Our visit to Salt Lake City

Hello!
While it's been about 110 degrees here in Phoenix, we had a chance to escape the heat and see some family this weekend in Salt Lake City. We flew in on Friday night and were greeted at the airport by Sean's aunt Maureen and uncle Linc (who very kindly provided a place for us to stay for the weekend). Maureen and Linc live in a beautiful historical house in SLC, over 100 years old. We also got to spend time with some adorable golden retrievers: Betsy, who is aunt Colleen and Grammie Eileen's dog, and Maureen and Linc's Jasper.
Saturday morning breakfast was spent at Lamb's, SLC's oldest restaurant, built in 1919. We then wandered over to the Farmer's Market, where Linc was stopped every couple minutes by a former co-worker or friend! Maureen and Linc picked up a couple tomato plants, and then we headed over to Colleen and Eileen's house to meet up with Sean's aunt Kate and uncle Mike to do some moving. Eileen recently moved into a wonderful apartment complex called Parklane, and Colleen moved into a great apartment close to Maureen and Linc, as well as Eileen at Parklane. After showing us her new apartment, Colleen drove me by the University of Utah campus where Maureen teaches in the art department. We all convened at Kate and Mike's for lunch with everyone, including Sean's parents, Jim and Robin, who stopped in for the weekend before continuing on to Vail, Colo., for Jim's annual judicial conference. After a leisurely lunch, Jim and Robin brought us down to Temple Square (which I had never seen), where we got to see the outside of the Temple, the Tabernacle, as well as tour a Mormon historical museum, detailing the Mormons' journey to SLC and the construction of the Temple. The grounds were beautiful, and it was interesting to see all the different countries from which the tour guides hailed. Each tour guide had his/her home country flag on his/her name tag. I saw Canada, Japan and Australia in the short time we were there.
In the evening Eileen hosted a wonderful dinner for us at her apartment in a private dining room of her building. Eileen made some very touching remarks after dinner commenting on the presence of family and the joy of being able to gather in SLC. After-dinner drinks and snacks were had at Maureen and Linc's house where conversation ranged from politics to family to pets.
Sunday morning we enjoyed a pre-brunch snack at Maureen and Linc's regular Sunday spot, Cucina, an adorable deli/cafe just around the corner from their house. Betsy and Jasper joined us for the walk and seemed to enjoy their time in the sun just as much as the humans did. With a 1:30 flight departure, Sean and I joined Jim and Robin for a mid-morning brunch at Little America before leaving for the airport.
Although very quick, our trip to SLC was filled with time with family, and of course, some great food. We're looking forward to either our next visit to SLC or the next time we have an opportunity to gather with this side of the family.
Our next trip is to San Diego at the end of this month...stay tuned for details of that trip!