Youth Conference

From July 24 - 26, Spencer and I went to Palmyra, NY for our stake's Youth Conference. I originally just volunteered us to play David & Mary Whitmer in the vignettes on Friday night, but we were also asked to be "bus parents" on one of the 3 tour buses that drove up. Of course I said yes to that, and as usual, Spencer was a good sport about it. We lucked out because we had only 18 kids and 9 adult chaperones with us, so it was decently quiet. The other bus parents were kind of jealous and nicknamed us the "library bus." Anyway, here are a few pictures and some fun facts about important events that took place in Palmyra:

Here we by the press in the E. B. Grandin Building, where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were published.

• Martin Harris mortgaged hundreds of acres of his farm to get the $3,000 to pay for publication.
• Books of importance (like the Bible) were distinguished by being bound in leather, so Joseph Smith made sure the Book of Mormon was also a hard bound book so it could be on the shelf next to the Bible.
• The first copies of the Book of Mormon cost $1.25, which was about 2 days of wages back then.

Monument at the top of the Hill Cumorah.

It was a windy and rainy day- my hair was blowing around like crazy!

The Smith's log home, which accomodated their family of 11!

• This sits in front of the Sacred Grove, where Joseph had his First Vision.
• Joseph was visited by the Angel Moroni 3 times in his room, which was upstairs. His five brothers slept in the same room, but none awoke during the night when it happened.
  

A distant view of the Smith Frame Home.

• Alvin Smith was engaged, and as the eldest son it was his duty to build a house to take care of his parents and family. He started building this home, but died only 3 months later from appendicitis.
  
• The plates were hidden in many areas of this home, such as under the bricks of the fireplace, in a wooden box under Lucy & Joseph Sr.'s bed, and once even in between Joseph's 2 younger sisters who shared a bed. Although various people came in to search for the plates, they were always unsuccessful.
  

The Whitmer's Home.

• This is where the translation of the Book of Mormon was completed.
• In the woods behind the home, the 3 Witnesses were shown the plates by the Angel Moroni.
  
• The testimony of the 3 & 8 Witnesses were signed in the Whitmer home.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was officially organized here on April 6, 1830.
• Mary Whitmer (the mother of the home), was shown the plates by the Angel Moroni one morning when she was going to milk her cows. She was the only woman to ever see them.
  

The Palmyra Temple is just down the street from the Smith homes and the Sacred Grove.

Overall, we had a great trip! It was Spencer's first time being here, which made it even more special. We were very entertained by the youth (it was especially funny to chaperon a dance) and enjoyed meeting more adults in our stake.

Playing Catch-Up

Here's a side shot of me at about 25 and a 1/2 weeks- I can't remember the exact date it was taken. Our little girl is starting to make herself known quite a bit more. I feel like I just get bigger every day, but people are still telling me I look so little. Ha! My temple dress doesn't fit anymore either, but luckily they had one there that accommodated my belly.

California

We spent July 1 - July 8 visiting with Spencer's family in California. We hadn't seen them in a year and a half, and as we probably won't be able to go out there for Christmas this year, we opted to visit them for the 4th of July instead. Here's a play-by-play of how we spent our trip:

July 1: Flew in to San Francisco, and headed down to Monterey to do some sight-seeing. We visited the Fisherman's Wharf, did some shopping, and spent the night in honeymoon suites (Spencer's parents' anniversary is the day before ours).

Does this look familiar? Notice the sign- it's the one from the movie "Big."

July 2: Walked down Cannery Row (John Steinbeck wrote a book about it, which I would now like to read) to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There were lots of cute little shops lining the streets.

I loved the stark contrast of these jellyfish against the blue background. Their tank covered an entire wall, and it looked so cool.

I made Spencer go down this kiddie slide for a photo-op. Such a good sport :)

That afternoon, we drove to Turlock and hung out with Spencer's little sisters. We went to see the movie "Hancock" in the evening, which I thought was entertaining but had more swearing than I was expecting.

July 4: We went to Aunt Stephanie & Uncle Ron's house for a yummy Fourth of July breakfast. Spencer tried to avoid people from church because he felt awkward when they would remember him, but he would have no idea who they were. So we spent most of our time playing with the kids and mingling with cousins.

Spencer's immediate family; just missing Clarke & Char's gang.

