Summer Vacation!

When I was growing up, we always had the best vacations. When we got married we were able to continue that tradition. Some of our best memories are of the things we have been able to see & do & the people we have been able to be with. When we came on our mission we knew it would be a couple of years before we would be able to go on vacation, but we were fine with that & knew that at least we could go sight seeing on our day off.

Well, guess what? Every 6 months the temple closes for 2 weeks for cleaning & our temple got new carpeting this time. So---we went on vacation!!! We got permission to leave our Temple district so we took advantage of the time we had to go to Virginia & spend some time with Dad & our families in Charlottesville. We visited Mom in the senior center & Rod had a very good experience with her. She was really tired but when he sat down next to her, she slipped her arm through his & laid her head on his shoulder. She would tell him she liked him & it was a sweet experience.

When we left Boston it was at the beginning of a week long heat wave. We thought we might be able to leave it behind but it was all along the east coast. At one point our car said it was 115 degrees. Talk about HOT!!! Thank goodness for air conditioning in our car & in our hotels.

We put about 2,000 miles on our car. We saw the Empire State Building from a distance, took Dad to the Washington D.C. Temple & went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, & saw the Amish in their horse drawn buggies. We loved it so much there that we went back after going to Virginia. On our 2nd trip there we went to a Sight & Sound Theater production of "Joseph & the Coat of Many Colors". It was 2 1/2 hrs. long, & had live horses, sheep, goats, a donkey & even a camel live on stage & going up & down the aisles. It was a great show.

We headed up to New York & wanted to see where the Priesthood was restored on the banks of the Susquehanna River but we couldn't find it so we went on up to Rochester. Brad had just moved there for his job & was in the process of getting an apartment for them when Amy comes out. It was so good to be with him & take him to the Sacred Grove & the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Rod served his mission in Cumorah which covered all of New York, except New York City, so it was fun for him to be able to go back & show me some of the things I hadn't seen. We went to the Peter Whitmer farm where the church was organized. It has changed so much since Rod was a tour guide there. We decided to go back down to the Susquehanna River & we finally found the sight & saw the gravesites of Joseph & Emma's infant son, Alvin, & Emma's parents. Then we went to church in Schenectady, New York, where he served his mission for 5 months.

I had my second homesick moment. The first was when Tyson was born. The next was when we were watching the fireworks on July 3rd. I was thinking about the tradition we have of going to the Eagle River fireworks with everyone early, visiting, playing games & how I usually have a couple of grandkids on my lap. Boy did I miss them all!

July is a hard month for me with all of the memories of Nathan. From the 1st to the 18th I am always thinking about what happened 3 years ago on each day. It's not something I plan to do but it just happens. I am doing okay for the most part but some days are harder than others. On the 13th we went to the play of Joseph because I wanted to do something memorable. When Jacob was crying & said he had already lost one son & couldn't lose Benjamin too, it was really hard. Then when we went to church on the 18th, it seemed like all of the songs brought my feelings to the surface. One night I was thinking about him I guess before I went to sleep & sometime in the night a thought came to me. It was that knowledge brings peace.

Knowledge of the gospel brings peace.
Knowledge of the Plan of Happiness brings peace.
Knowledge of families being together forever brings peace.
Knowledge that we will see Nathan again brings peace.
Knowledge that the Savior lives, brings peace.

This is our testimony! We send our love to everyone!