Utah Bound

Way back in March me and some friends went down to Utah for conference. Lucky for us my best friend Kait was with us and we got to stay with her amazing aunt and uncle the whole time we were there. Well me being who I am was obviously loved by her aunt and got invited to go down in August for the family reunion. I was stoked and the countdown to August began.

Well August came around before we knew it and me and Kait loaded up my Jetta and off we went to Utah. Side note...if you do a lot of traveling buy a TDI Jetta. It will save your bank account. We only had to fill up once to get down there. It was AMAZING. Anyways so the night before we left Kait stayed at my house so we could head off bright and early also known as the butt crack of dawn. It was a little brutal getting up at 4:45 am to be gone by 5:30 am. Especially considering we didn't go to bed until 1:00 am. Once we were on the road it was good but man I was tired. So we started our journey and things were going good. We had good toons to listen to and it was a beautiful day nice and sunny, blue sky, couldn't ask for a better day really.

Well about the middle of the canyon in Montana I look over at Kait who had gone pretty quiet by this point and there she sat looking like someone had killed her dog. So I asked her what was wrong she looked at me and said oh nothing I just have CABIN FEVER. The reason this is capitalized is due to her yelling this at me, while rocking back and forth hanging onto the door handle. I busted out laughing at which point she did too. This becoming one of the much used lines of the week.

About Helena we decided that we should stop and get food. Driving in Helena I almost killed us twice trying to find somewhere to eat. I don't know what was wrong with me but it was bad. I turned when I wasn't suppose to which resulted in Kait yelling at me that I wasn't allowed to do that, and then turning into the McDonalds parking lot I don't know exactly what happened but we almost got hit by on coming traffic. There was a sign that told me I couldn't enter where I was trying to but if I didn't I would have got hit. Needless to say Kati razzed me for a good while about that.

Once fed and back on the road we didn't have to stop again until a little poe dunk town called Dell, we had to stop and fuel up. So I pull into the gas station which by the way is also the bank, the grocery store, a restaurant, and the post office, It was pretty sweet, and there are 2 pumps. One says clean diesel, one says off road diesel, Well I didn't know the difference so I called my cousin to find out which one to use. Once I get the information I need I pulled up to the pump Kait gets out to start filling me up and the nozzel on the pump was HUGE and wouldn't fit in my tank very well. So I pulled around to the other side of the pump. Well there was a car in front of us getting fuel so there we sat patiently waiting for them to pay and move their vehicle. I kid you not we sat there for almost 20 minutes watching the wife sit outside of the gas station with her dog, and then the husband walking around trying to find service on his phone and walking the dog before they came and moved their vehicle. All the while they both kept looking over in the direction of my car and saw that I was sitting there waiting.

They finally walk over and the husband says, "Oh are you waiting to get fuel?" and me being really annoyed at this point say "Yup" he then proceeds to say "oh are the other pumps broken?" and Im thinking to myself if I could fill up at an available pump don't you think I would have already, but I just said "well I need diesel and this is the only pump that will work." And then his wife says, Oh I thought you were just parking in the shade."

Oh man... are you kidding me!? Who parks at a gas pump for shade? Really woman really...? Me and Kait busted out laughing when they got in their car and drove away. I honestly couldn't believe that entire conversation happened. It was too funny.

The rest of the road trip consisted of boredom, songs, more cabin fever outbursts, cloud watching, and road construction. Once we hit Idaho we ran into 2 section of road construction. At which point I thought it would be a good idea to paint my toe nails. (for those of you that think like my sister, don't worry I was passenger at this point. I wasn't driving.) This turned out to be a bad idea. I don't suggest painting your toes in a car doesn't turn out well.

Well we finally made it to Utah which was a scorching like 36 degrees if I remember correctly and I was dying of heat! I never want to live in the dessert it SUCKS! Anyways I got to meet a lot of Kaits family that I didn't know. I finally got to meet her sister Shandie (I hope I spelt that right) and her brother in law Jason. They're pretty sweet. I met her favorite Uncle Kelly who is one of the funniest people I have ever met. One of my first conversations with him was about how the men in YSA (young single adults in our religion) don't know how to commit to a relationship. It was a pretty stellar conversation.

There was a lot that happened at the reunion. We got to sleep in a tent trailer that was a sauna from the hours of 6 am to 11 pm, I also learned how to play Rook which has now become one of my FAVORITE card games and Im pretty good at it if I do say so myself. In fact Kait and I beat her Uncle Kelly and her dad (Papa Pack as I refer to him) 520 to -25. It was amazing. Best game of the weekend. We also went to an airplane museum. It was pretty sweet. After the reunion was over we stayed in Utah for an extra 4 days and it was a blast.

The Monday we went to This is the Place Monument. For those of you who have no idea what this is, because I didn't, its a monument in Salt Lake City that is like a mini Navuoo. It was so cool! Kait's Great Great Great? Grandpa....I don't remember how many greats are suppose to be in there helped do something important with the settling of Salt Lake City when the saints first settled there. I don't remember everything that he did but his name is pretty well know. Some of you might know the name... John Pack. I think he did something with the first college or something, and did a lot of other amazing things (sorry Kait and family Im not doing your grandfather justice here in the explanation of his greatness haha.) Anyways this monument was one of my favorite parts of Utah. Once your in it there is so much you can do. You walk around this little community that they have built and you can see how the pioneers lived and they have actual cabins that were built when Salt Lake was first settled. There was a barber shop that you could go into and a bank and a pharmacy. There was so much to see. It was so cool. It also has the original house of Brigham Young that you could go into. We missed the tour of it but we still went and saw it. It was amazing. I loved it and would love to go back and do it all again.

Tuesday was also a fantastic day. I had the opportunity to go do baptism for the dead in the Salt Lake City Temple. It was amazing. Kait and her parents went through and did a session and me and my other best friend Kelsey went and did baptisms. It worked out great that Kelsey could come because she was down in Utah for her family reunion. It was one of the neatest experiences of my life. I look forward to the day when I can go to the temple and do a session. I love going to the temple. The feelings you get when you get there truly show you the true love of God for us. I have such a testimony of the Temple and can not wait to go through to receive the blessings that will come into my life. After the temple we went shopping at Gateway and had a blast hanging out. Minus the scorching heat. It was SO hot the entire time we were there.

Wednesday Kait, her mom and dad and myself went down to Provo to go shopping for the last bit of what Kait needed for her mission. And Thursday we went to the WORST museum that I have ever been to. If ever you are in Ogden Utah don't go the Train, Gun and Car museum. NOT worth it. Once we were done at the museum we said our good byes and headed back to Canada. The drive home seemed to take a lot less time than going down.

That was Utah. It was a blast and Im so glad I was able to go and spend the time with my bestie before she leaves on her mission.

I tried to up load pictures but it didn't work so I will try again later on a different post. But I will post them don't worry.

-kinsey