Oh yeah. That’s right. Things about to get real aroun’ here.
jk. But really, if you don’t want to read a blow- by –blow; minute-by minute account of Salt Lake Comic Con, THAN DON’T READ THIS!
THURSDAY:
Thursday afternoon my friend and I took our kids. We also had the fun of having Aunt Julia come with us 
And here are a few others of the princess party…
Morgan kept hounding me to go make lightsabers and get his training; so I ditched Cam and Mason and took him over. A volunteer worked one on one with him to make his saber. When he was done, he went back to the training with some official Star Wars people. It was all a little too real for little Morgie. He kept looking back at me, and at one point…when the bad siths came out with their red light sabers and started fighting the good guys…Morgie started to cry and said he didn’t want to do it anymore. I told him it was all pretend and that he was a good fighter, so he got back in to things and came out happier than ever after it was done. He didn’t stop talking about it the entire night. hahaha!!! Little nerd. Oh, and he couldn’t get enough of the droids!
After that we went out to the “Big People” land…aka the rest of the con. They had some awesome lego machines:
I think Mason and the dude with the man-bun could have stayed there for hours…
After that we met up with Aunt Nicole. Mason and Cam were done, so I sent them with Nana Strong to her house. Morgan did not want to leave my side. He wouldn’t even go home with our friends a little later that evening. That is ok; I loved having him there with me; and he is the easiest by far to have along.
We walked around looking at art work and different things for a while. I’m sad I didn’t find the star wars and ghostbuster areas until the next day…Morgan would have loved them.
On our walks we met these people. They were letting kids get their pics taken with “Superheroes” for free:
Next we went and met Sean Astin while the aunts met the Phelps twins. Sean was super, super nice! Morgan loves the cartoon Agent Oso, and Sean happens to play the voice. He leaned down near Morgan and talked in Agent Oso’s voice. Morgie actually smiled (even though he was near a stranger).
Last thing for the night was this:
It was a lot of fun! I love Harry Potter. This was the only time I dressed up, but it was fun. Thanks to Lori and Katy for helping me with my robe and wand, and to Emily for helping me with my sweater.
FRIDAY:
Friday I got up bright and early to catch the train. I wanted to get their as soon as I could so I could scan my wristband for the panels I wanted for the day. Think of it as a fast pass at Disney land. It ensured that you got in to the panels you wanted; and it let you in to them first.
Next I went and got this:
Yes…I met the Winter Soldier aka Jefferson aka the Mad Hatter. People were kind of talking to him as they went along, but he had his head down because he was signing…you know. I asked him if all of this was overwhelming. He said “No” with his head down, and so I started to walk away, but then…THEN…he looked up right at me and smiled and said some words that I can’t remember now (something about “when else would I get the opportunity to do something like this”) and I about passed out because he had the most beautiful blue eyes and smile!!! and arms…!!!! and…agh! EXCEPT FOR ROB OF COURSE! 
Anyway- definitely the highlight of my weekend. HAHAHAHA!!! Yes, I am that easy to please…and I’m that big of a dork. Yes Rob heard this exact same story and just laughed at me. Also, I met a new friend standing in line waiting with me.
I then wandered across the street from the Salt Palace and got myself some brunch.,,and then wandered back over again.
Next on the list was Sean Astin’s panel. I had a pretty good seat. I swear that guy has memorized every line from every movie he has ever been in; and he was more than happy to replay them all for us. It was a lot of fun hearing him talk about being on the set and what they did to film LOTR and everything. He is a really cool guy..and apparently he comes to UT often (those were his words, not mine). He even participated in the 5k fundraising run they had Saturday morning.
hahahaha!!! You all know you love it. And yes most of the pictures in this post were stolen off of Comic con’s facebook page…because I FORGOT MY CAMERA FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!!! AGH!!!
The very next panel was Sebastian Stan’s. I happened to be on the side of the room where you could line up to ask him questions. So what did I do? I got in line to ask him a question. I had two different questions in mind, and I couldn’t figure out which one to ask. When it actually game to be my turn, I couldn’t speak. I was so, so nervous! I started to stutter. I couldn’t decide what question to ask him, and then hated the question I did get to finally squeak out of my mouth. I asked him what he liked to do in his spare time. He said look for his next job. No actually, he said more than that…but my brain had gone all fuzzy and I wasn’t listening and…yeah. (Oh please heaven above don’t let his panel be put on youtube for all the world to see!!!!) No I’m not the one ifn the Dr Who hat, but I AM the one directly behind her…looking at the floor…like a loser. Later on he started talking about how he likes to write and said, “That’s what I do in my spare time to the person who asked me that before, and then pointed exactly where I had gone to sit down…so he must have been paying more attention than I had originally thought. He was nice. He smiled a lot. He talked about how blessed he was for his opportunity to leave Romania (where he is from) and move here when he was 12. He was very, very grateful for that. It was fun to hear him talk about it. I loved the movie Winter Soldier, and I LOVED him on Once Upon a Time, but maybe the reason he’s so interesting to me is because he reminds me of an old friend of mine…even down to the ponytail holder on his wrist and the fact he’s from Romania. Ok. Moving on from the current movie crush…hahaha! Sorry, that was way too much info.
