B737-700 CREW DID NOT COMPLY WITH AN ATC ISSUED XING RESTR; BECAUSE THE ACFT HAD TO BE SLOWED BECAUSE OF TURB. FREQ CONGESTION PREVENTED CTLR NOTIFICATION.

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MISSED XING RESTR. WE WERE GIVEN A XING RESTR TO CROSS 15 NM S OF FFU VOR AT 15000 FT. WE WERE DSNDING AT IDLE PWR. I WAS OFF GETTING THE SLC ATIS WHICH WAS EXTREMELY LONG THIS NIGHT DUE TO NUMEROUS NOTAMS ON THE ARPT. I HAD TO LISTEN TO IT TWICE. WE WERE BEGINNING TO ENTER AN AREA OF TURB SO THE FO STARTED SLOWING THE ACFT FOR THE BUMPS. I TOLD HIM WE WERE GOING TO BE VERY HIGH AT FFU/-15 SO HE ADJUSTED THE DSCNT RATE AND I TRIED TO GET A WORD IN TO CTR WHO WAS VERY BUSY (NON STOP TALKING). HE MUST HAVE BEEN WORKING SEVERAL COMBINED AREAS AND THERE WAS A CTLR CHANGE HALFWAY THROUGH THE EVENT. CTR TURNED US OVER TO SLC APCH AND NEVER MENTIONED ANYTHING TO US. WE CHKED ON SLC APCH AT 15000 FT PRIOR TO FFU VOR. APCH NEVER MENTIONED ANYTHING TO US ABOUT BEING HIGH AT THE XING RESTR EITHER; JUST THAT HE GOT A LATE HDOF FROM CTR AND HE ASKED IF WE WOULD BE ABLE TO GET DOWN OK FOR RWY 34L. WE REPLIED THAT WE COULD. PRIOR TO THE XING RESTR WHEN THE FO WAS ADJUSTING HIS DSCNT RATE TO MEET THE RESTR WE WERE AT A HIGH RATE OF DSCNT WITH BOARDS OUT; SO MAYBE CTR'S RADAR DIDN'T KEEP UP. I'M JUST TRYING TO SPECULATE WHY CTR NEVER MENTIONED ANYTHING TO US.