June 2002
Tess’s
Birthday
Tess has turned 14 years old! She had a school
final on her birthday, but after that was home free. I picked her up along with
several of her school friends to come back to the house for a party. They played
games, had pizza and went outside for water time fun! It started out friendly
with water balloon volleyball, but did ultimately (how can it not?) turn into a
major water fight. It was fun to try to take action shots and see water flying.
The only glitch in the plan was that now everyone was wet, but still needed to
be taken back to the school to meet carpools. So Tess furnished them all with
various clothing and we threw all the wet stuff into the dryer.
Later that day, we gave Tess her presents and cake following which we headed down the street to the Pepperwood park for a neighborhood picnic. We invited our neighbors (the Braddocks and our newest neighbors, the Willardsons) to go with us. Tess was a good sport about not really having a birthday dinner.
Clark’s Preschool
Program
Well, Clark finished off his preschool experience
with a cute program. Not quite on par with the Challenger programs, but it was
fun. He had great teachers and a good experience. He is really looking forward
to Kindergarten.
Loren’s Award
At Waterford
Graduation Loren was awarded the Junior Waterford Award. Each year one boy and
one girl are selected for their contribution and scholarly achievements.
Congratulations, Loren!
Nauvoo
Trip
We started out on the "Big Trip" Friday June
7th by heading east to Colorado. My sister Melinda came with us and
we started listening to CDs and storytelling tapes, watching movies, and
eating car lunches as well as a multitude of snacks. We rotated seats and seat
mates and managed to escape car arguments pretty much until the last couple of
days on the way home where people were definitely getting a little tired of all
the togetherness of family vacations. We arrived in Liberty, Missouri,
on Saturday night. First thing Sunday morning we visited Liberty Jail and
began taking the first of many pictures. We attended a local sacrament meeting
and then we headed to Independence where we enjoyed touring the Visitors
Center and taking a look at the Reorganized Church’s "interesting" temple.
Monday June 10th we headed north to visit Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. It was Melinda’s birthday and we had a fun picnic birthday lunch at Adam-ondi-Ahman. It was so windy that we could only light one candle on her birthday doughnut! We had brought presents and I’m sure that Melinda will always remember this particular birthday! Then we traveled on to Nauvoo, arriving right about dinner time.
We were lucky enough to have reservations at Hotel Nauvoo right in downtown Nauvoo. The hotel part is right above the restaurant which is quite famous for a wonderful buffet. We checked in and just asked if it might be possible to have dinner there that night - we had understood that you needed reservations in advance. Well, they had a table for us about five minutes later! So, we had a yummy yummy birthday dinner for Melinda. After dinner we walked down only about a block to get our first real look at the beautiful new Nauvoo Temple.
Tuesday we headed down the hill to see "Old Nauvoo". We had barely gotten started when it started to pour rain. We had rain gear, but it really rained! So we started out by dashing from building to building. Finally the rain started to let up and we mostly dried out. It was wonderful to see all the original buildings. The missionaries gave great tours and we found everything very interesting. Even Clark did great, which is a real tribute to him - being only five years old. The next day we headed down there again, only this time we took our car and were able to have lunch in the van with the AC running. This was important, because while it wasn’t raining, it was extremely hot and humid. We felt like we were melting! That afternoon at 4:30 we had tickets to tour the Nauvoo Temple. It is a beautiful building. My favorite part was the Assembly Room. The whole temple was beautiful, but I have been in many beautiful temples and they don’t have an assembly room. I liked to imagine the meetings that would have taken place there. I would also like to see the Kirtland Temple as well. We got some nice pictures, although we all look a little wilted, I’m afraid.
Thursday morning we headed down to Carthage to see the jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred. We had to wait in line for over an hour, but the weather was good and we did all right. It was amazing to me that we were really there, at this place that I had heard about all my life - how lucky our kids are to have seen all the church sites during their youth. I do believe, however, that they will need to go back as adults to realize the full impact. That afternoon we finished up the few buildings we hadn’t seen yet in old Nauvoo. Thursday was the perfect weather day!
Friday we headed out of town toward St. Louis. We stopped briefly in Hannibal, MO to see some Mark Twain stuff and take a few more photos. Then we dropped Melinda off at the St. Louis Airport where she flew home to her intended. We checked into our hotel, grocery shopped and did some laundry while the kids swam. After dinner we headed over to see Alan’s grandmother, Grandma Louise. She is almost 89 years old and she lives with Alan’s Aunt - Aunt Billie. It’s sort of hard to visit with her because she can’t see well and she can’t hear well. She was very glad to see us. She hasn’t seen any of us except Alan for ten years. Which means, that she hasn’t ever seen Elliot or Clark. And of course, all the other kids were ten years younger, so it was pretty much a first and probably a last visit with their Great Grandma.
Saturday we packed a lunch and headed off to the Arch - The Gateway to the West! We looked through the museum, watched a film on the construction of the arch and then took the tram to the top. At the bottom we watched an IMAX film on Lewis and Clark that was very well done. I felt like the whole things was very well done and very informative. After dinner back at the Hotel we headed over to see Grandma again.
Sunday we went to Billie’s ward and then went back over to Grandma’s house. We took the laptop so that we could show her pictures of past family events back at home. We think she enjoyed that, but I think it still a little harder for her to see than she would admit. She says it is frustrating and I can only imagine just how frustrating it would be to lose sight and hearing. She misses out on so much.
Monday we headed west towards Winter Quarters and Council Bluffs. We ordered pizza into the Hotel and then went to see the new Temple and take a tour of the visitors center. They also have a nice cemetery there with wonderful monuments to the many pioneer saints who died there. The next morning we went to Council Bluffs to see the Kanesville Tabernacle, which is where Brigham Young was sustained as the second Prophet of the Church. The original building is gone and a new one represents it.
Wednesday we kept heading towards home. We were starting to feel a little weary, so we decided to skip the Mormon Handcart Visitors Center. We did, however, take a few minutes to stop in Superior, Wyoming, which is where Alan’s mom was born and spent her childhood. It’s called a "Live Ghost Town" and we had to admit that there wasn’t a whole lot goin’ on.... Well, we stopped for milk shakes at "Wally’s" in Evanston and arrived home not too long after that. Everyone was glad to get home to their own beds and to their friends, but we will always remember this church history trip and our testimonies will be stronger as a result. We are extremely grateful that our family has had this opportunity.
Clark Learns to
Ride a Bike
Clark has grown up so quickly that we sort of
forgot to teach him how to ride a bike without training wheels. So Alan took the
training wheels off and started to teach him how to ride. Well, the first time
he tried, he went about 150 feet with practically no help. He had to work a
little on starting and stopping, but he's a natural rider. Now he goes up and
down the sidewalk as if he's been riding for years!