Summer Time

Okay, so much has happened over the summer that you will have to forgive me for such a long post. I know I should make more updates, and I have good intentions to do so, but never get around to it. So Sorry!
Unfortunately this post is not organized the way I would like it. I do apologize. I tried to fix it and make it look better, but it wasn't working. I definitely made it to long. After spending so much time on it I finally just posted it the way it is. Hope you can follow.
If any of you are wondering about the picture, above? This was one of my favorite pictures I took this summer. It is on the Nauvoo Temple. I took it from the top floor of the Cultural Hall in Nauvoo. This is were they held their dances.

Well here I go.

First: I must announce that my husband has finally graduated with his Master's degree. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Can you tell I am excited. He worked really hard and I am so proud of him. He did an amazing job on his capstone project. Right now we are waiting to see if it will get published.

Second: I got to enjoy my sister and her family coming to my house for the 4th of July. It was awesome. Riley loves playing with his cousins. While we were waiting for them to get to our house Riley kept asking when his brothers were going to get their. We had to explain the whole family relation thing to him. I think by the end of summer he was finally getting the hang of it. Also, I ran a 10K. Yes, I must admit I was one of the last to finish the race, but I did it. It was extremely hot, but fun. The race was to support our Veterans, and we had them on motorcycles escorting us through town. Next year I want to have the whole family do the race, but we will be riding our bikes. I was going to train to run a half-marathon. Unfortunately my knees hurt so bad after training for the 10K that I will not be running the half-marathon.


Third: For our anniversary we went camping with the kids. It was Abbie's first camping trip. She didn't like the fire at first, but by the time we went home she was helping Terry gather sticks to throw on the fire. There was a nice sand bar next to the river that the kids had fun playing in, and yes we drove into to town and went swimming at the local pool. Before we went home we drove to Multnomah Falls and hiked up to the top, which is 1.25 miles one way and about 800 ft up. Riley walked the whole way by himself.



































































Forth: We went to visit my family. Where we had a fun family reunion. I planned to take some water balloons and have a fun water fight. As we were filling the water balloons I did something to my back and could barely stand straight. So you will see from the pictures that I am nice and dry while everyone else is wet. Also, you will notice that Abbie convinced anyone she could to read books to her.





Fifth: We drove to Navuoo to Terry's family reunion. Yes I said drove. It was a long trip, and we all had our moments of grumpiness. Riley won that award, but for the most part we had an amazing trip. I must say my kids did an excellent job traveling and made the trip a lot more enjoyable because of it. We tried to see as many of the historical sites we could on the way their and back.

We started with Martins Cove in Wyoming. When we got their it was actually chilly enough for jackets. One of my friend's parents was serving a mission their so we were able to have them take us on a ride up to the cove and back. On the way back it started pouring rain on us. It was quite the experience. It made me think how cold and wet we were was nothing compared to the pioneers in the freezing snow.


















Next was Winter's Quarters in Nebraska. The kids had fun at the visitors center. They got to dress up as pioneers. Riley thought he was Indiana Jones. While we where in Omaha we went to a pedestrian bridge that spans the Missouri River and walked across it.











































Then we went to Carthage Jail, where we met up with some of Terry's family. It was sobering to actually be at the spot where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.























Later that day we made it to Nauvoo. It was nice to finally be in a spot that we could stay for a couple of days. We got to share a suite with Terry's brother Rob. It was fun. There was so much to do and see their that I will just give some high lights. The Navuoo Pageant was amazing. Of course, the Temple. I am very grateful for Terry's brother Dave and his family and Terry's mother and dad for watching our kids so we could attend the Temple. The 3 mile handcart trek we got to go on with the whole family. I believe I won the award for the dirtiest at the end. One of my nieces flicked cow pie onto the bottom of my pants and shoe. Than I lost that same shoe in the mud. I did get it back though.








