Nephi and Ruby's Family Blog

Our Easter trip to South Carolina.

2011-05-25T02:43:00.000-07:00

It was so nice to get away to some warm weather and get our feet in the sand and feel the sun on our face after a very long winter.

We visited some beautiful gardens, checked out Charleston and went to a plantation, as well as 2 live shows.
We flew out of Denver, so where able to visit Kristie and family on the way there and saw Amber and her family, Heather and kids while in Georgia (they also sent the weekend in Myrtle Beach with us) and Cassie and family on our way back home.

Grand kids doing good things makes us Proud!

2011-04-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

Chance receiving his Eagle Scout award at almost 14 yrs old. Great job Chance!!

2011-04-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

Chynna wows the crowd at a concert in March at Rock Springs, WY. Singing three songs including an original and playing her new guitar.

Two paintings I recently did of her.

2011-02-21T02:04:00.000-08:00

Nephi received the call to be councilor in the Young Single Adults Ward about a month ago. I am part of that call to help with activities and teach in Relief Society. It is keeping us on our toes and very busy!

Midway has a beautiful field of "Ice Castles". We went as a family with some of our grand kids and again as a Ward. It is quite a wonderful sight!

2011-02-21T01:53:00.000-08:00

Our grandson, Seth (Fawn's middle child), won 1st in the state title for his age 11 and weight! The trophy was a big as his is. Yaaa...Way to go, Seth!!

2011-01-07T00:49:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Concert at Temple Sqaure!

We had a nice Christmas! Sleight rides and Snowmen!

We didn't get to see most of our kids, as they stayed home or went to in-laws, but we surely did miss them. Fawn & Paul came for dinner and gift opening and we talked to the other kids on Christmas.

We did enjoyed the wonderful spirit of the season~the music (I love the Christmas music!)~the shows on TV~even went to a couple of plays...and sad to say, all the decorations are now put away and normal life has settled back in. Nephi is working at Resorts West again this winter, so we must to stay close to home.

2010-12-15T00:04:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Nephi and the grand kids checked out the neighborhood ice cream parlor where Chynna sang for the customers and her share of ice cream.
Great fun!!

We had a nice Thanksgiving even though we were missing most of the kids for the holiday. Fawn and Cassie with their families had a nice dinner together with us (Nephi is taking the photo). But we sure missed the rest of our children and their families!

Always grateful this time of the year for the blessings of a good family, good health and the gospel in our lives!

That night, the ladies, escaped for a midnight shopping spree (Black Friday). What were we thinking??

A couple of days later we enjoyed being together at the wedding of Jason and Jodie Mullis. Lovely wedding and fun reception. Great to see and enjoy the extended family.

2010-11-13T00:09:00.000-08:00

Silly looking cows, I know, I could have worked on it another 2 weeks! But since I was donating my time, I decided to call it done.

I have been working on a mural for the new cheese factory, just down the road from us, in Midway. After 2 weeks I finally finished it yesterday. It is a huge wall up about 14 feet on scaffolding.

2010-11-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

We spent three days volunteering at the Heber City Cowboy Poetry Gathering last week. It was fun but a lot of work. The best part were the free concerts and meeting lots of people. This is Cowboy Santa Val from Spring City.

2010-11-03T02:11:00.000-07:00

Nephi had another Birthday Oct. 12th! They keep coming weather we want them or not. We celebrated at the football field while watching one of Chances games.

Our trip to Southern California was fun, but it always feels so good to come home. And sunny California wasn't so sunny, it was rainy & cloudy the whole time. We had a good time with Shuma at his 7th birthday party.

Went to the beach, Medieval Times, the LA Temple, old town San Diego and a ferry trip to Catalina Island. Spent a day in Zions Park on the way home.

September 2010

2010-10-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

September was a busy month, with Swiss Days, a visit from Nephi's two brothers ( Norm & Bonnie and Ray & Charlotte), and a wedding where they rented Nephi's 38 Ford pickup for the reception.

And our 40th Anniversary~wow!

Our front porch~July 4th, 2010

2010-10-06T02:06:00.000-07:00

I have joined an art association, so have been painting quite a bit. In July they held their annual Plein Aire Competition. You have to paint out of doors with in the week of the competition. I even sold a couple of paintings, so that was great.

June 2010

2010-10-06T01:41:00.000-07:00

Kayson, Chynna and Hudson came to a visit grandma and grandpa for a week and a half, while Cassie and Ryan went to Mexico. We camped for a night at Camelot, where Fawn and Fara joined us. Ate at the Fillerup Ice Cream Parlor and went river rafting.

July 2010

2010-09-27T01:11:00.000-07:00

Colorado Springs was the spot we choose for our little family reunion in mid July. All but Fawn's family, Dusty and Ryan were able to come so it was great fun to be together!

We had survivor challenges (with dead -candy-mice and raw deer meat), a trip to old town Manitoba Springs, cliff dwellings and the flea market..... and lots of food, swimming, hiking and games for all.

June 2010

2010-09-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

A road trip visit to see Aunt Grace and visit with her grandson Julies & his wife Whitney in Oregon.

Then another fast roadtrip to her funeral in California. Though, it was a sad occasion that brought us together, all our children were able to come. A first in about 7 years! Even some of our grandchilren were there.

Fawn & Fara-Cassie & Chynna and Hudson-and Nephi & I all in the Durango, drove to sunny California. Dustin with Mali, live in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Heather with Jared from Georgia, and Kristie from Colorado, flew in.

May 6 & 7, 2010

2010-08-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

Back to Rome for two nights. Lots more people in Roma than any of our other stops. But oh, so much to see!! It is quite the romantic city, with fountains and statues everywhere. We walked so much , I thought my feet would fall off.
The Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain and the Colosseum were my favorites.
We must say good-bye to to a beautiful country we love to visit!

May 5, 2010

2010-08-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

In Paestum, there is one of the best collection of Greek temples anywhere and built before Christ. Our cute hotel had bikes for us ride to the ruins. It was also near the Mediterranean Sea.

May 4, 2010

2010-08-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

After an amazing time in Sorrento, we travel by bus along Italy's Amulfi coast. Breathtaking views as we drove along a very narrow road with cliffs down to the sea on one side and mountains on the other. Lemon groves terraced along the sides of mountains all along the way as we weaved our way through the small villages to our destination city Paestum.

May 1 & 2, 2010 Naples, Sorrento and Pompeii

2010-08-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

After two nights in Siena, we hopped on a train for Naples. We wanted to go the the National Archaeological Museum there to see the artifacts from Pompeii. Of course the floor which held most of Pompeii's art was closed for repairs. So after one night and 4 knock off purses later, we took another short train trip to spend two nights in beautiful Sorrento. From there, we went to Pompeii, which was a treasure trove of ancient ruins. Over 35 acres, an entire city to explore. You could really imagine how the people from 2000 years ago lived.

April 28, 2010 Italy

2010-07-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

Next stop Siena...

Beautiful doorways of my favorite fairytale town of Chivita!
There is nothing modern here, no grocery stores, no cars, just cobblestone roads...but there is a whole lots of charm and beauty. It is an artist's dream come true!

Our room for the night at the only place to stay in Chivita, Franco's B&B.

Perched on a pinnacle in a grand canyon, you walk on a foot bridge, across to the sleepy little hill town. Chivita is 100's of years old, and seems to be stuck in the Middle ages, with only a handful of residents.

Next day, a bus ride to Chivita, a magical tiny hill town!

We flew into Rome, then traveled to Orvieto by train, where we spent one night.

Watching Grandkids in Colorado

2010-07-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy few months. In April, I went to Colorado to watch 2 of our grand children, Grant & Leah, while Kristie & Kevin celebrated their 10th anniversary in Washington DC. So good to be with them for awhile since we live so far away.

