More Catch up-Palmyra

I am still playing catch up from lots of our fun times this summer. In July went went up to New York for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We had a great time!!

We had a wonderful day in Palmyra. We met up with our best friends from Boston-Marion and Karin, and Carla Price and her girls Kaalie and Sarah. We had breakfast, then stopped at the temple first. It was fun to walk around and look at all the beautiful stained glass windows. It is such a beautiful temple.

Our family in front of the Palmyra Temple

Some more shots of the Palmyra Temple. It was so beautiful-I was amazed at all the stained glass windows. We learned that it is the only temple where you can see out of the Celestial Room-it faces the Sacred Grove.

Which reminds me of another thing we learned about the temple. There were some trees blockingn the view ofteh grove from the temple, so the church asked the town of Palmyra if they could cut them down. They were told no. Well, apparently the next spring the trees had a disease and had to be cut down anyway. Hmm......


Next stop: Smith Family and Alvin Smith Homes.

After we saw the temple we went to Joseph's Home. It was fun to take the kids to the home where the Angel Moroni appeared to the boy Joseph. This house was actually built on the original foundation of the first Smith home. We went up stairs and talked about the fact that the Angel Moroni appeared there. It was nice to be able to share that with the children.



We toured the Alvin Smith home. He started building it for his fiance, then he died. The family then took over the building of the house and lived there. It had been altered through the years, but the church recently did a deconstruction-back to the way the house was when it was originally built.

Here is the hearth were the golden plates were hidden at one point.


The Maney and Price kids in the bedroom of the cabin where the Angel Moroni appeared.

Next on our tour:The Sacred Grove

We had a wonderful visit to the Sacred Grove. It was a hot day, but still so sunny and beautiful. We got there and the kids wanted to walk around on the paths by themselves. They were actually really good. I was a bit worried about them running and bothering other people, but they did really well. I was walking around for myself a bit looking for them and it was a nice feeling.

As I walked through the grove, I would stop at spots I felt were similar to the description of where Joseph saw the Father and The Son. I would think..."maybe it was here....or maybe it was here...." Just amazing to know were in such close proximity to here the vision took place. There's a wonderful calm and peaceful feeling in the grove.



More pictures int the Sacred Grove.
I just liked this picture of Jordan running down the path out of the grove.
When I was walking back to the car, I realized that when you looked to your right, you saw the Nauvoo temple. We didn't see it when we were walking toward the Smith home. No one else in the group saw it because they were way ahead of me. Landon wouldn't walk so it took me a while of walking away from him to finally get him to walk. So enjoyed being able to see it, even though I was fighting Landon at the same time.

Better late than never

I lost the SD card with these pictures for a while, so I was completely thrilled when I found it. So it's better late than never. Spencer finished his 2 years of preschool at Rose Hill. This year was a wonderful year. He loved his teacher Ms. Laura and the assistant Ms. Mary. He was in the same classroom he was in the year before, so he adjusted so well. In the beginning of the year there were only 5 boys, then it grew to 9 boys by the end of the year.

I had fun because Landon and I went every Monday since it was the half day. At first I didn't want to send him that day, but then I decided to stay and help his teacher. She would have things ready for me to cut, color, laminate, copy, etc. I really enjoyed it. Landon loved it, too. It was music day on Mondays as well, so he loved it. One time I took all the stuff and made cookies with the boys. It was so fun.

So the last week of school his teacher had a little graduation program. It was a luau theme and Landon and I went. So cute. Spencer was so proud to get his little certificate.


Here is Spencer and his future "wife". Such a funny story. He told his teacher to come to his house at 5:oo on Saturday and they were going to get married. She was going to move in with us and she could bring her son and all his toys, but not her husband. Funny boy.
Even Landon got in on the action. He was an honorary member of the class since I took him every Monday with me when I volunteered. All the teachers loved him. I thought Ms. Laura was so nice ot let me bring him.

I really loved Spencer's Teacher Ms. Laura. My friend's little girl had her a couple years prior, so I was so happy when he got her. I actually had told her at the end of the previous year that I hoped she could get him and she actually fought to get him as another teacher wanted him in her class. Spencer was in love with Ms. Laura and at one point was planning their wedding. He still talks about her and wants to go back to her class next year. I'm bummed that Landon can't have her as a teacher.


Spencer's whole class. I got to love these little boys so much. I also love, love, love his assistant teachers Ms. Mary and Ms. Linda. We especially got close to Ms. Mary as he had her the year before with a different teacher. We have continued to be friends with Ms. Mary since she is really close to our friend's the Price's.
Thank you for a wonderful 4 years Rose Hill Preschool. Our family loves you tons and will miss you all soooooo much!!!

Cleaning clutter is truly rewarding.

