Installment #4 of our Naomi time

Sadly, this is the last installment of our time with Naomi... I asked her mom if I could keep her longer, and Naomi was willing to stay in Utah longer as well, but I didn't get my way :-( Her mom missed her too much and needed her right arm back at home with her - quite understandably! Naomi is to my sister what Teagan is to me... my right hand woman, my best friend, my helper, my conversationalist... the list goes on.(I love my silly Owen boy! He was Naomi's buddy while she was here!)

Last Friday was our last full day with her, so we decided to spend the day in Salt Lake doing Temple Square and the conference center and letting her visit with another aunt who lives up there. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day for being outside around the temple! As we walked around the temple we came across at least 6 bride and groom sets taking pictures!

We started at the Conference Center across the street from the temple.

Naomi thought I was funny squatting on the ground trying to take a picture of the whole Conference Center... Uncle Scott thought it was funny that she was taking a picture of me taking pictures...

This is the sun roof inside the Conference center. It was absolutely beautiful! It is three stories high and looking up at it from the bottom floor is mesmerizing, but looking down at it from the third floor is quiet nauseating!

It was really neat to be in the same room as where we see everyone during General Conference!

We had a guided tour and got to see all the wonderful original art pieces that are so familiar. At each painting our guide would ask the kids about what was going on in the picture or who was in it, and Owen was super good at answering him! By the end of the tour, Papalu (our guide) was thoroughly impressed with our little 6 year old :-)

After the Conference center, we crossed the street to temple square. The weather was a little chilly, but the sun was out and it was warmer than it had been all week, so it seemed perfect! Plus, just being on temple grounds adds a happy factor to your attitude anyways, so the weather just didn't seem to even register on our thought radars.

Emmerson, always in love with water, enjoyed being near the reflecting pond.
Naomi enjoyed being there a lot, too. It was really nice to be able to see in her, the same way I feel when I am near a temple... that giddy, obliviously-happy, care-free feeling that penetrates you through and through.
It was usually too windy, but here is a shot I tried to snag through the reflecting pond.
Each of the kids wanted a picture of them in front of the temple to add to their collection... This is the best I could grab of Emmy on the pedestal, he enjoyed jumping off of it more than standing and posing on it for me.
There weren't as many flowers in bloom yet as there normally are on Temple Square, but there were a lot of bulbs in bloom that were still beautiful.
This is my favorite of Emmy, I think. It's the whole "I'm going there someday" thought going on in the picture!

So that was our visit with my Naomi... too fast, gone too quickly, but never forgotten. Emmy still asks about her every day, and now whenever her pictures come up on our digital frame in the front room, he knows who she is and gets excited. I wish I could have more of my nieces and nephews out to visit, they are all as awesome as she is! I need to find a way to smuggle more of them out to see me more often :-)