A week later, Nephi & I went to Italy for for 2 weeks. It was great fun and oh so beautiful!!

Trying to get caught up!

2010-02-27T17:30:00.000-08:00

Just a small sample of the photo shoot we had with Kristie at the "Dream House" at Thanksgiving!

Christmas was spent with Fawn and her family, we had a nice dinner and had fun opening gifts and playing games. All the kids stayed near their homes, which are all far from our home, except Fawn. I was able to go to Cassie's for a few days before the holiday, Nephi had to work, so he was not able to go.

2009-12-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving holiday was filled with fun and loud squeals of grand kids having a grand time playing together! So grateful they all got along well. And grateful for a sweet family and that all are healthy.
We were able to get together with the Jensen clan at Pam's house in Highland, UT. It was so nice to see them all!
Sorry that Heather and her family couldn't be with us! And Dusty is probably on a bike trip somewhere.

Great Old Homes / Falls Colors

2009-10-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

Some great older home along Main Street in Midway.

We have some great mountains just out our back window. Quite different from Vermont. each with there own beauty. We enjoy living in Midway and it's still has that small town feeling. Ruby has been taking picture and here is some of the latest she has added to here collection.

Cascade Springs / Vorwaller's

2009-10-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Vorwaller's from Urda, Ut near Tooele and who were missionaries in Sharon, Vt with us, stopped over and we were able to take them to Cascade Springs which is only 10 miles from our home and is also part of the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway. What a beautiful place and so close. We drove up and enjoyed the great fall colors.

2009-10-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

We are very grateful to have had the blessing of serving a mission. Thankful to give a small portion of our lives back to the Lord for the many blessings we have received. Our testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith grew as we learned more of his early life and the wonderful spirit that we felt at his birthplace. We have gained eternal friends in many of the people of Vermont and the missionaries we served with.
We so love our family and good friends and thank them for their their support and love while we were away!
A few days after arriving home, we were released from our mission by our Stake President Nelson. So we lay our name tags aside for the last time. It feels a bit sad to know we are released from the service of the Lord. Our live has already become more busy and complicated then it was in the mission field. We know we can still be missionaries and serve our fellow man, we hope we can keep this spirit in our lives!

Home, Sweet Home! ~ Monday Sept. 14, 2009

2009-10-02T02:44:00.000-07:00

We finally made it~and it is so nice to be home and out of the car after more than 2 weeks on the road!
The house looks good (the tress and bushes have grown so much you can hardly see the house. I see pruning trees in our future!).
Fawn and Fara are here to welcome us home with stocked fridge and cupboard! When the boys get home from school and Paul from work they all posed in front of a welcome home sign they made for us. Hadn't seen them since we left on our mission, and again, the kids had grown so much! And Fara is talking so much!
Feels good to sleep in our own bed and remember how beautiful our home is!

2009-10-02T02:19:00.000-07:00

We are getting closer and closer to home and we are getting so tired of being in the car! Arrived at our daughter, Cassie's home in Wyoming, evening of Sept. 13th. We hadn't seen any of these grandchildren for over 18 months. They had all grow so much! Kayson and Chynna are almost as tall as me. And Hudson looked like a little boy instead of a baby boy. Chynna played the guitar and sang for us, Kayson and Huddie told us about all the sports they are in. Such fun to see and hear all about what is going on in their lives!

2009-09-30T01:51:00.000-07:00

Got to hug more grandchildren in Colorado! Nephi and Kevin built shelves and Kristie, Leah and I went shopping while Grant was at school. Went to their primary program, where Grant had a part. Then off to Wyoming to visit daughter, Cassie.

2009-09-30T01:27:00.000-07:00

Back up to Tennessee to visit the King, at Graceland, in Memphis. Then a couple of nights in Branson, Missouri to see 2 shows. We had never been either place before so enjoyed ourselves very much.
A long days travel thru Kansas and into Colorado where we visited 2 old forts and took a hike up to see the Garden of the Gods before we arrived at daughter, Kristie's.

2009-09-30T01:18:00.000-07:00

Heather took me horseback riding for an early birthday gift. I had mentioned I really loved horses. It was great fun, she rode Copper and I got Gunsmoke, then we ate lunch at a little tea house. No one else wanted to go with us?

2009-09-30T00:59:00.000-07:00

Had a nice visit with our daughter, Heather and her husband Jon. Of course, we enjoyed our grandchildren, Melissa and Jared,who have grownup so much while we have been gone!
Nephi and Jon worked on a french drain to try to keep their family room from flooding when the rains are heavy...sure hope it works!
We also celebrated our 39th anniversary while there.

2009-09-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

We drove lots of beautiful country roads instead of staying on the highway.

Continuing south through Kentucky and Tennessee, we visited Cumberland Falls and Ruby caves and falls.

Our second stop was Palmyra

2009-09-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

Driving Southwest to Palmyra, for a fast tour of the church sites. Then down to Kirkland, Ohio to see the temple and what is left of the old village when the saints settled there.

Our trip home from Vermont! Sept. 2, 2009

2009-09-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Our first stop on on our way home from our mission was Acadia National Park in Northern Maine. It was not really on our way home, but we had heard about how beautiful it is, so wanted to spend a couple of nights. While there, we traveled to Alexander, MA to visited the Sanfords, missionaries we had served with. Ellie enjoys cooking on an old fashioned wood cook stove!

Family Home Evening~August 2009

2009-09-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

Our last Family Home Evening while on our mission. Pictured are some of the regulars who would come each week to the site directors home for FHE. Of course, we had to give a speech and testimony, always hard to say good-bye! The Mitchell's, the Clapson's, the Peach's, the Anderson's, the Petersen's (all missionary couples). Sis. McShinsky, Dickie Perry, the Olado's, the Caswell's, the Oparowski's, the Hoyt's.

We are down to our Last Two Weeks in Vermont!

2009-08-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

It has been over a month since we have blogged. Two weeks ago we moved from our apt. into a travel trailer. Our lease on the apt. ran out last day of July. So we are camping out for our last month of mission service. It is interesting, especially since the mice seem to think it is their home to. We are trying to use up as much food as possible before we leave on Aug. 31, but I don't really want to share with the little furry creatures! So I had to put everything in zip lock bags and Nephi bought mouse traps and has gone to trapping the little rascals. Yaakkk!!!
I usually write on this blog when I can't sleep at night, but since we didn't have room in the trailer, we have moved our computer across the road to the workshop.
We are enjoying our last few weekends here visiting some of the places we haven't seen as yet. This weekend we are going on the White River Flier, a 2 hour train ride to the north. We are going with 2 other sets of FM Missionaries, the Andersen's and the Peach's.

2009-07-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Sister Jensen on the porch of "The Mansion Home" where the Camp Joseph Missionaries or camp directors stay during the summer months. Camp is closed during the winter months due to the cold weather. Bother and Sister Cochran are the fulltime missionaries currently serving and there calling is for two years.

2009-07-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

The...fulltime missionaries have been teaching a 9 year old girl from a part member family and as it turned out she was in our primary class. I think she took a liking to Sister Jensen but when it came time to be baptized last week-end she asked if I would do it. Since our Chapel is under constrution the baptism was held in the Camp Joseph Pond. Commonly called the Waters of Mormon. So this was a first for me to baptism someone in such a wonderful setting. Even though the water was cold everything turned out great and on Sunday I had the privledge of confriming her a member of the church and giving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thanks Kaitlyn Densmore for asking me to perform these sacred ordaninces.

This is Kaitlyn's family right after the baptism

2009-06-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

I asked my children to write somethings they remembered from their childhood for a Mother's Day gift this year. I got some wonderful and funny stories. I wanted to write something to each of them in return.

