Madilyn 9/19/08

I went to the doctor and she is doing well! She weighs 3 lbs. 3 oz. and is growing so fast! We found out she has hair, ok it's more like fuzz right now but we are really excited about that. Everything is looking good and we can't wait until she arrives. Here I am at 30 weeks...still going strong!

Ohio State Football Game

Ohio State VS. Troy. Final was 28-10 Buckeyes

We were on the 30 yard line 4 rows from the sideline and the stadium was huge!!! Riley and I made instant enemies when we got there with the lack of Buckeye gear fans were asking about it. Riley of course told them we were BYU fans. They made fun of us saying BYU who? Well I am not one to back down so I added some facts of the last weeks games and they shut up instantly. We took shots at them throughout the game struggling to beat an unknown Troy team. haha Kel would have killed me had she been there.

There is always at least one of these guys!!! He was actually pretty funny. He eyeballed me down and was wondering wear my buckeye gear was so he threw me an acorn.

Orem Owls Game

On Saturday night Pete and Crystal invited Amanda and I to go to the Orem Owls game. Pete got a bunch of tickets from his work so we all drove down to Orem and had a fun night. It was the championship game. It was a blow out the whole game (8-1) until the 8th inning and the Owls got 4 runs to make it 8-5. They still lost but at least they made it a little more exciting. Here are a couple pictures...

This is our nephew Carter. He is so fun and one of the best babies ever. He hardley ever cries. As you can see he enjoyed the game as well.

MADILYN'S UPDATE

Madilyn's last check-up was yesterday Sept. 8th. I was especially excited for this one because it was the target ultrasound and they did it in 3D. Since John couldn't make it :( my mom and Erin came. I'm so happy they came! We have a beautiful baby girl and you can kind of see what she looks like in these pictures.




Notice her big lips in this picture, how cute! After the doctors appointment, Mom and Erin didn't want to go back to work so they took the day off and we had a girls day. Erin prettied Mom and I up...here are the results:

OAKLEY, ID

Sept 4th through the 8th I went to Oakley, ID to visit my In-Laws. I hadn't seen them since we left for the summer and I always love going to Oakley to visit! It was sad to be there without John but we had a good time. My mother-in-law spoiled me. She made me french toast every morning which is my new favorite food. She makes them better than I've ever had before. She puts a little bit of oil in the bottom of the pan so they are deep fried. Oh they are good! She also gave me the game Rummikub for my birthday so Katy (John's Mom), Tiffany (John's sister), and I played that a lot. Saturday Katy took me to Independence. We stopped and got some sub sandwiches on the way so that we could have a picnic up there. We also had to drive because I am too far a long now to ride the 4 wheelers on a bumpy trail. We got up there, had our picnic, and hiked a little ways up the hill. We really had a good time. It is nice to be in the middle of no where sometimes. It is so peaceful and it was so pretty up there. Here are some pictures...
This is where we had our picnic.


John's Mom, Katy

Here we are looking down on the basin from the top. Oakley is clear in the distance.

Since the Oakley Stake was reorganizing their Stake Presidency, Elder Cook from the quorum of the 12 was there. We were able to listen to him and Elder Hammond from the 70 speak Saturday night and Sunday. That really was a great experience!

Swiss Days

It's been great to be home in Utah with my parents although I do miss John so much! My parents have been really great to keep my mind off being away from John. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to Swiss Days but my mom would not take no for an answer. I'm really glad I went. My Mom, Dad, Aunt Gale and I went to Midway, a town by Heber City, and made a whole day out of it. They had a lot of cool booths and we ate swiss tacos which were just like Navajo tacos. The food is always the best part.



I thought this was so funny! Just some guy carrying around a baby in a basket!

Friends BBQ

On Friday August 29th, Sierra got all of our friends together from high school. It was so good to see everybody since I've lived away for so long. We all brought some type of food to share with everybody. We ate first, watched Kate and Sierra's wedding videos, and just talked all night. It was so much fun! Thanks so much Sierra for putting this BBQ together. Our group of friends would be lost without you!

