A Day of Reunions

What a day!

I was pretty excited about all the things I was going to do and the friends 

I was going to see today, but also a bit sad, since it meant 

I wouldn't see the cute baby very much that day. [LOVE that baby!]

All of the friends I planned to see today have at least one thing in common.

[Besides knowing me, of course]  

We have all been a member of the BEST ward in the world!

[Also known as Concord Second Ward.]

As I've mentioned in previous posts, it’s been a bit of a challenge
planning anything, due to transportation and crazy schedules. 

There was one thing I wanted to do on this particular Wednesday morning, 

but just wasn't sure if I could make it happen because I would need to 

use public transportation to get there and back, 

which would end up taking a good chunk of time out of my day! 

So I pretty much gave up on making that happen 

and started to make other plans instead...until…..

My AMAZING friend Kristen came to the rescue!

Kristen was one of my visiting teaching partners in Concord Second Ward. 

[Before she ended up moving into another ward and then finally on to Utah.] 

She had been in the ward for a few years, but it took visiting teaching 

for us to really get to know one another and become good friends.

I had been trying to get together with her since our first try didn't work out. 

She knew what I was hoping to do on Wednesday and offered to 

pick me up and bring me there!  How could I say no to that?

Kristen showed up sometime around 9:00am, 

and of course had to come in to see the stinkin' cute baby

that she had seen and heard so much about on Facebook.

The one bad thing about this arrangement was that our time together 

was only a 45 minute car ride, so we had to squeeze a lot in a small amount of time!

It was so nice chatting with her and catching up on what's been going on in our lives.

We arrived at my destination, took a couple pictures and said our goodbyes.

[All smiles and sporting my new coat!]

So just where was this place I so badly wanted to go?

I know, I know…

You’re thinking, “Why the Provo Temple? 

There’s  ::insert correct number here:: temples in Utah! 

What’s all the big fuss about?”

Keep reading and I’ll get to that…

There is someone that I had not seen in many years 

that was going to be there that day. 

[And what better place to have a long awaited reunion than the temple, right?]

I’m guessing you probably want more details than that though, huh?

Well, this someone has been one of the greatest role models 

and example in my life since I was a teenager.

That narrows down the list of possibilities…

Any guesses yet?

I had never been to the Provo Temple before, 

so I had to ask for help to get where I needed to be. 

When I arrived in the chapel, I saw her standing on the right side of the room, 

but I could tell that she had not seen me yet. 

I made my way over to that side of the room and was just a couple feet away, 

when she saw me and we had our joyous reunion!

And because the only time I got to see and be with this person was in the temple,  

I wasn't able to get a photo of us together to post on here for you to see,

just who it is I'm talking about....so you get a less-recent one instead!

Sister Tueller was one of the many AMAZING Young Women leaders

I was blessed to have while growing up in the BEST ward in the world! 

She made such an impact on my life just by the example of how she lived her life. 

I’m sure countless women, young and old aspired to be like her when “they grew up."

She just has a kind and loving Christlike way about her.

We met up after the session for about 15 minutes or so.

Just talking about what’s been going on in our lives recently 

and reminiscing about the “good old days”.  

One of her grandsons was also there, so we chatted a bit, 

and she explained to him about “forever friends”. 

Then the time came to move on, so we hugged each other and said our goodbyes. 

I had just enough time for a quick bite of something at the cafeteria. 

[I ended up just getting a small bowl of chocolate pudding. YUM!]

When I left the temple it was raining a bit, 

but I braved the sprinkles to take a few pictures.

I boarded a bus to go to the Provo Central Station to catch 

a FrontRunner train to get downtown. The bus drove all around BYU. 

I wanted to take some pictures, but didn't want to stand out as some tourist geek.

I made it on to the FrontRunner with less than a minute to spare! WHEW!

I took the train to Salt Lake Central Station and from there I took TRAX 

over to City Creek to meet up with my last friend for the day, Deanna.

I’ve known Deanna almost all her life. 

[She was just a toddler when my family moved to Concord.] 

But with her being the youngest of the Flud clan, 

I didn't really know her well until she was in her teens/early twenties. 

Time is like that. One minute you’re too young/old to really have much of 

anything in common and the next minute you do!

I texted her to let her know I arrived…

and she texted me back that she hadn't left yet 

and would be there in about 15-20 minutes. 

So I walked around a bit, spending most of my time looking around 

at the Disney Store, before heading back over to our meeting spot. 

Which is where I was standing when I heard my name being called!

Apparently, all the parking spots were taken up, so I hopped in her car 

and we tried to search for a spot or think of another place to go. 

Well, we ended up going right where we began…at City Creek!

We walked around a bit, trying to decide on where to go for a bite to eat. 

We ended up going to Kneaders Bakery & Café.

I ordered a chocolate mousse concoction that was absolutely to die for! 

[Yes, more chocolate!] 

I felt bad about being the only one ordering something, because some little girl 

[I won’t name names!] decided to take mommy’s wallet out of the diaper bag! 

Which meant no sugar cookie for her, but luckily they did have samples available. 

[Including some yummy bread that I nom’d on, too!]

We chatted for at least an hour, which was nice. 

Got all caught up on all the escapades of the Flud family! 

I held her sweet little baby during most of our visit. She's such a little doll! 

When you’re around toddlers, you almost forget how tiny babies are in comparison. 

Cherish every moment of that tiny-ness!

Deanna offered to drive me back to my sister’s house. 

I thanked her, but told her there were a couple places I wanted to go to first. 

We said our goodbyes and planned to try to meet up again before I left Utah. 

[Not more than five minutes later, I realized that I never took any pictures 

with her and the girls! I texted her that now we really needed to meet up again, 

even if it was just to get a few photos together!] 

So place number one I headed to was the Salt Lake Temple.

I've been to Temple Square bunches of times, but this would be 

my first time going to the temple itself. As I was walking towards the entrance, 

a woman approached me and gave me some news…

The temple was closed!!!

I could have sworn that I looked up the temple schedules before I left! 

I couldn't believe it was closed for cleaning during the time I was there! 

[And scheduled to re-open two days after I leave!] Total bummer!

So I was grateful that I was able to go to the Provo Temple!

[Or I would've been 0 for 0!] 

I called Deanna to let her know that it looked like we'd be seeing each other 

sooner than we thought and if her offer to bring me to my sister’s was still good.

But her husband answered the phone, so I explained to him what happened

and asked him to have her call me back when she was available.

So I ended up walking around Temple Square and the Visitors' Center 

and talking with some of the missionaries there.

I headed over to Deseret Book to look around for a bit. 

I just got a couple things, including a few dark chocolate truffle bars 

that I planned to give as Valentine’s Day gifts to Katrina and Robbie. 

[Yes, even more chocolate! It’s not always easy finding vegan friendly chocolate!] 

I still hadn't heard from Deanna, so I gave her a call and she came to pick me up.

When we got to my sister's place, I convinced her to come in real quick, 

because she just had to see the cute baby!

  

I introduced her to Benjamin and she looks at him and then looks over at Robbie 

and says something like, “Didn't you have anything to do with this?” Priceless!

He pointed out that he has his chin and I mentioned he also has his butt. 

Other than that, it’s all mama baby!

Again, a few minutes after she left, I realized I forgot to get a picture again! 

OOPS! Guess it wasn't meant to be!

Then I spent the rest of my night having a happy reunion with my cutie nephew!

What a wonderful and blessed day it was!