The Importance of Your Name
Your father and I put a lot of thought into each of your names.
Heather is a plant native to the British Isles. When your father was on a church mission to England, he heard and really liked the name. So after we had been married a year and I was expecting our first baby , we choose Heather as the girl ’s name. Lynn would be her middle name after your father’s middle name. Shawn Nephi would be the boy’s name. Your father was hoping for a baby girl first . He got his wish and it was decided, Heather Lynn, we loved the name. A beautiful and content baby born April 4, 1972 in Provo, Utah, while your dad was attending B.Y.U.

Our second child would be Shawn Nephi, if a boy . I really loved the name Fawn for a daughter.. After joining the church, I had become friends with Sherry Stewart. She had a sister named Fawn. I asked her if she liked her name ? She said she did like it and didn’t get teased much (little deer). So it was decided, Fawn Mary . Mary after your dad’s mom, Mary Helen, and my mom , Rosemary . The name fit her perfectly and she was born just 15 ½ months after Heather , July 28,1973 in Castro Valley , California. Another beautiful and loving baby girl ! Your father was in Missile Launch School at Vandenberg Air Force Base for 6 weeks, so we were living with Grandma Rose and Grandpa Herb. Your dad’s mom , Mary Helen, past away just a few days before you were born. We were so sorry she didn’t get to see you before she passed on.
Our third child would be Shawn Nephi. We had just moved from Minot,
North Dakota, after serving in the Air Force for two years. Your father was able to get an early out because of too many officers after the Vietnam war . So , to the farm we went and I was very pregnant . If a girl , our baby’s name would be , Kristie Rose. Your father was very specific about how it was to be spelled. A daughter of one of our Home Teaching families was named Kristie. Rose was chosen after my mom’s name and Dad’s sister. Kerstin was almost chosen, but we thought it might be too unusual. We were living in a tiny house we lovingly call “little house on the prairie”, on the Idaho farm . It was decided, Kristie Rose, a beautiful name for a beautiful baby , born June 6, 1975 in Caldwell, Idaho.

As we were expecting our fourth child, Shawn Nephi, would be his name. If a baby girl, her name would be Cassandra Marie. Cassandra, because I had taught a girl in Young Women named Cassie, and really liked her name. And Marie for her middle name because Marie Osmond was popular and we thought it was pretty . We almost used Ann, after Grandma Teresa Ann, your dad’s step mother. But Cassandra seems to already have an ann sound in it and we thought Marie sounded better . We also loved the shortened version , Cassie. So it was decided and Cassandra Marie was born , March 5, 1978, Caldwell, Idaho. She was a little bit blue after a difficult birth, but a dimpled beauty !
We finally tired of the name Shawn Nephi, so if a boy , it would be Dustin Nephi . Dustin Hoffman was popular and we liked how it sounded with the name Nephi. Of course by then, we were expecting a girl, who we may have named Autumn. When a boy was born, we where all
very surprised and excited! So it was decided, Dusty was the perfect name for a boy who loved to play in the dirt as a child. Our fifth and last child, born Sept.13, 1979 in Caldwell, Idaho , just two days before my birthday , a beautiful birthday gift.
We love all our children very much and are proud of the great people they have become. Thank you so much for the memories you have all given to us. And the meaning you have given to our life. We give gratitude to Heavenly Father every day for the blessing you all are to us. Thank you for your love and support for the things we do. And for the wonderful grand children you have blessed us with!

Hope of America

2009-06-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

The new director at the Visitors Center, the Mitchell's, had a vision to organize a Memorial day celebration to honor veterans. They had seen this program in Provo and obtained permission to use the songs and theme and to put on a smaller version of the same here. There were about 500 plus people in attendance and the program was great with 120 children singing. Sister Mitchell prepared a book with certificates & info about many of the veterans from the area, with many of them in attendance. I think it will be even better next year. Lots of flags, fun patriotic songs, flag ceremony and t-shirts for all the kids....sorry to say the wind blew and it was very cold. But it did not rain as the weatherman had predicated!

New FM Missionaries

2009-06-07T17:01:00.001-07:00

The Sanford's and the Vorwaller's came back into town for the baptism of Brother Ken Sypher. It was to be a surprise to his wife, Nancy,for her birthday. They also were able to attend the Memorial Day Celebration, another post. We went to dinner together at a small restaurant in South Royalton. Also in the pictures are the new visitor center missionaries, the Clapson's from Meridian, Id and the Peterson's from Reno, NV and the Cockran's who are Camp Joseph directors. We had a good meal and it was nice to catch up!

We spent a day with the new FM missionaries, the Peach's from Grand Junction, Co. We drove up to Silver Lake where this picture was taken then made our way to Woodstock, just to show them around some of our favorite sites. We have enjoyed getting to know them and to find our that Elder Peach also likes Hot Rods. He has a 36 Ford Sedan. We have already been to the local diner for a small town cruise night. About 10 cars.

2009-05-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

It is so great to be outside working again! I have missed the exercise, fresh air and beauty of the Vermont spring. Next we need to take our bikes out for a ride. Just wish the hills were not so high, especially on the way up!
We are enjoying the new missionary couple (The Peach's). They are very easy to work with and are so sweet. Sister Peach loves to tell jokes and you know I can't remember a joke for more than a day or so. So she could tell the same one over & over. We are going to take them sight seeing Saturday and to a community yard sale. Like the rest of us when we first got here, they need bowls, etc.
Couldn't sleep, so thought I would update the Blog, but now I can't think of anything interesting to write. We lead a very boring life!
The next couple of weeks we are going to be very busy. We will be planting spring flowers, serving a luncheon to the construction crew who are working on the chapel, and getting everything ready for the big Memorial Program. Hopefully I will be able to get some good pictures to share.
The Mitchell's have very high expectations for everything, it puts pressure on us all to have everything looking nice. Which we want, as well, but don't have the time to do! They are not as layed back as the McKinnon's, so Tim & Gene are rebelling abit. The Vorwaller's & Sanford's are suppose to be coming back up around the 30th of May for the baptism of Ken Sypher. He has committed to baptism and is surprising his wife on her birthday. The Ward is excited!
We planted the allysum up the stairs to Monument today and then after lunch, had to go to Lebanon Chapel to work on ground there. So had a big day & are pooped! We will get the rest of the flowers next week. We (the ladies) have been going to Dawn's office to help out (3 times now). I really think we are going to be too busy to continue thru the summer. I told her we would be really busy this next 2 weeks because of planting & Memorial Day program. The pansies are doing very well and the hosta, fern and astillbe we planted last year seems to all be coming up. The spring bulbs are beautiful right now.

2009-05-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

Another farm tour...this time we took the new missionary couple, the Peach's (from Colorado) to visit the Pease's dairy farm. Grace is in our Primary class, so took a few pictures of her with one of her favorite cows "Rosie".
It has been very warm here already and the 90 degree weather is scaring me to think what this summer might be like. The black flies are already out and swarming around our faces, dive bombing into our eyes and mouth. They are pesky and biting flies that arrive in New England in May. Hello bug spray!!

We live just off Dairy Hill, which used to have lots of dairy farms, now there are just a few left. This is one of them. Our Ward has quite a number of families who still milk cows, have chickens and do the whole farm thing. They are great people and work very hard.

2009-04-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday the Kill's from our ward, invited us to dinner. We enjoyed being there during milking time. It is so much work and right now, they are loosing money doing it! Some of the cows are truly beautiful animals, especially the babies! They also have goats and chicken and love working with the critters. The family are true Vermonter's, and are really good people!

