Today the fourth of June we went back to the visitor center at Kirtland and went through an art gallery of penciled drawings of the Savior.  Then off to the Isaac Morley farm.  Next was the John Johnson farm where many events took place.  The picture above is the Johnson home.  It was built about 1835.   It is very large and nice on the inside.  President Hinckley asked that the home be restore to its original and 85% of the home is original.   Everywhere you go here there is history that you have not heard of and the Spirit is strong. 

Yes, were alive and doing well.  Thanks for the concern.  Love Grandma and Grampa

We went to visit the Amish.  First we had a dinner cooked by them which was really good.  I got some fudge and Mom got a cinnamon roll.   This picture is taken at the Walmart parking lot.  There is another rail from the building down as far as the one with the horses.  They even have some covered places for them too.  Its neat to see them on the streets.  We drove out through their farming country.  I saw a older man setting in a lawn chair toward the back of his home so I drove up their drive way and got out and talked with him.  His daughter had a plant nursery next door.  we talked about farming in the old days and how it has changed.  Their homes lack electricity  so we talked about life without such things.  I still remember not having it at home so we talked about the different lamps we used to light our homes.  They were really very nice people. 

Tonight were staying in Austinburg, Ohio and we will be at Niagra Falls next.  Its so green out here and every house has huge yards and there so well kept up.

We had a very nice stay with Becky and her family.  After leaving them we drove up to lake Erie and this is the first light house we saw.  Patsy was so excited to see one and it was not open this weekend but the next so we didn't get to go in it.  The lake is huge and the waves were big as it was quite windy Saturday. 

Across the bay we were at was Cedar Point play area.  we wanted to go and had to drive about twenty five miles to get there and we drove out on a fill to this Island only to find we had to pay twenty dollars just to be there.  They say they have more roller coasters than any other park.  Looks to be true. 

As you can see the wind is blowing.  Sometimes the waves would come over the barrier in back of me. 

Patsy loved this park.  If you were down wind you could smell the roses a mile away.  Nice.

This is the saw mill at Kirtland.  It is amazing what they did with so little. 

We spent some time inside here and learned a lot of what happened here.  What a feeling you get.  They told us so many stories and you really feel the spirit.  We went through the Temple also and learned many things about how they used the Temple.  The people here are really nice and we meant several couples and families that are doing the same trip as ours.  One lady and three kids was doing thirty days just like us. 

Sara and Jake are on a co-ed soccer team and they play at a field in south Clearfield not far from Sara's house.  Jenny also plays with them.  All three are great players. 

Jake scores with the help of Jenny.  Way to go.  It's been fun to watch their games. 

Our yearly Robin family raised three chicks again this year under our back deck and they flew the coop last Monday morning.  I saw one the the young Robin on the swing set this morning.  they are about half the size of the grown ups. 

We wanted a fire pit for some time and this week I built one.  I set it on a concret ring so later one we will add a couple of mounds of dirt around the pit and plant some small trees and flowers.  Also we will add stone or cement patio blocks between the pit and mounds.  We may in time add a small water fall.  The family will enjoy this I'm sure. 

I signed up for a booth at the 4th of July activities and Ben is putting his Jeep in the prade and also in the car show the night before.  It will be neat to have all the family here for the fourth and taking part in it.



We try to attend the kids sports.  We don't get to all of them.  Here is Jack playimg T-ball.  He does a good job.

Liz loves vegetables so she is helping Fred with the garden.  She planted alot of peppers. We will be able to have peppers three times a day.

Liz, Jake, Fed and I went to Antelope Island.   I have never seen this many ducks in my life.  The seagulls make the ducks all go under water and causes the wave





Jake thought he could rope the calf, but I guess the calf was too fast.

We saw a huge buffalo.  Actually we saw several.  Some were taking baths in the dust. One tried to beat Fred to the drivers seat.

Liz made this beautiful fruit bouquet.  I love it.

