College Girl Experiences

Heather is still experiencing weather for the first time. It snowed on her on the way home from church the week it turned cold (pic 9/19/17).  Snow in September??? Ludicrous, right? In other news, Heather's immediate roommate is still a bit of a mystery and gone a lot. The girls in the room next to her are also gone a lot. But the sisters, Madeline and Ozma, who share the first bedroom clicked with Heather right away over cosplay and conventions. Their dad is an illustrator and attends many conventions. The girls were going to Salt Lake Comic Con and invited Heather to go with them and stay in their SLC home over the weekend. Heather bought a shuttle pass and Comic Con badge for Saturday 9/23/17. What a blessing to find fun friends so fast! They had a great weekend. Heather already had a cosplay outfit with her, and she ordered a broom to complete the ensemble. My heart is happy that she has found sweet girls in her apartment that make each day more fun.

After College Drop Off

I made the long trip home on Sunday. Some tears of love flowed as I said good-bye last night, but I was surprised at the joy and peace I felt as I drove away.  The word "joy" to me is happiness with a spiritual depth, and the peace I felt was definitely from a Divine source.  These were wonderful feelings to have as I left my cute girl.  We got her all set up, and she's in good hands...good friends already there, the opportunity to meet new friends, a beautiful campus and people who really care about making this a great experience for our young people.  She couldn't have landed in a better place. We bought a plaque in the bookstore with a quote from Joshua 1:9 on it. I love this, and it will be a great scripture for her to reflect on continually as she does new and hard things.  Before I went to bed, I looked at the "Find My iPhone" app on my phone. Our family iPhone map looks different now. But again, knowing she is in a good place warms my heart instead of making me too sad.  Exciting adventures await.

Heather's 18th ComicCon Birthday

Heather spent her 18th birthday at Comic Con. What better place for this fan girl? We arrived at our Air B&B house and headed out to Corvette Diner, a neon-themed hamburger and shake place. They sang Happy Birthday to her which was awesome. We got up early on JULY 20th after studying the bus and trolley lines and headed for the con. The girls looked amazing, albeit a little odd on the bus. It was obvious where we were headed. Our first point of business was the BBC America store where we shopped our Sherlock/Doctor Who fandom. We walked the exhibit floor and took pictures of the girls and other cool cosplayers we saw (Moana and Up). We went to see the Legion panel since there weren't a lot of panels we wanted to see (It was a Walking Dead year). Day Two was Harry Potter Quidditch day for the girls. We walked the floor for a bit, stopped into the iZombe panel, and then I took off to go stake a spot in line for Hall H the next day. I did see Lt. Ohura on the way out. Do young people even know who she is? It's nice the older actors still attend the cons.  Anyway, Heather wanted to wait in the Hall H line for the Stranger Things and Marvel panels that would be held the next day. We heard if you get in line by 1:00 p.m. the day before and are willing to sleep on the sidewalk, you are guaranteed a wristband to get in. It took me a while to find the line, but when I did, we had a nice grassy spot in the shade, and met some great people. They said they'd done this before and we were in a great spot for the wristbands.  The girls met me later, and we waited. It was hard to sleep, but we tried to rest. At about midnight, the wristband distribution started. Unfortunately, some dishonest turds duplicated wrist bands and snuck into the line through a restaurant up ahead of us. They ran out of wristbands before they got anywhere near us. People tried to tell security, but they didn't really care or I guess think anyone could do that. We stayed the night and walked forward when the line moved to settle for the evening. There was a chance we'd be in the 200 people they save extra seats for once the wristband folks get in. Our nice friends held our space while we Uber'd back to the house to shower and pack up. On Day 3 we drove our car to the trolley station and caught a trolley at 4:30 a.m. to go get back in line. As the line moved that morning, and we got into the "chutes," there was still a small chance. By the time the panels started, they didn't even have room for the wristband folks which was a sure sign something had gone very wrong. We spent the rest of the day hoping that enough people would leave to fit us in. It was unlikely, but we had waited that long and decided to tough it out. By 5:00 p.m. after 28 hours in line, we didn't get in. We tried. At that point we were so tired that we decided to leave the con (it was our last day). It was still a memorable con. While we were in line, two of the Stranger Things cast members had passed us. I told Heather that she had a closer celebrity sighting than we would have inside. It still counts, right? Hopefully ComicCon can get their security set so this doesn't happen to others.

Last Hurrah

After the volleyball camp wrapped up, we decided to make one last trip to Salt Lake. We went and saw the Jospeh Smith movie with the girls and walked around Temple Square some more. We popped into the Family History Center while the girls walked around City Creek Mall to take some pictures of the pedigree screens. They were supposed to be emailed, but never came. It was such good information that I wanted to make sure I had copies. We met the girls back at City Creek Mall to grab dinner and ride the Trax. It was a fun way to spend our last night in Utah.

Temple Square

Today we drove to Salt Lake City and toured Temple Square. We've done this before, but Jenna was a lot younger. It was so nice to see the temple, and we spent time touring the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where we had lunch and the Lion House where Brigham Young Lived. We saw the Tabernacle and the new Conference Center. Later in the day Shelly and I drove the girls out to Lagoon, an amusement park north of Salt Lake, and we went back to spend some time in the Family History Center. That place is amazing! Shelly and I found out that we are related somewhere about seven generations back. Probably why we found each other all those years ago. I never get tired of seeing this temple, and I kept photographing it from all angles before we went to pick up the girls. What an amazing day!

Harry Potter World!

Today was the day that the Peterson family went to Hogwarts! We purchased Universal Studios Hollywood passes, and we got to choose our first day from any day on the calendar (no blackout applied). The Kohanek family were also having their first experience, and we chose a date that worked for both our families.

We spent HOURS in the Harry Potter portion of the park. The village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts were simply magical. We rode the Quidditch experience inside the castle and the Hippogriff rollercoaster. And then we shopped and explored. The girls purchased interactive wands in Ollivanders, we had butter beer, and we had lunch at the Three Broomsticks. We visited Honeydukes and bought candy, and the Weasly's shop also. We spent some time roaming and checking out every alley and shop, and the girls had a great time using their wands.

We did explore a bit of the rest of the park and took the back lot tour, but by far, the day belonged to getting lost in the Harry Potter experience.