Hochstrasser Family Reunion St. Louis! - Part 2

Continuation of previous post. Please, for all that's good and holy, do not read these out of order. Chaos will follow.

THURSDAY

The water park we went to was a blast. This was probably the best slide to go on.

Karin and Christina

FRIDAY

We started the day off going to the Gateway Arch--St. Louis' most famous landmark. We weren't planning on going up inside it, but the line was really short, so we bought two tickets. We bought them after my brother Ryan and his family and Angela and her family. We rushed to the line in order to make it on one of the same trams as them, but apparently they both took bathroom breaks (both have kids) since we got up there before them. Two interesting facts: 1) it's taller than the Space Needle and 2) it's just as tall as it is wide, 630 ft. 

We spent a short time at the zoo. Here are the penguins.

We went out to dinner that evening (each night a different family had been taking turns making dinner for everyone else). One of the places my family always goes is

It was yummy.

That night while we were baking a dessert the power went off in the house we were staying in. That was definitely unexpected. We had one flashlight and several candles. Luckily half of the cupcakes had already been finished. A little over an hour later it came back on! I didn't try any of the cupcakes that had been in the oven when the power went off, but other people ate them. So I guess they turned out.


SATURDAY


Most people were gone or heading out Saturday morning. We stayed back in the mansion in order to make sure all the little things got taken care of. After that we went on over the the St. Louis Temple.

The afternoon/evening was a lot of fun, but really HOT! The weather was 98 degrees and about million percent humidity. But we enjoyed a fine airshow and stayed to watch The Steve Miller Band play. It was all free! Part of Fair St. Louis at the Gateway Arch.

This shot is one of my favorites. Taken from my iPhone.

Here is a video of one of the formations.

Pretty sweet venue for a concert. I grew up listening to a lot of the Steve Miller Band with my dad. Plus I like a lot of 70's music. Here is a clip.

Keep on a Rockin' Me

A great ending to the week. A final picture of the whole clan. I'm not sure why Angela left Keenan and Jayla all by themselves.

Oakland Temple and the creamery from Up

Last week Christina and I took a trip up to the Oakland Temple. It is about an hour away from us.

We could just imagine Jeff and Lisa's wedding a few weeks earlier. We couldn't attend because we were in Brazil, but I heard it was great.

Afterwards we went to a diner called Fentons Creamery. My friend told me about it. It's the place where Carl Fredrickson and Russell, from the movie Up, get ice cream at the end of the movie. Pixar is located in the Bay Area so it makes sense. We actually only got burgers and fries and were too full for ice cream. It was a little pricey for a diner, but the ice cream looked really good, so we'll have to go back sometime.

Oh, and Up was the movie Christina and I went to see in a group when we both decided we liked each other and started dating right after. That's why this is so cool. And I really like Pixar.

Bwood got married

Brian Wood is now a married man. Him and Sarah got married yesterday on July 17, 2010. It was a HOT day outside, but fun. Here is Christina and I waiting before the new couple came out of the Bountiful Temple.

Here we were expecting Brian and Sarah to come out and. . . 

Here's the happy couple.

Jeff and the happy couple.

The roommates.

The roommates and wives/fiancée.

Salt Lake Temple

On Saturday Christina and I took a trip to the Salt Lake Temple. The temple is probably the most famous symbol that is unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The temple is a place of peace. There, ordinances, such as baptism are performed for those who have passed on and never had the chance to hear the Gospel or be baptized. Then they will have the chance to decide for themselves if they would like to accept it or not. For more information on temples you can go here. Or to ask specific questions and chat with someone go here.

Christina and I enjoy the peace of going to the temple. There are ones all over the world.

Manti Temple

(I didn't take this picture, but I couldn't find a copyright.)

On Saturday Christina and I went to the Manti Temple. It is a beautiful place. We even got to see the spiral staircases they have there afterwards. I'm not sure exactly why they're so special. Something about them being big and each step supporting the weight of the one above it. It was cool.

We forgot our camera. But here is a picture taken of us with my phone as proof that we actually did go.

Trip to Arches!

Christina and I decided to take advantage of the fact that I had Friday off. We took a trip down south to go camping and hiking at Arches National Park. Neither of us had been before.

Our first plan was to take a slight detour and visit the Manti Temple on the way down. Luckily, I remembered to look it up online before leaving, and we found out it was closed for maintenance. So, we decided to drive an extra hour past Moab to visit the Monticello Temple, in honor of the apartment complex where we met.

Monticello is a really small town. The temple was also really small. We were able to go through it (we brought a change of clothes).

We then drove back up to Moab to find our campsite. Christina and I are both used to camping in Washington where you get a big, secluded campsite the places we have both been to. This was not that way. You get a narrow strip of land. It was a lot of fun though. We roasted hot dogs (well, we had to share cause mine fell in the fire), marshmallows, and had s'mores. This picture is of me in the morning taking down the tent.

We then set off for Arches National Park, just two miles north of Moab. Here we are at the beginning of our journey, the trail to Landscape Arch.

Here is Landscape Arch. It looks like it's about to fall apart (a large section of it did break off in 1991).

Here we are right before getting lost on the trail to Double O Arch. Christina was proud of this picture because she used the timer on it.

We then visited several other smaller arches, including Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Sand Dune Arch, and this one, Broken Arch (this one is actually pretty big).

After all of that we were so tired, we almost decided to skip the 3.0 mile round trip hike to the famous Delicate Arch. We're glad we decided to do it! It was much bigger than I imagined.

Much cooler than the St. Louis Arch (sorry Jason, but it's true).

Our last hike (it was a small hike of 0.4 miles total) was to the Double Arch.

Here are few more pictures for your enjoyment of us at Balanced Rock.

It was a very fun trip! We recommend checking out Arches National Park if you haven't already.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple

Can you believe there are 13 temples built in Utah with two more announced? Christina and I want to visit some before we leave Utah to reach our lifetime goal of visiting 100 different temples (not just the grounds, but going inside). So far I've been to 12 and Christina 4. 

Last night we went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork. Two of my siblings got married there and it's the first one I went through. Christina agreed with me that it's very beautiful.

Afterwards we stopped by Red Robin for some Mountain High Mudd Pie.

We shared one. It was yummy.

Wedding Pictures!!!

Here's what everyone's been waiting for. Wedding pictures of Christina and me.