Me's Trip to Utah

I (Me) flew up to Utah for a few days mid October for a conference and to visit some friends.

Beautiful view of the Grand Canyon!

Janae, a friend from church, picked me up at the airport. We ate lunch and visited a bit before I drove to Ogden to meet up with Noelle, a friend from Anasazi who I had not yet met in real life, and her daughter Elizabeth. We went out for a yummy dinner at Hug-Hes and then drove through Ogden city center. Ogden High School looks like a castle and is listed on the National Registrar of Historic Places. We also saw the Egyptian Theater and city hall. The temple is beautiful. We even got out of the car (and froze!) in order to see the glasswork up close. We stayed up late visiting and we were able to chat some the next morning before she went to work. It was fun to talk about missions (Noelle served in Bordeaux so we have French speaking missions in common). Elizabeth taught me a lot about linguistics!

The temple theme is roses.

A couple pictures of Noelle and Me. The picture in the background is a bridge in Bordeaux.

The next morning, I was able to meet James and Becca! It was so cool to see them. We had a delightful visit. Since it was a bit chilly outside, we met at Barnes and Noble. James loves books so he was happy pulling lots of book off of the shelves and looking at them. He is quite the little talker and he mimics what others say a lot. Becca said that a few months ago, he was adding 10+ words to his vocabulary every day. He loves Bluey and Bluey's sister Bingo, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Pajama Time and lots of other books. James says/sings the alphabet a lot, always saying "Z!" with great gusto. Becca says he has started pointing out letters places which is so fun. I enjoyed getting to know Becca better. She is an excellent mom and it's obvious James loves her a lot.

James running across the stage.

James and Becca reading.

A few photos of James.

Me and James

We got lunch at Red Robin.

Becca and James

Me, Becca and James

I drove back down to Orem. Janae and I went out to Cubbys where we got salads for dinner. I was able to see her in the show "Flowers for Mrs. Harris" where she played Violet Butterfield, the best friend of Mrs. Harris, as well as the French Char Lady in Paris. In the Paris portion of the play, a lot of the lines were in French which was fun for me! It was a cute play that had good messages about the importance of friendship and kindness.

Me and Janae after the show.

Thursday, Janae and I put together this puzzle.

Cindy the cat. She slept a lot but could be very loud at times.

We ate lunch at Maglebys. I had halibut which was delicious. I also had some yummy sweet potato fries.

Me with the Wolverine at UVU.

We went to the Roots of Knowledge stained glass mural at UVU. It was so interesting! The docents were very helpful and full of information.

Who do you see there? If you said Stephen Sharp Nelson (cello) and Jon Schmidt (harpsichord), you are correct. There are lots of little Easter Eggs like this throughout the stained glass mural.

Thursday evening, I went to the keynote address of the Repair Conference with Jim Ferrell. He spoke about how everything is relational and how evaluating the space between the people gives a good framework for how to work on relationships. Friday and Saturday, I attended four workshops about peacebuilding. They were really good with lots of practical skills and mindset shifts. Definitely a lot to think about!

Chad Ford posing with his photorealistic iceberg. His class on Dangerous Love was really good!

Beautiful sunrise Saturday morning

Provo City Center Temple

After the conference was over on Saturday, Janae and I got dinner at Bianca's French bakery. They had yummy food! The next morning, I headed out early to fly home.

Beautiful view of the mountains on flight home.

Flying into Phoenix from the west, Me could see the Footprint Center, Chase Field and the Arizona Science Center.

Some artwork at the Phoenix Airport Art Museum.