October was the month for travel. We went with John an Stacey
and family back east. Our first stop was cousin Jorgen in Denver
Where we also had a nice visit with A. Ellen.
When she left, we went to the Denver Temple.
Denver Temple
On the Mississippi in Memphis,
We met up with John’s family at U. Doug and A. Pat’s.
We had such a great visit. He retires in May and they’ll be back.
While there we went to the Shilo battleground. It was the sight of the
biggest casualties until Gettysburg.
We then went to Stacy’s brother Anthony’s and thento Gettysburg.
I can’t begin to explain the feelings there. The museum was
amazing and we learned so much. The battlefield was huge
and the feeling of sacrifice, commitment, patriotism on both sides,
courage and fear permeated everywhere. We were on hallowed ground.
This was in the Gettysburg museum with Anthony's family also.
The statue was in commemoration of where Lincoln
gave his Gettysburg Address.
Up on little round top. It's this part in the movie Gettysburg
that everyone should see. They gave so much.
The back of the car filled with food and supplies.
Our hotel that night was in train cars. It was kind of cool.
The next day we went to Valley Forge. Washington and
his troops wintered here in 1776-77. They built these log
cabins for warmth. They had almost nothing as far as
food and clothing. Again, the feeling was one of such gratitude.
This is the peace arch that was built in 1927, 150 years later.
The whole area stirred a great love of George Washing
and all that was sacrificed by his troops.
The Philadelphia Temple
Sam's first view of Philadelphia from the temple.
Waiting to go into the U.S. mint, which we all loved.
Independence Hall - Again, such a reverent feeling.
Kirsten at the Constitution Museum. Life size statues
of all who signed the constitution.
Liberty Bell with Independence Hall in the back.
Outside the Revolutionary War Museum.
This museum was my favorite. I learned so much, and
I felt so much. I came away with so much patriotism.
Timmy at one of the displays.
Elfreth's Alley - Oldest preserved alley in Philadelphia.
The houses were built between 1728 and 1836. They are
still lived in today. Our tour guide gave us a real feel
for the time period and history.
Eating our lunch in a park.
We divided for a day, and John's family went to Washington's
Crossing and we went to Renslarville, NY to see Henny. It was
so good to see her again. We had such a good visit, and Dad
gave her a beautiful blessing.
We got to Palmyra late Saturday and
spent Sunday and Monday there. We
are in front of the temple.
We are in the Sacred Grove. This is such
a beautiful place to ponder and feel. We pretty
much had it all to ourselves.
John's family in the Sacred Grove.
The Hill Cumorah. Such a reverent feeling.
On Monday we went to Grandin's Printing establishment
where the Book of Mormon was printed. This was
fascinating to watch and see how it was printed.
In front of the Smith home in Palmyra. It was very small
for such a large family.
Making crepes back at the hotel. We used the electric frying
pan for all the meals that we didn't have a kitchen for
and that was most of them.
Good to be back east and the beautiful leaves.
Whitmer home. A lot of the Book of Mormon translation
too place here. We loved all the old, restored homes.
We had just seen a film at the Visitor's center telling
the story of David wanting to go and get the Prophet to
bring him to continue the translating, but he needed to
finish plowing this field. It would take him days.
The next morning when he woke up it was all plowed.
This was a beautiful picture of Christ that I haven't seen before.
We traveled the two hours to Niagra Falls. It was amazing
to see and to feel. The Maid of Mist takes you right up to it.
Believe me, you "feel" Niagra Falls.
We then went to Canada to see Morris & Yvette Capener.
We had a wonderful time with them. Of course, we
did a lot of Genealogy and met more family members.
On the way home we stopped to eat at Bob's Big Boy.
Dad have fond memories of it from Mesa, Arizona.
We also stopped at Winter Quarters.
Our last stop on the way home was to see David & Amanda.
We had a short, but great visit. This is one of the longest trips
we've ever taken. We had a wonderful and memorable trip, not
only the sights we saw, but the memories with John's family.
Home to see Mike and Emily in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
They did such a great job, and it was good to be home.
Ellen is autographing her and Sarah's book,
Give Me back My Children. It was quite an eye-opening
adventure for all. Ellen did a beautiful job of writing.
Joe and Tesha have worked so hard to put in a sprinkling
system on the whole acre. We helped to finish it up and
do other things in the yard. It is great to see all that is getting done.
Joe turning on the sprinklers from his phone.
Technology is amazing.
Halloween with the wolf, Red Riding Hood,
and the woodcutter. (Luke, Emmy, Mike)
Chris, Zander, and Mia
We had a great Fall Dance with food,
fun, and visiting. Sorry, I was also
out dancing and don't seem to have a picture
where more people were dancing. Thanks to
Tesha and Emily who planned it all.
We thought we would miss Jennetta's baptism,
but she was sick, so it got postponed. Sorry she was
sick, but so excited to see her get baptized. We're so
proud of you Jetta. It was a beautiful day.
The next week Rob spoke on the Book of
Abraham at the Assembly Hall. We went down
to listen. He did an incredible job. He was asked
a lot of hard questions, but did so well on answering them.
We had a wonderful time at the Pie Fest. We played a
a Jeopardy game to guess the answer to one question about
each person. We laughed and learned about all.
We had the pie fest at our home because of a funeral.
There seemed to be plenty of room for games, puzzles,
and lots of visiting. The exciting news is that Audrey
has turned in her papers to go on a mission. We had a
"Guess where Audrey is going" paper that circulated around.
Congratulations Audrey and we're thrilled for you.
We ended the day with a fabulous game of "Main Deer"
with cousins and Joe, Tesha, and Mike.
I don't have any pictures, so sorry. This is such a tradition.
Audrey holding little Luke, who never cries.
We have so much to be grateful for. The continues to bless
our family so much. We live in a great country where many have
sacrificed much for us to enjoy our freedoms, but we must do
our part or we will lose them. Our ancestors who went before us, lived
their lives to the best of their ability. They work hard, sacrificed much,
strive to follow the commandments and loved their fellow men.
May we all strive a little harder to be a little kinder to all, reach out to
others and minister is love to them, be more committed to follow the
Spirit, work hard, remember both the founding of our country and the gospel,
and ever be grateful to our Heavenly Father for all the blessings He has given to us.
