Salt Lake City: Gorgeous city filled with clean, well-organized streets, minimal graffiti, few rundown houses, polite people, and plenty of crazy. The moment our plane touched down a huge but beautiful storm moved in. The sky is so expansive that it lit up with breathtaking lightening. It was freezing and hailing and pouring rain, but every single minute of our trip after that the weather could not have been more perfect. I did not see a cloud in the sky the entire time.
Gorgeous mountain views that my camera does not do justice.Aside from my coworkers and I being threatened with "getting fucked up" late at night at our tram stop by a homeless fellow who wanted a cigarette, the entire trip was quite pleasant. 
This is the clean, on-time tram we took to get around the city. As seen in the daylight and without aforementioned hobo, it is quite lovely.
This is the clean, on-time tram we took to get around the city. As seen in the daylight and without aforementioned hobo, it is quite lovely.The days were packed full of sessions and the evenings were filled with receptions, but I learned so much about my industry. On Sunday we had the entire morning and afternoon to explore the city before our plane departed, which my boss and I did. We visited the Mormon complex, sneaking in to see the last few minutes of the Tabernacle Choir performance in a center that seated 21,000. The music was truly beautiful (and two of the three songs I was surprised to find my own church sings on a regular basis).
The women dressed in lavender and the men in black, with a full orchestra accompanying them.My boss and I also went to the Mormon museum, which depicted scenes from the Old and New Testament on the first and second floor, and then the Mormon-specific stories in the basement. (Appropriate, no?) 
I think Joseph Smith looks a big haughty, don't you?
I think Joseph Smith looks a big haughty, don't you?
Finally, we had an intimate guided tour of Brigham Young's "Beehive House" where [some] of his family lived. I say some, because the tour, the museum, everyone in the place avoided any mention of polygamy. According to a friend of my boss, who lives in the city, on our unofficial driving tour, Young kept many of his wives here, hence "beehive."
Our guides were two sisters, one from Bolivia, the other from Mongolia, here for their eighteen-month mission. Everywhere we went we heard the heavily enforced message of "Marriage, Family, Children." When my coworker told the two that he had children (they asked), the sisters looked at him as though he could levitate. I felt decidedly inadequate standing there with my dusty, unfruitful womb, which was confirmed by an interactive message from the current prophet at the Mormon museum. Apparently I will not become a whole person until I become a mother, so I had best run out and get knocked up. Duly noted.
Our guides were two sisters, one from Bolivia, the other from Mongolia, here for their eighteen-month mission. Everywhere we went we heard the heavily enforced message of "Marriage, Family, Children." When my coworker told the two that he had children (they asked), the sisters looked at him as though he could levitate. I felt decidedly inadequate standing there with my dusty, unfruitful womb, which was confirmed by an interactive message from the current prophet at the Mormon museum. Apparently I will not become a whole person until I become a mother, so I had best run out and get knocked up. Duly noted.
The biggest letdown of the trip: I didn't see any special underwear in the gift shops!
Parents: They are moving. The official move was supposed to happen Monday (ohyes the day I returned home at 2 in the morning...), but it started to downpour so things have been postponed until Friday. I have almost 99% decided to take the day off and help them, but it comes with the annoying realization that I will have to spend any other free time this weekend chained to my home computer working, because I am so behind it isn't even funny. But in the long run, I will feel so much better helping them out (and attempting to lift heavy things that they have no business with) rather than devoting my daylight hours to catching up. So I think I will.
Oil Spill: I have been meaning to touch on this. It is incredibly heartbreaking, and the worst part I think is that we are so very helpless. We cannot send clothing or food or actually go down there and start scooping up the oil ourselves. It seems, all we can do is send money. So Husband and I did, if only to feel slightly less helpless. If you have discretionary income to give, this article provides some wonderful (and reputable) places to funnel your funds. We decided to give to the National Audobon Society, to help the oil-soaked animals and their ruined habitat, as well as Oxfam, to help the human beings whose lives and livelihood this spill will destroy. I am loathe to tell you this and for you think that my disclosure is in any way trying to appear morally superior. Change happens through others setting examples, and I simply want to offer up some ideas that we found beneficial in case you too are interested in helping but are uncertain how.
A bit of a random and disjointed post, but that is all I can manage these days! A hug to each of you!
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Welcome home! If I find out another friend is knocked up, I will scream. Please, there is no pressure here.
If all mormons wear mormon underwear, then I would not have seen my co-workers man thong as he was running around in scrubs.
The oil spill is disgusting it makes me so mad. I submitted an application for volunteering, but I don't think they have a need for people like me now.
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