Memorial Day Weekend

Our fun new Springbar tent at our campsite.

 

The rest of the camp area with Z in the right side of the picture. Almost everyone had already left.

 

A small river by our camp area -- how beautiful! We realized after we got home that we hadn't taken any pictures of ourselves :( Oh well, maybe next time.

 

On Friday, May 23rd we went to our ward camp out. It was only about 15 minutes away from our house. It was in a gorgeous area with tons of trees. There were not many people there, but we were able to meet some nice ward members and Z had a blast playing with the kids. B was so good and it was so easy to camp with her. I could not have imagined camping with Z when he was little -- I would have been a nervous wreck. Maybe I am sort of getting the little baby thing :) The hardest part about the whole thing was that you had to hike down a trail to the camp out area and then back up the hill to go use the restrooms. It rained a little bit during the night and I even got cold, but our new Springbar tent (Jer's dream tent that we had to buy before we moved to NC) was great. Jer did announce to me that we had to watch for snakes -- we did not see any thankfully. The next day they had a ward picnic that a few more ward members came to that had not camped out and then we went home. On Sunday Jer had to speak in church. He did a wonderful job and got many compliments. B and Z are our ticket to meeting people. Many people have come up to us in church and told us how cute they are! On Monday we were invited to go to a family's house in our ward for a BBQ (It is the son of a lady that I taught school with). They have been very friendly and kind and we enjoyed spending time getting to know them and the other families that were there.

Picking Strawberries

Z picking strawberries.

 

Jer picking strawberries.

 

Such a cute girl waiting while we pick strawberries.

 

B in her stroller -- check out her hair!

 

On Friday, May 9th a girl from our ward (who happens to be the daughter-in-law of a lady that I taught school with) invited me and the kids to go pick strawberries at a local farm. It was great! The strawberries were so good and the farm is so big and really pretty. We were able to have delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert a few nights in a row and Z ate lots of them for lunch -- he loves strawberries! We decided to take Jer back a few weeks later and we picked more. He was really impressed as well and we plan to go back each year. With both of us we were able to pick a lot more than my first trip and I was able to freeze some in our freezer. Maybe next year I will learn how to make jam :)

Fathers and Sons

May 16th and 17th was Fathers and Sons for our stake. I was a little nervous to stay home without Jer, but B and I did great. I had lots of plans to clean and get lots done without the boys around, but yeah I did nothing and that was kind of nice too. Jer and Z went to Falls Lake in Wake Forest, NC. They said it was beautiful. They had a great time hiking and spending time together.

Tornadoes

On Thursday, May 8th we went out shopping. When we came home I tried to watch the "Survivor" episode that I had recorded, but "Survivor" had not aired -- instead it had been the news. We were having some terrible storms and they had tornado watches out for parts of NC. Z thought they said that torpedoes were coming. Needless to say I turned off the T.V. until he went to bed. I ended up sitting in front of the T.V. until around 1:00 a.m. waiting to see if we needed to seek shelter in the interior bathroom of our townhouse. The weather people constantly showed the radar and in what direction the tornadoes were moving. It is very dangerous when they come at night and with many places surrounded by trees most people can't see them coming. The news went on the entire evening and part of the early morning. Two tornadoes touched down -- one of them not more than 20 miles away from us. I was nervous and scared. When we moved here Jer bought an alarm clock that would issue warnings from the National Weather Service -- the alarm kept going off most of the night and it is loud. The next day they confirmed that the one near us had been an EF2, meaning the funnel was packing winds between 111 and 135 mph. One man was killed when his truck flipped over with him inside. The weather people did say that this was pretty out of the ordinary. Let's pray that they are right.

I love Z!

Z and his buddy in Knoxville.
Wow what big muscles you have!
Which one is Superman?
B and her big brother Z. (yes those are snowmen pillow cases -- I can't find any others yet)
Z is so special. He is a great kid that is smart, kind-hearted, and fun to be around. He is a Sunbeam this year in church. On May 3rd he had his first primary activity here in NC. Jer and I were kind-of excited to go shopping while he was having fun at church, but Z wouldn't let us leave. The activity was about exercise and keeping fit. He got to practice karate. He was nervous because he couldn't do it right. As I have taught him to do things such as brush his teeth, wash his hands or clean up his room, I have been very particular. I thought that I was just helping him do things well, but I think that I have turned him into a worrier and someone who only wants to do things if he does them perfectly. He ended up having a great time. The next day at church he had volunteered to do the scripture in Primary. I was very proud of him. He was not shy, he spoke loudly and he said it very well. His primary teachers say he is great and one of his teachers even said that he was "a trip". He has adjusted here quite well. He has always played well by himself. He is often a superhero and he loves to play with his guys (Star Wars, Spiderman, Batman, Power Rangers, and Superman). We have a really nice park nearby and he always wants to play there. One night during his prayer, he asked that his bestest friend back in Utah would find another bestest friend. He then asked that he himself would find another bestest friend. He had such wonderful buddies -- he misses them and talks about them often. I hope that he can find some good friends soon. He told my mom that he had found a friend, but that he didn't know her name. When I asked him if it was a girl in his primary class he said no. He told me that it was the lady at the store. A week earlier, when we went to sign up for our Internet service at Best Buy, he talked a lot with the sales lady. When she asked if he had any friends yet, he told her no. She said that she was his friend -- how cute that he remembered her. He sure charms people and has no problem talking with anyone that will listen. We signed Z up for preschool last Tuesday. They have full day kindergarten here and so most of the kids do half day preschool -- everyday. Also most of the preschools are in churches, so Z is going to be in the Baptist preschool quite close to our house. The lady who showed us around the preschool told us that he will be taught using Christian values and he will learn Bible stories. I think he will really enjoy it! The biggest negative is the price. It is almost three times what preschool is in Utah -- ouch! We are looking into swimming lessons and soccer for him this summer. What a big kid he has become and also a great big brother -- I Love You Z!
A few side notes:
The lady who showed us around the preschool asked us if we had a "church home". She was inviting us to the Baptist church if we didn't have a church we attended yet. On the paperwork, we even had to put what church we did attend and who our "pastor" was. There are lots of churches here and many of them are really big. According to a lady in the Relief Society Presidency whose husband works with Jer, it won't be the last time we'll be asked if we already have a "church home". I wish that I was so quick to invite people to go with me on Sundays.
I also had a sad realization when we were filling out our paperwork. We had to list our emergency contacts -- we don't have any :( I sure miss my family and friends!

