July 2010 happenings - Nauvoo

We had a nice trip to Nauvoo over the 4th of July weekend. None of us had been there before, and it is amazing how there is so much to see and do. The church has restored so many various buildings, that you can experience Nauvoo like it was when the pioneers lived there. The most breathtaking thing was seeing the Temple. In my mind I had thought that it would have been small, like the Kirtland, OH temple, but no, it is very large. The church rebuilt it on the exact footprint that the original one was built on. Just to see the size of it, and know the pioneers built it, is an amazing feat.

We took a nice tour around the city to see all the various sites.

Our Hotel we stayed at was really nice.

They had an area called pioneer pastimes where the kids could play games that the pioneer children did, and dress up. We spent quite a bit of time here.

It was Band Time! A wagon with a band on it, came around and played for a while. The elder missionaries went out and danced with all the children. It was a good time had by all.

Brigham Young's buggy.

Ryan's broad shoulders were used to carry various little girls throughout his summer with us.

Anna had so much fun, she just couldn't stay awake and wouldn't wake up even with Daddy blowing in her mouth.

We took Sunday afternoon to see Carthage, where Joseph Smith was martyred. It was a special place, indeed.

Virginia climbed up her first step while at Carthage.

There was a GIANT oak tree there, certainly old enough to have been growing when Joseph was killed.

We visited Joseph, Emma's and Hyrum's grave site. Anna had a terrible habit of picking flowers this summer, wherever we went. Yes, I know....

Finally a dip in the Mississippi river came at the end of our visit. Emma "accidentally" fell in. She is our little river rat.

And our drive back home, everyone was plugged into a movie.

June Events

Here are some of our June highlights - I will come back later and update the descriptions.

Virginia stealing James' malt - Cumberland Falls -

A visit from Poppa and flying kites-

Emma's Friendship Party -

Emma's new haircut -

Anna's new room all done -

Sealing of Virginia

On June 12, 2010 we sealed Virginia to our family for all time and eternity. Although adopted, she now has all the blessings that our other children have, and will be part of our family here on earth and in heaven.

Poppa flew out to join us, and we were so grateful that he could be there for our special day. Family is really what it is all about.

Anniversaries

Well, Carl did it, the tree house is done...almost. The only things left is to hang the door and build the ladder up to it. In the meantime, our neighbor is nice enough to let us use his ladder, as he has for the past 7 weeks on this project. This morning it rained hard for about 5 minutes to Carl and James go to run outside and listen to the rain on the metal roof. From the pictures you can see how the tree branches pop through the roof. Carl had no idea it was going to take so long to do the roof, nearly 3 days straight, from morning till night. It is great to have it practically done. We burned all our construction garbage with a huge bonfire which resulted in the logical choice of hobo dinners. James and Emma even got to eat hobo dinners up in the treehouse last night. This morning, I had a realization of all the anniversaries that come on June 6th for our family..here is a list of them.

June 6th....
It has been...

2 years since we closed on our house here in northern Kentucky
4 years since Audrey Ann was born (the adoption that fell through before Anna)
5 years since the moving truck left our home in Utah with our earthly possessions
11 years since James was blessed in church by his dad
and finally
66 years since Poppa Jack landed in France, right before D-day

Pulling herself up, eating blueberries, crawling

Yes, Virginia, you are perfect.
sometimes doing a "wounded soldier" crawl, and sometimes doing the real thing

Eating blueberries for the first time

MY FIRST GOOD CORNROWS

I am so proud of myself! I did nice tight cornrows in Virginia's hair for the first time. Thanks to a friend, Kim, that taught me how to do it. WHOOO HOOO.