Next was another panel; only this time upstairs. It was Dean O Gorman. He played Fili on the Hobbit. His panel had a different feel because it was less formal and he’s from New Zealand,,.,so he had a wicked awesome New Zealand accent…and he talked about beer a lot. hahaha!!! He was funny. He had a lot of fun talking about the rest of the actors and what great friends they became and what went on during filming. He and Kili really are best mates- in his words.
I think after this is I found a bathroom to try and beautify myself in…I don’t know…it’s all a blur now. What in the world did I do from 4-5??? Can’t remember. Anyway. At 5pm the time had come to meet up with Rob’s friend’s wife…who is now my friend. hahaha! She was helping at a booth giving massages, etc. We went and got lost in to the massive crowd that were all waiting for a pic with the cap and winter soldier. You would not believe how many people were in this one tiny area. After a little while the volunteers finally got us all organized though, and things started pretty much on time.
This is the part I most regret out of my entire weekend…and any con I’ve been to…and just about anything. This was the moment I was most excited about, but once it came the volunteers were like, “don’t hug them; hurry, hurry, hurry”. And because I am an obey-er, I did as they said. I found out the next morning that Chris Evans actually loves hugs and would have hugged everybody. As it is, I was so nervous and so intimidated about obeying, that I barely glanced at him for the two seconds we were getting our picture taken. I’m so angry. I’m angry at myself for not calming down and slowing down and just enjoying myself; and I’m angry at the volunteers for fearing us into false obedience. Grrr! Anyway- here is what I am talking about:
My friends mom makes me laugh!!! I should crop everybody out except for me and the men
After that fiasco I left the con and met up with my dear old friend Kelli!!!! Old as in I’ve known her forever…she is not actually old. We went and checked in to Little America. That was a joke to park in, but it was pretty nice digs. We went out to “Bout Time” at the Gateway for dinner. The hamburger and fries I had were SO DELICIOUS!!! I’m usually not a hamburger person, but I’m glad I was that night.
After dinner we went back to the hotel. I found out I had won tickets to the panel for Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie the next day. In fact, I had somehow won NINE tickets to it. This excited me to no end because 1) I was going to get in to the panel!!! and 2) I knew I was about to make 8 other peoples’ night! YAY!!! I had to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to sort out the different QR codes I had for each ticket, and making sure I didn’t give two of the same code away, but eventually they were all given and eventually Kelli had finished her Rockstar so we could move on with our night.
Now, it might sound like we did many a fantastic thing, but in truth, we did not. You see, first of all, I had forgotten to bring jammies. We traveled to the nearest Wal-mart only to have the elderly greeter man wag his finger at us when we tried to get in. We missed closing time by a minute. There wasn’t any other stores near-by still open so we went back to down town. Kelli wanted a grown-up drink, and I refused to go to bed before 1, so we went to Squatters. I enjoyed a delightful large, soft pretzel with cheese and a diet coke. It was relaxing.
Then, back to the hotel and bed for another awesome day!!!!
SATURDAY:
Poor, poor Kelli. Even though we didn’t get to bed until after 2; I made her get up with me about 7:45. Actually, I woke up at 6:15 and couldn’t get back to sleep…but that is neither here nor there. Poor Kelli again when she was driving me to the Salt Palace and I was freaking out because we hit every red light, and I was worried I wouldn’t get there in time for my seating time for the Chris Evans panel…hahahaha!!!
I got to sit by two really nice ladies my age. Since I had no way to take pictures the lady offered to email me ones she took. (So really she is a female person my same age; which makes me want to call her a girl…but girl kinda dictates she is younger than me…but lady sounds awful. What do I call females my same age?!!!) This was the panel you had to win a lottery ticket to. It started a half – hour late, but that is only because Chris was meeting with a bunch of Make a Wish kids behind the stage (so awesome!). Chris really surprised me. He was easy going and extremely kind. He kept saying over and over again that stopping and relaxing and just being grateful will help you be happy. I was thrilled to hear him say this. Being grateful is something I have always strived to do, and has always helped me. It is something the apostles have told us for as long as I can remember. Now, I am NOT in ANY WAY comparing a movie star to an apostle; I simply know that many people do not believe or know we have apostles here on the earth today, so it was nice to hear somebody from the secular side say the same thing. Now, this is the second of only two things I’m upset about from Comic con this year…and this was 100 percent on them. They had Anthony Mackie (the Falcon) come onstage while Chris was still speaking to surprise him. This interrupted the panel, and from there on out Mackie kinda took over. And then Haley Atwell (agent carter/capt america’s girlfriend) came on stage..so it was interrupted again…and then they told Chris he had to leave ot go do more photo ops. I was ANGRY. We had waited for two hours, and he was only on stage for like 20 minutes. It was fun to see all three of the actors on stage at the same time, and Mackie was hilarious; but we had come to see Evans. In reading other peoples’ comments I know I am not alone in thinking this. They should not have rushed him off stage like they did. But anyway…enough of me blowing wind. Here is an overabundance of pictures. Again, most are from SLCC fb page, but there is one my new friend I was sitting next to sent me that shows kinda where we were, etc. I’ll also post pics of the Mackie panel that was directly after the Evans one.
