It was my first time in Salt Lake City since I was 15 years old. I had accompanied my mom on a business trip, so I mostly just saw the inside of the hotel, the Temple Square mall, and the hotel's swimming pool. One distinct thing I remember about that trip is that I listened to Oingo Boingo nonstop on my Walkman. My memories are almost always accompanied by music.

I actually got to see the Salt Lake City environs on this trip and I must say that it's really very beautiful there. Nice architecture, too. Some of the older homes in the established neighborhoods near downtown are to die for.

I met my mom at the San Francisco airport early on Friday morning. She had flown in from Sacramento so that we could fly to SLC together.

My aunt Kara picked us up at the airport. We then met about 10 other women relatives at the downtown Olive Garden for a late lunch. We ate lunch, then did a little shopping. I bought the cutest brown sandals I've ever seen at Meier & Frank. Marked down to $35 from $60. Comfortable, too!

From there, we caravaned down to Shana's house in southern Salt Lake City. This house was incredible! I'm not exaggerating when I say it's a mansion. It is, by far, the largest home I've ever been inside. It's a French country style 3 story home with 8 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, an elevator, a home theater, a nursery, 2 kitchens, hardwood floors throughout, and dark cherry wood (or is it dark-stained oak?) as accent in almost every single room.

My mom and I stayed in what we called the "Safari Room". It had a balcony overlooking the spacious grounds and the old specimen Spruce tree. We especially loved the large, reclining-backed clawfoot tub in the attached bathroom and the English stainless steel "rain shower" shower head in the shower area.

Grandma Merlyn, aunt Suzanne and cousin Sheena, and aunt Gina and cousin Sydni also stayed at Shana's that night.

When we arrived on Friday night at Shana's, she had dinner already prepared! The next morning, after we awoke, breakfast was already laid out! We felt like royalty.

The next morning, after aunt Teri and cousins Toni and Shelli arrived at Shana's, we left for the Heritage Park. We met my great aunt and second cousins and their daughters there: aunt Deann, Julie, Ian, Caitlyn, Wendy, Hannah, Ellen, Bonnie, and Geena. The site of the Heritage Park is where the first settler's of Salt Lake City arrived. It is now renovated to accurately reflect the pioneer town as it was. My great great great great grandfather was Charles C. Rich, one of the original settlers. His actual home is located there; it was really amazing to see. We were able to go inside, see the furnishings, and look at the photo albums.

After that, we all headed back to downtown to meet up with aunt Kara and cousins Celeste and Lindsi and have lunch. After lunch, we had an educational tour of Brigham Young's home, "Beehive House". This house is amazing! It's perfectly renovated to reflect it as it was in the late 1880s. The Young's were very wealthy, thanks to Brigham's 2 high positions in the U.S. government and 1 high position in the Mormon church. The home was custom designed by Brigham Young and is filled with exquisite French furnishings.

After that, we all went to check into our hotel. Aunt Peggy, cousin Andrew, cousin Steffany and her son, Nicholas met up with us there. We all did our own thing for the remainder of the day. My mom and I opted to try out the hotel hot tub.

The next morning, my mom and I got up early so that we could see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. With the 11,000 organ pipes and approximately 200 vocals, I've never heard anything more beautiful. I began crying during one of the most beautiful harmonies I've ever heard in "Give Ear, O Lord". Come to find out my mom, too, was crying... but for the song immediately after it, a song from the musical Westside Story. All in all, it was an excellent performance and I'd highly recommend to anyone that they catch the show if they ever happen to be in Salt Lake City at 9:30 on a Sunday morning.

After the show, we met up with the family for brunch and went shopping for the rest of the day. I bought 2 pairs of silk pants, a silky-feeling top, and a scarf at Gap. We went back to the hotel in time to catch the shuttle to the airport.

It's hard to say what I liked best about the weekend. It was magical to be able to catch up with aunts and cousins again; it had been several years since I'd seen most of them.

So now I'm back at work. I've been in Illustrator 9.0 training since yesterday. Tomorrow will be my last day. I'm learning lots of exciting things, but it's hard to take 3 whole days out of the work week for training when there's so much work to do.

This weekend: Lake Tahoe. I'm excited. My sister, M, and I are taking my dad up there to celebrate his birthday. We'll stay at the family cabin, do some gambling on Saturday night, and hike up to Cup Lake on Sunday.

M and I are toying with the idea of a taking a Seattle/Vancouver trip for the 4th of July. I hope it works out.

Let the summer festivities begin.