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Ann Arbor Part 2

Yesterday, we went to Three Cedars Farm as a family! It is a fun place where you can climb on all sorts of play items, and there is a petting zoo of sorts, and all sorts of fun things to see.

Here are my little Western boys :)

I love this cute son of mine! Ours - he he he...

Isn't he adorable? He can crawl quite well now in his army style way...

I love these two redheaded boys of mine....ridin' the rails on a cold November day...

Greg remembered the good old days of milking the cows....

(he really has only milked one once - and this is actually a plastic cow...could you tell?)

We had a good time feeding the goats

They really like food (hey, so do I...)

Greg enjoyed the licking sensation...

Greg and Hyrum enjoyed the playground equipment together

Hyrum and I enjoyed the little John Deere tractor area

We have an adorable little boy - that is the moral of this story day :)

Plus the fact that we love having good times as a family

And Hyrum loves playing with his Dad!

Hope you are all having fun fall adventures too!

Ann Arbor Part 1

Well, now that we have been living here for two and a half months, I thought it is time we show you a bit of what we are enjoying about Ann Arbor!

First, here is a picture of our cute 6.5 month old boy (right after we moved here)

We settled in pretty quickly to our condo - it is in a really nice neighborhood, and the condo is in great condition - we feel very lucky to be in such a good situation.

One of the things we enjoy about Ann Arbor is the abundance of natural beauty. Just up the road from us, we found a trail leading into the woods. We explored it together one Saturday - (incidentally, a few weeks later, Hyrum and I were out walking and it started to rain, and we took shelter in these woods - nice to have trees again!)

We have noticed vines growing around trees here - Greg has really wanted to climb them - and this Saturday, he seized the opportunity and climbed on up the tree - he's a man of the woods sometimes :)

I can't remember if it was this same day, or another day, that we also went to the Dexter Cider Mill, about 20 min. from Ann Arbor. Greg is wearing the same yellow shirt - and I am wearing the same red shirt - so I suppose it was the same day. How is that for scientific deduction? :)

Anyway - we had a good time. We were expecting to see an orchard and exhibits, but only found a small store with various goods in it (though they were also selling apple wine...interesting)

Due to the frost earlier this year, it killed alot of the apples, thus, cider and apples in general are more expensive, and so we only got a pint to try, but boy - it was delicious! Full of flavor, sweet, and almost tangy with the fresh crisp twist of apples in season - yum! As you can see, Greg and I were not the only ones who thought so....

First taste...

hmm....what is this?

well, deserves another try....

ohh...yeah.....

this is mine now....

mine for keeps...

don't try to take it away...

Dad cleverly got it away for a swig!

We also got some fresh donuts - wow - fresh donuts are so good! Plain and cinnamon sugar - yum!

This is the front of the store...

A quaint barn, with lots of good smells in it to enjoy

What a fun and delicious day! Thus, we have done some of the "Ann Arbor" items - enjoying a cider mill, and some of the beautiful nature around here :)

Summer 2012 Part 2

 Boy - sideways pictures are really not the greatest. Someday - after I get really good at posting regularly - I will post all my pictures right side up! 

Anyway - the above is a picture from the Cokeville rodeo - so, while Cokeville only has one park, tell me - does your home city or town have rodeo grounds? 

It seemed the whole town was out for the affair! We only got to see the bull riding and calf roping, but with E, J, Mom T, and Greg, it was really fun to be there:) We went to the rodeo after coming back from Bear Lake.

Greg enjoys feeding Hyrum - and Hyrum enjoys being fed by Greg!

What a good Dad!

We took up a trip up to Pine Creek (Pine Crik if you are from the area) while we were in Cokeville, and hiked a little bit to see where Mom and Dad T get their wood for the winter. We had plans to go wading, until it started thundering and raining! Back down the mountain we scurried, and while Dad T got the car, we stood under a tree, and paused for this picture :)

Greg graduated this August with his Master's! It was so wonderful to have so many family members there to help us celebrate and commemorate the event. E, J, Mom and Dad T, and D came to watch him walk. My family was there too! M graduated the same weekend, and so we enjoyed celebrating alot over the time we were all there. 

Here is Greg with his Master's advisor, Dr. Jensen. He has been such a great advisor!

I took a trip with my little sister, T, to Bridal Veil falls while she was here - it was so fun to hang out with my family! While they were here, we went to the Cedar City Shakespeare festival and saw several good plays; we went to Cedar Breaks and explored some of the canyons around Cedar City, and enjoyed a trip to the Train Cafe with Gpa B before we left - alas! I either don't have pictures for those, or have them on my phone....

Late August saw us start our trek across the country! We were so grateful for the love of family to support us, the help of friends and family to clean and pack, and hopes and prayers to send us on our way! We stayed the first night with E and J in Rock Springs - they are so kind and fun! We are going to miss them so much! 

Here we are in front of Elk Mountain on our way out of Wyoming.

Some cornfield in Nebraska? We stopped about every two hours for wiggle time (for Hyrum, but really for all of us)

In Nauvoo!

The Mighty Mississippi - I knew it was big, but every time I see it, it takes my breath away!

I love my two boys :)

I really enjoyed the Women's garden in Nauvoo - there are many inspiring images there. I am so grateful for Emma Smith.

Here we are in front of the Heber C. Kimball home - talk about sacrifice! He built this beautiful home, and 4 months after moving into it, left it all to move across the frozen Mississippi on to a land they had never seen before. What faith - we were touched by the many stories of faith and devotion we heard while in Nauvoo.

We got to stay at the Hotel Nauvoo - just a block or so from this beautiful edifice. What a magnificent monument to the people who built this city.

Hyrum with his namesake - rather a stoic picture.

Here we are at the Mississippi after the "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo"

We sure had a wonderful time!