Palmyra

We started our day started out nice. The baby was in a great mood and the weather was overcast but hot and humid. We started at the Sacred Grove Visitors Center and then the tour takes you to the Joseph Smith Sr. Log cabin. The church has reproduced it and have done a great job!

From there you walk to the frame house but on the way you stop and can see the Palmyra Temple and take a picture.

This is the frame house and is 89% original. It was really neat. From there you walk over to the sacred grove.

Natalie loved looking up through the trees.

These were some of my favorite pics. The moment that you walked into the grove there was an immediate reverence. To think that I walked where Joseph saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ was very humbling.

After the Sacred Grove we went to lunch at a place called "Brad and Dad", it was a burger joint that Lewis' Aunt and Uncle recommended to us. From there we went to the printing place of the Book of Mormon.

There were 5000 originally ordered, and it took 18 months to make those; today it would take only 2 days to do that. Of the original 5000 only about 200 have survived to today.

Then we went to the temple and took some pictures.

Next we went to the Hill Cumorah and went through the visitors center and then to the Moroni Monument.

Us at the Moroni Monument.

Our last stop was at Lock 29 just outside of Palmyra. It was another cool piece of American history to stop at the Erie Canal. There was this cool water fall that Lewis caught on film. After Lock 29 we went to "Nima's Pizza" (another recommendation) and then back to the hotel. It was a really quick trip but I am so glad that we took the time to go. I loved visiting all the sites and hope that the kids will remember it.

Gettysburg

On the way to Palmyra we stopped for breakfast at Gettysburg. I know it is not what you think of as a great food stop but the Mickey D's was clean and we were able to see a great piece of American history.

The state of PA put up this great memorial and you can climb up to the top and take pictures of all the fields.

Here we all are on the steps.

Here are the three big kids on top, with some of the battlefields in the background.

Picnic and Cuddles

When Natalie was born Papa took a trip to Trader Joe's and came home with a LARGE assortment of treats and the kiddos and Nana and Papa watched a movie and had a picnic. So keeping in tradition we repeated this with Me and Lewis too.

I went looking for the kids one night so they could get into bed and this is what I found. All in the bed watching Top Chef.

Austin's Baptism

On August 15th Austin was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Grandma and Grandpa showed up and surprised us that morning (they were originally not gonna be able to make it), so it was so nice for Austin to have both sets of Grandparents there.

it was a really beautiful ordinance and the spirit was really strong there. I know that Austin will be such a great young man as he continues to learn and grow. I am so proud of him and the wonderful choice that he made to be baptized.

After all was said and done we all went to Famous Daves for some "rips" (ribs) and then we all had a fun movie night at the house. It was so great that Grandma and Grandpa made it even if it was a way short trip.

Austin is 8!!!

My sweet little man is 8. He wanted a sleep over party and we did our best but it was so sad that no one could sleep over. Lewis took the boys to see "G-Force" (which the boys all loved!), came home and helped to make pizza and then had some cool summer peach desert. Austin had a blast and that is all that counts.

Jam

Today my friend Jennifer came and taught me how to make jam. I did a bang up job if I do say so myself. The kids think it is yummy and I think that I will never look at fruit the same way again.

My Jam.

You sit them upside down till they cool enough to handle and then you flip them over.

All Gone..

There is all my jam. I still have enough berries to make another batch but I ran out of pectin. I think the sweetest sound today was listening to all the seals pop down :)

Natalie enjoyed a pretzel and was a terrific girl while we did all this. It only took us two hours to make 4 batches of jam.

Blackberry Fun

Lewis came home from his meetings very excited to tell me about a large patch of wild blackberries just off of Braddock Rd. (not far from church). We decided that some fresh jam would be fun and went to check it out after dinner. We dressed tick resistant and off we went.

There were a lot of berries. Most of the black ones were in the middle of the bushes so the adults got those and the kids stayed on the edges finding the black ones there.

This shot is fuzzy because the glass was still adjusting to the heat and humidity. 87 degrees with only about 70% humidity.

Here is Katie picking berries. Yes I do see the poison ivy in there. That was one of the reasons that we wore long pants and shirts. The kids stayed out of the big patches. I think that we avoided any rashes by wiping down with soapsies in the car and then stripping off our clothing in the foyer and washing off everyone and all the clothes as soon as we got home.

Natalie sat in her car seat most of the time.

My bucket of berries. I ended up with 12 cups of berries; which I am told will make me 2 batches of jam. Yummy!!!

Austin, Ally (Ashley's friend), Natalie, ans Ashley.

Lewis is such a dork.
I think that the plan is to go back Wednesday night to get a few more berries before we can on Thursday. Wish me luck :)

Cheeky Monkey & Fun in the Park

Monkey (as I call her) is almost 16 wks old and a total chunk. We really love her and how happy she can be when she is not sad about teething. I took these today in her Bumbo chair and she was just having a good time.

I loved the worried look on her face as Katie gave her a kiss.

The kids and I took our walk alone tonight sine Lewis had an EQ meeting tonight and so we went to the park and the kids played.

Katie loves the tire swing.

Austin looking tough.

Ash and Natalie.

The kids being all cool and stuff :)