Liz also made this beautiful cake for Afton's birthday.  She also loved it.

Afton blowing out the candles. 



 We took the kids to Golden Spike Train reinactment/  They had a great time. I have the best grandkids ever.

One of the engines the kids got to go through.



Just updating our goings on

Just a little update on our going on.  Lincoln has learned all his shapes.  So we decided to make a tractor, semi, and race car.

 Here's Lincoln doing a great job at soccer.

Sara decided to join a dodge ball team.  It was a new experience because they didn't know the rules of the game. 

Grampa's job was tending the kids.  Hard job. 

Our talented Liz made penguins out of olives and carrots.  Cute.  She also furnished Sunday dinner for us.  Good Job Liz. 

 Jack had fun playing catch with Casper.  Jack has a good arm and chasing the ball made Casper tired.  Way to go Jack.  Afton helped too. 

Great hair doo Afton,  As she started down the slide the wind took over.  How cute you are. 



For Easter weekend Jake and Liz took us to St George.  Liz found a new boyfriend right off.

We went to the art show and then hit the red rocks. Liz decided to kep Jake after all.

While everyone was hiking, I decided to watch people.

Liz found her house while we were there.

We then went to Las Vegas.  This is the temple there.  Very beautiful.

The Temple grounds are very beautiful and there were fountians every where.  There were a lot of people there so we to our picture at this one. 

After Vegas we went to Zions National Park. That is sure  beautiful also.

 

Liz Jake checking out sun glasses.  They both bought a pair, not these ones.  We shopped both St George and Las Vegas.  We each bought a pair of shoes in St George and Liz bought out the outlet stores in Vegas.

 

We had a very good trip and we had a great time.  Liz loved Zions and the country around there. 

 

 

Jack showing off his Easter Chick and Bunny.  Grandma had all the kids involved in making them. 

Lincoln and his Bunny.  Do they both have big ears or am I seeing things. 

Afton's Bunny is a cute as she is.

This is a sun flower cake make with peeps and chocolate chips.  The grand kids helped and they had a lot of fun.   

Chris working on a fire place mantel.  He's building three right now out of Alder wood.  The wood has a lot of knot holes and cracks but is very pretty when finished.  It's also very expensive like a $12.50 a foot.  He does very good work.

Our garden is coming up, first was the onions and now the peas'

The carrots haven't come yet they might need a little warmer soil to sprout.  Should get the radish and parsnips in this week. 

Yesterday was 80 degrees here setting records and was snowing this morning at 30 degrees.  Should be a foot of snow out there this time of year.  I sprayed weeds in the pasture last week.  Chris and I burned the pasture a week ago Saturday, sure greened up fast.  The burnt part in the middle of the swing set I'm tilling up this week to plant raspberry's and corn and squash.  It's a 35 by 40 foot patch.
All the kids are here for Conference weekend.  It's been fun.  We miss the rest of our family  at times like this.   

Family Fun

We had a great week but a busy one.  Tuesday Liz, Megan, the kids and me went to see Grandma.  She is reading a story about what heaven is like.  We sure love her.

Fred help Dave put the new swing set together.  This is how it all started.

Dave putting on the finishing touches.

                                            Here is the finished product with the kids having fun.

Saturday we decided to see the new City Creek Mall.  We decided to ride the Front Runner.

Albany thinks she is a big as the rest of us.

Of course the cousins thinks it is great to all sit in the same seat.

At City Creek there was a great splash pad.  The kids had a ball.  They are drying out now.

After shopping until we dropped or some of us just dropped, we stopped at Cafe Rio and had dinner.  Then Sara had tickets to the gymnastics competition.  Savanna loved it and all of the kids were so good. 

U of U came in second.

Thanks to the trax system we missed our train to come home.  We had to wait one and one half hours for the next one.  It is very late at night now.  All of the kids went to sleep.  Jack started out this way.

And ended up like this.  Very tired kids and adults.  All in all it was a great day.