NC Zoological Park

Z standing next to a statue of his twin.
B had a great ride through the zoo.
The elephant looks red because of the NC dirt.
Z in front of an alligator.
The otter was so playful and loved us taking pictures of him.
The otter was so playful and loved us taking pictures of him.
On Saturday April 26th, we went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. It took us about an hour and 10 minutes to get there. The zoo is huge. It is the nation’s largest walk-through natural-habitat zoo. Its African and North American exhibits cover more than 500 acres with another 900 acres more that they plan on developing in the future. The zoo boasts over 5 miles of paths. We didn't feel that there were tons and tons of animals, but it was great to see them in their natural habitats. We loved the otters, puffins, polar bears, and the elephants. It was so hot and we sure got a workout pushing the strollers. I also could not believe how many people were there. We had a fun time -- we even got a year pass, but we probably will not go visit in the heat again.

Intro to our new surroundings

My cute family.
B in daddy's hat.
Z being silly.

I have got quite a few comments about how behind I am -- now that our trip across the country is finished I hope to get up to date as soon as possible. We were welcomed to NC with the homeowners association threatening to tow our moving truck. They have very strict rules -- you even have to get permission to plant flowers and they can't exceed a certain height. Our neighborhood is primarily retirees. A few of our neighbors have said hi and one even came up to Jer and introduced himself. Everyone waves though and that is nice. The area where we live is really pretty, and it hasn't got too hot yet -- we know it is coming though. It is amazing all of the trees and how green it is. We sure miss our mountains! I will post pictures of our townhouse soon. It will probably never get decorated, but I want people to see it without tons of boxes in the background. It is going to take us forever to unpack, but we hope to continue to throw out more junk, so that in 18 months when we move again we won't have so much stuff. We are sitting at a table again and we finally got a couch. For the first three weeks we were here, we sat on a blanket to eat and on camp chairs to watch T.V. Almost every night we went furniture shopping, went to Target and then drove around. The streets are very confusing so we love our GPS. When we are really lost we can just tell it to take us home. Costco and Sams Club are both about 20 minutes away, but almost every other store we need is within a few miles of our house. Jer is only 10 minutes from work and church is only 2 minutes away -- no callings yet :) I can't believe we have been here for over a month already.

Our Cross Country Adventure -- Part Three

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
Z and Jer in front of the huge Superman statue.
Z in the Superman Museum.

Z becoming Superman in the phone booth.

With our friends at the Gatlinburg Aquarium. Z touching a horseshoe crab at the aquarium. Thursday, April 10th we left Nauvoo. First we went to Hannibal, Missouri where Mark Twain grew up. It was a fun little town on the Mississippi River. We went through his boyhood home and other homes that he writes about in his books. We also went through a museum about him. It was nice weather until we started driving again and then it got really rainy again. When we got to St. Louis we took some pictures of the Arch, but we didn't get out because of the rain (we also were below the arch next to the river because that's where the GPS had taken us and we weren't sure how to get closer to it). We traveled to Paducah, Kentucky where we stayed the night. We had actually planned on staying in Paducah -- yeah! When we got to the hotel, Z asked where Grandma and Grandpa was. He had assumed that they had followed us from Nauvoo and were still going to be with us. Cute boy! Friday morning we got up and went to Metropolis, Illinois where they have a huge statue of Superman and a museum of Superman memorabilia. The museum was an interesting collection of everything Superman. Z thought it was great. We then traveled through Tennessee. We went on a quest to find a White Castle restaurant and found one in a seedy part of Nashville. We were not too impressed by the hamburgers, but that could have been because they were a little cold by the time we ate them. We had waited to eat until we were further out of the city:) That night we stayed in Knoxville with our friends. They had moved away from us in October and now both of us were going to be out East. It was so fun to see them. We highly recommend their bed and breakfast:) We had planned to leave Saturday to go to North Carolina, but we wanted to visit more. They took us up in the mountains to Gatlinburg and we went to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. How cool! The shark tank where you stand on a moving walkway and the fish swim to the sides of you and over your head was fun. I also enjoyed the jelly fish. We drove through the Great Smoky Mountains and they are really pretty. Sunday we woke up and they helped me set up our blog, they took pictures of B and then we were on our way to our new house. To be able to get to our new house quicker, I reminded Jer that we would be living here in the state so we could come back and see the things that he wanted to see. We arrived quite late and so our adventure in North Carolina begins!

