little sketches of us…

This April we finally got to fly out for General Conference with Cristian! He goes to Utah every six months to work with the Romanian team to interpret for the semi-annual conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since this is a worldwide broadcast, it’s a pretty special experience for Cristian to be able to translate for the members of the church in his country. It is also fun that he gets a place to stay and some fun meals while he is there, but he is always saying how he wishes we were there to enjoy it with him. So this time, we saved up for plane tickets and I had a week off of teaching from TLS so the kids and I went along. Here are some of our adventures.

Oliver was so excited about going on an airplane. It was his first time, and he could have stayed for the day at the airport just looking at the planes coming and going and talking about it. Meraya even let him carry Prince Ursul on his back on the way to the terminal.

We spent the first couple of days in Salt Lake City by ourselves and took the kids around Temple Square. The blossoms on the trees were swirling in the wind, and the fountains were a great hit. We also learned some things about the architecture of the Salt Lake Temple and told the kids that we had got married there. Here’s a picture of my pioneer children (taken at home but it just seems to fit here so well.)

Bird was very interested in the temple. In fact, the next day while we were sitting on the grass by the east reflecting pool and listening to the conference talks, he took off at a run, down to the pool, around the sidewalk, and up to the temple gate. When I finally caught up with him, I said, “Bird, where are you going?” And he said, “To the temple to get married!” I told him he had to get a little bit bigger first, learn to use the potty, and maybe go on a mission before then. But it was just adorable. He is so serious and focused sometimes. It’s really cute. Here he is with his best friend, Merayla, at the temple.

Maddy, Dacian, and Lavinia drove down from Washington to meet up with us, and the kids had a great time playing together. Bunica and Bunicu joined the party as well, and everyone enjoyed a session at the conference. I was happy to see that the kids really liked to hang out with each other, and Maddy and I got to spend a little time together as well. Here’s a shot of the Icleanu cousins on Temple Sqaure.

We celebrated Dacian’s birthday at Famous Dave’s Restaurant (good BBQ), and Consuela made an excellent Greek cake with strawberries. We all had a great time together.

Though our hotel ended a night sooner than we had expected, this gave us a great reason to visit my college friends, Jen and Jess. Their family is great, and I can’t believe we haven’t seen each other for so long. (Yes, my hair looks terrible, but Jen looks great so we’ll keep this one.)

After the conference ended, we got to stay a week with my sister Christina in West Haven. The Icleanus stayed one night as well, which made it all a great fun party for the kids. The girls couldn’t resist dressing up as ballerinas (in swimsuits) and doing tricks on the mattresses.

The next day we got Char and Savannah, who drove up from Las Vegas. Then my parents and Kevin came with Danielle and Lance on the weekend. It was like a mini family reunion because we got to see all of my family and all of Cristian’s family!

To add to the fun, my Mom prepared an Easter egg hunt (one for kids and one for adults) at Aunt Elaine’s house. Again, this was a new and fun experience for Oliver, and Merayla fell in love with the two teddy bears on the swing in the Easter basket that Grandma had made for her.

The occasion of everyone getting to together was best captured when Merayla took my phone, climbed the stairs to the second floor of Elaine’s house, and got us all from above. Though it’s a little blurry, it pretty much sums up what we do: get together and talk.

And Oliver bonded with Gracey, the dog.

The vacation was great! We got to join lots of celebrations, eat lots of good food, and see lots of people that we love. Hopefully we will be able to make another trip sometime soon.