Summer Wrap Up

 Now that Autumn has officially begun, I guess I had better document some of highlights! I have been busy and lazy both! Sleep has been a difficult thing for me. I need to be better at turning off that light and not reading into late hours, but I also need to figure out how to stop waking up so early, no matter how little sleep I've had! If you have the answer, let me know!

My summer began in a very beautiful way. In May Dee and I both had powerful impressions that we should go to our Bishop and let him know that we were willing to work in the temple. With the opening of the Payson Utah temple later in the summer, the Mt. Timpanogos Temple lost over 1,000 ordinance workers! Many workers at the Provo Temple are now in the Payson Temple district, so Many of our workers up here on the north end were put into the Provo Temple district as the boundaries were all redrawn. The call went out at our church meetings and Dee really began to think about it. I had actually been thinking about it for several months. As usual, the Lord was preparing me ahead of time, because it takes me some time to work my way into a change of routine. We received an invitation to come to the temple and meet with President Funk on a gorgeous day in May and by the time we had left we had been called and set apart as Ordinance Workers, and had received a tour of the worker's area in the basement. We left feeling overwhelmed, humble, and excited! Here we are on our way home that afternoon, so happy!

I began on July 8th, the second day the temple had been open after being closed for the entire month of June. They closed for deep cleaning and also I believe, to have time to get more workers called. Can you imagine being faced with the loss of nearly 1300 workers? We still have not replaced them all, but week after week more new sisters and brothers join our shift. It's a wonderful thing to see our ranks grow! We chose to serve on the Wednesday first shift because Dee has Wednesday mornings free from morning swim team practice. So, the only day he has to sleep in a little, he is now up earlier that usual to serve the Lord. It makes him very happy! He comes home when our shift is over, eats a quick lunch and goes down to Provo for work. I try to be productive, but usually end up taking a nap because 3:50 is an early wake-up call folks!

I will write more later about my experiences in this sacred work. It has been a spiritual time of learning and blessings!

In May Brittany took a much needed trip to Toronto to visit her sister Sarah. Here they are at the top of the CN Tower.

Sarah took Britt to see Casa Loma, a massive castle of a house built by Sir Henry Pellat beginning in 1911. It was quite a tour!

She had a wonderful time and it was hard to come home and leave Sarah there!

I miss seeing my beauties together!

In June Brittany helped host an event with Provo City, The Freedom Festival's Stars & Stripes Beach Blast. It was held at our outdoor shopping mall The Shops at Riverwoods. We saw an amazing sand castle, enjoyed great live music, and had fun with a massive beach ball drop! Dee's parents joined us later on and enjoyed seeing Brittany at work. She is really good at what she does!

Before Granni & Papa arrived we escaped the heat with some amazing Marley's burgers. I love going into Marley's because they have a little replica of Mesa's famous "Diving Lady" sign. Takes me back to fun times as a little girl pressing my face to the car window so I could see her coming up on East Main St.

My kids were captive by their lunch. I grabbed some photos while I could!

 Here is the sand castle which reminded me of the castle in The Little Mermaid movie. Look at that view of Mt. Timpanogos!

Always in love!

Left Shark was even there!

You could have your photo taken with this beautiful bald eagle which I caught this group of veterans doing. Awesome!

 Here's Dee awaiting the beach ball drop.

 Here is what he was looking at!

Wouldn't you know? My phone battery died just as the drop occurred! I got the very first part and missed the fun beach ball fight afterward! Blogger won't let me upload that little clip though. (sigh)

We came home with five beach balls and happily took four of them down the street to a family that Dee and Richard Home Teach, and I am the Mom's visiting teacher. They have four little girls and loved the surprise as they were proclaiming how bored they were!

We celebrated Richard's 20th birthday with cake and family at home. Before that, however, his sisters took him to the Provo Beaches Resort (at the Shops at Riverwoods) and they enjoyed an afternoon of good old arcade fun!

Cousin Emily is amused at his antics!

Papa and Granni were there. It's so fun to have them with us now! We have always been on our own here in Utah.

The girls showered Richard with their tickets and he brought home some fun prizes, just like the old days when they were all so small!

I love my son so very much! He has faced some difficult challenges in his life and is now really coming into his own. He exhibits so much confidence and is always so helpful and kind. We are working on a check list of ways to prepare himself to serve a mission someday soon!

