Nauvoo

We made it! We are now here in Utah! The kids were great . . . I was tired of the car.

Yesterday we spent the day in Nauvoo, Illinos. We met my dad in the morning and went around with him and Cathy. We went to Joseph Smith's home, his grave site, a brick yard, a black smith's shop and the Nauvoo Temple. It was interesting visiting the Joseph Smith house. That property is owned by the Community of Christ. They did a really good presentation, but you couldn't feel the spirit there at all. It was quite a contrast from the Carthage Jail. It lead into a good discussion on recognizing the spirit.

After Nauvoo we drove, and drove, and drove. Poor pioneers. Mike was wondering how many times they tried to convince Brigham Young that this was a good enough place.

Grandpa Millburn & Preston

Mike & Preston
Preston at Joseph Smith's house
Preston
Maysen & Stockton racing the bears.
Stockton was SO FAST at this!
Maysen & Jorja
Jorja

Maysen, Stephanie, Jorja & Mike

Stockton took this picture of us . . .

My sunglasses look very authentic

Stockton loved the Jacob's ladder

Maysen

Stockton, Grandpa & Maysen

Preston ~ at the brickyard
We went from the brickyard to blacksmith shop. Mason to Smith.

Nebraska Smells Funny

Seriously. Our kids kept asking what the smell was and Mike would just reply, "It's Nebraska". We are stopped here at a Super 8 Motel. 10 hours left to Utah. So tired! I will upload pictures and write about Nauvoo tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to bed.

Carthage Jail

Mike and I got up early this morning. 3 a.m. to be exact. We were out of the door by 5. One hour off of our goal, but not bad. We drove to Carthage, Illinois. The kids were great! We took a tour of the Carthage Jail (where Joseph Smith was killed). Preston was a little rough through that, but we survived.

Stockton, Maysen, Jorja, Mike & Preston

Statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith Maysen, Preston, Jorja & Stockton

Maysen is sitting in the window where Joseph Smith was killed.

The inside doors are the original doors.

This one still has the bullet hole from

the bullet that killed Hyrum.

We found out our tour guide was from Idaho Falls. Mike asked if he knew Jack and Lois Parry. He said, "Of course, we were in their ward!" I think his name was Elder Lisk. We didn't get to meet his wife, she was doing a tour and our kids weren't waiting!

Elder Lisk & Stephanie

After Carthage, we met up with my dad and Cathy in Nauvoo. (My dad is leading a tour group through right now). We got there just in time to see the pageant. The weather was great, but my kids were about done. They couldn't really see well either, so they were pretty grumpy. Hopefully they will be back to their pleasant selves tomorrow!

Packing Up

I spent most of the day packing up and finishing last minute things. Mike is loading up the car right now. He is trying to figure out how we can fit all our suitcases and his submarine. I'm sure he'll find a way. Our plan is to leave at four in the morning. We shall see.

Walking With Teresa

My friend Teresa and I go walking as often as possible. She will most likely be moving away in a few weeks. It looks like they will still be in our ward, but it won't be the same as having her up the street. I'm going to miss having her so close. She was the first person I met when I moved to Georgia. When I met her, I knew I would like it here.

Irresponsible Tooth Fairy

So Jorja runs to our room this morning. She was crying hysterically. I guess the tooth fairy didn't come last night. Then Jorja lost her tooth as she was bringing it to us. I couldn't believe it! How could the tooth fairy forget? Especially since I blogged about it last night! We got it all straightened out though. We had a gigantic thunderstorm last night, so we discovered the tooth fairy was just running a little behind. I stuck blankets under Jorja's bed so it would look like she was still sleeping and told Jorja she could play. About a half an hour later, Jorja was so excited to see the tooth fairy left her a little frog clock. Crises adverted!

Jorja and her prize

Because we had friends over last night, Maysen was the only one who got to do their presentation. This morning Stockton and Jorja had their turn. Stockton has been working on a computer game and Jorja made a card game about birds. We played her game this morning. She was so happy!

