Kirtland, Ohio Trip Day 2

The boys have been used to me taking tons of pictures on this trip, so they would request pictures of themselves in places they think are cool. For example, Elliott in the hotel chair with the suitcase.

Today, we went to visit the John Johnson Farmhouse in Hiram, Ohio.

The carriage house. The darker wood is original from the 1830's. We were informed that the structure of the house is 85% original and restorations were only made if necessary. The furniture in this home are all replicas because the Johnson's took everything with them when they left for Kirtland.

Kitchen. Boy, this is nice, but I am glad to have my kitchen!

pantry

The original doors. This style is called feather painting (it was actually painted with stiff feathers) and was a sign of prosperity in those days. All the wood doors and trimmings were decorated this way.

The birthing room just off the kitchen.

The summer kitchen.

John's office. A very tiny room. I guess you don't need a whole lot of room to do your business.

parlor

A guest room (the floor is neat, after restoring the room these were the original colors/pattern that were found). This is where Joseph and Emma Smith stayed when they lived with the Johnsons for a year. This is also the room where the Smiths slept when the mobs came, drug Joseph out by his feet and tarred and feathered him. As a sad result, his sick son was exposed to the cold air (they left the door open) and died a few days later.

Elsa (Alice) Johnson's loom room. During her "spare" time Elsa and friends would make their own yarn and create rugs, blankets, and other things of need. I say "spare" because the Johnson's also had a dairy to run, fields to cultivate, and of course the time consuming cooking among other things.

The revelation room. Here 16 revelations were revealed (written in the Doctrine & Covenants) and also God the Father and Jesus appeared again to give instruction in response to prayer.

The Earls in the revelation room. (Dono was being a pistol all day and thought a wiggly picture would be fun.)

The boys on the steps where a prophet stood and preached.

The front of the Johnson Farm

We believe this is the spot where Joseph was beaten, tarred, and feathered.

This is the home where Lorenzo and his sister Eliza Snow were born. Lorenzo Snow was the 5th prophet of the LDS church in the Latter Days. It resides a few miles west of the Johnson farm. There is a historical marker outside the home, but it is privately owned, so we didn't go to the door. Although, we were informed that the current owner loves to give tours of the home if he's there. It didn't look like he was home.

This ended our journey of church history on this trip. We then headed to Middlefield, Ohio where we were told by friends that there was a wonderful Amish restaurant that we wouldn't want to miss. I'm glad we didn't miss it. It was delicious and the service was outstanding. Mary Yoder's Amish Restaurant is one I will definitely go to again if we're again in the area. (Dan had some pickled eggs!) Then on to home we drove. It was a wonderful short trip. We learned a lot and it was a great experience I hope to do again (maybe when the kids can learn and enjoy it a bit more).

Eeeeeek!

Ick, ew, gross!!!! I can't believe they dared to come in our home! If you're a rodent-lover, don't continue reading or looking. A month ago, Dan was running on the treadmill in the basement and saw a little mouse peeking out. NOOOOOOO! We set up traps immediately. I cannot live with mice in my house! How the heck did it get in? Don't know. The first night of peanut butter traps was a success. Mr./Ms. Mouse - 0, Dan - 1. We didn't see any more signs, so we eventually put the traps out of commission. Enter-this week. Again, Dan runs, sights a mouse slightly bigger than first one. NOOOOOOOOOOO! What the heck? Now I'm freaking out. I totally clean the basement and make it totally devoid of any sustenance for a mouse. I DO NOT WANT MICE IN MY HOUSE!!!!! My superman Dan again sets the traps. Voila! Mr./Ms. Mouse - 0 (again), Dan - 2. We still don't know how they came in, but this time we won't stop until we're sure there are none left. Disgusting vermin.

I really hope they are all gone!

Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park

This week is Donovan's spring break so we decided to get out of the house and do things this week. Monday we went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI with some friends. I think the final count was 33 of us that went. It was amazing!
First we went to the butterfly garden (which is only during March and April).

Elliott and Donoflies.

There were many species of butterflies EVERYWHERE! It was awesome!

The birthing room? This is where all the chrysalis (I'm not sure the plural) hang till they emerge. It was crazy how many different colors and shapes there were. Most of these species are from Asia I think.

A close-up and some of the hatched butterflies.

Some of the huge butterflies and their cocoons.

Our favorite babysitter Mindy Draut (with Briton) holding a butterfly.

Then we experienced the sculpture part of the park. These sculptures were creative and very well done.

Many children playing. Our "real" children enjoyed playing in the water, but the mom's made them leave before they got soaked and too cold.

Ribbit

Can you find my kids? Hint: Ross is in the stroller. This horse was HUGE to say the least. Holy Moly!

There they are! And yes, it was a male horse, really people? This is a kids park.

And a giant hill to accompany the horse. Dono really enjoyed sliding/rolling down until I told him to stop because it was still wet from the morning's rain.

A nice waterfall and pond. There were pretty fish (or "bish" as Ross calls them) swimming there.

You can't see the large spider so well, but Dono is being attacked.