In June Aunt "BB" flew on a big airplane to visit Lucas in Minnesota. They had they best time making "Possicles" and playing together. Lucas was so sad when she had to leave. I was sad by proxy for him and her both!

Brittany bought some fun Popsicle molds for Lucas and they made all kinds of fruity good treats.

Diana and Lucas took Aunt BB on a nature walk and showed her where the fishies and froggies live in the Mississippi River.

Lucas had fun making silly faces for Britt's camera..."Look at me BB!"

 They also took Lucas to his first movie where he had his own seat.

 I adore this picture of Brittany and Lucas watching the River Days parade in Saulk Rapids, Minnesota. All American fun!

The Fourth of July was low-key. We decided not to do a fireworks show but stayed home and lit our own. We had a backyard barbecue and invited Michael, Sarah, Nathan, and Emily Faria over. Nathan was not so sure about the noise and watched the first part of the show from across the street!

Uncle Dee gave him a juice bar and he enjoyed the sprinkler, however! Isn't he adorable? (those dry spots in the grass have been my nemesis all summer!)

 He also loved the Shasta daisies smelling them and saying ,"Mmmm!"

All of the Fireworks and everyone else appear on videos and, well, Blogger is being dumb.

I finish up July and August next time I write! See you Then!

The Last Post About my Trip...I Promise!

I have been to New York! Not the big city part by any means, but a beautiful part nonetheless! Sarah served her LDS Mission in the New York-Utica Mission which is just East of Palmyra. She was having major flashbacks as we drove along. Lots of rolling fields and trees everywhere. The trees are in groves, all clumped together because much of the land has been cleared for farming. As with Toronto, if only I'd been a week or so earlier I would have seen some amazing fall colors!

 Every farm it seems,has a bright red barn, and everything is so tidy and well kept!

 Sarah said it was bringing back memories of her mission, driving out on country roads all day looking for a random farm or home to visit. Not a great use of time, "tracting" in the countryside!

 We had a hotel room reserved near Fayette because we had planned to visit the Peter Whitmer farm, but we ran out of daylight. We changed into our jammies and ate our Maple Leaf Fudge instead!

(Milk Chocolate & Maple!)

The next morning we made a hard decision. There was only enough time to see Palmyra or Fayette, not both, before heading to Buffalo for the airport. Of course I chose Palmyra. I am determined to bring Dee back someday and we can see it all.

The Smith Farm in Palmyra, New York is a historic site for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith Sr. and his family built the log home in 1818 on Stafford Road near Palmyra Township. This is not the original home but was carefully rebuilt on the original foundation.

In the background you can see the Visitor's Center.

Notice the rough cut logs. President Gordon B. Hinckley insisted that the log home be built with only tools that would have been used in 1818 so that it would be as authentic as possible.

It was here that Joseph Smith Jr. was reading the family Bible one day and received some scriptural direction as to how to have his questions about religion answered.

 Here are the downstairs beds where the parents and younger children slept.

 The stairs to the upper floor are to the right of the fireplace.

 This is the girl's room in the back part of the upper floor.

You can see the girls room behind me. I am standing next to one of the boy's beds.

This is the room where Moroni came to young Joseph three times in one night to tell him about the plates of gold buried in the Hill Cumorah and the great work he had to do.

 This is the sweet Sister Missionary who gave us our tour.

Another one of the boy's beds.

 I took this as we went back downstairs so you could see how tight and narrow the stairs are.

There is a grove of trees behind the house, far from the road. This is where young Joseph went to pray for the answers to his questions about which of all the churches was the rights one to join.

We call this place "The Sacred Grove".

 As we walked from the log home to the white frame home I took this picture of the Palmyra Temple across the road. It is so beautiful! I wish I had thought to take one the night before

This is the frame house that Alvin Smith was building at the time of his death. It is the original house, still standing. The Smith family moved into it two years after Alvin's death and later Hyrum and his wife Jerusha lived there.

Alvin was able to finish this room completely. It is the front room to the right of the entry.

 

It was pointed out to us that he was known for being a perfectionist in his craftsmanship.

The timbers in this room are smooth. There are no rough cuts anywhere. Everything fits perfectly.

