SLC Baby!

I just spent the last five days on a roadtrip/adventure with Eva! I flew one-way out to Salt Lake City and we drove her new car back to Madison. I was SO happy to finally see Eva again...hooray. We hung out in Salt Lake for two days - shopping, seeing the sights, and of course, learning more about converting to Mormonism (which I've been informed is actually not a word). Eva and I took a tour of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) Temple Square. You aren't actually allowed in the temple unless you're a real Mormon, but for the sinners, we can take a tour of the outside and listen to a propaganda-heavy schpeel on what the church can do for you.

We picked a great day to visit. Many very young couples were getting "sealed" on Friday. I counted at least eight walking around the square while we were there. Instead of a traditional wedding ceremony, Mormons get sealed to their partners to guarantee that they will be together in this life and the next, instead of "'til death do us part" like many other religions. It was crazy - most of the couples were younger than Eva and I and there seemed to be an alarming pattern of gorgeous girls getting sealed to fairly dopey looking guys - where are all the hot boy Mormons?


In this picture you can see three couples:



Back to the tour - it was really interesting and we were guided by two girls about our age, one from Sweden and one from Australia, who had left everything to come to SLC for 18 months to do missionary service. I could tell their faith was really important to them, but I can't imagine leaving my family and friends for 18 months to come to a strange place. I can't get over how happy all the Mormons seem. I'm an atheist, so I'm pretty skeptical about organized religion, but everyone seems to have to much conviction in their beliefs - it was quite something.




One thing I learned that I thought was interesting was that Mormons don't watch their children very closely because they believe that "God is Watching Them." This of course is non-Mormon gossip, but it seemed to be true in the case of this fountain playground by one of the malls:



On Saturday, we headed to Casper, Wyoming (in Eva's sexy new car of course!)
to visit Aaron, a friend of ours who graduated and got a job as a meteorologist. Visiting him was great fun because he took us on a tour of his NBC news station and we got to pretend to be reporters and play with the green screen. I felt like a fourth grader on a field trip!
These faces are made for TV!!!


The rest of the drive back was pretty uneventful. It was good to be home and even better to have Eva back full time!