Independence

Jared has wanted to go see the church sights in Missouri during a Tribe visit to the Royals ever since we moved here.  The first two years it didn't work out with his work schedule, or prior commitments.  This year when the baseball schedule came out he blocked off the weekend of September 17-19th on the calendar.  We were going on the trip no matter what.  He found a Marriott suite on priceline for a great deal and we even had a full size refrigerator, dishwasher and stove.  We left Thursday after the kids came home from school and drove to our hotel.

 Friday we woke up and went to the Independence Visitor Center followed by the RLDS temple. The visitor center had a downstairs area that was very fun for the kids.

The little two were so horrendous during the tour of the RLDS temple that I was ready to drive home.  I wasn't looking forward to spending the weekend with them.  I had wanted to take the walking tour through Independence but it was hot and the kids were cranky so we drove through it instead while eating some sandwiches.  Then we headed to Liberty.  I was impressed with the way the church reconstructed the jail inside the visitors center.  The kids behaved much better and I was able to relax and enjoy it.

We stopped at a little bookstore a block down the street on our way out.  They were out of the items I wanted but it was still fun to browse through the merchandise.  I did end up getting the kids some of the books from the "Believe and You're There" series.  We started reading them in the car as we drove from point to point.  After Liberty, we headed to Far West.  Even though there is not much to see here, it was one of my favorite spots.  It was so peaceful.  Its amazing that even though the temple was never finished here (the cornerstones were laid and the site was dedicated), they spirit is still so strong.

There was a little country store owned by some local members down the street.  We stopped in and I was excited to find they had the items the other store was out of...and a few more things the kids and I picked up.  We had planned on visiting Haun's Mill but we were running short on time and all the missionaries we had met through the course of the day had advised against it.  It had rained alot earlier in the week and you can only access Haun's Mill by dirt roads.  They didn't recommend trying to get there unless we were open to getting stuck in mud.  We decided to take their advice and headed back to the hotel.  On the way back, we drove by the construction site of the Kansas City Temple. 
We changed into our Indians apparel and headed to the game.  Xandy was not happy to be wearing an Indian's shirt in the opponent's territory.  She was convinced something bad or embarrassing would happen.  She actually walked the whole way to our seats with her hands crossed in front of her to hide the shirt.  Our tickets came with $10 each worth of Royals cash so we ate dinner at the stadium.  It ended up being a great game we won 11-4 (Jared missed a grand slam when he took Jacob to the bathroom).  Xandy relaxed as we scored more and more points.  It was fireworks night and half way to St. Patty's night so we got to see a great display set to Irish music!!  We got back to the hotel too late to swim which disappointed the kids.

The Royals field is in my top two favorite Ball Parks now.  Nothing against the Indian's and Cardinal's fields.  They are nice, but I love watching the boats on the river during games in Pittsburgh.  The Royals field was really neat with the fountains and waterfalls.

Saturday we woke up and made an impulsive decision to drive to Omaha to see Winter Quarters.  We called Jared's cousin, who lives in Lincoln, on our way up.  We were excited that Kevin and Nicole were able to meet us in Winter Quarters.  We were especially excited to meet there sweet little boy Noah.  Noah is about half a year older than Jacob and the two hit it off.   I love how the Temple there looks out over the graveyard.  What a great reminder of the sacrifices others made in our behalf. It had been in the 90s in Kansas City and we were dressed for that weather.  It was quite a shock to get out of the car in Nebraska to find overcast windy skies with temps around 55.  Lets just say it helped us appreciate what the pioneers went through.  The visitor center in Winter Quarters had a really nice interactive play area for the kids with dress-ups.

We grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King to prolong our visit with the Smiths before heading back.  The adults wanted to eat somewhere nicer but we decided not to push our luck.  Between riding in the car and taking tours, I knew the kids needed to be somewhere where they didn't have to be quiet. 

On our way home we stopped at the Kanesville Tabernacle since it was only a few miles off the freeway. 