We thought this one should be called "learning by osmosis" but I think the real name was "Listening to history"

Our bigger kids (little ones were in strollers) : Keegan, Hannah, Abby, Donovan, and Elliott

"I, me, she or he" They had no faces and were made with metal letters. Interesting.

We went to the "farm" area. Here are the goats. A tribute to Roswell?

Yee haw chickens!

This was a fun trip, but a lot of walking for a large prego lady! Thank goodness there were restrooms all around. :) The kids had fun, I had fun, it was worthwhile.

Easter

Easter morning, the kids were so excited to see what would be in their Easter baskets. We don't do the Easter bunny, but we just tell them that they get fun gifts from loved ones.

Roswell's first find was a chocolate bunny. He liked the toys he got, but then he disappeared. This is what we found...

The sneaky boy had de-foiled the bunny and was trying to eat as much as he could before we noticed. At least it was food. This boy has lovingly been given the nickname of "our goat". He has eaten just about anything he can put in his mouth ie- hand sanitizer, 1/2 of a rubber stamp, paper, books, fuzz, and Dan's pretty sure he ate a scouting merit badge, and that's only what we've caught. I'm happy he found food, seriously we do feed him and he eats LOTS of that too.

Here's a brighter picture, you can see he is still clutching the foil. We figured that since it was Easter we'd let him be happy and just eat it before breakfast. Soon after he was caught opening an egg and shoving m&m's in his mouth too. Sneaky I tell ya!

This special weekend was also a conference weekend for those in the LDS church. This is where the prophet, 12 apostles, and other leaders address the members to teach and give counsel in different sessions over 2 days. Downstairs, we have access to BYU-tv, so we imitated a story from the Book of Mormon where saints in the americas pitched their tents facing the prophet to hear him speak. Dan set up a huge tent with sheets so that we could do just that. The kids really enjoyed that and actually listened while they were in there. It was a very fulfilling and special Easter weekend.

Easter Breakfast and Egg Hunt

Today was the St. John's Branch 2nd annual Easter breakfast and egg hunt. We had a great time. Usually I would be in the thick of things because the church's primary is in charge. But, I was released as the primary president last month and therefore didn't need to be in charge. It was kind of a nice change to come and not have to worry and stress about everything being in order. Kudos to those that made it happen. You did a great job!

Roswell and Elliott eating yummy pancakes, sausage, and fruit.

Mmmmmm

Then let the hunt begin!

Mommy helping Ross fill his basket with eggs. He caught on really quick!

Dono's loot.

Elliott got one too many (to be fair, you had a max. number of eggs) and tried to give it away.

My AZ Weekend

I had the privilege of making a special solo trip to AZ to meet and visit family. I stayed only for an extended weekend, so I didn't get to visit all of my wonderful friends. But I did get to have special moments with my family!

I flew in late Thursday night and talked a bit with my parents before I went to sleep. I woke up at 5:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. But hey! I got to sleep in! That would be 8:30 at home! I passed the time until everyone else woke up by taking the dog out, watering the garden, and making a smoothie. My parents have one of those bullet blenders and I fell in love. It was so quick and easy and really not a pain to clean up either. I had one every morning at my parents from then on. I would love to get one of those!

I then got to go out to lunch with my in-laws David and Irene. It was so great seeing them! They are always so good to me. They came all the way from N. Phoenix to take me to Costa Vida. I LOVE that place. It was really the only food I wanted to make sure I ate during my trip, and that's not because I'm pregnant either. If anyone's ever in Mesa, it's on Val Vista and Baseline. My favorite is the sweet pork burrito smothered with mango salsa. YUM! Good food, good company, what more can you ask for?

Then I was able to FINALLY meet this adorable little girl!

Zowie became part of our family (adopted by Alisa and Jake) in February and I was itching to meet her! (I have another new niece I'm itching to meet in the summer too.) I loved her from the beginning! She is so cute!

To top the weekend off, my little sis Vanessa and her cute kiddos came in from NM to spend time with us too!Nessa & I

Me, Nessa, Zoe, and Grant

After spending some time at my parents' house, we sisters headed to Alisa's house to spend the night. It was lots of fun including staying up late, not getting a lot of sleep while we were supposed to be sleeping (sorry for the drama Ness), going through GIRL baby clothes to take home, and lots of craziness!
Some of the craziness included. . .

(Sorry Stephan, I knew these would make you proud!)

All while the adults played wii.

We had early birthday celebrations too.

Happy Birthday to Zoe (Lynn) on Mar. 24th and Grant on Mar. 31st! I'm glad I was there to see you open your gifts. I loved spending time with these guys. Vanessa had to head back home to start her new job, but left the kids with Nama & Papa. It was fun to be the spoiling auntie.

The big reason I came 2000 miles was for this special occasion.

This adorable princess got to be sealed to her loving parents.

In LDS temples around the world, worthy families can be sealed together for time and all eternity through the power of the priesthood. It is so awesome that this family is now forever, death cannot separate them.

My parents with Zowie (Beth)

I had an awesome trip, albeit short. I also got to spend some time at my grandma's house for dinner and got to visit with my grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I'm so glad that Dan was able to take time off of work to stay with the boys so that I could go and spend these precious moments with my family.