Church History Tour
Eric's Grandma decided to take all her children, grandchildren, and spouses on a church history tour. My mom came out for the week and watched Bryson and Carley. We almost took up the whole tour with about 45 people. First we flew into Omaha Nebraska and then got on a tour bus where we went to Winter Quarters. We stayed on the bus for the next week traveling to different places
We were able to see the temple and the old pioneer cemetary and visitors center in Winter Quarters.
My great-great-great grandmother Frances Turley died in winter quarters and is buried in this cemetery.
The next day we went to Council Bluffs and went to the tabernacle where Brigham Young was sustained as a prophet.
From there we went south into Missouri and visited Independence. We went to the Community of Christ (RLDS) temple and visited some sights where church members were persecuted and where they had a printing press that was burned.
Later that night we visited Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin spent 5 months in the basement in freezing temperatures and where Joseph recieved revelation that is now included in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Saturday we went and visited Richmond Missouri and went to two cemeteries. One where David Whitmer is buried and the other where Oliver Cowdery is buried.
From there we went to Far West Missouri and then to Adam-Ondi-Ahmen. It then took 4 hours to finally arrive in Nauvoo late Saturday night.
Sunday morning we attended Sacrament Meeting in nauvoo with 1083 people in attendence and all received the sacrament. Following sacrament meeting we went to the old pioneer cemetery. We then went and visited some different spots in nauvoo.
Some included visiting the Mississippi River which in February 1846 froze overnight so the saints could cross. We also visited Joseph Smith's mansion and homestead.
I also got to see where my Great-great-great grandfather Theodore Turley lived next to Joseph Smith. We also visited the temple quarry,Red Brick Store, Browning Gun Shop, Post Office, Boot Shop, John Taylor's home, the printing office, and the old stone arch that Joseph and Hyrum and others built to divert the water.
We had the best weather while we were there. It wasn't too hot and muggy and the only rain we got was Sunday night and Monday morning and monday morning we spent in the nauvoo temple. View from the steps of the temple of the Mississippi River.
After the temple we went to the blacksmith and waynewright stores and then to the visitor's center and statuary garden for women. At the blacksmith store Eric won the small horseshoe that they made. We went to two plays today. One put on by the young performing missionaries and the other put on by the senior missionaries. They were funny.
Tuesday we went to the Brickyard, Lucy Mack Smith's home, Wilford Woodruff's home, Heber C Kimball's home, Brigham Young's home, and The Family Living Center where we got to see how they made rope, candles, barrels, and other things.

That afternoon we drove to Carthage and visited Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith was killed.
After dinner we went to the other side of the Mississippi River where the Saints would have landed after they crossed and looked back at Nauvoo as they were heading to Utah.
Wednesday we traveled down to St Louis with a stop in Hannibal where we took a Riverboat and visited Mark Twain's home. That night we attended a session at the St Louis temple.
Thursday we visited the St Louis Arch and then caught a plane and came back to Utah.
Wow, what a week, with a whole lot of church sites packed in. Thank goodness for digital cameras because Eric and I took roughly 1100 pictures. I am so thankful to my pioneer ancestors who sacrificed so much to come to utah and build the Church.

So a couple quick pictures since I have 10 minutes to spare. We have literally been busy non stop on our church history tour... But for me these two pictures represent a lot of what I have learned...





















This is the grave site and church memorial of Alexander Donophinn. Look him up if you don't know who he was.




My picture of the Nauvoo Temple at night.



More to come later

T-Ball

Tonight was Bryson's first night of t-ball. He had fun. He got to be at bat twice and run around the bases. He was so excited when he scored a run. He also got to run and get the ball and throw it to first base.

In case anyone missed it, Weezer put out a new video this week. Its been a while since Weezer has come out with anything new let alone a new album. Even some of their most recent stuff (el scorcho era) hasn't been quite the same sound. But I think this new song has that same feel. There was a time in my life when almost all that listen to was Weezer. I even consider Carley's name part inspired by the song "Mykel And Carli". Some of the best times with friends were at Weezer concerts! So if you haven't take an look yet, hit the play button and watch the "Pork and Beans" video here....



So my rating is four stars ****. It has the ninja roll guy that I have laughed at so much this past year. The Leave Britney alone guy(Chris Crocker) and so many other pop-internet icons. It's like they got all my "this is funny" emails and then made a video out of it with a rocking song. But they didn't just copy and pasted the funny videos... they went and got the people to do new stuff in their video! Anyway if you like Weezer, and enjoyed this video let me know!

