Nauvoo

This summer has felt so crazy, we have just literally been out of town or super busy while in town. It has been fun, but I sure am ready to RELAX!

Nauvoo Temple up on the bluff

Water lotus lining the banks of the Mississippi, they started to bloom at the end of our trip, beautiful!

Calvin Pendleton Home and School, amazing man who was a doctor, but sacrificed much to help educate the people of Nauvoo

The Brickyard at Nauvoo

Back of Brigham Young's home, we are also standing next to his above the ground cellar he built, which amazing keeps a constant cool temperature year round.
Joseph and Emma's mansion house


Mississippi Sunset

The highlight of my summer was going to Nauvoo, Illinois. It truly is a "beautiful city." I left there so sad it is so green and their fields are perfectly mowed with no weeds, just naturally growing flowers along the sides of the road. It is so moist there they don't have sprinkling systems, it really is so beautiful. Every night we would watch the sunset along the banks of the Mississippi River, we went to the Nauvoo pageant, visited tons of the sites in Nauvoo, so many cute reconstructions and original little brick homes there. We saw the site missionaries perform at a show called Sunset. We traveled to Carthage and saw the jail were Joseph Smith was killed, the missionary sister who took us through the tour did such an amazing job, you could feel how sacred of a place it was. My Grandparents are patrons in the Nauvoo Temple so we went and did a session with them, and my sisters were able to do baptisms after. It was such a great trip, I miss the beauty of everything. Amazingly the city does not have very many Latter Day Saints, most of the members are contributed to the site missionaries and the temple missionaries. Amazing place...can't wait to go back.

4th of July

Brooklyn mimicking a pirate...
Spencer smile and say "I love Parades!" ha!

We had our typical BUSY 4th of July this year, one of these days we will have to relax but for now we do a lot and have a lot of fun. We always start the day off in Provo at the Freedom Festival parade. Then go up to Murray to visit Spencer's family usually to swim at his parents house, then BACK down to PG for the fireworks, we also have a couple BBQ's in there as well, so it is a lot to do in a day but we have fun. We were pretty tired by the end but still found enough energy to let our kids do a few boxes of sparklers before bed.

Karma...what goes around comes around...

Don't let this picture fool you, great photographers are a wonderful thing. We recently had our family pictures done and she did amazing. Check Katie Torriente out on my sidebar. Back to karma...
I knew this day would come and really hoped it didn't. The day my kids would start to fight!! Not just argue occasionally, I mean knock down, drag out, crying, screaming fight! When my brother Ryan and I were little and into teen age we fought horribly. For one, he is one of the biggest teases I know and two, I was the easiest person to get a rise out of I know. So, Ryan being the tease he was (is) he would torture me to my whits end and I would inevitably attack him with my rage. This lasted until I was probably 15 or 16 and FINALLY realized that what my Mom said about ignoring him was TRUE. Imagine that...anyway, Brooklyn and Gavin are very similar to Ryan and I. Gavin is a tease and Brooklyn is easily teased. They are close in age (about 2 1/2 years) like Ryan and I were as well.
Most of their fighting lately is in the car (need a bigger one) they reach across from each other to hit, torment, harass, etc. until I am screaming threatening to pull the car over...you get the idea.
So we were driving from Nauvoo, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri (3 hour car ride) yesterday and in a TINY little rental car that had virtually no space in the back seat and they were fighting so bad. Gavin hit Brooklyn in the face with his flashlight and Brooklyn was pinching him. Finally I yell "OKAY! No hitting with objects, you can only hit with your hands and no pinching or pulling hair!" I looked at Spencer after I said this and we both busted up. How ridiculous is that statement?? Oh my gosh It was so brutal I am surprised we made it home in one piece. If anyone has any ideas for us to rangle our crazy kids and all their fighting your advice is welcomed.

Northfield Stake Pioneer Trek

(This is day one in a meadow, before our trek began, which is obvious look how clean and well kept we look)
On June 30th, our stake traveled up American Fork Canyon up past Cascade Springs to a place called Little Deer Creek. This is where our trek began. We had five companies, orange, yellow, red, green and blue. Each company had five families of approximately 12 people, and each family had a handcart. So, we had 25 handcarts trekking up the mountain. Spencer was a Captain of 50 over the orange company and I was a nurse on the medical team with Dr. Ashby, so I was kind of a floater helping out where necessary. I was not very familiar with many in our stake, since we have only lived here about a year and a half, but the stake leaders were all part of our own stake family. It was so awesome, probably one of the most testimony building experiences I have ever had, mostly because it was really hard. More than I think I could have imagined. I have been running around 5 miles a day for the last month, and before that I worked out at the gym on a regular basis. Some of the challenges were that we were heavily clothed, long sleeves, aprons, bonnets, etc., and the crazy thing is our clothing was way more lightweight than the pioneers! It was definitely hot out as well and the first two days were entirely up hill. It made me appreciate my pioneer ancestors on a whole new level. I definitely take for granted the luxurious I enjoy daily. It also made me realize how little they were able to take with them. The kids each had a 5 gallon bucket and then sleeping gear. They had to pack all of this on their carts along with tents, a water and food cooler. I felt the spirit touch my heart so many times during the trek as I imagined those amazing pioneers trekking west. At one point there was a large hill and they had only the women pull. It was symbolic of when the men had to leave for the Mormon Battalion and the women were left alone to pull the handcarts. They had me participate in this with the Lindstrom family. The girls in this family were amazing. As I and the Ma of their family took the yolk of the handcart, the rest pushed and I felt as if it took little effort at all. Even though it was for a short time it was great for me to experience this. I really appreciate all the effort that the stake leaders put into this event to make it extraordinary for everyone who attended. I would say it gave me the change that I needed in my life.

Day two, looking a little more run down to say the least...


I also had a hiccup the second day with my contacts, so I had to wear my glasses for the duration, thanks goodness I brought them as a backup, but how seriously brutal do I look!



One of the youth challenged Spencer to a stick pull, he may be hold but he is still strong!

Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

Last week we got together with some friends from High School and met up at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point. My kids always enjoy this, except this time Brooklyn was ultra terrified anticipating the shark exhibit. You know the one that is basically like Jaws, a huge shark with its mouth open and ready to bite!! We hadn't even really began looking at much when she tried to run out! This is so crazy to me, because Brooklyn is so not that child! She is my one who never had stranger danger, jumps off diving boards alone, and really for the most part has never been afraid of much. Not to mention we had a Thanksgiving Point pass a couple years ago and she has seen the shark many times. Anyway I basically had her close her eyes and carried her pass the shark part. It was a lot of fun and it is crazy that we have all these kids now and they are growing up so fast!