Laura and Margo: Friday's Adventures pt. 1

Friday morning...the skies looked good. Off we went to downtown Salt Lake City to see Temple Square's garden.

I can't resist taking a picture of a wonderful tree bark as we walk to the Square.

We're aren't even there and the photo shoots begin!

This is a small garden outside of the Family History Library...a library that I have spent many hours in tracking our family history.

The hollyhock plantings were gorgeous in front of a historical pioneer cabin which was swarming with visitors. We were more interested in the flowers anyway...

The Garden takes up two city blocks...

It is hard to know which way to look sometimes...it is all so pretty! Distance shots like above...





Or up close of flowers.



Flower beds....





So many colors...and they all go together perfectly.



Refreshing fountains in the shadows....



Plumes of water...



Fountains photographs with friends: better!

A broad shot of one lawn....with an interesting couple strolling about.

A bride and groom!

Isn't that charming?

What a perfect place to take pictures!

Oh there is another couple!

How romantic!

Oops...there's another!

I think I see two couples here...

Yes...two couples! I love how the groom on the platform swung his bride around and around.

Behind the couple is a long shot to the Salt Lake City Temple, where they have just been married.

How many couples have posed just like this?

(answer: a LOT!)

Who could blame them?

The reflection is just perfect on the mirror like water.

The various flower gardens each seemed to have a white butterfly of a bride gracing the scene.

Each couple would come out...and their families would gather on the steps for photographs.

There were two wedding parties being photographed here.

We counted five wedding couples in the hour we were there.

At one point I asked a "Sister" (one of the LDS church badge wearing members) how many wedding were done there each day.

She replied quite a few...and that the temple could manage up to forty weddings a day.

Hmmm....maybe some day I will come there early and try to take a picture of each and every bride.

Just for fun, and for the romance of it all.

(I liked her dress the best...and liked the Hawaiian groom of another couple who wore white and long green lei.)





I learned to tell which bride was which by checking the color of their bouquets.

Wasn't her yellow bouquetlovely...







A red bouquet, and her bridal party wore turquoise.

Notice the modest sleeves on her dress?

The Mormon bride and groom receive a garment to wear continuously after they are married, a short undergarment that covers from shoulder to mid thigh.

A strapless gown would reveal this special "covering" hence the sleeves on all the dresses.

The bridal salons here advertise that any gown "can be made with sleeves" just in case you were wondering where sleeved gowns can be purchased.





We ducked into a building to use the ladies room...enjoying classical music being played on a piano by a young woman with her pre-school aged child sitting beside her.

An "Elder" offered to explain the history of the building to us...I was tempted, but that will have to wait for another day.



Then we headed over to Brigham Young's place.

Yes, the house where Brigham Young lived with his many wives is not only available for tour, but also holds a restaurant called "The Lion's House."

The food is delicious, the workers most cordial, the rolls are legendary, and it is a perfect place to eat while in the garden.

After we ate and snooped around a few downtown sights, we headed up to "The Avenues" where the original SLC residents tended to live.

At the top of the hillside of the Avenues is Utah's state capitol building.

And below the capitol building is a river called City Creek, where people run and bike and enjoy the seasonal beauty just moments from downtown.

The mountains in the distance are called the Western Bench (we live in the Eastern Bench) and the view goes out to the Great Salt Lake and all the city as well.
A storm seemed to be brewing...

(I like the view of Laura's haircut....)



My fearless show-off hospice nurse...unafraid of death!

Yikes!

That's better! Margo and Laura took turns taking pictures of themselves with the capitol building in the background.

Because, you know...the capitol building looks better with a Laura or Margo in front of it!

I'm a bit wimpier.

I'll pose with a front yard wildflower patch... with both feet firmly planted on the ground.

Flowers, fun, and the day has just begun....

More tomorrow!

(Special thanks to both Laura and Margo for letting me have access to the pictures they took too. All three of our camera work was used in creating this post...and I really don't remember for sure who took what picture!)