Mother Daughter weekends are a tradition that my mom and I kept from 2001 - 2016. In the beginning, we attended Women's Conference at BYU in Provo for two consecutive years. During the years when I was busy raising babies & toddlers our weekends usually involved me traveling to her home in California, and my dad watched the kids while she and I spent a special day together -- shopping, spray tans, special lunches, and pedicures were highlights! A couple times she came to me in Oregon and while Scott watched the kids we went to Time Out for Women, explored Portland, and went to broadway shows like Les Miserables. Then as the kids got a little older and I could be a little more mobile we branched out to broadway shows in LA, spa weekends at fancy resorts, and our mother-daughter weekends reached their pinnacle (and finale) with our trip to France in 2016. I am forever grateful that we were able to make that trip happen. At the time we had no idea that she would be diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer just 5 months later.
When she was sick and we knew she would not recover I thanked her for all of the memories we created together on this special trips and promised her that I would continue the tradition with Anna.
One year after her passing, Anna and I began our own tradition of mother-daughter weekends. We went to Salt Lake City to attend General Conference in person -- a first for both of us! It was wonderful! I loved the time together with her, the memories we made, and the connection that was strengthened. It was a special time. And I fully believe that mom was there with us.
Here are the top 10 highlights:
1. Visiting my brother Kent at work -- This was our first stop when we rolled into Salt Lake City. His workspace was pretty cush with massage chairs, basketball, a balcony garden, and large free snack kitchen.
2. Our cute Airbnb! I found this basement apartment space in a 1920's historic home on Capitol Hill for a fantastic price! (Here is the listing) It was the perfect space for our needs.
3. The Church history museum. Just inside the doors there was a woman dressed in period clothing with several tables displaying old-timey ladies hats. Apparently she made all of the hats herself (which is called a milliner) and if you ask nice enough you can pick one to try on. I was definitely having a Little Women moment! Anna wasn't so sure about it but I made her try one on because how often do you get to do something like this??!
4. Matching pajamas. Because why not?
5. Happy Day. We attended the Saturday morning session of General Conference in the theater of the Joseph Smith Building. The opening song of that session was Come, Come Ye Saints. And when the choir sang the first line of the 3rd verse .... Happy Day, All is well ..... It felt like a hug from mom, knowing she was happily there with us.
6. Mother-daughter pictures. Between sessions of conference on Saturday I hired a photographer to meet us on temple square and snap some pictures of the two of us to capture this special trip. I'm so so so glad we did this. (Our photographer: @kasstaylorphotos on instagram)
7. Women's Session. This is what we came for! It was very cool to be in the conference center for general conference. We heard from a member of each women's organization and each member of the First Presidency. President Russell M. Nelson issued a challenge to the women of the church that included a 10 day social media fast, reading the Book of Mormon between now and the end of the year, establish a pattern of regular temple attendance, and participate fully in Relief Society.
Anna's sketching skills amaze me!
8. Dessert at Last Course. Totally unique & amazing better-than-restaurant-quality desserts. Yum!
9. Fall Leaves. On Sunday we took a detour on our way home to drive the Alpine Loop and see the fall leaves that Utah is famous for. It was a very good choice.
10. That time Anna started a fire in the microwave. No photos for this one. But there is a small video segment in the video below. This story is a memorable one! We were getting ready for bed late Friday night. Like 11:30pm. I was in the bedroom and Anna decided she was going to make something in the microwave. I had brought along these kits/mixes to make a brownie in a mug and I told her to just follow the instructions. A couple minutes pass and I start to smell . . . . smoke. Anna is calling my name and I run to the kitchen to find smoke everywhere. Literally filling up the entire living room & kitchen. It is 11:30pm at night and we are in a basement apartment with the owners right above us and a smoke alarm that is threatening to go off. With speed and silence we opened the front door and the tiny kitchen window and started waving kitchen towels and my fall scarf to direct the smoke OUT of the apartment. Seriously so nerve wracking! And hilarious at the same time.
The directions on the mug brownie said to cook for 60 seconds and cool for 3 minutes. Anna read it wrong and decided to COOK the brownie for 3 minutes. She saw a light coming from inside the microwave (fire) and when she opened it smoke just came billowing out. Poor girl was a nervous wreck. But she got plenty of teasing because, hello, follow directions!
Luckily, the smoke alarm did NOT go off. The upstairs owners did not hear us, and we got most of the smoke out of the place. Still, we slept with the tiny window in our bedroom open so, you know, so we wouldn't suffocate in our sleep. Geez. The next day it still smelled pretty smokey, so while we were out and about I bought some Febreeze room spray and fabric spray and we doused the place in Febreeze freshener. When we left on Sunday morning it still smelled a little ..... burnt. So I left a note apologizing, explaining that we burned something in the microwave, and a $5 bill, because that's all the cash I had in my wallet. I was relieved when our final receipt came through and they didn't charge us extra for anything. Phew!
We laughed about this story all the way home and I have a feeling that it will be a mother-daughter memory that will stay with us a long time!
I had fun putting together this video of our trip. Enjoy!
