Catching Up Part 5: Geat Grandma and Temple Square

For our Family Home Evening on the Monday we spent in Utah, we were able to head down to Salt Lake City with Brad's parents, and Skyler, Ashley and Kenadee. We stopped to visit Great Grandma Alta Benson (Grandpa B's Mom) at the care facility she was staying in. Grandma had been living in Idaho and came down for the holidays, only to get very sick and end up needing to be admitted for a while. It was Owen's first chance to meet his Great Grandma. She is always a pleasure to see as she cares very much about her family, and keeps amazingly good track of her nine children and dozens of grandchildren and great grandchildren. I am so grateful we had the chance to see her, because she passed away just a few weeks after our visit. She lived to be 90 years old, and spent over 30 years as a widow... she lived an honorable life and left quite a legacy in her family. We love and miss her, but are glad she is now reunited with her husband, patiently watching over and waiting for the rest of us.

After visiting with Grandma, we went up to Temple Square (the city block where the Salt Lake Temple and visitor's center are located) to see the magnificent Christmas lights! It's been a few years since we've seen them, and it was a first for both of the kids. Brad and I have special memories of walking around there at Christmas time - we visited together on our third date - the infamous night of "Buddy Ball" that started it all... ahh those were the days =). This night was just as magical, if not more so in that we were able to share it with our children. Eli especially loves the Salt Lake Temple, and was thrilled to see it in person. He now tells everyone that we all got married in the Salt Lake Temple ...I keep trying to explain that just mommy and daddy got married there, but he'll have none of that =). The only draw back to the evening was the temperature... IT. WAS. FREEZING. No exaggerations! We had on long john's and all our warm layers, and it still felt like the arctic. We only walked around for about 20 minutes, then headed upstairs to The Garden restaurant on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building next door to the Temple.





This is the view from the window on the 10th floor of the JSMB. I have NEVER been up there before! Now that I know about it, heading up there for the view will have to be a new tradition! It was GORGEOUS to see the Temple and all the lights from that angle... not to mention much warmer =). We were able to see the Temple spires from our table.

See the spires in the background?
Now, The Garden was a nice treat for us, but unfortunately is was getting late in the evening and both of our kids were alternating with meltdowns. Eli was STARVING, but when his quesadilla finally came, he completely freaked out because it looked different than the ones I make him (aka there were black spots from the grill on it). Grr... so Brad and I jumped up and down a lot to keep the kids out in the foyer so as not to make a scene. I'm pretty sure the fountain out there is not for playing in, but thankfully the hostess turned a blind eye because there was not way to stop those little turkeys! They even got Kenna involved....

We stopped by the giant Christmas tree in the JSMB lobby on our way out. Can you see how soaked my children are? Anyway, here are some fun shots with the family!

What a fun and memorable night!