It ended up being my favorite part of the whole trip.  The tabernacle is in Council Bluffs, on the other side of the river from Omaha.  It was built by the early saints in 2 1/2 weeks during the month of December and was one of the largest log structures of its time.  It was built so the Saints would have somewhere large enough to gather to sustain Brigham Young as the second prophet.  The missionary giving the tour asked the girls if they knew how to play the piano.  When they told him they could he let them go up to the organ to play.  They were being a little timid so I went with them and played a few measures until they relaxed and started to play.  Katy played Silent Night from memory and it sounded wonderful.  After the girls were finished some other ladies on the tour asked me to play something because they thought I played beautifully.  It was pretty funny cause I'm really not that good but I played "How Great Thou Art" for them.

Inside the Visitor Center they played a film about the Mormon Battalion and followed the experience of several of the men in it.  One of them was one of Jared's ancestors, Ezra Allen.  It was neat to watch and tell the girls that was one of their grandfathers.  Unfortunately, Ezra was killed on his way home.  It touched me to hear his wife's words upon learning of his death.  She packed up her young children and belongings, bought a wagon and travelled to Salt Lake.  I am so grateful for her courage and faith to follow the Lord despite losing her husband.  We really enjoyed the impromptu part of our vacation.  We again arrived back at the hotel too late to swim.

Sunday morning, we decided to let the kids swim despite it being the Sabbath.  They had been so good most of the trip and had a whole weekend of church history.  After they were done, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  We called the Horners and they were able to meet us there.  I was again impressed with the simple beauty and peacefulness of Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  I had no idea how big it was.

We got home much later than anticipated but really enjoyed our trip.  We got to see a great game, see family and old friends, eat Kansas City BBQ, and learn a lot of neat history.  

Visiting Teaching

After the broadcast tonight, I felt impressed to record an experience I had several years ago.  Since my blog is the only kind of journal I've been keeping, I decided here's as good as place as any....

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to meet with the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency of my ward.  I had grown up in the ward we were attending and had known this amazing sister for several years.  She was the mother of one of my close friends in high school.  She had been my little brother's primary teacher several times, and he absolutely adored her.  She was always smiling and welcoming.  She made those she came in contact with feel valued and cared about.  Her husband was not a member, yet she faithfully attended church week after week, staying true to the sacred covenants she had made with her Heavenly Father.  She was a great example to me and a true model of a servant of Christ. 
The Relief Society Presidency was meeting with each sister in the ward to dicuss visiting teaching and I had the privelege of getting to meet with her. 

Up until this point, I did not have a positive view on visiting teaching.  As a college student it seemed like the end of the month was always a heavy test week.  Since most people (myself included) waited until the last minute to visit sisters, visiting teaching added more stress and chaos to an already stressful time.  As a young mother working to put my husband through school, my opinion did not change much after I was married.  The precious time I had at home, I wanted to spend with my husband and sweet baby girl(s).  Visiting teaching and being visit taught still seemed like a burden. 

As I sat in a room at the church with this sweet sister she asked me my opinion of visiting teaching.   I paused for a moment, considering whether to be completely truthful or not.  Then I reluctantly told her my honest opinion.  She listened to what I had to say without judgement and then asked if she could tell me a story about a visiting teacher who had changed her life. 

I listened to her relate her story.  She explained how she had not always been active in the church.  She talked about a time when she had stopped attending church.  She proceeded to tell me about a visiting teacher who despite having several young children at home came to visit her every month.  Sometimes it was to share a message.  Other times the VT dropped off a treat.  Sometimes, this VT just stopped by to say hello and see if she needed anything.  She became emotional when she told me it was through the love and diligence of her visiting teacher that she decided to return to church.  She expressed her gratitude that this visiting teacher had fulfilled her calling and persevered despite the fact that my dear friend was not always receptive to the message.  She ended by expressing the love and appreciation she had for my mother, her visiting teacher.  I was caught off gaurd, but then my memory was sparked.  I could remember my mom stopping by to briefly say hello or drop of a treat while we were in the car.  I remember asking my mom whose house we were at. I remember my mom praying for this sister.
 As I walked away from that meeting, I left with a determination to improve my attitude towards this divine program.  I'm not always perfect in this. Sometimes its been easy, other times a struggle.  I also walked away grateful for the good example my mother had taught and appreciation that my friend had shared her story with me.  As I think back to some of the closest friends I've had since this meeting, many of them have been my visiting teachers, my visiting teaching companions, or sisters I've visit taught.

