August 2012

Part 1: North Bend

After our vacation with mom to the church history sites we took the time to go visit Dad and Sherri at the coast. It was great. Grandma O'Connor was there as well as Rory, Emily, and there cute little Madelyn.  Here is the generational photo of the O'Connors ( plus Kipp). Many of the following pictures also appear on their blog (this is because I don't take pictures). 

On this trip we went to Florence and walked around on the boardwalk, and had yummy clam chowder in a bread bowl for lunch with Grandma and Dad. 

On our way back from Florence Rory, Emily, Madelyn, Kipp and I stopped for a game of disk golf. Kipp was impressive, and won the game. I on the other hand like to bring up the tale end...I lost terribly every game we played that week. And that is so sad since Emily had a  handicap of a baby strapped onto her as she threw the disk.. I will not be defeated next time. 

We also spent a morning going and looking at tide pools at  Sunset Beach. Kipp found a hermit crab and then tried to kiss a starfish while Rory started to get hungry and try to eat a crab. 

And Emily just took her time wondering around with Madelyn, she was so well behaved at the beach.  Madelyn, not Emily...Well Emily too. 

One night we had dinner with Megan and Daniel and his girlfriend (Sherri's kids) It was good to see them, we didn't have much time to talk to them though. They only stayed for a short time. 

The next day we decided we were going to try to sandboard. For those that don't know what that is, it is practically a snowboard that you put wax on and slide down sand dunes. I am not one for speed, but Kipp looks really graceful.

Part 2: Reno

I didn't take any pictures in Reno but we went to Pyramid Lake. Here Kipp got to show his skills on the wakeboard, and taught me how to use a paddle board and surf the wake behind the boat. I was successful on the paddle board. And the surfboarding was a little harder. I only got up once for a ride on it. An accomplishment was that on the wakeboard I got up, went toe-side over the wake and then went heel-side and stayed up... That was a first going over the wake twice. All thanks to Kipp. 

Sunday we had a delicious dinner that Laura prepared. Monday to go shopping for some new clothes to get Kipp ready for a new school year. Tuesday and Wednesday we had the opportunity to both work for a photography company who was going to middle schools to take school pictures. That was great. And on Tuesday night we say the new Batman movie for the second time, with Rusty and Laura. I enjoyed it more the second time! 

Thursday was our 1 Year Anniversary! Time has flown by! For this special day we slept in. Then drove up to Lake Tahoe to walk along a beach and have a yummy lunch. After lunch we went back to Reno where Gay, Laura and I went and had manicures and pedicures. Lucky Kipp didn't mind watching baby Chuck. 

For dinner we went to the Macaroni Grill, and then headed to the Silver Legacy Casino. We rented a Spa room, so we had a nice relaxing night watching Men in Black 3 in our room. 

All in all our trips were great. It was so nice to see family! We love you all, and thank you for all that you do for us! We have an amazing family.  

July 2012

So since we last blogged, I have graduated from BYU-I, Kipp received an associate degree and we have moved to Orem Utah. But here are some precious memories from dear old Rexburg.  Our first apartment, its the one in the bottom left corner.

 Then even though I did not walk, we took a few graduation photos. Good memories at BYU-I come to a close. 

In July we also got to meet and welcome our newest niece into the family.

And our summer fun didn't stop there. Mom then took Kipp and I on a trip to the church history sites over in and by Nauvoo. It was so much fun. Thanks again Mom.  But here are some of my favorite pictures. 

This is our picture in front of the Mississippi River. Really muddy. 

 Since we were in the area we swung by Hannibal Missouri to visit Mark Twains hometown, below is a statue of Huckleberry Finn.

Next stop was Nauvoo. Here we went on a wagon ride into the county to listen to stories about the Saints.

We also found a marker of a family members property Theodore Turley. The house in the background is Joseph Smith's Mansion. 

Mom and I took some time in the Woman's Garden behind the visitor's center. In the garden are beautiful bronze statues of women in various stages of life. 

This is the end of Parley Street where the Saints would have loaded up there wagon on a little boat and cross the Mississippi River when they were driven out of Nauvoo.

This is the Smith's Homestead. You can see the different add-ons the family did over the years. Just to the right is the Smith family cemetery, and behind is the river. 

 This of course is the Nauvoo Temple. Amazing! 

This is Carthage jail, were Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred 

 Next we stopped by Adam-ondi-ahman. It was a breathtaking valley. So pretty and peaceful.

Then we saw Far West. All that is here is this monument, and then the four corner stones of the temple. It's out in the middle of no-where. But very amazing to think the cornerstones are still there. 

 Here is the Liberty Jail replica. There are a few actual stones from the original jail used in this replica. To think of how dark and cold it would have been in the bottom. I would not have handled it so well, and with very little light entering the prison would have been terrible and disheartening. 

This is the monument of Zion's Camp. Not the most impressive, but still interesting to read.

We went to several other sites, but we are still not great at taking pictures. But this is a good summery of the trip. We were able to go inside the Smith homestead and mansion, among other buildings in Nauvoo. Also, we got  to experience the Nauvoo pageant. It was a fun way to start our summer, and makes history come alive.