Steve's birthday is tomorrow!!!

Hey, it is the big 39!!!! This is his last good year, I hope he uses his time wisely before his youth goes to the grave. Happy Birthday Hunny!!! We love you.

So when I came home from work today, this is what I walked in the back door and saw.

They had used every blanket and even my little tent that I took to Trek with me that one year. It is wall to wall tent in my living room and they informed me that they are sleeping in it tonight. Have fun.

Steve and I ran in the Sunset City 5K race on the 25th. We went to the Bees game the night before (well, the Bees didn't end up playing, but that's a different story), and so we didn't even get to bed until 1:30 that morning. We dragged ourselves and our kids and Wendy out of bed at 6:30 am because we had to be over at the park ready to race at 7:00 am. Steve said when we got there. "Now you're not going to be upset if I stretch my legs and pull ahead of you, are you?" I said heck no, I want you to do the best you can. Go as fast as you want. Well I didn't know he was going to leave me in the first 2 seconds. They say mark, get set, go, and he takes off. However, my muscles did not cooperate as well. We were both very happy with our performances though, it was a personal best for both of us. Wendy had the kids with her and took a few pictures of us at different spots along the way. We were moving though, so they were kind of blurry. Steve came in at 33:08 and he said I came in at 36:56 - forgot to look at the time as I went across the finish line. Neither one of us were able to run the entire race, so we are going to try again around Labor Day and see how we do. Here are a few pictures.

We have really had a great time training together. It was my goal to do this. Steve has been coming along to support me and ended up kicking my butt. It's all good though, he's worked hard.

So in the middle of July we went on a trip with my mom and dad to some of the church history sights. It was really such an amazing trip, we felt the spirit continuously and it was so nice. We would really like to take our kids back there if we could figure out how to do it without spending so much time in the car. That was a lot of driving. We learned so much though, I was amazed at how much stuff I did not know. I've been a member all of my life, but I guess I have just lost track along the way of the sacrifices that preceded me. So here's the little run down.

The troops are heading out. Steve and I planned for a lot of heat, but spending so much time in the car with the air conditioning, we froze. I had to buy a blanket the second day we were out.

Games helped us stay sane in the car. (dad cheats)This is at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This was our first stop and just as amazing as you have imagined. A huge meeting will take place here sometime in the future. To know that we were standing on sacred ground and that we were where Adam once walked was a very peaceful feeling. It is really a natural amphitheater - just amazing.

We spent the first 2 days in Independence Missouri. This is the temple of the Community of Christ church. They used to be the Reorganized church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They changed their name in 2006 I believe. We got to take a tour of it inside. I really don't want to take away from what they obviously feel is so wonderful, but it really was very unimpressive. Something that we all found disturbing is that one of the members of their first presidency is a woman and they have 4 women apostles. When we left there, we just really felt like we needed to go somewhere where we could feel the spirit again. So we went to Liberty jail.

I thought this was a good picture of all of us at the Liberty jail. The lighting wasn't all that great in there, so a lot of my pictures are dark. The museum was actually built around the jail. This is the jail that Joseph Smith and 4 other men spent over 4 months in. Joseph Smith received some amazing revelations towards the end of his stay here. One of the men that were in there with him was 6 feet 6 inches tall and the ceiling was only 6 feet tall. He never could stand errect after leaving the jail. Josephs oldest son came and spent one night in the jail with them while they were there. One of the men sang to him all night long that night. Josephs son remembered it as a night of peace. There was an amazing feeling at that jail.

We went to Branson, Missouri next. It is a really fun city. This is the Titanic museum. They told us it would take us about and hour and a half to walk through it, we exited about 3 hours later. It was just really such an amazing museum and such a captivating story. They gave us a boarding pass when we entered and it told a little bit about one of the passengers that were actually on the ship. We kind of became the person on our boarding pass. We were all trying to keep up with what our person did. At the end of the museum we found of if we lived or died. All of us lived but Steve. That night we went to a little musical thing called Presley's Country Jubilee. They are not related to Elvis. It was great! Family oriented, patriotic, and funny. We were laughing pretty hard at some spots. Me and mom even bought one of their joke books.

Next we went to Nauvoo. Our first sightseeing expedition there was to see Carthage Jail. This is us in front of the window that Joseph Smith fell out of. He was shot twice in the back and twice in the chest. Again, there was an amazing spirit there.

This is Nauvoo by the Mississippi river.

We went to the Nauvoo pagent that night. It poured on us for about 20 minutes. Then right when the pageant started, the rain stopped - amazing how that works. =) It was a great pageant and we really had pretty good seats that we could see good. At the end of the pageant the light of the temple came on and you could see the temple so magestically in the background. It was beautiful.

We walked up beside it that night, and this is the picture that Steve got. The next day we went and toured as much of Nauvoo as we could and then we went to the temple for an endowment session. It is really a beautiful temple on the inside. They built as much of it to original specs as they could.

Emma, Joseph's, and Hyrum's headstone. This property is owned by the Community of Christ church.

The next day we went to Winter Quarters.

The story here amazed me. The Saints were driven from every home they ever knew and then when they arrived at Winter Quarters, here comes the Calvary wanting 500 Morman men to enlist and fight for a country that refused to protect them. The went, and they were blessed for their efforts. The never actually had to fight, and the money that they made marching for the army helped provide the supplies and food that their families needed back home. Unbelievable stories of selfless sacrifice.

Steve hangin' with Brother Brigham. This is actually where Brigham Young was sustained as the 2nd prophet of the church.

At Winter Quarter's temple

I just liked this picture, you can't see my stomache. =)

So we had a great time. On the way home we even stopped in at the first Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska. Honestly, the one in Lehi is nicer. However, we did find Steve a birthday present there, so it was worth the trip.

Thanks mom and dad for such a great time. Hopefully we will not forget the things we learned, but most of all the way we felt.