Family Pictures

Remember the neat little park we found this summer with the pretty gardens? We decided that would be a great place for family pictures. We waited for a day that wasn't blazing hot and off we went. Our wonderful friends, the Pearsons, came with us to take the pictures. My kids are usually very cooperative for our yearly family pictures but this year....not so much. It was probably a combination of being at the park and having their friends there. We did manage to get some good ones. However, I realize its getting increasingly harder to get ones where everyone looks good. The few pictures I actually like of myself usually have a kid with closed eyes, a turned head, or a hand in the face. Rochelle and Joseph were great and took a ton of pictures. Here's some of my favorites...

Skate Night

The girls had skate night on Tuesday with their school. We don't usually go but I promised them I'd take them this time. I forgot I was supposed to be at a RS bookclub when I made that promise. Fortunately, Dad saved the day and showed up at skate night so I could leave and the kids could still skate. Don't let the picture fool you it was packed! I did take the pictures at the very beginning before many people got there but I did a pretty good job of avoiding extra people in the pics. Jacob had never skated before and could stand suprisingly well on his skates considering his age.

Exploring

One Monday we had planned on going to the botanical gardens. We arrived to find pure madness as thousands of people were attending the Japanese Festival at the gardens. We decided to brave it anyway and piled out of the car while Jared went to park, only to find out it cost twice as much as normal. No thanks! We flagged Jared down, piled back in, and he started driving towards downtown while we decided what to do instead. We ended up stopping at Union Station. I had never been and wondered what it was. It reminded me a lot of Tower City with the mall portion. It did however have a neat "pond" outside you could paddleboat on. Several restaurants had patios that overlooked the water. It would be a neat setting for a dinner date and I made sure Jared knew that. We did find a neat display that told the history of union station. It used to be the railroad station in town. The display also had some telegrams from WWII, some Titanic memorablia and other neat items.

Messing around with some photo ops in Union Station

After Union Station we headed to the Arch. We had done the museum under the arch before but Katy and I were the only ones who had gone up. We convinced Jared, and up we went.

We actually all squeezed in one of these pods for the ride to the top. Jared and Mom were just absent for the picture


Not sure what these people were trying to tell us with their "XA"

The western view

The Mississippi

The eatern view of Illinois

On the way home we stopped at............bet you can't guess..............

Meramec Caves

On Saturday we headed to the Meremec Caves about an hour and a half southwest of here. The caves were part of the underground railroad, used as an artillery hideout for the Union troops during the civil war, and during the 1920's was the location of several dances. They are most notably known as the hideout of Jesse Jame's. After the train robbery, his accomplice and him hid in the caves for a few days where they divided the loot before escaping through a cave river that surfaced downstream.

They were pretty impressive caves! At one point when we were pretty far into the caves our guide told us the caves continued for another 16 MILES in one direction! I'm not the best photographer so I didn't do the caves justice at all. The caves stay at a constant 58 degrees, hence the jackets on the beautiful day.


We had gone to a Cardinals game where all fans under 14 got free admission to the caves, a free boat ride, and a scoop of icecream of every homerun hit that night. After the caves, we rode a guided boat tour down the Meremec River and ate some icecream. Good thing someone hit a homerun that night!!

The "pipe organ"- They actually played some symphony pieces while we sat there including a patriotic song where they used lights to project a flag on the formation

The "wine table"

It was a great day with a perfect ending with hotdogs roasted over a patio fire!