Instead of the traditional birthday cereal, Sarah opted for breakfast at IHOP. We were all extremely happy with her choice. 🙂
It was the first of three times eating there. All those fun, different syrups make pancakes just taste so much better! And Noah tried something new this time that I must try and recreate at home, the Cinnastack. Soooo good! ( I know because it came with four pancakes and he could only two. heehee)
Then we headed up north to Temple Square. Again all activities were picked/pre-approved by the birthday girl. I think she did a great job of making sure her day was special and fun.
Chris and I love visiting Temple Square with the kids. It is always a very special, spiritual experience, and they get a better grasp of some of the church history we have tried to teach them.
She looks older already, doesn’t she?
We wanted to go into the Tabernacle but it was closed for rehearsal. 
There was a concert there that night, which Uncle Tom and Uncle Danny went to. So we walked around for a bit, and then they let us in to the cry room during a break in the practice.
Not the same as the cool tour with the dropping pin you can hear from the back of the room, but at least they got to see what it looked like. From there we headed over to the Visitor’s Center.
The kids wanted to look at every picture, and read what was written on the plaques. The display was pretty much the same from the last time we came four years ago, but they were so young, that they didn’t remember all of it. 
This, however, they did remember and were very glad to see again. We must have sat there for at least 10 minutes, just looking and thinking and quietly talking. The Christus always packs a spiritual punch, no matter how many times you’ve seen it.
And then we got touristy, like all the other families we had seen.
We watched a movie in the theater room next to this, about the early days of the Church. While we were there, Colleen and the kids met up with us, and we spent more time exploring the rest of the visitor center with them. Then we left Chris and Nick at the Deseret Bookstore across the street and headed up to This is the Place Park.
These guys were waiting for us there.
So despite the fact that SunDee had just had a baby 6 days before, she still managed to get Sarah a birthday present.
3-D sidewalk chalk! (We found out later from Uncle Tom that it’s actually the glasses that make it appear 3-D, not the chalk.) The kids loved it and tried it out the very next day. It totally works! Thanks, Sun!
I remember This is the Place Monument as being nothing more than the giant statue in the ground. Which is what Chris remembered as well, so he wasn’t too keen on joining us and couldn’t figure out why we were planning on spending a couple hours there. But I had heard that there was more to see now, even though I wasn’t sure what, so I went ahead and talked it up to the kids.
It totally lived up to the hype. I only wish we would have had more time there. There was tons we didn’t get around to seeing, but we will just save that for the next trip. They had tons of old buildings with people dressed in period clothing, acting out what pioneers would have normally done at the time. They had lots of cool stories to share, and were able to answer every question I asked. 🙂
Notice the beautiful quilt she is hand-sewing on the left. Oh, and it was HOT that day. So she has on that body-smothering dress, plus a warm quilt draped over her legs. Maybe there’s also an ice pack under there we can’t see?
Around back the kids helped the little pioneer girl to water her garden using buckets. No hoses or sprinklers back in those days.
Sarah’s first pail had a hole in the bottom, as it had rusted through. Also, they had to learn the careful balance between having enough water in the bucket to make it worth your while to walk over and dump on the plants, but not so much that the bucket was too heavy, and you spilled all of it on your legs walking over there!
It was harder than it looked.
We meandered up the wooden sidewalk a ways, until we came to a little restaurant. The kids had had no lunch, and I was planning on getting them something to eat here. But we were too late and the grill had closed. So they had ice cream for lunch instead. Which was okay since it was soooo hot!
Poor kid looks like he is going to melt right on to the tabletop!
After the ice cream was consumed, we hopped on the “train” and rode it to the little lake. There, our group got separated, since we had excited on opposite sides.
Colleen and her kids were doing some sort of craft, while the rest of us headed straight for the ship and the water. They came to join us soon enough and we all cooled off by panning for gold in the ice cold stream.
I had tons of fun helping the kids find their little gold nuggets, which were really just fool’s gold. The water felt so good, and they got so excited every time I found something. They were looking too, I was just better at it. 🙂 Then we hopped back on the train to go back to the entrance.
I swear, the cutest kids in the world are all related to me. 🙂 Look at this face and tell me I’m wrong!
I know Grandma agrees with me.
After arriving back at the start we said goodbye to Sun and the kids.
That is sweet little Dexter poking his head out. What a trooper she was to bring three little kids out by herself like that. You’re my hero, Sun.
The rest of us rode the train back around so we could pick up Colleen’s stroller where she had left it when we first hopped on. Then we went to spend some time (and money) in the gift shop. I encouraged the children to find something that was unique to Utah, that would help them remember the trip. Not just something that was pretty, or looked cool. I think they did a good job. Then we parted ways with Colleen and the kids and headed back to pick up Chris and Nick.
We had to get home for present time! 
It isn’t quite as exciting when you know everything you are getting, having picked it out a few days previously at Target, but new stuff is always fun.
Mindy also gave her a present, that was a total surprise. She carries around her glittery pink monkey notepad everywhere, Min. Thank you! And Happy Birthday American-style, Sarah! Can’t wait for all the excitement the next decade will bring.