 

 On the other side of the front hall we saw the finish work that Alvin's brothers did after his death. Hmm...not so much perfectionism here!

Front-left room, a sitting room.

Some of the translating of The Book of Mormon took place in this room.

 In this sitting room is the fireplace and hearth where Father Smith pulled up the bricks and hid the sack with the gold plates. This was the first of my "ah ha!" moments. This is where it happened.

Mother Lucy's kitchen. I could spend some time in here! My kitchen may be modern and all but this is just so perfect. I love old houses so this was a wonderful room to me!

 The sink is carved out of stone. Her view was out the front window where, if she stood there today, she could see the temple across the road.

 Imagine what she would have thought if someone had told her that!

Lucy's kitchen hutch. I am in love...

 These are the stairs. The upstairs was not part of our tour. I don't know if they do take people up there but we requested a shortened version.

The pantry room is to the left of the sink.

 The girl's bedroom is next to the pantry room. This is the room where Joseph's two sisters hugged the plates between them and feigned sleep while and angry mob searched their house. They were at least gentlemen enough to leave the "sleeping" young ladies alone.

 There are several out-buildings.If I recall correctly this is the barrel making shed

 This barn is not original but was donated by the owner who knew that Brigham Young's father had built it. Cool!

Here are hollow stumps for smoking meat.

 Joseph hid the gold plates in this building first in the loft, then feeling uncomfortable with that decision, he hid them in a barrel of flax below.

I wish I could recall the sister missionary's name. She was wonderful and gave us her testimony and a sweet spirit to take into the Sacred Grove. She took this photo of us and sent us on our way.

 I expected an overwhelming feeling to come over me. You  know, burning bosom and all. But it was not that way. All through the grove I simply felt warm, loved, and at peace. I had already received the burning testimony many years earlier. The spirit I felt in the grove was a sweet confirmation that what I believe to be true really is. It happened here. It felt right and good.

This is where the trail divides. If we had gone further back, the walk would have been much longer. We took the closer trail because I had a plane to catch.

Sarah has been here before. She pointed out that many years ago the trees in the grove were dying off. Nobody could figure out why until someone familiar with the way things should be in a forest pointed out that the church needed to stop cleaning it up! For decades groups had come through on service projects and raked the leaves, picked up the branches and dead logs, and left a 'pristine' looking Sacred Grove. Well, even a sacred place needs rot and decay to feed the soil and keep healthy trees! The woods now are in a natural and undisturbed state, other than the walking trails.. I loved it.

 

Sarah also pointed out that there are several extremely old trees in the grove. Maybe they were there when the Smiths lived here. The caretakers will not tell you which ones they are though. Smart.

 I love this girl! My faithful missionary daughter, my lover of books and theater, my source of knowledge for all things medieval! I pray for God's blessings to be with her always!

Just up the road, 3 miles or so, is the Hill Cumorah and the Visitor's Center. We didn't have time to go inside. I am determined to bring my husband back someday and take more time.

 This is the view of the hill from the road. Most of the wooded area is on the back side.

 We climbed on the trail to about mid-level. The view is beautiful. Again, here in this sacred spot I stood and felt at peace. I tried to picture not only Joseph and his many trips here but also the ancient Prophet Moroni so lonely, climbing this very hill to place the records he had so carefully kept in a safe place

Oh yes, another selfie because we are awesome! Can you see the monument behind us?

You might think it's lame that I didn't go to the top. I was fine. It was enough. What happened here, it really happened. I know this with all of my heart. The witness of the spirit is a very strong thing. It cannot be denied. I love my Father in Heaven. I know He lives. I know His son Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World. The Book of Mormon is another witness and testimony that He lives.

After we left Cumorah we headed west to the airport in Buffalo.

I have always wanted to say it...

I got to shuffle off to Buffalo-o-o!!

My week with Sarah was so fun and amazing and a totally new experience for me. I am a western girl, born and bred. I had never at this point been farther east in the US than Wichita, Kansas or San Antonio, Texas to the south. Of Course we lived in Washington and I have been up to Edmonton, Alberta, and down into Tijuana, Mexico (Woo Hoo!)

 but that is the extent of my travels.

 Really.

I fell in love with the countryside in New York, and I really really love old Toronto.

 I can see why Sarah loves it there so much.

I just wish it was closer!