The other day I was cleaning a very cluttery corner of our living room and found a missing SD card and was obviously thrilled!!! It had pics of Jordan's brownie sleepover, school picnic and Spencer's preschool graduation. I have yet to post the pics, but it is in the works.

So today was an even better surprise!! I have been cleaning out closets to get rid of stuff for a donation we have scheduled for tomorrow. I love it when you can just put the stuff out on the steps and they come get it!! Yeah-the house will be lighter.

So I picked up a box full of old cassette tapes. Darin and I haven't even touched the box since I was putting things away when we first got married. I was separating out the commercial tapes from the ones that we or other people had made. I found a tape I had forgotten about....one with MY MOM"S VOICE on it!!! It was one she was making for her best friend who had been a sister missionary in our branch growing up. I was ecstatic!! I left the kids in the living room watching cartoons so I could listen in peace and enjoy it.

It really made me happy!! I laughed and cried all at the same time. I decided to put the digital camera up to the stereo and record it so I could put it on Facebook for my family to enjoy. Soooo cool!!!

Today's moral: find some clutter to clean up-you may forget about some treasures that you may have hidden in a box.

Oh and get rid of stuff you don't need-makes you feel much better!! I feel bad for the pick up guys tomorrow-they will be making LOTS of trip to their truck!!! Woo Hoo!!

Looking for a good therapist.

Seriously. Please still be my friend after you read this. I am in a bad place right now and the kids are upstairs playing, so I turn to my dear friend the blog to express some feelings.

I have some issues with cleaning. I absolutely hate and detest cleaning my house and am no good at it at all. I struggle to teach the kids to clean and we often have clutter, chaos and lots of messes around here. I'm not patient in teaching them, and often give up and do it all myself. Bad, I know. We try so hard...we'll clean Jordan's room and make a deal to keep it all cleaned up. only to have no visible carpet showing a week later. UGH!!

A couple months ago Darin decided to hire a cleaning lady after he spent the weekend with the kids when I went to Boston. He got it all set up and she has been coming every two weeks. I have been trying to work past the shame I have felt, but now I struggle with something else. On the day she comes I am super stressed trying to get the house "cleaned" up for her to come clean. Clearly ridiculous, I know, but I just have it in my hard head that I have to have everything in order for her to clean. I was told cleaning people aren't supposed to clean up clutter and I feel bad enough already that I have her coming, so I want the house to be as clean as possible so she doesn't think we are pigs. (I do have to say that we aren't "filthy" in a sense of germy and gross type of dirty. Just very cluttery and messy.)

So here I sit on the day she is coming totally frazzled. I hate it. I just got off the phone with Darin and told him I wasn't so stressed out before she started coming and he said "but the house is cleaner." True, but in my defense, it is also cleaner partly because I am trying harder to keep up.

So here is part of what I think is a deep seeded issue for me. My mom suffered from mental illness. It was not manifest until after I was about 12 years old. It may have been there longer, but that is when we really saw the consequences. She was what they called manic depressive, or now days "bi-polar" I remember times when she would clean all night long. Like seriously clean-scrub floors on hands and knees with a tooth brush, waxing floors, dusting everything in sight, etc. Then at times when she was depressed, she would sleep all day and not clean a thing.

So, I think I have some issues about cleaning. Do I think if I clean too much, I'll be crazy? Or if I don't clean at all I'll be depressed? Ok, I don't have the actual process of cleaning-I love how the house looks and feels when it's clean, I just have a hard time doing it. Then my kids do things like as I sit here and type this Landon dumps a bag of chex mix on the floor. I feel like I can't win. I did a FHE on having a "house of order" but the kids quickly forget and I give up my struggle to keep up.

Then another issue is that if I know people are coming over, I have a mini nervous breakdown trying to get the house clean. For instance, our home teacher, whom we have been friends with for years and just love, happens to be married to a superwoman-seriously. Lots of kids and an immaculate, super organized home where her kids actually clean. When he is coming I have an anxiety attack-and I always find out before sacrament meeting that he is coming after church. Not his fault, just an issue I have. Some of my friends know and have seen the house in quite a state, but others I just couldn't bear to see the house messy.

I do also prefer to play with the kids and do outings and such no matter the state we leave the house. So maybe I don't have issues-maybe I'm just plain lazy. I don't know. I just know I need to figure it out and do something about it.

So to end on a positive note-I am having my house cleaned in less than and hour and it is always so clean peaceful when she leaves. Yeah!

I'm never going to make it on Top Chef for sure

So I was excited about losing 1lb at WW when I weighed in on Saturday, so I went to Trader Joes looking for some healthy food to cook. When I walked in there was a stand with homegrown fruit and veggies. Summer squash and zucchini jumped out at me. I figured I could find some recipe online and was excited to give it a try. Besides helping my grandpa make zuccini bread and having it at restaurants, I am embarrassed to say I have never cooked it at home.

