Nauvoo

We had a wonderful time in Missouri and Nauvoo. We flew to Kansas City then made a short stop at McDonalds for lunch and Kohls to buy some clothing (Juliana had dumped Phil's Coke on his lap while on the plane, and I forgot to pack my skirt). Then we headed to Liberty Jail. We headed to Far West then Adam-ondi-ahman. We took pictures as the sun set at Adam-ondi-ahman. We drove in the dark to Kirksville and arrived about 9:00. We found our hotel then hurried to find a restaurant before closing time at 10:00. The Pizza/sandwich place April suggested was very good, and they were kind to let us eat there, even though they were trying to close the place for the evening.

We visited April and kids the next morning before driving to Nauvoo. It was fun to see where they live. I like Kirksville. It is a nice town. We enjoyed the beautiful drive through Missouri. The kids were excited to see the Mississippi River and actually drive over it. We were all suprised how big it is.

We stayed in an old house right in Nauvoo. It is next door to the Boot Shop and just down the street from John Taylor's house, the post office, and print shop. We all enjoyed being right in the middle of the historic sites.

Things we enjoyed:

Wagon ride

Walking down the Trail of Hope to the Mississippi

Going to the Nauvoo Temple. (The adults attended a session and Josh, Jenicca, Chelsea, and Jocelyn did baptisms. It was neat to have their dads help and Grandpa Virgil. Grandma Marie and Great Grandma Monsen watched them.)

Rendezvous

Attending a Lecture by Susan Easton Black

Visiting the homes and other buildings

Getting Nauvoo bricks, Pioneer "diamond" rings, candles, rope, horse shoe, etc.

Having Worthingtons come visit and have dinner, then the men went to priesthood meeting.

Watching general conference at the visitor center

Finding where our ancestors lived

Visiting Carthage Jail

Staying in a very old house with Fullmers. It was the real experience--minus the wood burning stove and candle light, although the lights did go out right in the middle of dinner one night. Nobodody wanted to enter the basement with its dirt floor and that "creepy little boy" who was locked in the cellar. (Private joke)

Mom and Dad, Grandma Monsen, Ann, Paul, Dorine, and Gary came too. They stayed in the villas just outside of town.

We came close to missing our plane ride home from St. Louis, but with a little luck we made it home. A trip never to be forgotten.

September

I love the month of September.

Every thing looks more golden and bright

And the temperature is just right.

I love the produce from the garden.

Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, melons, and peaches.

I will miss it when it freezes.  

Canning, canning and more canning!  It will be nice to have this winter. 

Happenings

The last few weeks have been full. Full of good and some bad, some happy some sad. On July 23, one of my visiting teaching ladies passed away. She was so down to earth and accepting of everyone. I will really miss visiting her. On July 24th Karen and I went down to Centerville to see our grandma Helen. She passed away a little over an hour after we left. I am so glad we got to say our goodbyes. She was a special grandma. She had suffered for a long time, so I am happy for her that she can be released from the pain of her earthly body. I still get teary eyed when I think about her and how much she has endured. She has been a strength and example to her family. I am grateful to be a part of that wonderful family. My aunts and uncles and cousins are all wonderful, fun, kind people. It was so nice to be with them the night of the viewing and the day of the funeral.

Phil and Josh went on the High Adventure Camp to the Tetons. They had a good time, but Phil said it was a difficult hike for him. He worked there when he was a teenager. It is not easy to admit it is harder to do those hikes now. Maybe it was especially hard because he had just recieved a Typhoid vaccination the day before he left. That stuff makes you feel sick anyway.

Jenicca went to girls camp that weekend too. She had a great time. All the girls in our ward went this year. That was exciting for the Young Women leaders to have every single girl there. Phil came back from the Tetons and went directly to girls camp for one night. He and Jenicca left early in the morning Saturday so they could make it to Grandma's funeral. Some speed limits had to be broken to make it in time. EEK.

We went to church on Sunday, took Josh back up to scout camp to work for the week, left scout camp and headed to Salt Lake. Phil left on Monday morning to go to India for 2-1/2 weeks. After 26 hours of traveling, I received an instant message from him that he made it. He says the country is too shocking. He is in a different place than he was last time. It is more on the outskirts of the city. There are more people living on the streets and lots of dogs. He could see a pack of dogs outside his window. He counted 25. Since I have an unnatural fear of dogs, I am affraid it would be my demise if I saw that many dogs all at once coming at me. There are people living under tarps, dirty children without much clothing, and is seems more dangerous. It is a humbling experience and makes one grateful for all the little things we take for granted like clean water, bathrooms, washers and dryers, ice, food, etc. This Sunday he is hoping to go to the branch he visited the last 2 times he was there. Hopefully he can find a cab driver that can understand where he needs to be.

I took Jenicca, Jarom, and Juliana to the county fair yesterday. We had fun looking at the animals and the home arts.

Doug helping the family cross Cherry Creek

Cute little hiker

Starting line of "This is the Race"

The end of the race. Grandpa Pugsley looks exhausted after that long run!

