Copper - Temple Square - Family

Recently we spent a week in Utah. Curtis had business at the old Kennecott Copper mine which is now called Rio Tinto. His boss from Mexico City wanted to see a Concentrator so a tour was arranged. Rick Newman (from old San Manuel days) now runs the concentrator. It was amazing to see since Curtis was involved with the expansion of it a couple of years ago.  They wouldn't let us take any photos inside,but below is a picture of us as we started the tour. We had to get hard hats, steel toe booties (go over our tennis shoes), vests and safety glasses.

After the tour of the concentrator we had two hours. Mr. Martinez' brother is a member of the LDS church and he told him he needed to see Temple Square. So we were the tour guides. Was so fun. We visited the two visitor centers on Temple Square. It was really nice to see a model of the Salt Lake Temple that had a cut out so you could see what the inside looks like. 



Model of Salt Lake Temple with side cut out
so you can see the rooms inside exactly how they are.

Raul and Sandi at reflecting pond in front of Salt Lake Temple

 We then drove back out to Kennecott and met Daniel Kim who is over the Refinery Tankhouse. Curtis and Mr. Kim used to carpool for YEARS from Tucson to San Manuel. It was so nice to see him again and have him show us around. This tankhouse was almost double the size of the San Manuel one!  By now it was 3:30 in the afternoon and we were hungry. So we headed back to Salt Lake. We decided to eat in the Garden Room - my favorite place!

 This photo was taken from the Garden Room where we were seated for dinner. Great view! We had a great meal - but I sure missed the large hard rolls they used to have. Apparently Nov 1st of 2011 they changed their menu to an italian flare. Still great!

When we came downstairs from the Garden Room we exited through the lobby. Mr. Martinez was curious about Brigham Young so we were taking him to see his house called the "Beehive House", but as we passed this display of the First Vision of Joseph Smith I explained to him who Joseph was and all about it. 

 After the tour of the Beehive House (forgot to take photos!) we walked over to Temple Square again and went inside the Tabneracle. There was a sister Missionary (female) who spoke spanish and was from Mr. Martinez' same town north of Mexico City.  Small world!!! We wrapped up our little tour with the North Visitor center and the Christus statue and a spanish tour of the Family.

After taking him to his hotel, we then drove up to Kaysville Utah to spend the next 2 1/2 days with Curtis' parents. We had a great time visiting with them, Curtis took his dad to the doctor for his checkup, we went out to eat with Curtis' mom's siblings, and we had an enjoyable visit with as many of his sisters we could see. Time was just too short.

 When Curtis took Melvin to the doctor, they had this really cool window with water running down over it. Reminds us of Israel - they had running water in every building. It represents life.

Our last day with his parents, we went for a drive - trying to find John Taylor's cabin in West Kaysville. We found these two LDS Chapels with parking lots, back to back! You can see the 2nd chapel in the background. Wow! Us from Arizona that have a hard time getting buildings, they are in abundance in Utah! Notice the snow on the hills, the temperature there all wee was 32-40 degrees. I nearly froze! Had to buy a new winter coat (it goes down to -12) and lined gloves. I can now stay warm no matter where I am!