Caught in the Middle: September 2011

I failed to add this to my last blog the last time I posted. It was of Abe and
Dallin on our front porch when they came out in July by themselves to visit us!
We had lots of fun with them.

Roma and I have wanted to go on a church history trip for a long time. We always had a conflict of some sort or another and had never made it. We decided this spring along Roma's brother and sister and their spouses to do a road trip that would include Nauvoo, IL, and Kirkland, OH. We wanted to include some antiquing along the way. Roma's sister and brother are into antiquing. So we used some frequent flyer miles to fly to DFW and then went antiquing around Fort Worth (where Dick and Jane, Roma's brother and sister-in-law live). Then we took two days to get to Nauvoo and spent a day and half seeing the sites. We attended a temple session (that was a special experience).

Next we took two days to get to Kirkland passing through South Bend where I convinced the crew to go see Notre Dame stadium and touchdown Jesus. That was a blast.

Then the next day we spent in and around Kirkland. We toured the Kirkland Temple. It is owned the the Community of Christ church. They gave us a very nice tour of the Temple. It was fun to see where a lot of Church history took place. Then we visited the sites owned by the Church. The Newell Whitney Store and the John Johnson farm. We experienced a very spiritual time at both locations.

Our part of the trip ended near Pittsburgh at my brother Jim's home. Grechen's, (his wife) parents own an antique business. We hit the mother lode as far as antiquing goes. They had to rent a trailer to haul everything home. They left us in Pittsburgh and we stayed two glorious days with Jim and Gretchen. Its such beautiful place. We just relaxed and spent a lot of time on their covered porch, swam in their parents pool, and ate lots of really good food. Tuesday Jim and Gretchen drove us over to Matt and Emily's home just it time for the earthquake and hurricane. No damage was done here but it was an exciting time.

The following week Emily had her baby. They named her Jane Marsha and she is a cutie. She was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long. She has lots of dark hair.

I feel great except some tiredness. We have had a great time and appreciate all the kindness we have been given.