Mike, Maysen and Jorja planted a rain gutter garden awhile ago. Jorja bought flower seeds with her own money. We were so surprised when we saw this beautiful flower out our window this morning.

Jorja is so proud!

Mike and I took Maysen to visit her new school. She will be going to middle school next year. The school is brand new and looks really nice. Maysen loved the library. I don't understand why they won't get their schedule until the first day of school. They won't get their lockers until a few weeks after that. I was looking forward to mapping out her route she should take, just like my mom use to do. Hopefully it's not chaos the first day.

Heather Came!

One of Mike and my favorite people from High School is Heather Elkington. Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we found out she has been living in Georgia for the past 6 years! What?!! They came over for dinner tonight. It was wonderful. After dinner, we made the landforms Maysen has been working on. Everyone's was so unique...wish I had that creative gene.

Maysen, Andrew, Paul, Heather & Jorja

Heather's
Andrew's

Dallin's

Andrew baked his island

Andrew's island ~ amazing!

Stockton's

Celia's

Mike's cooked island

Maysen's

Dallin & Maysen. Dallin loves dragons.

Stockton, Andrew & Dallin.

When will Stockton ever grow out of this phase?

Heather & Paul

I guess they never grow out of it.

Jorja lost her front tooth this morning. She put her tooth in a necklace and wore it to church today. I am glad the tooth is finally out. It has been hanging on for dear life for weeks!

Jorja getting ready for the tooth fairy

Jorja's teeth. Sorry for the spooky eyes.

Today was a great day. I am already looking forward to when we get to see Heather, Paul and their family again! They only live an hour and a half away . . . that's nothing!

Edible Landforms

Mike and Maysen spent most of their time today trying to figure out how to make landforms out of cookie dough. Maysen has been researching landforms this week, and wants everyone to make edible landforms after her presentation. The volcanoes were the hardest to figure out, but I think they got it down. I just haven't made the red frosting for them yet.

Preston woke up at 3 today. He wanted water and I was able to quickly get him back to sleep. The problem was, I couldn't get back to sleep. I just kept thinking about everything I needed to get done. Finally at 4 I decided to start my day. Once I wake up, if I lay in bed for more than 10 minutes my back will hurt for hours. So today I was very tired with a very sore back. I did get a lot done though.

Mmmmm Bread

Can't type. Eating fresh homemade bread with homemade strawberry jam. Mmmmm. Thanks Mike.

Rustle of the Wind

The rustle of the wind
whispers in the night.
It creeps under the door
and extinguishes the light.

It flutters to my bedside
and it whispers in my ear,
telling me secrets of the day
that's surely soon to appear.

Then it steals away,
a shadow in the dark,
leaving not a trace,
leaving not a mark.

The sunshine peers through the window
waking me for day.
And there's no memory
of the dream that stole away.

But soon it will return
as many dreams do,
making me feel warm,
and stirring Gladness Stew.
---Maysen

Six Flags

I took Maysen, Stockton & Jorja to Six Flags today. They had each earned a free ticket from the Read to Succeed program. Today was slightly overcast, and I hoped it wouldn't be crowded. I was disappointed. At least it wasn't as bad as the time I took all four kids to Disney World by myself over Spring Break. That was a bad idea. A very bad idea.

We did have a wonderful day today. We spent most of our time at Skull Mountain which wasn't crowded at all. I ran around with the kids and went on all the water slides. It was great fun. So much more I can do without a Preston to worry about.

Jorja, Maysen & Stockton

Skull Island
Wet Porge
Stockton, Jorja, Maysen
Jorja use to be so scared of this ride.

Now she wants to go on it, but the others do not.
Stockton
Jorja & Maysen
Stockton has always loved the carrot patch

What trip to Six Flags would be complete

without trying on goofy hats?

Maysen and I agree, we both like Lagoon a lot more than Six Flags. You can't take food into Six Flags, there are hills everywhere and the rides aren't any better. Except Superman. Hands down the best roller coaster I have ever been on.

