State Museum of Pennsylvania

What a great place! So kid-friendly and VERY nice. Natalie enjoyed the scavenger hunt. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the museum. They also had fun at the hands-on play place located within the museum. We will certainly be returning for some more fun.

We also hit a Mexican restaurant, of all places for lunch/dinner. We miss the REAL stuff from AZ, but this place was pretty good.

Baby Oliver and the kids

The purpose of our Ohio visit this time was to welcome baby Oliver into the family and be with their family as they blessed him. It was a great weekend. I am still amazed that Alyson could put up with so many people in her house so soon after a baby. The kids had a grand time, as usual, playing together. We decided that considering we all have pretty strong willed children we are always in for some excitement when we put them all together.

Newel K. Whitney Store

It was nice visiting the store and historic Kirtland site. We also saw the ashery and the saw mill. It was neat learning about the ashery--about the potash and pearlash. Potash was used by Pa (Charles Ingalls) when getting his gun ready to shoot. It was neat learning about this too. The video we watched about the Whitney family was WONDERFUL, they were such great people. This was the most enjoyable site of them all.

Kirtland Ohio Temple

We enjoyed seeing the Kirtland Temple, the first temple built by the early members of the Church.

John Johnson Farm--near Kirtland Ohio

We headed out to Ohio for the baby blessing of my brother Tyler's newest baby. while out there we hit some Church History sites. Tyler and his family are about an hour from Kirtland. We first went to the John Johnson farm. It was a great experience for all of us. We enjoyed the history of the farmhouse (where Joseph Smith was dragged out in the middle of the night by a mob who proceeded to tar and feather him--he still got up and preached forgiveness and kindness the next day, and even saw some members of the mob in the crowd). We enjoyed learning more about pioneer life and the sacrifices the early members of the Church made.

The children enjoyed comparing the place to the home of Charles an Caroline Ingalls (of Little House on the Prairie). I have begun reading the series to them each night after scripture study, we are only on the second book. Natalie says it is her favorite part of the day. And Everett amazingly sits quietly and listens. They are really enjoying the books. Dan and I love them too...they provide many opportunities to teach the kids about pioneer life. Anyway, we spent time comparing and contrasting the two homes. It was great for them to see something tangible in relation to what we have been reading. I was disappointed that they could not have listened a bit more intently to the guides.

Everett loves dress up!

How cute is he?

Halloween Costumes 2009

Dan was informed by one of his co-workers that he is "cheap"...what a great compliment--to us anyway. Reason being, the total for the two outfits was a whopping $1! Sure, if people want to go out and spend who knows what on an outfit the kid may wear one time, so be it. We are happy spending our $1. Dan helped Natalie create her outfit, "a pharmacist". Everett's "Woody" costume, I found at a yard sale this summer for $1, complete with shirt, pants, and horse. We added the hat--given to us from our dear old friend, Brantley Baird, of Rock Art Ranch in Arizona. The kids were so dang cute!