October happenings- Utah & New York

Normally Dill's brothers and sisters get together the Friday before conference and so I asked the stake president in August if it were possible to get tickets for conference. But the family met in September because Owen died, but I had tickets to the Saturday afternoon session so I still went to Utah. I drove up to Michael's on his birthday and flew to Utah the next day. Jolene went with me. It is such an experience to be in the conference center with the church leaders. As it turned out it was Pres. Hinckley's last conference. I returned home Monday the 8th and went to a session at the Mesa Temple. I then drove back up to Michael's place Wednesday night and flew out to New York on Thursday for a sister's get-together. I think Sheila was the initiator of the plan for all of us sisters to get together and do something. Diane wanted to see the play Wicked and so I called Ryan to check about hotel places and they invited us to stay with them. With flight delays we finally all got there Thursday evening. It was a fun adventure. Friday we went to the temple and then walked down Times Square, we ate lunch at Roxy's,--the sandwiches were huge and the cheesecake delicious. We went into the Toys R US store and saw the lego displays. At another store, we all got matching NY sweat jackets. We walked to the theater and then to Central Park. It was windy and the jackets helped a lot. We started walking towards the Empire State Building, but realized it was too far. I don't know why we didn't think about taking the subway since we had bought all day pass tickets. Anyway we walked back to Times Square had some hot chocolate and then went to the play Wicked. We really enjoyed the play. The next day we went with Ryan, Audrey and Mia to Wall Street and to Battery Park. They left us there while we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It ended up being an all day affair there. In the evening we went to a Chinese Restaurant with Ryan, Dana and family. Sunday Sheila, Diane and Jeannine left to go their homes. Nadine and I attended church with Ryan and Dana and then Ryan showed us the Twin Tower memorial display and his office building. Monday Nadine left and I spent the day with Dana. We took Mia to her pre school and did a little shopping and site seeing. We picked Audrey up from school and then went down to the parks along the waterfront. We had family home evening that evening and the next day I went home.