Over our little fall break, we went to Salt Lake City to see Daddy at work. We decided that while we were there, we ought to tour one of the buildings in the vicinity, because our kids have never done any tours, or even really been inside most of them. So we rode the elevator up to Daddy's office and then headed across the street to the Conference Center. All but Asa really enjoyed the tour. And once we were on the roof, he was fine. Inside the building, he and Daddy spent some quality time with the escalators while the rest of us oohed and aahed over the art, etc. that our senior missionary tour guide pointed out to us. This fountain/sculpture was a favorite. Elder Hales was notably absent. We left with the kids begging for more. We'll have to go back and visit another building soon.

Nate here. If you are going to be in Salt Lake this weekend, for General Conference or otherwise, just a friendly note to let you know you'd be crazy to miss this: If you go to the British Library, you're not going to skip the Magna Carta, and if you're going to get your money's worth in Washington DC, you're going to check out the Declaration of Independence. For Mormons, the documents on display this weekend are up there with the Declaration of Independence. You can see the pages with Oliver Cowdery's actual handwriting as he wrote the words of the Book of Mormon Joseph Smith spoke, as well as the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. You'll see Joseph's writing in his journal, pleading for divine guidance, and the oldest surviving copy of his revelations. These documents are the foundation of the faith, the historical evidence that God speaks to us in modern times.

Back in March, the Joseph Smith Papers moved over to our new home, the Church History Library, which is located across the street to the north of the Church Office Building and to the east of the Conference Center in Salt Lake. It's a beautiful building, and I think it's a good symbol that the LDS Church thinks preserving its history is important. There is beautiful woodwork, handcrafted carpet and rugs, and original artwork at every turn. There's even a couple rooms kept at -4 degrees Farenheit for storing materials. This building is not where genealogy material is housed (that's over in the Family History Library), but the CHL does have over a half a million books, magazines, manuscripts, photographs, etc. in its collection. Oh yeah, and more than 3.5 million patriarchal blessings. Anyway, if you are around this weekend, there's an open house on Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13 from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. They'll even have some of the collection's tre...