Grandma and Grandpa Part 2: On the Road

A big part of Grandma and Grandpa's visit was our church history trip, visiting nearby sites, including Carthage Jail, Nauvoo, Adam-ondi-aman, Far West, and Independence. Here are some highlights:

Carthage Jail:

During our time in Nauvoo, we stayed in a quaint little log cabin on the plains:

Isn't the Nauvoo temple beautiful? These pictures remind me of the phrase "Our shadow by day and our pillar by night." We walked the Trail of Hope, the path the pioneers walked in 1846 as they were forced to abandon Nauvoo. Of the experience, Newel Knight wrote: " . . . Here we all halted and took a farewell view of our delightful city . . . We also beheld the magnificent Temple rearing its lofty tower towards the heavens . . . My heart did swell within me."

Also in that exodus, Zina Huntington Jacobs Young gave birth to a baby, and she recounted: "I was delivered of a fine son. Occasionally the wagon had to be stopped that I might take breath. Thus I journeyed on. But I did not mind the hardship of my situation, for my life and been preserved, and my babe was so beautiful." Talk about looking for the flower among the thorns! I cannot believe the strength and power of the pioneers' spirits. 

 The mischievousness of James:

First of all, this little guy came hard-wired with a homing device for all things chords. Last summer in Dinosaur, Utah, he located not one, not two, but three vacuums: one in the dinosaur quarry, one in the hotel, and a third in the middle of a desert camp ground bathroom in Goblin Valley! In Capitol Reef park, he found the hose at our campground. And in Nauvoo, he did it yet again!

(right next to the prophet Joseph Smith's house!)

Next on this little boy's list was the play Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo. He actually sat really well through the entire play, which started after his bedtime. There was one character who was a really annoying woman, and her husband --who was fed up with her--allowed someone to take her in for examination on the premise that she was crazy. Just after she was carted off stage with loud protestations, James shouted for all to hear: "She go in BIG PIME OUT!!"

This next photo is perhaps inappropriate. I apologize, but Andrew just thinks it's so darn funny. James was trying to give the pioneers some oxygen ;)

Waiting for the wagon ride around town: 

I really wanted to get a brick from the brickyard, but I got so much more. The story the missionary told of the refining process required to produce such a brick was really beautiful to me. He spoke of the intense heat the bricks had to undergo, and pointed out that small rocks and other impurities cannot withstand the heat, so they shoot out of the clay while in the furnace. He likened it to our lives and how we must undergo a refining process, and the heat and trials we experience are required to remove our impurities and imperfections. It was a beautiful way to end my visit to Nauvoo.

In the Smith family graveyard, where the prophet, his brother, and many other are buried. Such a beautiful location:

Adam-ondi-aham took me by surprise, and was more of an experience than I had anticipated. The fall colors also made it a great shot for taking photos: 

Far West temple site: 

James was very helpful with our luggage in the KC hotel:

 Temple site in Independence:

 Visitor's Center in Independence: 

 (Isn't she darling?)

We were lucky that this WW2 memorial in Kansas City was open, just after the government shutdown came to an end!

We all enjoyed this view from the top, er. . . well, some of us enjoyed it, but we all went! :) 

We had to squeeze in one more temple site. Here's Kansas City temple:

SO fun with Grandma and Grandpa! It was wonderful to have all the time in the car to chat, and for the kids to have the constant attention of their adoring grandparents!

Summer of Fun Part 3: Yellowstone and Montana

Our awesome friends Tyler and Michelle came up with a great plan for some fun this summer. They found an amazing cabin in Big Sky, Montana, and invited three other families to go with them to stay for a week and visit Yellowstone. Way back when (the end of June) we packed up our little car, and made the drive. (It was actually the day after we got back from the sand dunes, crazy!)

I filled a crate with books, Cars-themed Pez dispensers, a Cars coloring book, a giant magna doodle, and other items I supposed would serve as awesome secret weapons to keep Emma entertained for the six plus hours of the drive. She discovered just about every one within the first hour and a half, but luckily, she was still a stellar kid during the drive (phew!).

Just before 10am, we pulled off the freeway in Virginia, ID, and sure enough, there was a church meeting about to start, so we attended church there. I think I counted under 40 people total in the congregation. It was a fun small-town stop.


I should have taken more pictures of our awesome cabin, it had a hot tub, deck, upstairs common room, down stairs common room, and granite counter tops in the kitchen:


Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone:








All four families in the cabin found a great hiking trail (you may notice, that we all have matching tye dye shirts, that was a fun activity we did months prior)




I think this photo pretty much sums up how we felt at the end of the vacation; happy, but exhausted!!