2009-04-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

Elder & Sister Sanford head for home in Maine after 18 months. They bought a new (2004) Subaru, so will have 2 cars to take their belongings home in. It is a 7 hour drive, and plan to come back for the dedication of the remodeled South Royalton Chapel in August. We will miss them and look forward to getting to know the Peach's from Grand Junction, CO.

2009-04-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

The couple across the table from us are the new Visitor Center Directors, Elder & Sister Mitchell from Orem, Ut. They own a scapbooking company called American Crafts.

We have lost another missionary couple. The Vorwaller's from Urda, Ut. headed home March 30. after a year of serving as JSM Visitor Center tour guides. We will miss them a lot! We got together often to play games and eat dinner. Learned lots of new games which we usually lost. They live about an hour from our home in Utah so we plan to visit them when we get home in August. Sister Vorwaller (Shellie) helped me learn some new crochet stitches during the long winter. It is great to meet and make lifelong friends while we are here!

2009-03-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

I painted a picture of Cassie and sent it to for her birthday. Now she's not sure she wants a picture of herself on the wall. It was suppose to have Chynna in it, but couldn't get it to look right because of the angle, so had to paint her out of the picture.

2009-03-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

The Vorwaller's have tapped a couple of sugar maples for sap, then cook it outside on a grill to reduce it to syrup (3 gallons to get 3 pints or so). A lot of work for so little. Makes you appreciate what goes into it.
We have been painting the office and break room at the shop. It is looking brighter and cleaner and gives us something to do while things are so slow. Also, planted some flower seeds inside to spout. Then will plant in a cold frame, like a tiny greenhouse, outside when they are an inch or two. We have ordered over 2000 from the nursery, these will just be back up flowers and to fill in if needed.

Zone Conference is always a treat. We are uplifted by the young Elders & Sisters as they share their missionary experiences and testimonies of the gospel. We had our picture taken with Mission President & Sister Jensen, as two of the senior couples we have been serving with at the Memorial are about to be released to go home (the Vorwaller's & the Sanford's).

Mission Updates for 1st week of March

2009-03-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hint of spring ... our land lord gave us the flower and we have really enjoyed it's beauty and smell.

The weather has been very nice this last week. It actually rained during night and now the news said we will wake to more snow in the morning. Will it ever end. The road to and from our apartment is so muddy we have to put the car in 4 wheel drive to make it certain spots. I've been told that it only get worse during spring with all the rains.

Ruby and I went to the Vermont Flower Show this week end at Essex Junction. It was okay ... I think Ruby enjoyed it more than me. The above picture is of a small potting shed I would like to build in our back yard someday. She took a painting class and painted with water colors, and is painting as I write this ... but only after her Sunday nap. I went to a class on composting, sound interesting but not sure it's worth the trouble. I will give it try when we return to Utah.

As we drove by the house on the corner where we turn off Dairy Hill Road on to McIntosh Pond Road, I noticed they were packing up to move. We stopped to talked, an then I noticed they had a small utility trailer and asked if it was for sale. He said yes, so looks like we may have just the trailer needed to haul all the stuff we have collected back to Utah. Nothing important mind you, but because our car was so full coming out we decided that we did not want to return back the same way.

2009-02-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Flowers Around the Memorial
~ Summer 2008~ "Dark Horse"

I have slowed down a bit with painting because the country store where I was selling them, closed. Eaton's Sugarhouse (a restaurant with gift shop) has a few, but haven't sold any there as yet.
Just made cornbread for "Meet the Mitchell's" tonight at the Memorial. The new directors are busy getting the word out and inviting people to visit. We have both had colds and are sooo ready for winter to be over. We hear there is more snow on its way this week...can't wait!
We will be ordering about 2000 annual flowers for planting around the grounds for this May. Since we are the only missionaries who will be here this spring, I have the responsibility of planning the gardens (hopefully another couple will be coming in April when the Sanford's go home). It has been fun, but quite a challenge. I used a lot of the flowers we used last year. Some that flowered the longest and were the hardiest. Also, ordering more flowering annuals and not so many just green leafy fillers. We had some vegetables in the flower gardens last year, I really didn't like them in the formal beds. I have learned a lot about flowers while being here, but it is not my best thing. Hope the gardens will turn out nice!!

A few random thoughts for a winter's day!

2009-02-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

We have new directors at the JSB Memorial, the Mitchell's. They have lots of great ideas for attracting guests to the Visitors Center. Family history classes, garden tours, talking in all Wards and encouraging members to bring investigators and so much more! They are real go-getter's. They have already gotten us to wear our missionary tags while serving on the grounds as well as during our off times. The paid church employees, we work with do not like the idea of calling us Elder & Sister. But Elder Mitchell, is very much in favor of it. We think it is great. And have always wondered why it wasn't always the practice.

We are just over the half way mark of our mission. Sometimes it feels like it has flown by, other times I would love to go home tomorrow! It will be different this summer with so many new missionaries (should be 4 new couples coming out and with the new directors). It will be very interesting and exciting!

Over the hills the through the woods, to our little apartment in the woods we go. Can't wait for Spring, it has been very cold, but know it is still a long time away. So we will enjoy the winter beauty for a few more months.

The little village of Tunbridge, one of our favorite drives through the woods, about 10 minutes from where we live.

Last weekend we were able to travel outside our mission boundaries to attend the Boston Temple. Elder & Sister Vorwaller invited us to go with them. We had a very nice time and only got lost a few times. We ate lunch at the temple, went to the Distribution Center, tryed to see the inside of the old North Church (but no place to park) and drove though Salem on the way home. It was a great day!

Snowshoeing around McIntosh Pond

2009-01-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

We had a big winter storm last Saturday Jan 10th. So Ruby and I borrowed the landlords snowshoes and went for a walk around McIntosh Pond. Everything was clean, white and beautiful. We saw many deer tracks in the snow and had a great time till the sun started going down.

This is a picture of the entrance to McIntosh Pond which shows snow all the way up to the fence.

The ice storm, which has bent these small trees to the ground, from a couple week before Christmas did a lot of damage to the trees and many people lost power for several days. We were lucky as we only lost power for 4 days. Nearby in New Hampshire some people were with out power for 3-1/2 weeks. So we felt lucky even though it was not fun being without running water.

As always, Ruby, looks good even in snowshoes and big coat. The sun was out and the weather was very nice. This was taken on Saturday and that night we had another foot of snow which continued through most of Sunday. So church was cancelled. Later, Sunday afternoon our landlord, Stewart, knocked on the door and wanted company snowshoeing. So I headed out with him for another couple of miles. This time we took sleds with us and rode them down the hill which was a lot of fun.

2009-01-02T23:28:00.000-08:00

This is an over view of the things we are doing on our mission here in Vermont.

The Lamb's, Sanford's and (us) the Jensen's spend most of our days serving at the Joseph Birthplace Memorial. We are called the FM (Facilities Management) Group and our primary assignment is to assist in the preservation of Church owned facilities within the mission. We have all been called to serve for 18 months. We, as a group, strive to keep the sacred grounds at the Memorial as beautiful as possible. It is our tribute to Joseph Smith as well as giving the many visitors to the grounds (about 30 thousand) a peaceful, lovely place to feel the spirit of our Heavenly Father.
We begin our day at 8 AM with a spiritual thought and prayer around a large table with Tim Packard and Gene Hill who are paid church employees. We talk about what needs to be done for the day.

In early Spring, the Elders are usually working together tree cutting and trimming, clearing around the ponds, taking up the boardwalk (wooden forms which cover the slate around the monument in winter, to protect and help with slippery conditions) and much more. The Sisters are getting the many gardens ready for planting, and raking, raking and more raking. We planted over 4000 flowers, with some help from the Elders, the first of June (after fear of last frost). We wanted to get them in as soon as possible, because many guests had already started to visit the Monument.