Our Cross Country Adventure -- Part Two

Carthage Jail in the rain.
The Nauvoo Temple.
The Nauvoo Temple.
The Nauvoo Temple. None of our pictures of the temple turned out very well. It was raining really hard and so most of the pictures were taken from the van. Also I had some rain drops on my lens -- oh well!
The statue of Joseph and Hyrum with Historic Nauvoo and the Mississippi River below. I made Jer and Z stand out in the rain.

Tuesday morning, April 8th, we left Des Moines and made our way to Nauvoo. Most of the drive was not on a freeway, but on smaller roads. We decided to go straight to Carthage and see the visitors center there so that we would have a full day in Nauvoo on Wednesday. It was really rainy, but we were so grateful to be there and to see Carthage Jail. The jail is the original building and has been restored to how it was when Joseph, Hyrum and the other men were there. Such emotions flood through you as you listen to the story of Joseph and Hyrum Smith's martyrdom. What righteous and brave men they were! To sit in the room where they were killed is such a sacred experience. We left and traveled down "The Great River Road" to Nauvoo. The road is nestled next to the Mississippi River and it is gorgeous -- it was not very green yet, but still pretty. We checked into our hotel and then ate at the buffet at Hotel Nauvoo. That evening my parents came. They were guiding a church history tour to Nauvoo and were staying in the same place as us. We were able to spend time with them which was so wonderful. On Wednesday we went to quite a few houses and buildings in Historic Nauvoo such as: the Browning Gun Shop, the Print Shop, John Taylor's home, the Pendleton School, Brigham Young's home, Lyon Drug, Sarah Granger Kimball's home, the Blacksmith and Wainwright shop, Scovil Bakery, and the Seventies Hall (in the Seventies Hall Jer found records of a relative who had lived in Nauvoo). It was fun to hear about the people who lived in Nauvoo and to learn a little about what their lives were like. I really appreciate all of the early saints and the sacrifices they went through. We also visited the graves of Joseph, Emma and Hyrum. Jer's cousin lives in Keokuk, Iowa just across the Mississippi River. We ate dinner with her and her family. It was fun to visit with them. That evening we went to a play put on by the missionary couples called "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" in the Cultural Hall. That was fun. A sister missionary that gave us the tour of Brigham Young's home watched for Z after the play and came up to speak with him. He had made quite an impression on her. April is a nice time to visit Nauvoo. It wasn't hot and it wasn't crowded -- we wished that we had had one more day to see more. The Nauvoo Temple is so pretty and a statue of Joseph and Hyrum on horses by the temple as you look out across Historic Nauvoo and the Mississippi River is one of my favorite sites. The next morning we said our tearful goodbyes again to my parents and left to travel to Kentucky.

Our Cross Country Adventure -- Part One

Bad weather ahead while traveling in Wyoming.
The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument over I-80 in Kearney, Nebraska.
Z in front of a bison at the Archway Monument.
Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, Nebraska.
Z in the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters.

We finally left Utah on Saturday, April 5th. To no ones surprise we didn't leave until later than we had planned. We had wanted to get to Nebraska on the first day, but only made it to Little America, Wyoming. We checked in really late and then stayed up later to rearrange our clothes and other items that we really needed so that Jer did not have to unpack the entire van each night (yes we had stuff in our van that should have been in the moving truck). We got up kind-of late and drove to North Platte, Nebraska. We had made some preliminary plans of where to stay each night, but because of leaving late on the first day, we did not get to any of the cities on the day we had planned -- we would just drive until we didn't want to anymore. I would sit in the passenger seat with Jer's blackberry and surf the web and use the GPS and find a hotel to stay in for the night. On Monday we were able to visit The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument that went over I-80. That was fun. After a brief visit with a Highway Patrolman for speeding (no ticket -- just slower driving afterwards:) we traveled to the Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, Nebraska and went through the Mormon Trail Center. Z impressed the Sister Missionary with all of the answers that he knew. We arrived late in Des Moines, Iowa. We had wanted to make it to Nauvoo, Illinois by Monday night, but obviously we were behind. Nauvoo was the only place that we had made hotel reservations, so we had to cancel Monday night, but it was okay. We were safe and having fun -- that was all that mattered. We had been through lots of yucky weather -- rain, ice rain, and even snow. Z was doing well just watching movies the entire time, and B would sleep. Some people would have been able to go further each day, but between bathroom breaks and feedings I think that we did rather well. Each time we would stop to feed B, we would try to time it around our meal as well and it would easily be a hour stop each time. Next is Nauvoo, Illinois.