Ethan, Jarom, Grandpa

A decade old
Nick, Jarom, Ethan, Juliana

The Birthday Hike
Ethan, Derek, Nick, Juliana, Jarom

Phil and Juliana on a hike


Jarom, Jenicca, and Juliana at Willow Flat Campground

Scout camp staff member Josh. (Allergies stink when you are

trying to pose for a picture.)

Flowers from the yard.

July

We got over the swine flu after 7 - 10 days. It is great to feel healthy again.

Highlights this month:
Babbitts came to vist the first week of July. We celebrated Ellie's fourth birthday, played dodge ball, had a camp fire in Karen and Doug's back yard, sang old camp songs and school songs, went on a hike in Richmond up Cherry Creek Canyon, watched fireworks in Logan, had a barbeque and badmitton tournament (Winners -Phil and Kennedi), and the kids had fun with sparklers for the fourth of July.

Griffeths came to visit. We went swimming, went out to eat, roasted marshmallows, had fun visiting.

We went camping up Cub River Canyon at Willow Flats. We had fun hiking up to the spring. It was beautiful up there. Josh is working at the scout camp just over the hill. It was fun to have April and kids, Gretchen and boys, Christina and kids, and Grandma Ila come up to visit. We went on a hike with 14 children. Thirteen of them under the age of 10. We crossed two bridges and saw several small water falls. Phil brought his water filter for back packing trips, and we drank from the spring. It was nice and cold.

We celebrated Jarom's 10th birthday on Friday. He wanted to go on a hike and have a picnic. He invited his friend from school and his cousins, Ethan and Nick. We came home and went to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Hale and Great Grand Dad at Bluebird. Grandma and Grandpa Pugsley met us at our house to have cake and ice cream and open presents. The Fullmers came too. Our town celebration was this weekend, and they did fireworks that night. Pretty fun to have fireworks on your birthday!! We could see them great from our backyard. It was a fun day.

On Saturday the town had a 1 mile race and 5k. Jarom ran the mile. He came in 8th place. Ethan was in 4th. Karen and Doug did good too. Doug came in 3rd place overall at the 5k and Karen came in 2nd place in her division. She ran that in less than 26 minutes!! I thought that was great.

I went to Salt Lake at 8:00 a.m. for a fun girls day with my sister-in-laws and Phil's mom. We had a great time. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch then went up to Park City to do some shopping at the outlet stores. We also went to Tai Pan. It was nice to get away for the day.

Hikes, Moose, and Swine Flu

It has been a long week! Josh is a camp counselor at Aspen Ridge Boy Scout Camp this summer. Last week was the first week/staff week. He was supposed to be there until Saturday, but we got a call on Thursday that he was sick and needed to come home. He rested and started to overcome the stomach flu symptoms but then started in with respiratory problems on Saturday. Phil and Jenicca went on a overnight backpack trip up High Creek with the young women on Friday and Saturday. They came home Saturday afternoon. Phil was very sick on Sunday (Father's Day) with aches, fever, cough, sore throat, loss of appetite, etc. I took Josh back to scout camp that night with the rest of the kids to let Phil rest. Josh still had a bad cough and congestion, so he took some medicine with him up to camp.
On the way up the mountain we came around a curve and there was a moose running down the middle of the road. We followed behind it for a long time. It did not want to go off the side, and we did not dare pass it. It was running very fast. The moose finally went off to the left side of the road to go onto an open grassy hill side, but there was a barbed wire fence that it crashed into and was caught on. We pulled over to the right, along with the car behind us, not really knowing what to do. We didn't want the moose to be hurt and stuck on that fence, but we didn't want it to hurt us either. It somehow broke free of the fence and ran up the hill. It was crazy!
I wish we would have kept Josh home instead of taking him back to camp. I did not realize then that on Monday Jarom would get flu symptoms, and I did too. Phil continued to get worse and could not work. We are still sick, and I ended up picking Josh up from camp again last night. It appears we have swine flu. Each of us have lost 5 pounds and poor Jenicca is scared to death she is going to get it. I took the boys to the doctor today. Jarom has an ear infection along with the flu, and Josh will just have to wait it out. Phil's lungs sound bad. They gave him an inhaler, and a chest x-ray order he will use tomorrow if he is not improving. Not a great way to start summer, but hopefully this will be over soon. They say it can last 7-10 days. Our fevers have finally subsided, now we will try to get over the aches and nasty cough. I was able to get some Tamiflu for the girls so they wont get as sick.
Phil is supposed to go to India next month for a couple weeks, so we need to get him well before then.

Orlando

Jenicca and I had fun in Orlando with mom and dad (grandma and grandpa). We went to Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Kennedy Space Center, and drove a short drive to find the Orlando Temple. It was very hot and humid for most of the time, but we were happy to see clouds and feel a strong breeze the last night we were there. We had a great time and wish it didn't have to end so soon. It was nice of mom and dad to let us intrude on their vacation. Dad had an IASA convention earlier in the week. We flew in on Wednesday after the convention was over to play.