Kirtland

We went to visit Kirtland. As luck would have it, it was a Sunday, very appropriate for church related sites. We went to church in the morning, then discovered that the sites didn't open until 11:30. So we just ran around in the parking lot. We enjoyed seeing the church sites. My favorite is the Newel K Whitney Store. So many revelations took place there, and I love seeing the school of the prophets where so much was learned about the restoration of the gospel. I also love the ashery. I am always amazed at the ingenuity of people. I didn't know that lye came from ashes and that you had to leach it out then cook out the water. It is just fascinating to me.
After that we went to see the Kirtland temple. Jeff and I went 4 years ago, they have a new visitors center now. After the movie (we missed most of it), they open the curtains for a beautiful view of the temple. Allie was very excited to see the temple, it was the first temple that she had ever been in. But we tried to explain to her that this temple wasn't the same as a temple that was still dedicated to the Lord. Maddie and Jayd could really feel the difference. It is a beautiful building, and wonderful things happened there, but it just doesn't have the same spirit anymore. We did enjoy seeing the location of where Jesus Christ appeared along with Moses and Elijah to restore the keys of the priesthood necessary for the temple ordinances.

Aagards in Columbus

We stopped by in Columbus Ohio to visit some friends from college, Erik and Julie Aagard. We had a great time playing with them, the kids jumped on the trampoline, played baseball in the backyard and played with the toys. We went to the Columbus temple. It was a tiny temple, but we liked it nonetheless.Then we went to the library. It was very beautiful, but Maddie and Jayd were a little frustrated because they couldn't check out any books!

Chicago

We arrived in Chicago with only half a day left, so we made the most of that half day. We spent most of our time in the Museum of Science and Industry. It was an enormous museum with plenty of hands on activities for children of all ages. We enjoyed the tornado, and the exploding hydrogen balloons. After a busy day at the museum we walked across the street for a dip in the lake. The kids were a little confused, this just wasn't like the beaches they are familiar with.
The next day we didn't go into the city at all, but headed a little north to Six Flags Great America. It was a great day. We each picked a ride that we wanted to go on, then hit all of those rides and more. We really enjoyed the different thrilling rides.
Our last day in Chicago, we rode the L in and saw all the sights. We went to the Tribune Building, walked along the river, saw the Cultural Center and the "big bean" sculpture in Millenium Park. We saw (and climbed) the Picasso Sculpture and ate deep dish pizza before heading to Navy Pier. To cap the day off, we went to the top of the Sears Tower at Sunset to see the surrounding views. The kids spent way too much time in the glass box hanging out of the building! We didn't get back to our hotel until 11:30. It was quite the day!

Nauvoo

Nauvoo was one of th e highlights of the trip. Despite heat and humidity that we have never felt before, we went to the country fair before the pageant and had a great time. The boys played stickball, Allie learned how to ragtie, and Jeff and I did square dancing and met people from all over the country. We enjoyed the pageant as well, the singing and dancing was great. Allie met one of the girls from the pageant, and they became instant friends. She enjoyed finding her during the pageant.
The next day we hit all of the Nauvoo sites including the post office, gunshop, school, blacksmith, brick factory and others. The bakers was the kids favorite since they were given a cookie.
Monday was our last day in Nauvoo. this day was dedicated mostly to the temple. Jeff and I went to a session in the morning while my mom roused the children from bed and brought them to town. We had stormy weather in the morning, a clear lunchtime, then stormy weather again in the late afternoon, just perfect timing to prevent us from going on a wagon ride. Oh well. The weather didn't prevent Maddie and Jayd from doing baptisms in the Nauvoo temple, which was the purpose of the day. We also visited the Joesph Smith nauvoo homes and saw the graves of Joesph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith. After we regrouped the famiy, the weather cleared again and we headed out to Carthage Jail. We really enjoyed Carthage. We were able to learn more about the last days of the prophet. It was a fitting end to our stay in Nauvoo.

Winter Quarters

This was our first stop on the church history tour. I know, I know, it was nearly the last place the pioneers went, but it just worked out that we were going to do the tour backwards. We enjoyed the visitors center and walked around the temple before we found the general area of one of Jeff's ancestors graves. Maddie so generoulsy demonstrated the final resting position of Elizabeth Stout. We only spent the moning there, but on our way out of town, we found a very interesting playground. We just had to stop. it was a huge ball with ropes inside like a big spider's web. It was so much fun to climb in, and it seemed quite safe. There was no way to fall through all those ropes and hit the ground going very fast.

My Little Brother's Wedding

Yesterday, my only brother was married to a beautiful girl. From the sisters viewpoint, our brother has never really grown up, he still acts like he is in highschool when he is around us. From what I understand, he acts the same way around his bride, Nina. But she must find that a part of his charm, because she loved him enough to marry him. The ceremony was held at a beautiful outdoor location at 3:30 in the afternoon. We were surrounded by lovely flowers, a flowing fountain, grassy hillsides, sprinkling rain, a little lightning, fiercely blowing wind, harder rain, and a lot of love as we sat through the rain with our fans on our heads. As soon as the ceremony was over and we headed towards the tent, the sun came out!
Everything went according to the very detailed schedule that the bride had made. We took pictures, ate dinner, watched them cut the cake, then started to dance. We had a great time dancing, and even were able to drag (literally drag, Gabe's heiny cleaned the floor on the way there) our children out onto the dance floor a few times. I had a great time dancing with my sisters, cousins and Jeff. It was a fun wedding. As we were leaving, there was a beautiful sunset topped off with a few more sprinkles.

Magic Mountain

This is the first week of the summer that we have spent together as a family! It was very nice to all be together for a few days, even though we were super busy trying to pack all of our typical summer events and packing for our trip all into one week! But first thing was first, playing! On Monday we went to Magic Mountain with our good friends, the Buscos. We had a great day going on the rides and being together. For most of the day, we split into two groups, the older kids, Maddie, Jayd, Chris and Brian, went off to go on the rides which required more height. We stayed with the shorter group, who was not lacking in courage at all! They took us to all of the roller coasters they could. They insisted on going on Superman, a ride where they shoot you down a ramp at 100 mph that eventually curves upward and goes straight up. Julie and I refused to go, but they wouldn't be talked down. So I sent my 65 pound, eight year old girl flying through space. She came back very windblown, but smiling and laughing! They also went on X2, a roller coaster where the seat moves individually from the car, so you really get a lot of motion. Maybe they gained all of this courage from the eight 36 ounce sodas that they drank throughout the day! It was a very exciting day.