Great Salt Lake

I'm trying to get my head working and write up a few more memories of our trip to Utah last month, but it all seems like so very long ago that the words just won't come. So, this post will be heavy on pictures and light on words.

No trip to Utah is complete without a day in Salt Lake City so we made our plans for a fun day and headed south. Really the main thing to see was Temple Square and the other church sites there but we also added in a few stops at a couple of yummy food places. Lunch was at Bruges Waffles and Frites where we enjoyed so-so waffles and really stellar fries. My sister Becca and her sweet family joined us there and I was reminded how thankful I am to be past the little kid and baby stage of parenting. She and Louis are right in the thick of it and really do handle things wonderfully, but I like not having  to worry about diapers, strollers, and nap times anymore!

After lunch we headed over to Temple Square, parked under the Conference Center, and started the day's explorations. We spent some time in the North Visitor's Center before heading over to the Tabernacle. Natalie asked the sweet sister missionary who was talking with us at the Tabernacle if we were allowed to sing there, or if it was only for the Tabernacle Choir. I was surprised when she said that we could sing if we wanted to, walked us up to the front, and let us sing. Jared and I were the only Morans brave enough to join Natalie in singing Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam (please excuse the shaky camera courtesy of Samantha) in front of the assorted tourists who were also visiting the Tabernacle that day.

The rest of the girls were anxious to make a quick get away after our unplanned performance so we hurried out a side door and headed over to the Assembly Hall which I've often seen but never been inside of before.

It's very gothic looking from the outside...

and a lot like the Tabernacle on the inside.

There are two Visitor's Center's at Temple Square, one on the north end and one of the south end. The highlight of the North Center is the beautiful 11-foot statue of Christ. The South Center is more about temples and families.  There is an amazing scale model of the Salt Lake Temple that makes it possible for anyone to see, in intricate detail, what the temple looks like inside.

There was a lot to see at the South Visitor's Center and most of us took our time and looked at everything. Natalie just hung out at these amazing miniature houses, watched videos about families, and wished she had a little play house just like these.

Once we had seen everything there was to see at both visitor's centers we started walking toward the Lion House and the Beehive House. The Lion House was built as a home for Brigham Young and his family and the Beehive House was built as offices but was also used as a residence. We went on a quick tour of the Beehive House where I assigned Samantha to be our official photographer. We have about 73 pictures of various blurry old things that I'm sure would be quite interesting and pretty if they were in focus.

This is probably my favorite picture from the day. We stopped so Emily could get a drink from a water fountain and I looked up to see this in front of me. Thank goodness Emily was thirsty!

After a few more stops to admire the lovely flowers and to take the required family photo with the temple in the background we were all ready for some dinner.

Our plan for dinner was German food at Siegfried's Deli. We walked into the deli and were immediately overwhelmed by all the German goodness surrounding us. It honestly made it difficult to figure out what we wanted to order because everything looked so good. Luckily, Natalie wasn't shy. She said, "Well I know what I want," walked right up to the counter, and ordered in perfect German. Luckily the lady working there was German and she was able to understand Natalie and Samantha's lovely German and even humored the rest of us with our Kinderdeutsch. In the end Natalie could have ordered for everyone since we all got the same things - Schnitzel, Spaetzele, Bratkartoffeln, and Broetchen.

Besides the yummy dinner, there were walls racks and cases of  some of our favorite German foods. We limited ourselves to some Kinderschokolade and a photograph.

One of our main reasons for visiting Salt Lake was to attend a Tabernacle Choir practice. They practice Thursday evenings so we hung around town for a little while after dinner and then made our way to the Conference Center to watch their practice.  We really couldn't have picked a better day to attend a rehearsal. They were having a dress rehearsal for their Pioneer Day Concert that weekend so in addition to the choir, there was a full orchestra, as well as their guest artist Laura Osnes, who plays Cinderella on Broadway. It really was the next best thing to being there for the actual performance. In fact, it might have been even better than the performance because it was pretty cool to get to hear Mack Wilberg talking to the performers between pieces. If you want to watch the concert, you can stream it here.

And...that's it.  Wow, maybe I had a few more words in me than I originally thought! It was a great day in Salt Lake with beautiful weather, sights, and music and we were all so glad to be able to spend a day enjoying the sights, sounds, and tastes of Salt Lake together.