Vacation Prep, Job Changes, and More

Lots to talk about since it has been almost a year since our last post. first, some good stuff....

It is that time again, we are getting close to our next vacation. This year, we are heading to Los Angeles for a couple of days at Six Flags Magic Mountain, followed by a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise! We depart at the end of June

Yes, we know about all the hubbub about Mexico and swine flu, but as of today, we are still scheduled to go. The cruise line is posting daily updates and has been diverting ships away from Mexican ports. However, ours is still on schedule.

We are taking Cameron's niece with us, she is graduating with honors this year and has earned a nice trip.

On a sadder note, Nate's job as functional expert manager has been eliminated, but Nate was given a job as a Configuration Analyst. What is that you ask? Well, it is hard to explain, but it is back what he started out as. After a day in the Jordan River Temple and a wonderful experience, he is okay with the change.

To end on a positive, Nate has dropped 138 pounds since the last posts. Look at him in some the earlier pictures and compare. This photo was after just over 100 pounds lost, so he has almost another 40 gone. We will try to get a picture up soon.


More to come later.

"Beautiful" Nauvoo

The temple in Nauvoo is absolutely gorgeous! It was a special privilege to go there.

The Nauvoo restoration was very fun. The whole village is filled with senior and sister missionaries dressed in pioneer clothing recounting the tales from the 1840's. It took 3 days to see everything and hear all the stories. It was fun to think of all the things that they did back in those days and nice to think of all of our modern conveniences ...

Note that it took us 10 hours to drive from Kirtland to Nauvoo and we thought that was a long trip ... it took the pioneers weeks to get there by wagons and handcarts. Plus a one room log cabin with dirt floors was luxurious compared to living in a wagon. Aren't we glad we live in our day?

Kirtland, OH - 5/19/08

The N. K. Whitney store was restored from the original building in Kirtland. The N. K. Whitney home was rebuilt in the original location along with the Sawmill, Ashery, and Schoolhouse. This was a fun stop to see the 'School of the Prophets' and learn the importance of the sawmill and ashery in church history.

The final product made at the Ashery, Pearl Ash, sold for $100-$200 a barrel. A substantial profit when considering it only cost about $7.50 in labor, materials and production. N. K. Whitney gave to proceeds from the sales to help build the Kirtland temple. Very generous indeed!

We also toured the Kirtland temple, didn't get any photos because of problems with the camera :(

Harmony/Susquehanna River

We made a stop where Harmony, PA used to be (no longer exists) and found the Aaronic Priesthood monument, graves of Emma's parents and her first son Alvin, and the foundation where Joseph and Emma's home used to stand.

Palmyra Day 2

Here are some pictures from day 2 in Palmyra, we visited the Smith Farm, Grandin Building, Whitmer Farm, and the Sacred Grove (part of the smith farm). Here are the pictures.

Made it to Palmyra

We made it to Palmyra! Here are the first photos and videos from our trip. We attended the Temple and visted the Hill Cumorah.

2007 Caribbean Cruise

Though it was last August. Here are a couple of slideshows with some of the photos from our 2007 Caribbean cruise.