Spencer & Jon

The Bj's

Later that evening we went to Stanislaus College to listen to the symphony and watch the fireworks. We had fun playing spades (which Spencer and Sarah repeatedly whipped us at) while we waited for the fireworks to start. The show ended up being kind of a disappointment; they were really awesome when we saw them there 3 years ago. Oh well, we still had fun and we are still proud to part of this great nation!

July 5: Spencer went white water rafting with his siblings, with his brother-in-law Spencer being the guide. Barbara, Jared, and I were the designated babysitters, and we had fun taking the kids to the park and hanging out until everyone else got home.

This is Spencer's battle wound. He said on the first big rapid, their raft got stuck and was essentially vertical for a few seconds. Spencer H. was in the back of the boat and was thrown 13.5 feet to the front of the boat, where he collided with Spencer. When it was all over, Ashley said, "Where's Ally?" They looked down the river, and she was about 50 yards ahead of them floating on her back and holding onto the oars that everyone dropped during the turmoil.

Couldn't resist posting this picture. He was in pain from his sunburned legs, and this was his highly attractive solution :)

July 7: We visited Columbia, a gold rush city that has a fun little Old West town.

We learned how to pan for gold, which we weren't very good at. However, we did find lots of little amethysts and flecks of fool's gold.

We also enjoyed a lovely stagecoach ride. It was sooo rickety! I can't imagine having to take a long trip in one of these, and was glad it only lasted about 10 minutes.

Next we drove through the mountains (which was a fairly scary ride) to the Moaning Cavern in Sonora. It was really neat! You can either tour it by rappelling or walking down 234 stairs. We opted for the stairs.

Narrow entrance into the cavern.

We made it down the wooden stairs to our first big stop.

Barbara & Ally. Ally thought we were for sure going to die, especially when she saw the spiral staircase we had to go down to get to the bottom.

Looking over the edge to see how much further we had to go.

Down we go!

When we got to the bottom of these stairs, we were 165 ft below the ground.

Freaky formation nicknamed "the igloo." I thought it looked like a monster.

We made it out safely, and even got to enjoy some In-N-Out for dinner on our way home. Yum.

Although not an integral part of our week long trip, I didn't want to leave out the good times we had on these babies:




We rode them all around the neighborhood, and I enjoyed the funny looks we'd get from adults when they saw full grown people on these mini scooters. I was only about 3% embarrassed though because they were actually really fun to ride.

July 8: Back to San Francisco to catch our flight home. Much to Spencer's dismay, we left several hours early so we could enjoy some quality shopping time before we had to go.

We took a red-eye flight home, which I don't think I'll ever do again. Since we didn't get much sleep on the plane, we pretty much crashed when we got home at about 11 am the next day. But boy are we glad we got to visit our wonderful family in California. Thanks for everything, we love you!

Here Comes the Pink

While visiting California, my mother-in-law gave me all of these darling outfits. I'm excited to have baby clothes that actually reflect that we're having a little girl.

These are my two favorites. They look like little doll clothes, and it just makes me smile to think that in just a few months I will have a little person to put them on!

Baby Stuff

Here are just a few baby gifts we have gotten so far from former co-workers, ODS friends, and family, all of which came before we knew the gender. We bought the yellow polka dot outfit today in our attempts to find something cute for a girl, and it's still not even very girly. I just couldn't resist it (or its $5.99 price tag). No pink yet, but I'm sure that will come!

Here I am at 22 and a 1/2 weeks... I feel like I'm getting huge! And I finally got my new glasses too- my first new ones in about 5 years.

Also, not sure why Spencer said we don't have girl names yet... we've pretty much had the names of our kids picked out since we were first married. She will be either Sydney or Grace. She is getting to be a little traveler this summer, as we've already gone to Rhode Island, spent a week at YW Girl's Camp, and will be heading off to California tomorrow. She's kicking me a lot these days- Spencer felt it for the first time on Saturday, but hasn't been able to feel it since.

It's a Girl

That's right. We are having a baby girl. Everything looks good so far; she is healthy and getting stronger everyday. She is due October 30. We do not have names picked out yet, so if anyone has any good ideas, let us know. Thanks

Together At Last

For your viewing pleasure... some pictures of my trip to Rhode Island. More text to come later.

Reception at the Officer's Club:

ODS Graduation:

Cliff Trail in Newport, RI (to see the awesome mansions):