I had thawed out some fish, which I CANNOT cook. Period. I was hopeful this time, though. I figured grilling it would be good. Little did I know that there was a reason it said to wrap the fish in tinfoil before you put it on the grill. I figured I was using the foreman grill, so it would be ok.

Wrong.

Here's what happened-


But in my defense, I have to say that I grew up in Wisconsin and our staple meats were hamburger, pork in the cheapest form possible, chicken-but not nice boneless skinless breasts, and more hamburger. My dad did fish for lake fish, but he cooked them and my sisters and I refused to eat it. The only fish I ever ate was gross fish sticks that had to be burried it ketchup. I am trying hard with the fish, but it is just so hard to even force myself to eat it.

But I did make salmon last week that was good.

So I found a recipe online for the veggies and picked one I thought would be good. Veggies, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper. Not hard, right?

Wrong again. They came out too soft-I overbaked them, I think. Again-my childhood comes out here. We mostly ate veggies from a can or ones my mom home canned-ya know corn, green beans and peas. Rarely did I see my mom cook fresh veggies except wild asparagus my dad would get on the side of the road, which we refused to eat.

So I made the kids try a piece. This is a rule at our house and usually it isn't too bad. But Jordan just wasn't having it. Spencer at his first to get it over with. Landon took a couple bites-kind of.

But Jordan was another story.

Here's the size of what we wanted her to eat. Not much, right?
Here is what she did when I pushed the issue. I wasn't going to give up, but I LOST big time. She would not eat it. She had a bath and fell asleep pretty quick. I guess the fight over squash took it out of her.

I lost this battle. Dang it.
Moral of the story-I will NEVER become a vegetarian-can't cook them to save my life.

Another moral: you can take the farm girl from the farm, but she will still LOVE BEEF!!!

Grandin Press

We toured the Grandin Press when we were in Palmyra. It was very interesting and the tour was much more involved than I realized. We started in the bookshop part, then went up to the 3rd floor to the room where the Book of Mormon was printed. After that we went down to a room where they did the binding. We toured the offices, etc.

Our little friend Sarah Price helping the missionary show how the Book of Mormon was printed. All the kids got to help at one point or another during the tour. They loved it.
This is I believe the actual transcript of the Book of Mormon.

Here is a First Edition copy of the Book of Mormon. It was found in a home in Palmyra and given to the church. What I wouldn't give to hold it!!

Niagara Falls

We decided to go up to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pagent and went day early and go to Niagara Falls. We stayed in a hotel pretty close so we wouldn't have to drive far in the morning. When we went to eat, it was nice and sunny. But the ugly gray clounds came in quick and never left. It rained all day. Would we let the rain stop us-no way. On we went.


The first place we went was the Maid of the Mist. We were all pretty excited for the boat ride. I was a bit bummed out that it was raining so hard, but ah well. We had one day to do it so we had not choice. The rain did let up a bit as we were going to the boat, but little did we know the heavens would open on us in a few minutes.

Here we are waiting in line.
A view of the falls from the boat. I was longing for some sun at this point. Shortly after this we made a mad dash to the bottom of the boat to get cover from the massive downpour.
If you look closely you can see Landon's hand-he's sucking his finger.
another shot of the falls.
I think this was before the massive downpour.

The color of the day: gray.

Here we are when we got off the Maid of the Mist. The rain had subsided, so that was nice. There are some steps you can walk up on the side of the falls. We went part way up, but then the kiddos were done. Here they are on the walk up.
Yup, looking pretty dorky. Afterward I realized I should have taken my hood off. Ah well.

When we left the Maid of the Mist we drove to another part of the park. We decided to go to The Cave of the Winds where you can walk really close to the falls. I was a bit worried about Landon and my fears came true. More on that later. We drove around for a bit just looking at the rapids leading up to the falls and then parked. The rain had subsided for a bit, but then when we were ready to get out it started pouring again. We stayed in the car for a bit to eat something, but it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon, so we made a run for it. We got our tickets then got ready to go.

We had been seeing people wearing these sandals all day and wondered about them. We found out that you get them for the Cave of The Winds for very good reason!! You get soaked!!!

Maney feet:)
A view of the falls from just before the Cave of the Winds.
We really loved the Cave of the Winds. It was VERY close to the falls, and we think because of the rain it was flowing extremely hard. I was a bit nervous about the wet steps and the kids being able to go through, but they did ok. There were a couple scarry moments, like the time Landon fell. I ended up carrying him the rest of the way, which was not fun. It was cool to feel the water coming down and be right there, despite the fear of my children floating away.

A view of the top
A view from the top of the falls looking down on the Cave of the Winds trail.
This picture was before we went on the trail. Landon wasn't too happy, so maybe that's why he did not like the walk at all!!