Oh and in case you were wondering if it was legal for who ever to upload this video (I didn't)... well it looks like Weezer put it up..
see here

References to other videos here

Tay Zonday
Miss Teen South Carolina
Kelly, from the Shoes video
the Will It Blend? blender
Chris Crocker (Leave Britney Alone)
the dude in Evolution of Dance
Daft Hands
Charlie the Unicorn
the ninja guy -
the Dramatic Look Gopher!!
it's peanut butter jelly time!
K-Fed
the Soulja Boy dance
diet coke and mentos
lightsaber guys
t shirts
numa numa
all your base are belong to us
GI Joe PSA
UFO
Guy and Glasses
Cannon D
Thats a first list... Just think how hard it was to find all these random people on the internet. EPIC

Preschool Graduation
Bryson had his preschool graduation today. They went to the park and played and then had a little program where they sang the songs that they have learned this year. Compared to last year when he didn't sing for the program, he sang all the songs this year and did a great job. I can't believe I have a child ready to go to Kindergarten in the fall. Where has the time gone, he used to be a baby.

Bryson and his friend Dillon

Bryson and his teacher Miss Julie

Bryson and his preschool class

A weed or a flower?
My opinion is that the dandylion is an annoying weed that gets in my grass and makes it look ugly. My kids love blowing the seeds and I yell at them to not do it by the grass or I will have more to dig and clean out.
But every once in awhile something pretty comes from a weed. The field across the street is full of them and with Timpanogos in the background we thought it would make a great picture.
So tell me what you think of dandylions

An addiction? Perhaps.
So Eric thinks I am addicted to blogging. He thinks I am crazy for posting everyday. I have to say I love looking at others blogs and seeing how everybody is doing and keeping in contact with everybody. It's like getting Christmas cards everyday, which is one of my favorite parts about Christmas is hearing from everybody.
I have to defend myself though. Sometimes I can go a week without blogging and other times I do it everyday. It just depends on what my kids and I have been up to and if I take my camera and take pictures or not.
I hope those who read my blog enjoy it. Please leave comments. I love knowing who reads my blog and keeping in contact.
Has anybody ever put their blog into a book like a journal or something. I would love to have some ideas.

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Eric was going mountain biking with a group from work and since we spent the day in Salt Lake the kids and I decided to hike the trail that he was biking.
It was a beautiful day and the kids had a lot of fun.
They picked up rocks, chased butterflys, watched for bears (Bryson and his imagination), and got a little dirty.

We can't wait to spend more time outside biking, hiking, and camping

Springtime


I have been wanting to take spring pictures of Carley and we finally did it tonight. Eric did a great job taking the pictures and Carley had fun holding the chick and flower

Garden
So, I can't even compare my garden to the Bunting's, but today I finally finished getting most of the plants in and last week I got the seeds in. We are still getting below freezing in Midway so we have to cover our tomato plants with wall-o-waters so they won't freeze. Usually we have a couple nights that go below freezing until June 10th so when the plants start to sprout I put the row covers on at night so they won't freeze.
Tomato plants before wall-o-waters - you have to look close in front of Carley to see the plants. The other part of the garden hasn't sprouted yet.

Tomato plants after wall-o-waters

Carley covered with dirt from the garden. She kept getting her hands dirty and then washing them, then getting them dirty, and then washing them. She loves to play in the hose and get wet

Farm Day at the Kelly's

For preschool this week the theme has been "the farm". So today for a field trip we went to one of Bryson's friends house and got to see horses, sheep, and we brought the chicks along for show and tell. Bryson had so much fun showing the chicks off. He also got up on the horse willingly. Last year he wouldn't even get on.
Carley didn't want to get on, but she did love petting the horse and giving it kisses.

Fat Lip/ Snaggle Tooth
So much for a pretty smile.

We were over at our friends with the chicks yesterday and Bryson was playing catch with their dog, who happened to be on a leash. When Bryson threw the ball the leash whipped under Carleys feet making her fly head first into thier cement patio. She chipped her tooth and got a fat lip. She cried for awhile, but after an hour and being able to relax and watch the Bee Movie (the show is on constantly at our house) she was back to her normal self. Bryson and Eric have a appointment to get their teeth cleaned a week from Friday so we are just going to wait and have the dentist look at it then.