All Summer we care for "our baby's" and try to keep them picture perfect by weeding and deadheading nearly everyday. We fertilize and transplant, roll in the dirt, and even break fingernails and get bee stings for our plants. Fall is a busy and hard season for us. We must pull many plants that we have cared for all summer. It is probably the hardest thing we have to do, because most are still looking pretty good. We did leave some that could survive cooler weather, this year. Then it is time for planting the over 600 Chrysanthemums. Last week, all the flowers had to come out except for the mums and perennial plants, which had to be cut down. Right now the mums are looking pretty sad because of the freezing temperatures we have had. We will have to pull most of them next week. It is hard for us to see all our brightly colored flowers gone and just the dirt surrounding the monument and around the grounds.
Winter~ We check everyone of the 100 thousand Christmas lights, to make sure they work before going up on tall trees, bushes, fences and house tops. The Elders work from a cherry-piker lift to hang lights in high places. The Sisters put the lights on the fences, small trees and bushes around the property. About 15 thousand visitors come to see the Christmas lights and live Nativity each year. The Christmas lights start to come down after New Years Day. The Sisters work where they can to help take them down. Then as the Elders bring the wet, cold, strings in, we retest the 100 thousand lights, and package them up for the next year. Winter is long, so we organize and clean the shop, plan gardens for the next spring, paint, etc. The Elders make picnic tables, cut down trees, and work on equipment. But most of all, they do a lot of snow removal. They shovel the walks around the monument everyday, just in case someone comes to visit. They also travel to chapels around the mission to remove snow from the rooftops of chapels. There are always special projects to do around the mission as well. "Road trips" as we call them. Delivering supplies, landscaping, weeding, laying granite around the flower beds at Montpelier and inventory of all the chapels, to name a few. We feel blessed to have the opportunity to be in the service of our Heavenly Father. We are grateful and happy that we can give back to Him who has given us so much. We enjoy being a part of the team who are making the grounds a beautiful spot for visitors to come and partake of the wonderful spirit at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial.

2008-12-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

We spent Saturday in Woodstock. It was Wassail Weekend, with a winter parade. It was the most beautiful parade we had ever seen. Down the street came the most magnificent horses decked out in Christmas holly, bells, & ribbons, etc. with riders & carolers in period costume.

We also went to the Home Tour of several historic homes, beautifully decorated with holiday decor. We had a really fun day ending with a good meal at Bentley's.

Due to a bad ice storm, our power was out for two days last weekend. The worse thing was, we could not take a shower or use the toilet, because we have a pump for water. Our apt. got kind of cool and had to go to bed early. We where so glad when it finally came back on! There are still several thousand homes without power in nearby towns.

We had the privilege of helping at new member lesson for a newly baptized couple, the Olado's. The former bishop of the Ward & his wife, the Cass's invited us to a nice dinner, with the lesson after. The Olado's have a wonderful spirit and will be a great addition to the Ward. We are excited for them.

Another fun experience we have had recently, is going to the Fennie's for their annual missionary dinner (Vorwaller's, Mckinnon's, Sanford's & us) . Every year for the last 8 years, or so, they have had a nice dinner for the senior missionaries around the Christmas season. Sister Fennie has had 2 serious surgeries in the past few months, because of a brain aneurysm. She is truly a great inspiration for us all, and has a beautiful singing voice! They have 3 great kids @ 7, 11 & 12.

2008-12-10T00:14:00.000-08:00

May the spirit of Christmas stay with us all year round!
We are so grateful for this time of the year. Grateful for the birth of our Savior, and His atonement for each of us. Grateful for loving family and great friends. Thankful the joy of life and living at this time, and in this country. We are truly blessed!

Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial Christmas 2008

2008-12-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Nephi, as the innkeeper in white robe, at the live Nativity. Elder Vorwaller took these 3 photos. Night pictures are very difficult. We all tryed to get one of the actual Nativity wtih baby Jesus, but none turned out.

This is a shot is of the front gate.

Bridge all made out of pipe and lights.

This a a shot of the new Star that Elder Lamb made just as you come up the lane to the Memorial.

Photoof the Memorial with the visitor center on the right and the residence where the director lives on the left. Our landlord and his wife walked up to the memorial and took these pictures of the lights that we were privileged to put up this year. In all there are some 100,000 lights and it took us almost a month to put them all up. We rented a man lift and so at times were 60 feet in the air putting lights in the tops of tree. Not sure how I was able to be that high as heights are not my thing. They really turn out great. Thanks Stewart for the pictures.

Ruby's new friends

2008-11-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

It's the day after Thanksgiving and the animals have arrived for the live Nativity. Each year at the Memorial, there is a special lighting ceremony. Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving day, it includes a live Nativity with a donkey and two sheep, inn keeper, towns people, Mary and Joseph, Shepard's, angels, etc. and the three Wise Men. Everything went off perfectly and the lights even came on without throwing a breaker. On the second night I played the Inn Keeper. Ruby greeted and handed out pass-along-cards about the Memorial to the visitors. The first night we had 300 people and the second night about 175. The weather was cold but no wind or snow. I will post pictures of the many lights later. Our camera will not take night photos well.

Ruby is making new friend and enjoyed the two sheep. They were special guests for two days and a big hit with all the visitors.

Ruby was especially fond of Forest the donkey. I think she would have enjoyed many different pets. Forest was really good with the children as he was very friendly and enjoyed all the attention ... especially from the pretty ladies.

Sock and T-shirt sale

2008-11-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to the famous "sock sale" in Northfield with another missionary couple, the Vorwallers'. Also checked out the t-shirt sale and had a beautiful ride in the snow to Roxbury to buy a couple of sweatshirts. Great fun! We have been busy, so haven't had time to update our blog. Two weeks ago, we where pleased to have a visit from our daughter & 2 of our grandkids.
While driving them back to the airport it snowed a little, the kids being from Georgia, wanted to play in the snow...but no time.

We did a little painting. Jared painted an airplane, of course, Melissa painted an abstract for her room and Heather wanted a purple leaf?

Heather, Melissa & Jared came to visit! The weather was cold, but we still managed to see a few of the Vermont sites. Enjoyed a day at the ECHO Lake Champlain Aquarium & Science Center. Even did a little Christmas shopping.

2008-11-04T00:07:00.000-08:00

Grandma needed a hug!!

Fun with the kids in Vermont!

2008-11-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

Before they left, on Monday, Grant got to see Grandpa at work first hand. We are putting up 100,ooo Christmas lights around the Memorial grounds. They say, it will take most of November to get them all up before the lighting ceremony, Nov. 28th.

Cassie sent her dad a "birthday party in a bag" complete with balloons, party hats, cake & candle & plates for two. We waited to celebrate his 60th while Kristie & her little family came to visit. As mentioned before, the girls sent him a GPS...it is great fun!

We visited Billings Farm, Woodstock, Tunbridge (saw some covered bridges), Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory, toured the JS Memorial and went to church in the short weekend they where here.
It was great to see them and especially enjoyed Grant & Leah...Hugs and kisses...and Leah even let me hold and play with her all during church...it was sure fun!

Trip to Bennington, VT

2008-10-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

We Drove to Bennington and visited the oldest Church in Vermont. Buried in the cemetery is Robert Frost, who in 1920, came to live in Shaftsbury, Vt., the next town north of Bennington on Historic Rte 7A. He said, “I mean to plant a new Garden of Eden with a thousand apple trees of some unforbidden variety.”
Frost lived with his family in Shaftsbury during the height of his career as a poet until 1938, when his wife Elinor suddenly died. We able to visit his home also.

We visited the The Bennington Battle Monument, dedicated to the famous Battle of Bennington that took place during the Revolutionary war in 1777. It is a 306' stone obelisk which opened to the public in 1891. It been said that this was a turning point of the war to defeat the British.

