Highlights of July

The past three weeks have been CRAZY!! The BEST news is I've been able to see all of my children,  grandchildren and parents in the past three weeks. The bad news is I've put on 5 or so lbs!! I spent around 20 hours driving to and from the airport and then all the driving with our vacationing. Today I'm back on track, but so thankful for all the good memories that were made!!

It started off on July 9th when Jacob returned home from his mission. We had a very slim crowd to greet him at the airport, but were so excited to see him. He was so emotional when he saw us and hugged us for the longest time. It was a very sweet moment. For the past four years, minus the month in between Jared and Jacob's mission we've received a missionary letter every Monday. They were one of the highlights of my week and I'm really going to miss them.

Staples makes these vinyl banners that you can order online anywhere from 3 ft. to 8 ft. long.

Poor Jacob got home Wednesday afternoon & Friday morning at 4:00 am we were on our way to the airport to fly to Kansas City, Kansas to see Kristy and her family. 

Our first stop was an Amish community near Adam-Ondi-Ahman. We love looking at the beautiful furniture they make, quilts, and home decor. We tried out their local bakery &  grocery store where you could buy Rainier Cherries for half of what we pay for them here and they were from Wa. I have a hard time understanding that???

Next we headed to Adam-Ondi-Ahman

Here's Russ at Liberty Jail with the kiddos.

The church's Visitor Center in Independence, Missouri. We were able to see some dear friends from when we lived in Missouri, the Phillips. He was our Bishop & Russ was one of his counselors. They are on a mission there now so they were able to give us the tour.

Right across the street from the church's Visitor Center is the RLDS (Community of Christ) temple. We did a quick walk around in it and Jared was able to play a hymn on the organ.

Sunday we attended Kristy's ward and then all of us drove to Nauvoo, Illinois. It was about a 5 hour drive. We got there in the evening and stayed right across from the temple.

Kristy wanted me to try and get a nice family picture of her family to enlarge. It started out pretty good, but went from bad to worse. Its a good thing we could laugh about it. This was a short moment though as the kids did great and loved visiting all the sites we went to. 

Jazlyn and Matsen pulling a handcart.

Seventies Hall

Skovill Bakery…the missionaries make 50,001 gingerbread cookies in the Winter and then freeze them for the summer to pass out to the tourist.

One morning we got up early and went to the Nauvoo Temple.

We walked the "Trail of Hope" that is a pathway marked with journal entries that leads to the Mississippi River where the saints crossed in the middle of Winter. This was a touching post from Lucy Smith's granddaughter.

At the river is a statue of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith.

From Nauvoo we headed to Carthage Jail. Jared and Jacob are in the room where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred.

The day after we returned to Kristy's house, Russ and the boys were able to help Wes stain their deck. Its amazing how "many" hands can speed up the job and it turned out really nice.

Their finished deck!!

The night before we left we celebrated Kelston's 4th birthday! We had such a fun time and it was so nice to be able to see Kristy's lovely new home. They live in a beautiful neighborhood, close to the schools and they already love it there. It was hard to leave, but so glad we were able to spend some time with them.

We arrived home late Thursday evening from Kansas City & early Saturday morning we picked up my parents from the airport. They came to hear Jacob give his report about his mission. Jacob gave a really nice talk about having the spirit with us all the time and how we can do that. Its so great to see their testimony grow and the spirit touch their life. 

Tuesday evening we heard a knock at the door & when I opened it a baby car seat was sitting there by itself with a blanket over it.  I knew as soon as I saw it, it was Lindsey. I lifted the blanket and there was baby Halter staring up at me as cute as ever! I couldn't believe they surprised us and just showed up at our door!!! We spent one night at the lake and made woofums with everyone….it was raining, but it didn't stop us.

While my parents were here we celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. We had a vinyl poster made for them also. We took them to a nice Italian restaurant we had years ago and my mom wanted to go there again. 

Mom and dad with Tytyn 

After I took my parents to the airport we went boating at the lake. Tytyn loved this little ski trainer. 

Here's sweet baby Halter. He's the best little baby and rarely cries. He's 2 months old now.

We went out to Westport one day and went crabbing. It took Tytyn a while, but we finally got him to hold one. He was very upset he couldn't take it home with him.

After crabbing we headed to the beach….Tytyn's first time! He loved it and had so much fun playing in the ocean. He got so wet he got down to his undies. 

Windy day at the beach, but enjoying being together.

Now everyone has seen Halter, but Jared. He flew back to Utah the day before Lindsey arrived. It was SOOO awesome to see everyone. I LOVE my family!!!!!

July 4th

I need to record the 4th of July for myself, for a couple of reasons. First, I am NOT a crafty person and I made something I was excited about. When Russ and I took our trip down the coast in June I saw a HUGE American flag made out of cedar planks. It was 5 ft. by 3 ft. and cost $90. We couldn't fit it in our car, but we took the measurements and I was determined to make one myself. I went and purchased  the cedar planks, my good friend supplied me with some paint and a stencil with 50 stars on it and I had it made in one evening with a cost of $12.50!!

The most time consuming part was the taping between the stars and stripes. I made this one evening while Russ was at the church in meetings. He arrived home around 10:30 pm and when he got out of the car he said, "well there's a sight I never thought I'd see."

Here's my finished flag!!

I really wanted it to hang on the lake house and finished it just in time for the 4th of July.

The second reason I wanted to record this day was because it turned out to be such a special day. 

Over the past several months our ward has been experiencing more trials than usual. I have been very concerned and upset by all the events that our taking place & kept asking myself, "what can I do about it?" I love the scripture in Mosiah 18:8 where Alma teaches us how we should live after we're baptized,

"…and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light; Yea, are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort…" After thinking about this scripture and praying about it I decided to invite many to the lake for the 4th of July. We had a wide variety of people there of all ages and I was a little worried about how everyone would "mesh" but the amazing thing was that everyone bonded soooo well and had a great time. It turned out way better than I could have hoped for. We ended up having 33 people there, with two non-members, a couple less actives, several single sisters, the Bishop and his family & the Ward mission leader and his wife. It was the first year we haven't had any of our kids there, but I felt so good after it was over that I felt like I'd had family there. I get emotional now still thinking about it. We played games, went boating, ate, ate and ate more, sat in the hot tub, had a big bon fire and watched a great firework show. Several families didn't come that I really wanted to, but its a start. I know when we put forth the effort to try and help each other the Lord prepares a way for the spirit to be there. 

Here's most of our group on the 4th…we love them!!

One of the highlights at the lake on the 4th is a boat parade. Everyone has buckets of water balloons and as the boats drive around the lake people on their docks and in other boats have a HUGE water fight.