Father & Son Camping Trip Video...

Four Years Old Plus Two Birthdays Still Makes Five Years Old...

Sarah was a little spoilt this year as her birthday party was two weeks after she turned 5. Because i knew she wasn't old enough to appreciate not celebrating her birthday when she turned 5 (she had been counting down the days for MONTHS!) she got to have a cake on her real birthday and open presents we had for her and then she got her "Monkey Cake" (Sarah is in LOVE with monkeys) on her party day.

The weather held out (which i was very grateful for) and instead of rain we got 104 degree weather (well, with the heat index anyway)! Needless to say our plans for the sprinkler were well received and most of the kids had a great time getting good and wet.

It's hard to believe my youngest daughter is 5 already and at the same time i think, she's still so young and yet i feel like she's been in our family forever. It's funny how time goes by.

Well, Happy Birthday to my sweet, lovable, feisty, cuddly, moody, blue-eyed, curly-topped, Sarah-Bearah! These past 5 years have been an absolute delight and an adventure! I look forward to the rest of forever with you!

The first cake on her real birthday...

Singing "Popcorn Popping in the Apricot Tree" as

Sarah's pick for the Family Home Evening song.

From Immanuel...So she can read her books at bedtime.

"The Party Day"
Get ready...get set...

GO!!!!

They had a great time running through the silly sprinkler.

Boys only...

Now just the girls...

The Birthday Girl

Sarah's good friend Sammi

Lovely Asia!

The Monkey Birthday Cake

Singing...

A mouth COMPLETELY stuffed with chocolate cake!

There were lots of people at my house...

it was quite warm and despite setting the AC below 70,

the house still said it was over 80 degrees!!

Thanks to everyone that came and made it a special day for our Sarah!

Our Last Minute Miraculous Family Vacation...

It's amazing what can happen when you pray....The Lord truly works in mysterious ways and i am constantly amazed at how He is the Master Multitasker!

We drove to Buffalo, NY last Wednesday night (which was a miracle in and of itself) at about 9:30pm. After several pit stops we arrived at our good, dear friend's, The Joneses, home around 10am Thursday. We were invited up to help celebrate their eldest daughter, Chelsey, graduating from high school. Boy do we miss the Joneses! They were our good friends while we lived in Pennsylvania and then they loved and we also moved. It was so good to see them again and we had a good few days visit with them and even got to see their awesome home they are almost done building.

This trip was also eventful because it happened to be the same weekend as the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It had been at least 10 years since i had seen it, longer for John and the first time ever for the children. They thoroughly enjoyed seeing it and throughout the night Jack kept exclaiming, "wow" and "whoa." We also toured the Peter Whitmer Farm, Joseph Smith's Log Cabin Home, the Sacred Grove, and other neat places around the area as well as stopping at Kirtland, Ohio on the way up, which you'll see pictures of. We got there around 5am and were able to see the sun rise on the Kirtland Temple.

On this trip I was introduced to many friends of the Joneses, among whom, was Susie Campbell. What a neat sister! John and i talked with her for quite some time at the graduation party on Saturday and I had some really neat experiences, which strengthened my testimony, particularly in the Lord's love for me. Thanks for the insightful conversations Susie! Susie is also a photographer and took some amazing photos of the kids by the Seneca Creek Sunday evening. I am glad for another friend, what a wonderful and unexpected experience! Again i say, the Lord is the great Multitasker, so many great things happened for me on this trip. ;-)

Well I'll leave the rest to the viewing of the photos. Be forewarned again as there are A LOT of photos. But hey, we did do and see a lot of things, so there!

5am in front of the Kirtland Temple...

Beautiful Sunrise...

On the steps of the Temple...

Back on the road....amazing to see the sunrise!

Good Morning!

Driving through the town of Eden on the way to Palmyra.

Of course we had to take pictures here!

Pizza place we stopped at for lunch...
Er, just so you know, pizza from western NY,
is not like pizza from eastern, NY....
it tasted like cafeteria pizza from elementary school...oh well!

The curly fries were good at least...

We had the wonderful delight of meeting up with the Schutzes and Loopes
who were on their drive back from Nevada/Utah.
We were all able to see Pageant together that evening.

View from the top of the Hill...

Moroni

Amazing artwork in the visitor center of the Peter Whitmer farm.

This one is of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey as they entered the waters of baptism.

Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's mother,

as she was about to be baptized the day the church was organized.

Peter Whitmer Home.
This is where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was first organized.

This is the Joseph Smith Log Cabin Home in Palmyra.

The upstairs where 9 children all slept.

Overlooking the Sacred Grove

Joseph Smith's Home again. Where he lived when he saw the first vision.
Eleven of them fit into this small home.
We are so spoiled!

In the Sacred Grove...

The Palmyra Temple

Hill Cumorah Pageant and some of the actors.

Chelsey Jones(the one who graduated from High School) and the kids at Pageant.

The Graduation Party!

Classic Jack...blanket and horse in hand...

Samantha & Chelsey Jones. I LOVE these women!

Iman hanging out with the DJ.

Chelsey and her best friends.

Jack is saying CHEESE for the horse!

Immanuel and three other boys took part in a Michael Jackson Dance Contest.

Waiting for the results...

YES!!!! He won!!!

He was so pleased with himself!

At one point before the contest was over, he asked if I thought he would at least get third place...needless to say he was overwhelmed by getting first place!

My Sweetie!

The Awesome Cake! Congrats Chelsey! Good luck in Utah!