Family Visit

2008-10-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Several members of my family were able to visit at the same time. During the month of October. They scheduled there trip to see the New England fall colors. The locals here call them "leaf peepers". Anyway, from left to right my brother Ray and his wife Charlotte, Norman and his wife Bonnie just in front, Nephi and Ruby and my stepmom Teresa and her husband Jack Leavitt. We had a great time but had to travel south to see some color. This picture was taken at Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home. Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving son of President Lincoln built his home here after becoming a successful business man and Chairman of the largest manufacturing corporation in America, the Pullman Coach Company. We visited many other sites and had a great time showing them around the beautiful state of Vermont. We spent two days at the Shelburne Museum, and learned a lot of Vermont history. We also drove around the historic barn at Shelburne Farms.

2008-10-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

This is the chapel in So. Royalton where we attend church. Tomorrow is the last Sunday we will meeting there for about 300 days, while it is being remodeled and added on to.

It is an unusal L.D.S. Chapel, more New England looking. We are hoping it will keep its distictive look after the remodel.

The beautiful fall colors were captured from the next ridge on McIntosh Pond Rd. where we live.

Tomorrow is Nephi's 60th birthday...Happy Birthday!!! Wow, how time has flown...I thought we were still 39.

Our 4 daughters sent him a GPS system for the car. He is so excited not to have me as navigatonor anymore...And so am I!!

The Vermont Country Store @ Weston, VT

Nephi's brother Greg and his wife Donna were in Vermont last week. We had a nice visit and had fun shopping at the Vermont County Store.

Fall foliage has arrived and almost gone in about 3 weeks, it has been so beautiful! This will be our only autumn in New England, so we have been taking a lot of pictures.

2008-10-05T00:42:00.000-07:00

Three of the other missionaries and I entered some things in the Tunbridge Worlds Fair. I entered 2 photos and 4 paintngs. Tunbridge is about 15 min. away and is a very picturesque village, we love it.

I was pleasantly surprised when this painting received the Peoples Choice award & all 6 recieved blue ribbons. The Village Store in Tunbridge has allowed me to display some of my stuff on consignment in their store. It would be great if something would sell.

Seems like the month of September flew by. My birthday and anniversary came and went. Didn't do anything exciting, but go for a ride and take photos. We are trying to be conservative, out here on our mission. And with the economy in a noise dive, we pretty much a just spend money on our apartment, gas and food.

2008-09-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

We walked up Patriarch Hill last week to pick wild blackberries. It is quite a hick up a steep hill which is near the foundations of Joseph Smith's grandparents home. After lots of scratched arms and tasty samples of berries, we gathered a nice size bucket full. Nephi decided he wanted to bake his very first pie, homemade crust and all. We had enough blackberries for two pies and some for the freezer. He shared one pie with the other missionaries. It turned out quite well even though wild berries are a bit seedy.

(P.S. Did I say I supervised?)

2008-08-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

I have learned to take my camera with me everyday as we go to the Monument to work on the grounds. Early in the morning when the fog is thick and the sun is breaking through, you can get the most wonderful pictures!

Elder Jensen has been on a ladder most this week scraping and painting the visitors center. I, with the 2 other sisters, have been planting the fall mums. We are planting them early this year because we have had sooo much rain some of the plants are not looking their best. Traditionally, the mums are planted in mid to late Sept., all other annual flowers are pulled out and the perennials are cut down. Just mums and some kale, I personally did not like the looks of it, as did another one of the sisters. So we are trying an experiment this year, of course we had to get permission. Hope it works out well!!

Driving down our favorite dirt road (Dairy Hill Rd.) one day, & an older gentlemen was selling a bunch of neat stuff for a $1.00 each. So we got this old rocker. Nephi put it all back together after fixing it and I painted the back and stained & vanished and made a cushion. It is a granny rocker, but very comfy!

The road less traveled!!
Our favorite activity here is driving around on dirt roads looking at the beautiful scenery and taking photos of covered bridges, old churches and barns. We are getting quite a collection. Sometimes we even stop at a yard sale and pick up a treasure to bring home. Soon we will need a trailer to get it all back. Oh, well, it is fun. The roads in Vermont & New Hampshire are so different from out west. As you turn off the main roads, you go about half mile or less and the road turns to dirt. It can be quite a muddy mess after a good rain (which we have lots of). The other strange thing is they don't believe in road signs, so we get lost a lot~and no GPS to help us. A favorite saying in Vermont is, "You can't get there from here". I have been spending a lot of time painting after we finish serving at the memorial. I have done several pictures and Nephi has been making frames for them. We are able to use some of the equipment at the church's shop to cut wood, etc. We have lots more time away from the usual hurried life we have led in the past. Plus we don't have TV!

2008-08-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

Traveled last week to Franklin, NH (1 & 1/2 hours journey) where we worked at the Chapel there. We packed up the church pickup and with another missionary couple, the Lambs, spent the day cleaning the building and weeding. On the way home, saw this beautiful covered bridge.

2008-08-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

All 6 of the sister missionaries serving at the Memorial were able to attend our Relief Society summer social last Friday. It was held, atop a moutain, at one of the ward members farm (the Kill's) in Bethel, about 10 miles away. It was beautiful and nice to get away from the usual work to spend lunch time with the other ladies.

Old pictures of Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial

2008-08-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

The granite monument and cottage were built in 1905 to commemorate Joseph Smiths 100th birthday.

Some early pictures of the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial were shared with us and as you can see it has changed over the past years. These photos were taken some time after dedication of the memorial. The Memorial Cottage was built on or very near the site of the home Joseph Smith was born in. The cottage was tore down in the mid 50's. It looks like a neat place, but of course, Ruby and I like old houses. There was even a reflective pond at the bottom of the hill.

First Edition Book Of Mormon

2008-08-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

We had the great experience of holding and and turning the pages of a first edition printing (1830) of the Book Of Mormon. We went with my sister and her husband Tom and Rosie Bell to Dartmouth College to their special collections library and they will let you hold, read and turn the pages yourself. To think who might have handled this Book, one of only 5000 printed in 1830.

The book is in remarkable condition. While we were looking at it, one of the assistant librarians came over and asked if we were LDS. She was one of 4-8 LDS students attending Dartmouth, with some of them still on vacation or on leave to serve missions. She told us an interesting bit of information. She was at a party when they were having a triva quiz game. One of the questions was; Which book in the Collections Library was the most often requested to view? It was the First Edition of the Book of Mormon. We have been told that a first edition copy had been donated to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial, but when Salt Lake heard about it, they requested the book be sent to them so it could be placed in a control environment and under better security conditions. So off it went to be preserved and protected. To actually hold one and turn the pages was a real treat.

More pictures of Maine

2008-07-30T16:54:00.001-07:00

Two Lights Light house Maine , We could not see the other light house as the fog was moving in and out two fast and we could not see it to take a picture.

This is Old Orchard Beach in Maine. What a great beach with thousands of people. It was the best day that we had seen this week and there was no rain. I'll bet people thought we were strange to be fully dressed and walking on the beach ...

Travels through Vermont and Maine

2008-07-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Portland Head Light ... Light house Maine

Okay ... It's been a while since we last posted ... but have been very busy with work and celebration of the 24th of July. We have been working so hard that our FM managers gave us both Thursday and Friday off so we could celebrate the 24th of July and have an extra day to see the area. On Thursday we decided to travel to Rutland with the Slades to see the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Vermont Marble Museum and the New England Maple Museum all are within a few miles of each other. This was there normal day off but we had not had a Thursday off before so it was great that it worked out for us to spend some time traveling and visiting with them.

