.  It is an outdoor mall with live music playing all around.  We had a lot of fun looking around and finding fun stuff to buy. 

If you look closely you will realize this statue is a person.  They had different ones all over.

We ate lunch/dinner at the Cheesecake Factory that was located in the mall.  Neither of us had ever eaten anything there besides cheesecake.  The food was great, but very filling.  We were so full we not only needed take home bags, but we were too full for dessert.  Friday night we went to the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast.  It was so fun. 

In front of the Theater

The stage before it started

The rose that was sitting on our seats when we came in

Emily had performed in a shortened version of this same production when she was in Jr. High and so knew and loved a lot of the music.  I thought they did a fantastic job.  It was very enjoyable.

Saturday we spent the morning trying to find some LDS fabric I needed for a quilt which we did eventually find.  We hiked to the top of Ensign Peak.  It is not a hard hike, but the view from the top is beautiful. 

The view from the top of Ensign Peak

When we finished that we drove to my sister Andrea's house and met her new baby Ashlyn.  It was so fun to see her and hold her.  Then we went back down to Salt Lake with Andrea, Lindsey, and Lindsey's friend.  We had tickets in the top balcony (there is more than one balcony).  Just walking into the conference center was amazing to me. 

Andrea, Lindsey, Emily, and Nicole

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There were so many girls with their parents or leaders coming in, and to think of how many other mothers and daughters were watching the broadcast around the world was truly amazing to ponder.  There is definitely strength in numbers, and you could feel of the strength of all these Young Women.  The meeting was wonderful.  The other thing that surprised me were how many people were in the choir.  I see it on TV all of the time, but to watch all of them start filing in was also amazing.  It took quite some time to get them all in and seated.

Sunday we got to watch Andrea's husband James give Ashlyn a name and a blessing.  We also got to see a lot of family.  My parents came up for the blessing and so did a lot of my mom's side of the family.  It was perfect timing to have her be blessed that weekend, and it made the perfect ending to our trip.  After the blessing we hurried off to the airport to fly home.  This was a wonderful trip and I am so glad I was able to spend it with my daughter.  I am so thankful she kept reminding me that we needed to go since we missed her going when she turned 12.