The Trip to Utah

We had decided a few months ago that we wanted to take Steven to the MTC, even though we knew that the family orientation had been discontinued. We wanted to be able to spend some quality time together on the road, as well as with Isabel's family in the Salt Lake City area.

Monday morning Aug. 16th was a little unusual for us. Normally when we leave on a long trip we like to get up and on the road early. For some reason, we all seemed to drag our feet a little and didn't get out until 10:30am. Everything was going pretty smoothly, until we hit Panguitch, UT where we stopped for a bathroom and snack break. Dad had been driving the whole way and needed a break, so Isabel took over. Not more than 10 miles out of town Isabel was pulled over by a State Trooper. She didn't have her license on her and the insurance card was expired, so things were not looking good. When the trooper asked where we were going, Isabel quickly answered..."Were taking our son to Provo to go on a mission". The officer smiled and said "I guess you must be in a hurry to get rid of him". He took her back to his car to look up her license information and as they were back there another call came in and he let her off with a warning. Isabel later said that she had cashed in on the first blessing of having a missionary son!!

We made it to Salt Lake City at around 11pm local time and Abuela Lindheimer had a hot meal of Milanesas (Steven's favorite Argentine meal), mashed potatoes and salad. We ate and laughed for a while before heading to bed. We had to wake up early Tuesday morning to go to the Salt Lake City airport to say goodbye to Steven's cousin, Elder Marcelo Palmieri. Elder Palmieri was heading to Louisiana to wait for his visa to El Salvador. It was great to see him before he left and to feel the excitement that he had.

Later that day we went to attend a session in the Salt Lake Temple. It was very beautiful to see the inside of the temple that had taken the early pioneers nearly 40 years to build. While we were there, Abuela Lindheimer ran into one of the young men that had served his mission with them when they were Mission Presidents in the Argentina Cordoba Mission from 1987-1990. It was a nice reunion. Later we took some pictures around the temple grounds and re-created a couple of mom & dad's wedding pictures (Their 20th Wedding Anniversary was the next day...the day Steven entered the MTC). After the temple we pigged out at our favorite Brazilian Churrascaria, The Braza Grill and went home for a well deserved siesta.

The rest of the day was spent buying a few last minute odds and ends at Wal-Mart, etc. and spending time together. It was a great day!