Anyway… the moderator (Jay Whittaker) was black…and Anthony Mackie is black..and they were “talkin’ their jive” as they put it, so it really was a lot of fun, but still…wish Chris could have stayed.
Went and got some brunch and did a little shopping. I picked up a conductor’s watch for Mason and a little gun for Morgan. I then met up with my friend for an op with Haley Atwell. Of the guests/celebrities I met this weekend she seemed the most anxious about doing pictures…but what do I know.
It’s kinda funny/sad/business thing- I get it, but you can’t walk by the celebrities’ booths and take pictures. Well, Ian Somerhalder gave the con the bird (in speaking) and jumped up on his table, threw his arms in the air, and told people to take all the pics they wanted. It was pretty funny to watch. The crowd (imagine a thousand screaming girls) went wild. I misjudged him. I figured with his pretty face he’d kinda be a jerk; but he hugged (like really hugged) every single person who got their picture with him; jumped on tables, and really spoke to the crowds. See, can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
I walked around some more; came back to somerhaulder’s area and ran in to an old friend from high school. She was one of my best friends; I just love her to no end. I have so many stories of staying the night at her house and hanging out with her. It was fun to catch up. I then met up with my super awesome cousin and her dad and we went to a panel about Steven Spielburg and Lucas. After that I found another high school friend and took a cheap shot at his calves with my foot. He helped me go choose my first two, very own comic books: The Walking Dead vol 1, and Captain America: winter soldier. They are both ones he owns and highly recommended. I told him I didn’t like the show The Walking Dead. He said not to worry and that it was different. I have started to read it, and I actually do like it so far-haha! I feel bad because I made my cousin come with me during this part. She then left to go to a Harry Potter panel we both wanted to see. I was still checking out, and missed out on the panel, but I fully plan to ask her how it was. I went to a couple more panels; one about Fantasy in Film and Literature (loved it), and another about feminism in film and literature (didn’t love this one as much). Bought some bling for my purse and gave it a make over:
I really love it.
Then…then…sadly…the con was over. I took one last peek at Evans, and then sadly wandered out of the Salt Palace. I called Rob and told him to come pick me up. He and the boys had been riding chairlifts at Sundance. This is the only picture he took of it, but it’s pretty cute. They also went for four-wheeler rides while I was gone. We have Rob’s uncle’s for a little while, while we try to sell it. They had a lot of fun.
So there you have it. My most awesome weekend. Now, I know there are so, SO many people judging me right now, but you know what? I couldn’t care less. I saw people posting on facebook different negative thoughts about the con, and it kinda made me sad. I would never post anything negative about hobbies and interests other people have. I think they don’t understand a lot of what goes on. Yes, people dress up, but you know what? They put a lot of time and talent in to it. They have contests and winners win money. And it’s an absolute blast to see what people come up with. These are not the paid princesses my kids had tea with; these people did this on their own.
Also, the con raised money for a hospital by holding a 5k run; and it was something people could involve their entire families in.
They have tons of authors and artists there too. You can attend panels on how to become an author: from the first word you write, to getting your work published and even put on the big screen. Not all comic books are about super heroes. A friend of mine whom I deem to be very intelligent but loves comics reads ones about actual events. I recently checked a “comic book” out from the library called “The Complete Persopolis” (sp?)about an Islamic girl and her life growing up in Iran and how Iranians think. It was a mind opener. Also, a lot of the people I saw making fun of the con are the same people who read US and Entertainment Weekly and want to know what’s up with J-Lo…so why is actually taking the time to meet the stars any different? Last of all, some of you are probably wondering how many hundreds of dollars I spent… well, you see how there was always multiple people in my ops? that’s how you do them for cheap. Also, you can win passes, ops, etc by participating on fb, twitter, etc. The panels and meeting authors are free. You can win points towards vendor purchases too. I don’t know. I’m sorry about the soap box, I just don’t understand how adults can make fun of other adults for being passionate about their hobbies. I thought that’s why we left our teenage years behind. Honestly, some of the people I saw making comments I think have EXTREMELY weird hobbies, but I would never call them out on it. I’m glad they have something they love in their life. Not everybody has to be the same. Now, yes, the people who really get in to their “characters” they’ve dressed up as can be much different from “socially normal” people, but that is ok. God loves everybody, and the world would not move forward if there weren’t people who think outside of the norm. Ok. I’m done. If anybody is still reading this I’ll be more than surprised. Bye!
Morgan is #3 on the black team. Number 3 on the green team really knew his stuff, but Morgan stuck with him! Cam thought it would be a good idea to get all the balls out. 