PITTSBURGH

John decided he was going to extend and work in Pittsburgh. That is why we got to see all these fun places. We figured since we had to drive from Tampa, FL to Pittsburgh, PA we might as well stop at as many places as we can. I needed to move back to Utah for my doctors visits and so our last Saturday in Pitt together John took me down town. When we first got there we drove up on the hill and got some really great pictures. The view was incredible and the city was all lit up. There were a lot of dinner cruises and boat tours on the river. Later that night we tried to find a place to hang out but all that was open were the bars. So we called it a night. Pitt seemed like a really cool city and we'd love to go back some time and see it in the day time.

NIAGARA FALLS!!!

We did the Maid of the Mist tour and it was awesome. If you ever go to Niagara you have to take this tour. It's a little boat that takes you right up into the falls and it was so much fun! Here we are in our blue smurf outfits...nice right?

This is the Maid of the Mist boat that we road on.

This is the Canada side...

Here we are about to get soaked! The wind was blowing so we were getting wet clear out in the middle of the river. John didn't put his hood on so his hat and the collar of his shirt was dripping wet. It was so much fun! I was laughing pretty hard the whole time. John tried to get some good pictures in the falls but it just got our lense all wet so you can't really see how cool it was.






This is the bridge that crosses over into Canada.

Here is the view from the over hang.

PALMYRA

Palmyra was wonderful! It was so nice to learn about Joseph Smith my whole life and then actually be able see where he grew up. Palmyra is a fun little city and still has the small town feel. First we went to the Smith's Farm. Here we are at the little visitors center there.

This is the house that Joseph and the Smith Family grew up in. Here is a picture of the kitchen area where they ate. After they ate dinner, Joseph Smith Sr. would get the Bible out and they all knew it was time for scripture study. You can see the Bible on the table and it is opened to James 1:5 so we read that out loud with our tour group.

I think this is Joseph's parents room which is to the right of the kitchen.

This is the boys room upstairs. We didn't get a picture of the other half of the room but there were two twin size beds that all 6 boys shared, 3 in each bed.

The girls slept in a room behind the boys room. There wasn't much room for privacy but it was such a comfortable little place and it made me want to live in a similar place, with a bathroom in it of course.
Here is the view of the temple from the Smith's farm. They cut the trees down that way so that you can overlook the Sacred Grove from inside the temple.

Most of the temples have stained glass windows or frosted windows but the 3 long and skinny windows that face the Sacred Grove are clear so that people can see the view while attending the temple. This was requested by President Hinckley.
This is a picture of the house Alvin Smith (Joseph's brother) built for his new bride and also for his parents in their old age. Notice the rocks under the fence. This is how they separate their property lines.

This is a shed where Joseph hid the gold plates in the floor boards. He was propted to move them a few times so he moved them to the atic of the shed. Some men heard that the plates were in the floor boards and that night these men tore the floor apart looking for the plates but never found them. This was not the only time that the plates were obviously protected by our Heavenly Father. It really is amazing how everything works out.

Here is the barn...

They would cut down these large tree trunks and use them for storage in there shed.




THE SACRED GROVE

The Sacred Grove is beautiful! When we started walking through it there was a youth group in the distance having a devotional and we could hear them singing hymns so it just made the moment even better. I really can't explain how peaceful it is there. It is a place where imediately you feel peace and reverance. I am so thankful that we could visit the very place where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith. It is an overwhelming feeling.




BOOK OF MORMON PUBLICATION SITE

It was interesting to see what a long process it was to publish the Book of Mormon.

This is the book store on the first floor.

This was E.B. Grandin's desk (the owner of the publication site and book store). He was never a member of the LDS church but he agreed to publish the Book of Mormon the second time Joseph Smith came to him.

The Printing Press

They printed 16 pages on one big sheet of paper and then folded it so that all the pages are in order.

Here I am folding the paper and I really had to pay attention on how to fold it so all the pages were in order.

This kind of shows how they bound the books with leather.


PALMYRA TEMPLE





THE HILL CUMORAH

Palmyra is a pretty place and the view from the Hill Cumorah was incredible. They make it really convenient now so that you can drive right up to it but John and I decided we wanted the full experience so we walked. The path was paved in zig zags up the hill so it is not so steep. I know I make it sound like I can't climb a hill but this really was an accomplishment for me. It seems that being pregnant makes physical activities two times harder.








This is a trail we went down to get back to the visitors center.