Salt Lake City

Bandon had a couple days off last week so we filled them with buying a new 5th wheel and moving in.  He worked Thursday and Friday and he called me Friday and said "hey its 99% positive we're going to Texas".  Texas, what the heck, how does that even work?? For those of you that don't know Mtn States covers Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Southern Idaho and Colorado.  So I was a little confused about how Texas fit in there :) I had meet one of his friends that said they had done work in Texas before and we know some friends that have gone to North Dakota so I knew the possibility was there to go out of jurisdiction but it was still surprising.
I busied myself with getting piper set up and making cookies for our Labor day weekend guests! Amanda, Cody and the boys came down to stay with us and it was the funnest weekend ever!! It was so awesome having the boys running around and wrestling in our living room.  Brandon and I both gave each other the look "this is awesome!" Since Brandon had been so busy with work, class and moving into our new 5th wheel, labor day weekend was our first weekend we got to actually spend together and in Salt Lake.  It was such a blast having Amanda and Cody with us, I am glad they were there because honestly we might not have done everything if it were just Brandon and I :)
First thing we did was go to temple square....like they say when in "salt lake...do as the mormons do".   We heard about a tour you could take at temple square with a sister so we decided, hey why not! We wanted to learn about it since we were there.  We went on the tour for over an hour...might have been closer to two! It was actually really fun! I learned a lot and really enjoyed it.  I like the idea of taking certain things from different religions and practicing them in my life and family.  Here are my favorite points from what we learned on our tour:

• Take care of your body.  This is why mormons do not drink caffeine, they do not want to put anything into their body that is addictive, i.e. caffeine, junk food, tattoos. Salt Lake is the 3rd longest life expectancy and One of the lowest heart disease and cancer rates in the country.  I think this has to do with them taking care of themselves. I like the idea of taking care of my body and making it number one.  
• "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreation. "
• One of the sisters said to me " Jesus was pretty successful so if we follow in his path and trust he is with us, we will be successful as well" Loved that, totally stuck with me!

I have been curious about religion and have attend Lake City Community Church with Brandon in the past but I want to use some of my free time to really get more educated about various religions and become more connected with God.  

By 1pm the boys ( all 4 of them!) were starting to melt down because they were hungry so we headed straight to In and Out for some Double Doubles.  It was Cody's first time and he loved it!! 

Saturday night we went to a drive in movie and it was a blast!! I wish we could turn part of our property at home into a drive it, it was the funnest movie experience ever, even though we fell asleep 10 minutes into the second movie, haha! We took Brandons truck and we parked in the front row, everyone else was parked in the 2nd or 3rd row, we still don't know why people didn't park in the front, we had a great time! Next time we go we need to bring a boom box because it was difficult to hear the sound and Brandons truck was dead by the end of the night :( We saw "Hit and Run" and "The Dark Knight.  I remember looking over at ry ry and he was still awake so I had to fight to stay awake, I can't let a 2 year old stay up later than me! :) 

Sunday we decided to go to The Great Salt Lake and see what it was all about.  I read that it is 8 times saltier than the ocean and 27% salt! It is so salty because there are no outlets in the lake.  Its so salty that you can just float in the water! We thought "we have go to see this lake!" Well with that much salt also comes brine shrimp.  Salt lake is harvested for their brine shrimp to make fish food and its the largest supply of brine shrimp in the world! With that much shrimp comes THE MOST disgusting smell in the world! They wash up on the shores and die, it is so gross! Getting into that water was by far the most disgusting thing I have ever done!! I am still not so sure the experience was worth the smell!  we floated around for a few minutes and then got the hell out of there.  As we were driving home the salt started to dry on our skin and you could see it on us, it was crazy and gross!! 

Monday night we went to a concert series downtown Salt Lake.  We heard Love & Theft and Gloriana were playing so we were excited to go.  It was a first annual Labor day music festival and It was the weirdest thing I have ever been to.  It was a rock fest with a couple country bands as well.  I've never seen so many bikers and goth people listening to country music! I'm surprised a fight didn't break out.  Not really sure why they tried to combine the two genres but it was strange.  The shows were great though!! 

Tuesday we got up at 3:30 am and hit the road to NM.  17 hours later, we got in a little after 8:30 and we were completely set up ( I was all unpacked from the move) and brandon was showered by 9:10!! It was crazy! We love piper so much!