Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was amazing!
This may look like a really long post, but that is because there are over 30 pictures in this post. Hope you enjoy!
I drove down to Utah on Thursday and spent a little time in Ogden. Here are a few pictures from being there.

 I saw the flowers and bent down to get them in the picture with the Ogden Temple. I was very impressed by how it turned out.

 Ogden Utah temple and more flowers on the temple grounds.

 Just to show that I was actually there, I took a picture of me with the temple in the background. After this I decided to see what I could do in Ogden, and found out about a waterfall. So I drove up 27ths street to go over by the mountains to be at the trailhead.

 This is the beginning of the trail and the part that I went on was mostly uphill.

 The view from the trail was pretty amazing! After seeing this I decided to see really how far the waterfall was from the beginning of the trail. I looked on my phone and found out it was about a 50 minutes hike one way. I really didn't have the 2 hours for this hike and the wind was blowing. As I walked back down to my car, it began snowing...not very hard, but a little bit. This picture shows the view of the Ogden temple.

As I looked over the city I thought about what it must have been like for Jesus to look over Jerusalem. The words of Matthew 23:37 came into my mind as I looked out over the city- not because of wickedness, but because it was the week of Easter and I had my mind upon what Jesus went through that final week in mortality. The verse reads "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
It was such an amazing feeling to be thinking about my Savior just looking over a city that I enjoy going to. Wickedness is every where we go. But there is also goodness, and rigtheousness. Yet no matter what, we have hope because Jesus Christ overcame all things and makes a way for us to be resurrected.
I spent some time next in Bountiful and attended the temple there. It was my first time doing temple work inside this beautiful temple. Most of these are taken after I came out of the temple to see the sunset over Bountiful.

 Here I am by the Bountiful temple after the session. It was a little chilly due to the wind.

 The next day I decided to spend some time in Salt Lake- I love the spring blossoms!!!

 Here I am on the north side of the Salt Lake Temple on Temple Square. And then I went into the North visitor's center to see the new exhibits. This first one is called Because of Him. There are lots of pictures of Jesus and his mortal ministry.

 These 2 pictures were my favorite. I love the one of Jesus with the kids as this is one thing that I also love. Any time I can spend with kids is the best thing that I can do. The other picture I loved was of Jesus kneeling the Garden of Gethsemane. The atonement is amazing and I am so grateful that he willingly fulfilled the plan of the Father.

 Then they had an exhibit with over 2000 missionary tags. I had thought about donating mine, but had a feeling that I would see one on the wall with my name on it. I looked and found it on the upper right corner of their display. Here is a close up of it.. Sister Wood.

 This is just one corner of all the missionary tags that had been donated be returned missionaries.

 Since 1830 this is the number of missionaries that have served the Lord. It is pretty amazing to know that so many are willing to leave home and testify of Jesus Christ.

 This is a view of the entire wall and the tv screens in the middle showed the stories of 8 people who chose to serve.

 This is one of my favorite pictures I took of the temple and the spring blossoms.

 After spending some time in down town Salt Lake I went to the Salt Lake City cemetery to look for headstones of previous prophets, apostles and their wives. It was fun to walk through there looking for pioneers gravesites and even World War II veterans. After that I went for a drive up Emigration Canyon- It got me thinking about what the pioneers must have thought when they saw all the sagebrush and then once they were over the mountain seeing the valley for the first time. Here are a few pictures from the canyon.

 Then since I was so close to Park City, I decided to drive over and see the various ski resorts that were there. I was wanting to see snow and I found some. It was not very much and not very fluffy but it was nice to see.

 More views of the mountains from the ski resorts in Park City.

 I saw a horse drawn sleigh that was amazing and I wished I could have had a ride.

 There was a full moon up over the mountains and I thought it was pretty cool.

 In Park City there are 3 trees that have tennis shoes and ski boots tied up all over the branches. I thought it was really funny to see it so here is a close up of some of the branches.

 Saturday began by driving up to downtown Salt Lake and hoping to get a ticket to be in the morning session. It was pretty empty when I got inside, but that is because most people don't come until about 45 minutes before it would begin.

 I sat on the far left side in section 13 of the terrace. The tv screens had closed captioning and ASL interpreters. it was fun to watch as I listened to the speakers.

 President Thomas S Monson walking into the conference center with his counselors. I know he is called of God and is a prophet, seer, and revelator.

 After the morning session I saw this view on the temple grounds with many flowers. I thought it was a great picture.

 For the afternoon session on Saturday, I had a ticket that I brought with me from Idaho and I sat still on the same side as I did in the morning, but not over as far.

 Here I am inside the conference center on Saturday. This session was different. As we were asked to sustain our leaders the majority raised their hands to show support, but there were a few people who yelled out "Opposed". I along with so many others were shocked and surprised. My first thought was "why would you come to conference if you did not sustain the prophet and apostles?". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is built on the foundation of prophets and apostles with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. If you oppose them, then you oppose God the Father and Jesus Christ, as the prophet and apostles are His voice for us to hear. This did not make my testimony weaker, it actually made it stronger. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet chosen by God for our day! He is led by God and says what Jesus Christ would have him say.

 On Sunday morning, I had hoped to be inside the conference center, so I stood outside with many others who were hopeful that a kind person with an extra ticket would be willing to give it to them. I stood by a couple of young single adults and one of them received 3 tickets, one on each level when what they hoped was 2 on the same level. About 9:10am she handed me one of the tickets that she had gotten and it was on the plaza which was the main floor. I was shocked and felt so much love. Little did anyone know that I had prayed to be given a ticket and if possible on the main plaza floor. I was about 20 something rows from the front and in the closest seat that I have ever sat in. This was a tender mercy of God to help me be inside the conference center on Easter Sunday. The talks were amazing and I am so amazed by the spirit that was there as over 20,000 voices in one room sang a beloved hymn- "I Know that My Redeemer Lives".

 Elder Holland, Elder Nelson, and Elder Bednar greeting each other before the session began. It is a shame that one thing was in the way of a good picture. These 3 apostles I have been able to see when I attended BYU-Idaho.

 Looking from my seat on the ground floor towards the other 2 levels inside. It is amazing how many people are there in one room.

 After the session I decided to take one more picture with me and the Salt Lake temple. I had an amazing weekend in Salt Lake City!! I love hearing from the Lord's chosen servants and knowing that they are led by Jesus Christ himself.