An Evening with President Monson

Jeff and I had an awesome opportunity to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony to open the new replica of the original Deseret News Room at the Crandall Historical Printing Museum tonight. It was actually my dad who was invited to the event, but since he couldn't go we decided to take his place. :-) (Thanks Dad!) When we got there I, being a woman, was directed up to the front row - where the last seat available was exactly front and center. Jeff, as a man, had to stand in the back - which was great actually, because he had the camera and was able to get some great shots for us.
We learned a lot about the first printing press and Guttenberg and typesetting and all sorts of stuff. President Monson, being a printer himself back in the day, was the guest of honor. They had him pull the "devil's tail" to print a sheet of the Bible in Latin. We enjoyed the chance to hear him speak some before he cut the ribbon.
Afterward we headed over to the Mariott to enjoy a wonderful dinner. We were quite thrilled to discover that since our tickets were under my dad's name, we had prime seating - front and center once more. :-) We were right by the podium, about 5 feet from President Monson the whole time. We were at a table with other Deseret News people, seated right next to Mr. Cannon and his wife. We got to hear some really beautiful musical numbers and President Monson spoke again. He told all sorts of funny stories, and it was really interesting to get to hear him just speak and cover all sorts of topics - whatever came to his mind, really - instead of a set address. For example, President Monson says his bedtime is after Perry Mason wins his case. He likes winners, and Perry Mason always wins. Ha. Jeff and I are Perry Mason fans too, so we enjoyed that. :-) He also told a very amusing story about when Elder McConkie attempted to add 2 more Articles of Faith to the Book of Mormon.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening, and we feel very lucky to have had the chance to be a part of it.
The Replica of the original Deseret News printing press -

President Monson cuts the ribbon -

This picture shows my prime time seating - I'm the blonde head in the front row. :-)

Here President Monson pulls the devils tail -

And then shows off the sheet that he inked -