The rest of our trip

Here are a couple pictures of the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple.

I love this one that my Mom took. 

Isn't the scenery amazing!!!

This is the home of the Browning family, and the gun smith. It is one of many homes and stores in Nauvoo.

This is the first home that Joseph Smith lived in in Nauvoo. It is right on the Mississippi River and has a breath taking view.

It is also the final resting place of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith.

Joseph and Hyrums bodies were secretly hidden for many years. In 1928 They were reburied for the final time .

             Nauvoo was so beautiful, If any of you get the chance to visit, it is definitely worth it!

We had a fun slumber party at the hotel and painted each others toe nails.

Here is Grandma with the babies.

                             The next morning we drove 20 miles to visit Carthage Jail.

This is the room that the jail was in. The jail was actually in a family's home.

This is the bullet hole in the door.

The top window is the Window Joseph Smith fell out of when he was shot.

It was a neat experience going into the jail and learning of the events that happened there! 

Marlie was being noisy and wiggling all around, when we went into the room where Joseph Smith was shot we listened to a 4 minute audio tape. She went silent and held perfectly still during the whole thing. We all felt the spirit and it strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith and all that he sacrificed for us and the church.

Splish, splash, Marlie and Hudson taking a bath!

We all had a great visit, and it was sad to say goodbye! I am grateful for the time we got to spend together, and look forward to Mary and Hudson's next visit in November!

I hope I didn't bore you all with all of the pictures, I just had a hard time picking from all of them.

The city of St.Louis

Most of you know that my Mom and I are in Missouri visiting my sister Mary, her husband Cam and their darling baby Hudson. I am actually watching Marlie and Hudson right now and the are both sleeping. I decided to blog so there won't be so much to blog about when I get home. My mom and Marlie and I flew here on Tuesday. I HATE to fly!!! We flew in a much smaller plane than I would have preferred, but we made it alive so I shouldn't complain. Yesterday we went shopping to a really cool mall. We went to the Children's Place just to look. 2 hours later we left with a huge bag of clothes. The awesome thing is that we hardly spent anything! It was the craziest sale ever! I got 12 pieces of WINTER clothing for $41.00's (that is including 8.5% sales tax!) I got a hoodie that was normally $21.00's for $4.50. We were so happy with ourselves and our big finds!!! Well enough about that. Look and big boy Hudson!!

I was so excited to see Mary, Cam and Hudson. Hudson has grown so much! Last time I saw him he was 6 weeks old and weighed 12 lbs. Now he is 4 months old and weighs at least 17lbs. He is seriously bigger than Marlie who is 10 months! (Marlie is a little peanut, but still!) Well, he is so cute and fun. I am afraid that I am going to be so sad on Sunday when we go home.

Today Cam had the day off of work so he took us to into St.Louis City where he works. On the way there My mom wanted us to stop by a Cemetery to find some of our ancestor's graves.( My great, great, great grandpa and his family.) We got a little lost trying to find it, then when we got there we found out that the headstones we were looking for didn't exist. They knew where they were buried, but only 1 out of the 6 had a headstone.

Cam had to clean up Hudson after he made a MESSY accident in his pants!!

After the scenic drive through the SLUMS (I was scared for our lives!) We made it into St.Louis and went to the famous ARCH. They call it the gateway to the West. We went on a ride inside of it and all the way to the top. It is over 620 feet tall, but it looks and feels like over 1000!!

This is a picture of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball field and on the Mississippi River from the top of the Arch.
When we got down we ate lunch right underneath the Arch. We have been having a great time. Tomorrow we are going to Nauvoo until Saturday. I will post more when I get home. I MISS Dave and the kids tons! I appreciate all of their help while I am gone!

Fun with Friends

Over the last few months we have had some fun outings with our good friends the Doutre's, Weaver's, and the Marsh's. The first Outing was this summer when we went camping to the Onieda Narrows in Southern Idaho. The campground left much to be desired, but the River that was so much fun!!!

We would pile all of the gang into Dave's fun new Ranger and take them up the road a couple of miles and dump them off.

   They would all float back down the river and end up at camp!

         We had a great time and can't wait to go back next year!

        The kids and Blaine spent hours catching frogs. 

Here is a picture of some, they  caught over 25, but let them all go when we went home.

 Then a couple weeks ago we went to Bear Lake and stayed in Miller Cabin. (Blaine's Grandparents cabin.) The weather wasn't the best for being outside, so we spent a lot of time playing games.

When the sun did come out the kids loved playing on the big lawn and going for a Ranger ride. Marlie enjoyed spending some time with her Dad.

We are so blessed to have such great friends and to be able to make lasting memories together!

Baby Drew

On August 28th, 2008 My sister in law Kim (Tim's) wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, they named her Drew.

We were so excited to go see her and hold her for the first time. She is so beautiful !!!!!!

She looks just like her big sister Addie. I am so lucky to have such cute nieces!!

 Addie had a blast playing with PA PA, D, (that is what 

calls Maddi) Kayla and Mason. 

We also got to celebrate my moms birthday!! Can you see the candles 57!! Doesn't she age gracefully! (I hope I get some of those genes!!)

Our Little Slugger

This summer while McKayla was busy with her lamb, Madison decides to try something new. She signed up for the coach pitch softball league in town.

She was not sure that she was going to like it, but after lots of practicing with  Dad and Grandpa, she was hitting like a pro.  

She was good at every position that she tried.

We all had a great time watching her grow and learn! Hopefully she will want to play again next year!

EWE go girl!!

This year McKayla felt a little bit more prepared when it came to showing her lamb. She picked her lamb out and bought it in the spring. Then she has to feed and water it everyday. Towards the end of the summer she had to start walking it and training it everyday for at least an hour. It can be hard! Lambs are really DUMB! She got walked on and drug around quite a bit, but she never gave up.  Her lamb wighed 115 lbs, and she only weighs 58.Her hard work and effort paid off when she got a blue ribbon at the County fair. She placed 62nd out of 300 lambs, not too, bad!
 

Madison's Baptism

I know I promised more posts. I am so behind!!! I am going to get caught up one day, I hope! These posts are not in order of how the events took place, but it will have to do!

Madison was baptized on September 6th, 2008. It was a little different not having any of my family there. Her Grandma and Grandpa were in Beijing with Uncle Marlon, Tim Kim and Addie, were with their brand new baby girl Drew, and Mary and Cam were at home in St. Louis. We missed everyone, but it was still a very special day , and we had other special family members and friends that were able to attend.

                                                            Here is Dave with Maddi
My Mom's friend Connie makes the BEST cakes in the world. She ordered Maddi a special cake for this special day. Isn't it so cute in the shape of an eight. Can you see the father and the daughter in the baptismal font, then she had a cheerleader in the bottom circle. It was so cute and so supper yummy!
Here we are outside the Stake Center. Marlie isn't looking, but oh well. We had a great day and we are so proud of Maddi and the great choices that she makes in her life everyday!