Trips

As some of you fellow-bloggers know, we are moving to Southern Florida in August. I feel like we will be very far from family and the rest of the country. --although we will be fairly close to DisneyWorld and the Carribean (so come visit). Before leaving Michigan and the midwest we took the opportunity to visit some of the nearby sites. Jared finish his exams and we took off the next morning on a trip around Lake Erie.
First we visited Amish country in Berlin, Ohio. We learned a little about their way of life in farming, schooling, and religious practice. We met a few impressive people and tried some of their specialties like buttermilk cookies, pickled eggs and peanut butter spread.

In Kirtland we went to church and visited the LDS historic sites as well as the temple maintained by the Community of Christ (RLDS).

In Palmyra we got to stay in a local ladies bed and breakfast which was nice because the area is very rural and the motels are quite a ways away.
I thought it was interesting that the new Palmyra temple is located on the property that the Smith's owned when they built their farm --and where Joseph had his First Vision and visits from Moroni. The Church bought all that land and since I last visited the area 15 years ago they have developed really nice visitor centers.


We walked through the sacred grove in the morning. --beautiful places and a beautiful spirit.

Michael enjoyed learning how they made books at the time the Book of Mormon was published. The missionaries at all the sites were wonderful and very kind and patient when the boys attention spans ran out. The walk up the Hill Cumorah used up some energy from the boys and from a pregnant mom.
The picture of the boys in the cabin doorway is at the Whitmer farm where the Church was organized and where Joseph worked to translate the plates.









From Palmyra we drove to Niagara Falls. The first picture shows Jordan's distressed first reaction. He called the mist rising
from the falls a "storm." The boys and I are on the New York side with Canada behind us -where we stayed overnight. Jared is standing on a lookout on the Canadian side where you can see both areas of the falls.

This is the riverwalk in downtown Detroit. We decided to spend an afternoon exploring before we left the area. The people mover circles the city and is fun for kids at 50 cents a ride.
The (former) GM building behind Jared is a whole mall, hotel and office complex.










The next weekend my sister Jenny's husband graduated from medical school in Chicago. They are moving to Spokane. Jenny took us to the beautiful Chicago temple and botanical gardens with my parents and her parents/sister-in- law.













The boys loved to play together outside Jenny's apartment.
After these trips I decided I will be ready to "settle down" a bit this fall. Now for our next trip/sabbatical in Virginia.

Michael's friends

Michael started to understand early in May that we would be leaving Michigan soon. He asked me to take lots of pictures of his friends. Although there were lots of fun gatherings and last activities to go to some of our friends were already coming and going and sometimes I didn't bring the camera.... Here are some of our special people and places:




















These are some of our favorite missionaries serving as CES missionaries. Michael and Jordan enjoyed them in Institute class and especially at the fun Institute building. Those of you still in Michigan need to enjoy Sister Gale's tasty cupcakes.

The fun spot at Jared's school was the courtyard in the back. At any outdoor gathering the kids could be found running up and down the hill.

Our news

The latest news of our family is related to summer plans and gender of baby #3.

First, Jared is embarking on the two week agony of law school finals next week. When he comes back up for air around the 15th of May, we will cram in our last Michigan experiences and pack up our apartment. On the 29th of May we will drive our little car full of belongings to Charlottesville, Virginia to live for 10 weeks. Jared will be doing an internship with the Rutherford Institute. We plan to fit in some visiting with family in Utah during July. Then go to Florida in August to settle in and start Jared's second year of school.

Oh, and we are excited to get ready for a baby girl to arrive in September!
I decided to post these pictures although early ultrasound pictures are kind of alien-like. (I think there was some movement going on when the 3-D picture was captured)

Some Easter Photos

This is one of the three Easter-egg hunts the boys got to participate in. They didn't want Easter to end....













Here are photos of:
The family at Jared's school after the Easter-egg hunt,
The whole crew of kids and classmates,
and Finding the baskets at home.

Jordan- our spunky monkey

Jordan has a mind of his own. A few of you have heard me vent some frustration when he insists on being noisy or messy for the sheer joy of it.
Michael on the other hand has been known to wash his hands so often they become chapped and dry. While Jordan can rub his entire coat across the side of a muddy car, Michael might not want to close the car door if it is wet with rain. Jordan also came with a built in sense of humor that usually helps to smooth things over. He is a pretty fun and cute, although spunky, monkey.

Here are some synonyms of the word "spunky" that I liked and that suit Jordan well:
active, alert, animated, bold, bouncy, brave, chirpy, courageous, eager, energetic, enthusiastic, fearless, fiery, full of life, full of spirit, game, gritty, gutsy, high-spirited, peppy, plucky, snappy, sprightly, tough, vigorous, zesty, zippy

Spring Snow

A few weekends ago we had a good snow storm. It was our first wet snow because the daytime temperature was still above freezing. The "boys" got ambitious to build a snowman. Here is their work:








Their finished product melted in about 4 days. Back to sunny days!!

Focus with your mind, Focus with your ears, Focus with your body.

--That is the drill at the Karate class Michael has been attending. He looks forward to it every week and he made some great improvements over the last two months. He and Jordan love to practice their Ninja moves with daddy at home too.