Here are a couple of pics that we liked from this summer. They have a couple of great FREE "waterparks" here in Bloomington. As the kids play they step on buttons on the floor mats and the water continues to flow. They are great, she loves them and it's nice to get out and do something besides just play in the pool all summer!

"Shall We Not Go On in So Great a Cause"

This is a painting that they have hanging in Winter Quarters that I've never seen before. And it just so happened that the family with us on tour knew the painter, Clark Kelley Price. It is an amazing painting that I wish the church used more. But we were told that it is a one of a kind and it cannot be found anywhere else except the Winter Quarters Vistors Center!! If you look closely you can see that he painted the Salt Lake Temple below Joseph Smith Jr.'s hand.

Winter Quarters

We had another amazing day on our journey to Illinois with a stop at historic Winter Quarters. Wow, again another emotional day! So beautiful and humbling to be at such an amazing place. The Winter Quarters Temple was beautiful and we really enjoyed our tour. We were even able to walk around the cemetary, which was breath taking because most of the graves were of children. What strength and courage the pioneers had to pack up and move, again! To follow the prophet and head west...it was amazing to be there, a wonderful experience!

Martin's Cove, WY and Greeley, CO

Here are some pictures from Martin's cove in Wyoming. It was really emotional watching the videos and just being in Martin's Cove. We really got a sense of what the pioneers did for us and their sacrafice. The fact that they were willing to use carts like this and literally walk from Illinois to Utah is beyond my imagination! We pulled Rachel around for a while with nothing but her in the hand cart and it was HARD! I could not fathom doing this in the mud and snow and the cold...WOW!! And to bathe in such a lovely bath...not going to happen! I was born in this day and age for a reason! At the end of this crazy long day we were able to stay with a wonderful friend Sara. Who cooked us amazing meals, especially after driving all day! This is her adorable little toe head, Lynden. Rachel and him really had a blast playing on the swings together!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

We had such a great time at this temple. It was so nice to be able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house as a family! We love this picture of Rachel and hope you do too!!

Again, some old pictures of Rachel with her BFF Reese and Jess, Jenny, Bjorn and Rome back in June. We miss all our good friends from "back in the day, when life was simple".

Rachel and Reese in thier matching twin outfits, they are one day apart! They had a great time playing together, except when Reese literally tried to get in Rome's bouncer with Rachel. *Notice both are more than a year in this picture!!

Miss your faces!!

Way behind, but thought you'd like to see these!

So here are some pictures of Rachel from her first birthday back in May! She really liked playing in her cake, but didn't eat much of it. I (the the help of the AMAZING Kami) made Rachel a Little  Einstien cake. It looked good, but it was a pain to make and it took a lot of time! Next year we're thinking Elmo, should be interesting!