This spring was a busy one. April 26th, my friend Carol and I flew to Utah to begin the final part of our Church History tour last fall. It was a six temple tour combined with the church sites that we had not yet seen.
Since the Heber City Temple was closed, we began our trip with a visit to the Provo City Temple. I had not yet been inside, and was extremely impressed with the attention to detail and the beauty of the building!
Went through the Badlands...was very impressive. Mother nature is quite the architect!
This is the biggest buffalo in the world...good grief!
Went through several small historic towns. Such nostalgia!
The Minneapolis-St Paul area was very nice and we were able to see the St Paul Cathedral as well as the Mall of America....apparently worship takes place in both locales!
Indoor amusement park....entertain the kids while mom shops! LOL!
Carol stops for a photo shoot on our way to see Wicked!
First time viewers, we were both excited and certainly not disappointed!
As we made our way south and west again we stopped at Mt Pisgah, a place of refuge for the LDS pioneers. Both Thomas Hayes and his wife were buried here. Their three children were raised by an uncle who took them to Salt Lake with his family. They are Doyle's relatives on his mother's side.
This was a lovely farm area and it had a rather large settlement of Mormons. The people of Iowa in contrast to Illinois, were very kind to the persecuted Mormons. Our guide owns land in this area and he was very helpful and kind.
In Council Bluffs we learned more about our pioneer ancestors. As you can see another of Doyle's ancestors was a non-commissioned participant in the Mormon Battalion. Ebenezer Brown and below, his wife Phebe, accompanied him on the nearly 2,000 mile trek.
An example of the uniform that was worn by the commissioned officers.
A garden by the visitors center at Winter Quarters is to honor those who trekked, suffered and died in this area. We were able to attend the Winter Quarters Temple, and it too paid tribute to those faithful pioneers.
Our tour had come to an end and we traveled by plane out of Kansas City. I had a day and a half layover with Micah and Noble's families, so we got together and celebrated Noble's 34th birthday!
My two sweet, hairy boys! Love these kids!
My dear Autumn sent this to me for Mother's Day....awwww!
Liora, Haven's youngest, Haven and I went out to the cemetery as is customary on May 12 and again October 5. We cleaned up Kelsey and Doyle's headstones and paid our respects to these two "angels" that we know we will see again one day! Miss you boys!
Summer was here before I knew it and even with plans to stay home and garden this year, I could not resist a short trip with my two good friends, Carol and Deanna!
We rented a cabin in Winthrop, WA, about 2 hours from home in the Cascade Mountains. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed this little western town filled with history, stories and of course, fun shops and yummy restaurants!
The outdoor historical park was filled with antiques of every kind and after taking us back 100 years, we were most grateful for indoor plumbing and AC!
Even though the downtown was touristy in nature, the people seemed laid back and very pleasant....this fellow didn't have much to say for himself...
Stopped for ice cream one day and just had to saddle-up!
On our way home we had to stop by Cashmere where we got a genuine 1950s hamburger and milkshake at the 50s Diner! Now that history is not so ancient that we could not relate! Yay Elvis!
The rest of the summer was spent working in the yard and playing with grandkids. We had terrible wildfires this year, so ended up in Utah early in August and played with kiddos there. Ariel drove down and we spent five days at BYU Education Week. A first for both of us. My sister, June, drove down to meet us and the three of us had a very enlightening and fun time!
The Museum of Art on campus had this original Nativity by Brian Kershisnik, which I love, and this rainbow installation using the skylight for effect. They had a great cafe as well! Met up with LuAnn Warren from Pleasanton, CA for lunch. Always so good to see friends!
Home again and summer is drawing to a close. Still hot out, but the kids have returned to school and my gardening efforts have proved sufficient. Lots of strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, green beans and even cantaloupes. Now for drying, freezing and canning!
Happy Autumn!