Pick Up

This morning we picked up trash. Jorja wanted to do this for her fun thing for FHE. We didn't walk very far, but we filled all of our trash bags. I must have picked up 100 cigarette butts. Maysen says it was more like 50. We'll compromise and say 75. All I know is way too many people smoke. I don't understand why it is acceptable to drop cigarettes on the ground. Isn't that littering? I would love to see someone ticketed for that.

Nintendogs

I looked in Jorja's room and this is what I saw. Preston loves watching Jorja play Nintendogs. Sometimes she even lets him play it by himself. Although she usually regrets it because Preston changes the dogs collars and feeds them all the food. Jorja sure is a wonderful big sister!

Preston & Jorja

They noticed me!

Now hopefully Preston will stay in bed so Mike, Maysen and I can watch Inkheart. I have been wanting to see this since it came out in the theater. I'm sure I will be disappointed in it, but I still want to see it. I loved the trilogy. One of my all time favorites.

Keep the World Clean

The kids presented their research projects today. Jorja did her research on the difference between unicorns and pegasus. Stockton got away with making buddy packs on his favorite website. Maysen worked on multi-media fusion. She made games for Preston on there. When I asked what they were going to pick for their last research project, both Maysen and Stockton asked if we could keep doing research during the school year. Guess we'll wait and see how busy we are.

Jorja & Stockton

Preston loves Maysen's project. Especially the nut driver.

Jorja was assigned Family Home Evening. She planned everything by herself. She picked Keeping the World Clean. She gave a lesson on how beautiful the earth is and how we need to take care of it. Then she had us all do a maze and draw a picture. Stockton turned his picture into a poem.

The world is getting polluted,

It's getting a really big rash,

What did the Earth ever do to us?

And we thank it by throwing down trash.

It is very mean

to throw trash. Let's be keen!

Let's keep the Earth clean

So we're all going green!

---Stockton

The Fourth

Everyone has gone to bed. It is 11:00 at night, so why is Preston singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star up in his bedroom? I shouldn't have let him have such a long nap!

Today we stayed at home and liked it. The kids did sparklers. I tried to get Preston asleep, but he kept telling me "dump truck loud". I finally gave up and brought him outside where neighbors were lighting off fireworks. Let's just say that there is no way all of those were legal. Preston DID NOT like it. And he was terrified when Maysen brought him a sparkler. And the sparkler in the Bomb-Bomb didn't help. I have no idea what the name actually is. I'm sure my kids will correct me later

Stockton

Maysen
Stockton
Brought to you by the Letter E

That is it. I'm getting to bed.

Fireworks? No Thanks.

We had planned to go to a firework celebration at a park by our house. Actually, we were going for the free events before the fireworks, then Mike was going to stay with Jorja while I took everyone else home. Anyway, there was an unbelievable number of people there. We turned around and went home.

It was the most perfect evening. Cameron stayed over while his parents celebrated their anniversary. (We talked them into letting him stay the night). Mike, Cameron & Maysen set up the tent in the backyard. We roasted marshmallows and made smores. Then the kids went firefly catching. Now they are in the tent watching Phineas & Ferb. Doesn't get much better then that! And we didn't have to fight any crowds!

Preston ~ he just saw that I was carrying a ball

I love how Preston's running down the hill. Cute.

Look how dry our grass is. It hasn't rained in a long time.
Top view. I love this tent. I love the Maysen inside it more.

Marathon Presidency Meeting

Not much interesting to write about today. We had our first Primary Presidency meeting. It lasted almost four hours. Lots and lots and lots to do. It will be nice when everything is organized. I'm looking forward to working in the Primary again.

I dropped Maysen off at Amy's house today. They had a great time together. I think this is the first time she has played at a friends house this summer. I'm so glad moved Amy here!

HOT!

It is hot. I want to claw my skin off. Hot. Hot. Hot.