Our visit to Utah

Meghan and I were able to spend the first part of June in Utah. After 5 months of selling cars, interning at EY and studying for the CPA exam, Meghan and I were ready for some quality time with family and friends!

Upon arriving in Utah, we stopped for burgers at the sorely missed In’n Out. We then saw my family (who we stayed with). We had extended family over for dinner and had a great time celebrating family birthdays for the month of June.  It was wonderful to be home, I really miss seeing my family regularly.  As my siblings and I have gotten older and sibling rivalry has eroded, visiting with them has become something that I look forward to almost more than anything else. We were able to see John and Anna more than any of the other siblings. We wished we could have seen more of David, Jenny, and Katie!

On Monday, I spent time on BYU’s campus while Meghan studied. I had a great time seeing professors whom I had worked for as an undergraduate. We also saw Meghan’s great-grandmother Jackson! We also enjoyed some delicious SLAB pizza and I bought a SLAB shirt. I have been meaning to buy a SLAB shirt for almost a year (I’m cheap, unless it comes to buying books). We had some time to kill so we drove up to Sundance and enjoyed the beauty of the mountains from the chair lift.  In the evening, we headed south to enjoy a barbecue with our friends.

Laren, Jessica, and their son Carter Helms were gracious hosts, going above and beyond in providing more than their fair share of food as well as opening their home to so many people. In addition to the Helms’, Mike, Drake, Shayli, the McKells, the Smiths, Ben and Audrey joined us for burgers, bocce, brats (the meat), and brats (the kids—joke!).  It was so great to see everyone. As we’ve gotten older (I know, 25 isn’t old), we’ve realized that it’s harder to make friends as adults and couples than we ever realized before. After 5 months of having only a few friends to spend time with, it was amazing to see so many friends in one place. Our only regret was not getting a picture of all of us.

Tuesday, we spent the evening with Meghan’s aunt (Melissa) and uncle (Drew) and their daughter (Brooke). Drew and Melissa were the first two members of Meghan’s family that I spent prolonged time with, and we love them to death. We went to the Mandarin in Bountiful. If you haven’t been there, you should TREAT YO SELF and go. Best Chinese food in Utah, hands down. Afterwards, we went back to Drew and Melissa’s, where we enjoyed delicious Neilson’s frozen custard. Brooke, who is two, has always been special to me, because one of the first nights I spent around Meghan’s mom, Brooke jumped on my lap and sat there happily for 20 minutes. I felt as if I had passed a job interview with her mom because Brooke liked me. (something I had been worrying about intensely).[i] Yes, I’m superstitious and a dork, or a superdork.

From Wednesday to Saturday, I was absorbed in Mormon nerdery. A friend organized a tour of the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, where I learned more about how the LDS Church is preserving its history, and saw a typescript copies of D&C 138, as well as the letter that Willard Richards sent to Nauvoo pleading with LDS leaders not to avenge the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Afterwards, we had lunch at Red Iguana. I was in nerd-vana. 

For the next three days, I attended the Mormon History Association in Layton. I heard some excellent papers on different aspects of Mormon History, but just as enjoyably if not more, I met up with old friends, met some in person for the first time, and made several new friends. I also met my advisor at UVA, Kathleen Flake, who is a phenomenal scholar and will mold me as a competent and confident academic. She doesn’t have a lot to work with, but that’s not her fault.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I presented my own paper at MHA by myself, rather than in a panel, which is customary at academic conferences. My presentation, which came out of my paper that won the best undergraduate paper prize for MHA, centered on how Latter-day Saints reacted to the 1890 Woodruff Manifesto. I gave my paper as calmly as I could, and then answered questions for 20 minutes. I didn’t feel great about the presentation, but Meghan assured me that it went very well. (It went great! Joey is a phenomenal presenter. I love seeing him present. –Meghan).  I’m glad that I have at least one unconditional fan out there!

Joey asked me to write about this part because he wasn’t there. While Joey was at MHA I was able to have some fun of my own. On Thursday I went to lunch and shopping with Audrey, Rachelle and adorable Avery. Friday I was able to hang out with my grandparents visiting from Las Vegas and to go

see my cousin Brooklyn Newby's 6^th grade graduation. Saturday I drove up to Ogden with Audrey to go to the dinosaur museum with Ashley, Devon, and there two adorable children Colson and Beckett. Rachelle and Avery joined us too. Oh goodness, what a delightful afternoon it was! I love to see my friends as mothers and to play with their wonderful children! I was in heaven these three days being able to see and spend time with so many people I love. I had been a little lonely in Virginia. -Meghan

The last few days we were in Utah, we soaked up time with family and friends. We hiked up to a waterfall and enjoyed lunch in Park City at a favorite, Loco Lizard. We enjoyed seeing my cousin Ben and his fiancée Manisha, as well as just hanging out with family. Anna and John took a lot of time to hang out with my parents, Meghan and me, and spent the evenings eating delicious foods, playing Bananagrams, and just enjoying each other’s company.

When the time had come for us to return home, our flight back to DC was delayed for 4 hours and then canceled. Luckily, all clouds have silver linings. We took a flight out the next morning, which had a layover in Phoenix, where our dear friend Lorina lives. We were able to see her for a half hour and enjoy the Arizona scenery. Lorina has been Meghan’s best friend for many years, and has also become one of my best friends. We were frustrated with the canceled flight, but were very glad to be able to see her!

When we touched down in DC, we went right to bed. We were exhausted from our day’s travel and our adventures from the 10 days previous. We took off 8 hours later for our trip to NYC, which you’ll read all about in our next blog posts!

-Joey

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[i] I knew I wanted to marry Meghan at this point…I had just told Meghan that I loved her. (Cue Full House “awwwwwwwwww”)