Salt Lake City....April 2011

So after I made this blog entry my sweet husband gave me a thumb-drive with a million pictures on it. Among those pictures were some of the birthday party event...actually there are a lot. I decided, even though it made this entry out of order, to include some. So here goes!

Below is Yvonne's birthday cake. She loves everything fashionable and so her husband had this made especially for her. The shoe is edible and looks exactly like the pair of shoes he bought for her. The box is just like the real box...only it's cake. Notice the make-up around the bottom...it's edible too. She was thrilled with it all...A beautiful part of the hotel...I really do want to live there, but I think my only chance of spending and extended amount of time would be if they hired me as a maid.
The room where we had the party and our dinner.

Kenneth's parents; Clifford and Els-Marie.

Kenneth's mom and me before the party started.

The birthday girl herself and her husband.

All of us the next morning before breakfast. We had a wonderful time together.

Now I know this doesn't look anything like Salt Lake City, but it's all part of the trip. To this point in my life I had never driven from Arizona to SLC. It's a 10 hour drive full of constantly changing scenery. At the Arizona-Utah border is the Glen Canyon Dam. The completion of this dam created Lake Powell. We spent a couple hours touring the visitor's center and walking across the dam and the bridge over the river.
From the top of the dam to the bottom is a very long way down. We were able to take an elevator to the bottom and see the huge turbins. From the west side you see the Colorado River.

We were in SLC to celebrate Kenneth's sister's fifty birthday. Kenneth's family are from Sweden and in that culture your 50th birthday is a huge event. On our first night we had a family dinner at the Grand America Hotel. It was heavenly food. Unfortunately I did not have my camera and I don't have pictures of the event. However, it was wonderful to sit down with all of Kenneth's family as they shared one story after another.

While in Utah I was able to visit with my former Ricks College roommate, Marylee. We hadn't seen each other in many years and were able to get caught up for an hour or so!

Not only was our dinner at the Grand America our room was also. Though it was early April we still exeperienced winter..snow, wind, cold...the complete package. This is a view from our room.

Our room had the most beautiful bathroom...marble everywhere. I did find time to soak in the tub and relax. Loved it!!

After spending one night here I decided I wanted to live at the Grand America!!

One day we all had lunch together at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had the perfect view of the Salt Lake Temple.

Our drive home took us through Manti, Utah. We were unable to attend a session because it was Monday...too bad...we'll do that on the next trip.

These are the Vermillion Cliffs in southern Utah. At the base of the cliffs is what is called the 'honeymoon trail.' Named that because this is the route the pioneers took from Arizona to be married in the St George Temple. I cannot imagine how long and tiring that trip would have been. We are so blessed to have temples dotting the land.

It's really good I have a strong husband. It was super hard for him to hold up this boulder!

As you can see, there are huge boulders everywhere. At one time people actually lived among these rocks. We thought it was interesting and a great little stopping point on our trip.

We drove near Lee's Ferry named for the many who would ferry people across the Colorado River...many of whom were on the 'honeymoon trail.'

Another bridge crossing the Colorado River.