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?

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.

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

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

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

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!

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.