Utah Visit - Part II

Last Monday, just after arriving home from Utah, I was asked by President Wheelwright to go to a meeting in SLC the following Thursday, leaving Wednesday night. Our travel office was able to find a seat for me AND we used one of Dianna's companion certificates so we both flew out on Wednesday night (9:30 p.m. flight) and arrived in SLC on Thursday morning at 7:30. The meeting started at 8, so we picked up the rental car and I arrived around 8:15--President Wheelright and Max Checketts (and wives) were on the same flight and President and Max attended the same meeting -- "Envision Hawaii" -- with several other consultants and representatives from PCC and HRI to consider the future of Laie and the entities here. Brian Carrington from PRI chairs the committee. The meeting was held at (interestingly) the LDS Business College, where Megan is enrolled--but we decided to keep our travel plans a secret and surprise her! She tried calling us at home on Thursday morning and then called Dianna's cell phone and WAS surprised to learn that we were in town and that I was, in fact, in the same building as she was calling from. It was fun to check in with her, even for a few minutes. (Dinner on Thursday night at Olive Garden, next to our hotel).

We started our day on Friday morning by attending a temple session in the SLC temple--Dianna's first time to attend a "live" session, and we were asked to serve as the witness couple. That was certainly an unexpected highlight of our visit!

We had a follow up meeting on Friday morning (Dianna enjoyed some time at the Family History Library while I was in meetings). After the meeting, Dianna and I enjoyed a "leaf ride" through the canyons to enjoy the scenery and fall colors, followed by dinner at Benihanas with Janice (Morgan).

Since this was General Conference weekend, our focus on Saturday and Sunday was listening to the sessions; even though our hotel was only a few blocks from the Conference Center, we watched TV in our hotel room since I had given Megan our tickets to attend the sessions in the conference center.

I attended the priesthood meeting with Dan (Litchford) in Ogden. It was great to touch bases with these two friends whom we met at VPI while both of us were enrolled in our doctoral program. Their influence and example in introducing us to the LDS Church were some of the most significant events in our lives.

After the Sunday morning session, we finished packing, headed to the airport, and got home Sunday evening. We enjoyed this brief escape and the time to see friends, family--traveling together instead of making separate trips as we often do was also a highlight--time to relax and visit after such a busy year!