After having a Sunday morning devotional in Nauvoo we left for home. That day we stopped at Adam-ondi-Ahmen, Far West to see the temple site, and than Independence to visit Liberty Jail. I was really surprised that my favorite place besides the Nauvoo Temple was Liberty Jail. The spirit I felt their was amazing. Yes it was a very dismal place for the Prophet and the other men that were with him, but I had never put two and two together that this is were the Prophet received a lot of revelations. It was a very holy place.



The next morning we went to the Independence Visitors Center. I believe this was my kids favorite place. At the end of the tour they have this play room for the kids. There was a kids size log cabin and covered wagon and other toys to play with. We spent quite a bit of time their. When it was time to go they didn't want to leave.



After that we spent a day at Terry's parents house and than headed home.

Memorial Weekend

My family and I spent memorial day at the Palouse Falls. It was a wonderful day trip. Since we bought our van we haven't really taken it on a longer drive. This was the first time, and it was so wonderful to have to all the room.
It had been way to long since I had gotten away from Walla Walla (except to go to the temple than home). Terry and I agree that we will not let it be so long again. I think I had it in my head that we couldn't afford to go places all the time, but if we keep it simple and just do small day trips it shouldn't be to bad. Most of the expense will just be the gas. I was able to get some really cute pictures of the kids, so enjoy.The kids spent the whole time trying to find a rainbow and finally found one at the end. If you look closely you will see one in the bottom right corner.

As you can see Riley has lost his upper front tooth. He lost the other one the next weekend.

Abbie was calling the binoculars her camera and as you could see didn't want to take them off for a photo. Luckily we were able to get some photos of her without them.

These last three photos are my favorite!

Easter

Okay, so I know that this is late, but we had a fun Easter and I have some fun pictures to share. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter as well. The kids had way to much candy due to the the plethora of Easter egg hunts. There was about six: Riley's hunt at school; a hunt at a birthday party; two at my house (one with friends and one with just the kids Easter morning); and one at the park that Walla Walla sponsored. As you could see by Sunday I was candied out and ready to focus on what Easter really means.
How grateful I am for my Savior. I am differently not perfect and I know that if it wasn't for Jesus Christ I would be in a sorry state. I am just grateful for the time to really appreciate his sacrifice for all of us. This Easter I have had some situations to help me think more on my Savior.
Riley goes to preschool at a Christian school. Well at Easter time they sent home a cross filled with colorful sand. Riley and Abbie proceeded to argue over whose cross it was. Terry and I had the opportunity to sit down with the kids and explain why we don't worship the cross. That, yes the crucifixion was important but, Christ's atonement and resurrection are what we need to focus on. Christ lives, he was resurrected and because of this we can all live again. I think Riley understood parts of it, and I know we will need to continue teaching him about the Resurrection to further that understanding. Abbie on the other hand proceeded to play with the cross.
The other thing that happened was some missionaries from another religion showed up at my house. I always try to be as polite as I can to missionaries from other churches because I would want the same curtsy shown toward our missionaries. However, the day they showed up had been a stressful day. They showed up during nap time and rung the doorbell. Not to mention at this time I am trying to keep the other kids quiet so they don't wake up the baby. It was a mad house. I ended up being a little rude, especially when the gentlemen sprung a question on me. I don't like being put on the spot. I just don't function well, plus being stressed out at the time. Anyways, he asked, "Have you ever thought about what the name Christ means." I am ashamed to say that at the time I drew a blank. I could tell you about Jesus and what he means to me, but I couldn't tell you what his name meant. Due to this I have taken the opportunity to study more about Jesus and I can now tell you what Christ's name means. Which I will not say, so that if you are like me and can't don't know, you will have to go find out for yourself.
Well I think that is enough rambling. Most of you probably just want to see the pictures so here you go. There is also some videos of Riley singing during his Easter program at school. You will notice that he can not hold still. I think that is why his teacher always puts him on the end. Enjoy!