Norman Rockwell's main museum is in Mass. but he lived near Rutland for several years so has one there also. I was really impressed with his works and did not realize that he had drawn so many illustrations. The next stop was the Marble Museum and it was interesting to note that several of our nations monuments in DC are built from Vermont Marble ... it was an interesting visit. We came back to the JSM Visitors Center that evening to have dinner with all the other missionaries. Played a game after and had a really great time.

The next day we traveled with the Sanford's to the coast of Maine which was still in our our Mission. The Sanford's are from Maine so they wanted to see the coast again and eat some seafood. So we were lucky to have a guided tour of a small part of Maine. We travelled first to Old Orchard Beach. Beautful white sands and thousands of people. We walked the beach and enjoyed the ocean for a couple of hours then travelled to Two Lights light house and to Portland Head lights light house. Portland head light is the most photographed light house in Maine and it was a great place. We did a little shopping at a place called Mardins, which is only in Maine, and they sell things at wholesale. Then we drive home. Long day but now we have been to Maine.

2008-07-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

Silver Lake, VT

Royalton, VT

Yeah, missing all the grand kids!

2008-07-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

It was a misty morning when we were driving up the lane to work at the memorial and we saw this incredible photo opportunity. I was so glad we had our camera with us!!

We drove to Woodstock, Sat. Went to a couple art galleries and checked out some B&B there. On the way home, we drove past Silver Lake in Barnard. It was very nice. Took some nice photos of lovely New England churches and found another covered bridge. I have been working on a couple paintings, just started one of a covered bridge. Nephi has been working on a rocking chair we got last weekend for a dollar from an old farmer who lives on one of the country roads near us.

It has been raining lots for about 2 days now. We spent 2 days last week doing inventory at a chapel in the Stowe area. We are scheduled to inventory the Essex chapel this week. We never know what or where we will be going and doing from one day to the next. But, mostly we are at the Memorial. It is truely a beautiful spot, and we can feel the wonderful spirit here!

2008-07-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

Joseph Smith Birthplace Monument~July 2008

2008-07-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

Moxely Covered Bridge in Tunbridge, Vermont.

2008-07-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

June 26, Picked up Heather & Cassie at Amtrack Station ~Westport, NY.

2008-07-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

The grounds around the Monument are really looking great now that the flowers have grown. There are many bus loads of folks visiting this time of year. Many of the people like to stop and ask questions, we try to stay out of the way of them taking photos, and sometimes we offer to take their picture. They always ask where we are from and say they would love to go on a mission to take care of the grounds.

June 22, Heather & Cassie rode Amtrak from Montreal to visit us, after being in Philidelphia, New York and Canada. We picked fresh strawberries, went to yard sales, checked out a couple thrift stores and went to the Christmas Tree Store (in July?). Heather was here just overnight, but Cassie was able to stay 5 days. We had a good time and visited many of the area attractions and did lots of hiking. I was able to a take a few days off, so felt like a mini vacation. Even went shopping without Nephi. Cassie & I found a great sale!!

Also had a nice visit from Rick & Rhonda Schroeder, our past bishop in Evanston, now living in Pennsylvania.

Last weekend was 4th of July. I wanted to find the 6 covered bridges we heard where in Tunbridge. It is a small village about 20 minutes from were we live. After a bit of searching we found and photographed all 6 of them. We had a picnic dinner with the other 6 missionary couples that evening, it was a nice time.

This weekend we traveled about 20 miles to Chelsea to go to their annual flea market. It was fun, but had an even better time at the yard sales on the way there. An old rocker for a dollar (needs lot of TLC), an old highchair (what are we going to do with that?), and some old license plates. Other peoples junk.....our treasure!

Rainy days in Vermont

2008-06-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday and it has been raining most of the day. The humidity was at 97%. We had many visitors at church and it's exciting to visited each week with them. We have been called to teach in the primary. Ruby is working on a painting and trying to organize our little apartment to find a home for more stuff then we have room for. We have been going on long walks in the nearby woods. Our landlord took us to some very old stone chambers or root cellars and some have even call them calender sites. But they are very old and usually have old stone walls nearby and old stone foundations where homes once stood. I was told that National Geographic did an article on the the ones near our house. I took a walk around McIntosh Pond today while Ruby worked on her landscape painting. She is making bread and will be cooking it long past bedtime tonight.

Ruby got a new camera and so is happily taking pictures again after I lost her other one. She is designated to document the flowers and garden for the yearly history book of the Memorial Site gardens. We are enjoying the other missionary couples. We work with the Lamb's from AZ, and the Sanford's from Maine on the grounds. The Mckinnon's from Orem, the Vorwallor's from Urda (Toolle), and the Slade's from Star, Idaho work in the visitors center to welcome guest and give tours.

We are blessed to work at the Joseph Smith Memorial Site and can understand why it has designated as a sacred site. The Vermont countryside is so beautiful and green. I'll bet it was hard for many of the early saints to leave this area. Due to the hard times and the inability for many to make a living here, they left for New York. I am sure the Lord had a hand in each of their lives so that would be directed to move on to other areas so that they would be instrumental in the restoration of the gospel. We miss being home in Midway and hope all is well there. We also missed visiting with family and friends who attend the wedding of my sister's son Peter Bell to Jen Green who's family lives in Midway this week end. Wish we could have been there to enjoy the activities

2008-06-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is the kitchen of our Tree House. Not much room for anything. Not much to cleanup either!

2008-06-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the quality of the photos, this is why we bought a new camera. And why we are so sad we lost it yesterday.

This is why we call it our tree house.

2008-06-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

2008-06-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

We live in the far right bottom area of the house.

Father's Day June 15, 2008

2008-06-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty quiet today. After church they served root beer floats and chocolate chip cookies to all, to celebrate Fathers Day, and called it mini linger longer.

It has been about two weeks since we last posted to our blog. Since that time we have moved into our new apartment. It is very small but really close to the JSM site. We are only 1.1 miles away, so can actually walk or ride bikes to work on nice days. Only problem ther are a couple of hills going to work. It will be nice for coming home though. We have planted all the flowers that were ordered and are just waiting for them to grow and fill in with color around memorial site.

We drove to Quechee, Vt for their annual Father's Day Balloon Festival. All the balloons departed at 6am and again at 6pm so we missed that. The rest of the activities were not what we wanted to do so we drove on to Woodstock. While there we were stuck in the all class reunion parade. We were sitting on the green waiting for the parade to start and when we got up to watch we left our camera sitting there and did not realize it until later that night. Called the Police Station to see if anyone had found a camera but nothing. I think we have seen the last our camera which was less than a month old. Later in the day, we drove back to JSM and had a Senior Missionary Social. There are 14 senior missionary couples which includes proselyting, visitor center, family history, and service missionaries. That also included our Mission President and his wife. Everyone brought something for dinner as assigned and we had a great time.

Sunday Drive

2008-06-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

Patriarch Tree (200+ yrs. old) on Patriarch Hill at Monument.

The above two pictures were taken at the John Morrell Historic site in Stafford, Vt

Our first two investigators

We had a nice church meeting today with a linger-longer after to eat and get to know all better. One of the ladies, Sister McShinksy, says I look like her daughter who lives in Virgina. She is one of the old timers here, and several of the other folks have asked her how long her daughter will be visiting? So I guess I have a new Mom for a while. We will be moving to our new apt. next weekend. I call it our "tree house" because it is in the forest and you get to the loft byway of a ladder. We planted flowers last week and still have a few more to plant, about 4000 total. The grounds are looking more & more beautiful with forest, green grass and lacy fern. Nephi & the other Elders have been draining one of the ponds so it can be dredged and cleaned out. They stock the 2 ponds with fish, too bad we don't fish. We went for a ride in the country today after church to a small town called Stafford. A typical small Vermont village, a couple of churches, no stores, some have a general store, and lots of older homes (18th century). On previous drives we thought we would find some good prices on antiques in some of the village shops, but no such luck.

