Momma Linda: My First General Conference

Monday, April 7, 2025

My First General Conference

At least it was my first general conference inside the conference center! The conference center is 25 years old this year. I have been to other events in there, but not a General session of General Conference. It was really cool. But it was a really long day. Lots of sitting.

Mike and I got up at 3:30 a.m., and were on the road by 4:00 a.m. We parked at the South Towne expo Center in Sandy and hopped on TRAX, Salt Lake City's light rail system. We were there early enough that we could sit in the parking lot and I could put my makeup on, and we could eat some breakfast burritos that I had made for us. They were a bit cool by then, but still not too bad. We even had chocolate milk!

Nick got us tickets for the Saturday 10:00 a.m. session, but we went in about 9:00 and found some really good seats. We did take our time as we went into the building, and enjoyed the paintings, and the sculptures, fountains... It is all very lovely and very very big. Very.

You are supposed to be in your seat at 9:30 a.m., as that is when they release the standby tickets. At 9:30 a.m., there were still a lot of empty seats and people streaming in. But by 10:00 a.m. it was almost all the way full. It was a great session, but we were kind of sleepy. ( I wonder why? )I have to admit I closed and rested my eyes a bit here and there. ;-)

These were the first seats we chose, then we moved back a few rows and to the right so Mike could have an isle seat. We were just three rows up from the front edge of the "Terrace Level" ( the middle tier ).

I forgot my notebook for taking notes during the conference session! I left it in the car. Drat. I was kind of sad about that. They did ask that all electronic devices be turned off, so I was obedient and turned mine off and didn't take any notes on it.

After the session, we had an enjoyable tracks ride back down to Sandy where we got our car and headed to West jordan. We went to Mike and Joyce Christensen's house and met up with Nick's family there. We had a pulled pork sandwich, watch the kids dig in the sand for treasures that Joyce and Mike had set up for those six grandchildren who were there. It was a short stop, and then we were on our way home in time to listen to the 2:00 p.m. session on our car radio. And I was actually able to find a station! I am still struggling at trying to figure out how to work the radio.

But everything worked out well. The car is so fun to drive. It practically drives itself. Mike drove all the way home. I slept a lot after the conference session ended. We tried to stop in Beaver to get ice cream, but all of the droves of people heading from Southern Utah to Northern Utah have really clogged up the freeways as they head back after their spring break in the south. Northern schools were enjoying the sunshine. But maybe not. It kind of snowed last week.

After a nice uneventful drive, we were back home and it was time to go to the basement and watch the final Saturday session from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. I stood up for a lot of that. That was a lot of sitting for one day!