Drive to Woodstock!

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White River near our house in So. Royalton Vt.

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Visit from Heather, Melissa & Jared!

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We had such a special time with the kids after Heather & Jon's reception. We were able to get special permission to go out of our mission boundary to attend the reception in Connecticut. It was so nice to finally meet Jon's mom and family. They really love Heather and seem very nice.

We had a wonderful dinner and great time. Heather & kids drove back to Vermont with us for a couple of days. Jon had to go back to GA. to work. We visited the Yankee Candle Factory, Santa's Workshop, longest covered bridge in Windsor, VT. & the JS Memorial on the way. Later that night, the Wilson's across the street, invited us all over to watch fireworks. On Monday ate breakfast at the Sugarhouse in Bethal than off to Woodstock and the Billings Farm. From there, we ate a picnic lunch at Quechee Gorge and took pictures of a few more covered bridges and watched a glass blower make wine glasses. Later, a walk to the river to dig up some fern for Heather to take home & a bike ride. A full day of activities.

Today, we got up early and drove to the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory for a tour, and to the airport in Burlington for their departure at 1:30 pm. A nice time for all (I hope the kids had a good time, we sure enjoyed having them visit), our 1st visitors in Vermont!

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We need to thank our daughter, Kristie, so much for setting this Blog up for us.
It is fun and a great way to keep track of what we are doing on our mission.

Garden behind the Directors (Elder & Sister McKinnon) home.

Elder Jensen about to blast off!

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We had all the senior missionaries (6 couples counting us) over for a social Friday. It was fun. We always meet on Monday for FHE as well, with a few members of the Ward. The mission has been much different then I expected. It is completely a service type, with no teaching. We were told we would be rotating into the visitor center, but it does not look like that will happen. There are 3 of us couples who work on the grounds and buildings. We meet every morning at 8 and discuss, with 2 church paid employees, what should be done for the day. We have a thought & prayer then off to work. The ladies usually rake and plant and weed. The other day I got to paint picnic tables, it was nice for a change. We also cleared a large area that was forest and made a stone bench with the help of (Gene Hill) a guy on a tractor. The Elders usually do the heavy work of clearing logs, painting bathroom floors, cleaned the pond and hauling trash, etc. I am still a bit homesick and get bored with raking and want to go home and lay on the floor for awhile, oh, shame on me! We should be losing weight, but just eat more instead. We both have sore muscles most days. It is rewarding to feel we are making a difference in helping to make the grounds inspiring to thous who come to this Holy place.

We haven't planted many flowers as yet, so things haven't really gotten as beautiful as it will after we plant the 1000+ flowers at the end of this month. Working with others can be difficult, even on the mission. The other 2 Sisters have been here longer then myself, so I don't want to "rock the ship". Sometimes I just have to bit my lip.

Week 7 ~ Work, Work, Work!

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Went for a ride last Sat, it was beautiful, found 6 chairs someone was giving away to a good home. Nephi will have to work on them, when he gets bored after work at the memorial ~ no tv. Spring is a wonderful time, we have been getting the flower beds, around the monument, ready for planting later this month. They say it may still freeze, so don't want to take any chances. The daffodils have almost finished blooming, they don't put in many tulips because of the cost and they don't do well for some reason. We do had trouble with deer eating the plants, too. The weather here is a lot like our weather, just more humid. In the forest, the fern are starting to grow and I can't wait to see it cascading down the mountain sides between the trees and streams.We are moving to a small studio apt. next month. The home we are living in now, is for sale, so we needed to find something after the Vermont Law School was over and students went home for the summer. Gee, wish I was going home for the summer, I must admit I am a bit homesick.

Foundation stones from the Mack pioneer homes.

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Daniel Mack foundation.

On the 14th of May, we had Zone Conference. It was held at our So. Royalton Chapel, and was very inspirational. The young missionaries gave talks and testimonies and even sang to us! They were filled with the spirit and so, filled us with their fire. Then we had a nice meal.

Stone bridge near the old foundations.

Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial Grounds

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We have had beautiful weather this week. There are 2 other missionary couples who work with us. Elder & Sis. Lamb from Arizona and Elder & Sis. Sanford from Maine. We are the "greenies". We had the Sanford's and Wilson's (we are renting their home temperately) to dinner Tuesday night. The elders usually work together & the sisters work elsewhere on the grounds. Nephi built some picnic table frames, loaded lots & lots of wood chips from old tree stomps and leaves onto little Gater carts to dump in compost pile. The ladies and I raked the forest for 3 days then got the flower beds ready for planting. Today, we cleaned up around a kiosk for maps, etc. and transformed the small wilderness area into park like space. The elders actually helped us today and it was so nice. We are planning to transplant some fern from the forest into the transformed area tomorrow.

Family Home Evening

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We got rained out today, so only worked half a day. Things are really starting to green up and some spring flowers are coming out. That is the ones that the deer have not eaten off. We have to spray "Deer Guard" on the plants, the smell keeps the deer away. It was FHE tonight and Ruby and I gave the lesson. It was a hard lesson to give because we had to talk about ourselves. Ruby is writing thank you cards to send to friends and family for their help in making our trip here more enjoyable. We just had a new couple arrive today, the Slade's. They were from AZ but have been living in Star for the last couple of years, since they retired. They are here for six months to work in the visitors center.

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Our temporary home is lovely and enjoying it till we find a permanent apt. We have been very busy at the Joseph Smith Memorial. The other Sis. missionaries and I have raked, & raked and raked most every inch of lawn here. And what we didn't do, the Elders have done. We come home at night take a shower, eat and go to bed. We don't have TV as yet, so for entertainment, on Sat. we have been going for rides around the area. Their are lots of dirt roads that go up into the mountains where lots of people live and farm (mostly dairy) and gather maple syrup. Lots of rivers and ponds everywhere among the trees, very green and beautiful rolling hills. We have seen many moose and bear crossings on the freeways, but none of the real thing as yet.It is not really a spiritual mission, but we are around fine people and we are saving the church lots of money by taking care of the grounds. Plus it is great exercise. The Ward is very small, so I'm sure we will be getting a calling. We were told we would be working in the visitor center as well, but no one has said anything about that as yet.

South Royalton Chapel

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This is the South Royalton Chapel on the Joseph Smith Memorial property.

MTC map ... our new area

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Our 1st Two Weeks

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The weather was up to the high 70's last week and even got hot while working. Today, Sunday, is cool and over cast. The Cooks invited us to dinner later today. Nephi vounteered to teach Gospel Essentials last Sunday, we went into class cold, with just a book and a prayer. It went fine. We had the Lambs over to dinner. We went to their home for dinner the first day after we arrived.
We were sent to help with the mission office move in Manchester, NH Thurs. & Friday of this week. Almost a 2 hour drive. Meet Mission Pres. Jensen & his wife.
Drove to Quechee and Woodstock, VT. yesterday, only about 20 min. away. Very beautiful.
We miss our family and friends and already counting the days till we get to come home. I'm sure it will get better as time goes by!

Daily Activities

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We are getting use to the routine, but seem to need to go to bed lots earlier then we are use to. Everyday we are up at 6:45 and at work at the Memorial site at 8. We have a spiritual thought and prayer and talk about what we will do for the day. We have been doing a lot of raking leaves and Nephi & the other elders moved lots large of logs to Camp Joseph, the girls camp next door. The work is really quite physically hard, especially for us old folks, but great exercise, and it is a beautiful place to work.The mission president said we would also be working in the visitors center, but so far, we've only been outside. We have been looking for a permanent apt. after work, but with no success as yet.