Camp RS

For the women's organization at church, Relief Society, I helped plan an end of summer dinner we themed "Camp RS," or Camp Relief Society. I was assigned to make the posters and invitations...and I got paper crafty! 

I like how it all turned out. 

Whitmer Farm and Hill Cumorah Pageant

A trip to Ithaca, NY is also not complete without a visit to some early church history sites.

(For those unfamiliar: I am LDS/Mormon and my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was started in Palmyra, NY. I say "started," but really I believe it was actually restored to modern times as it was in ancient times, rather than started anew. The boy (Joseph Smith) who instigated this restoration was 14 years old when he prayed to know which church to join. This bit of history is interesting because Palmyra, at the time, was in a religious revival. There was a crossroads with 4 different churches on each corner - it's still there, though now it is an intersection. There were travelling preachers coming through the area to convert people to their church. Joseph Smith's own family had some going to one church and some to another; it makes sense that a boy would wonder what to do. I wrote a little more about Palmyra after my first visit almost 5 years ago.

We borrowed Adam's parents' car and drove around Lake Seneca to the Whitmer Farm. It was a beautiful drive past waterfalls, Watkins' Glen, vineyards above the lake, and Mennonite farms.

The Whitmer Farm is where the church was officially organized on April 6th, 1830. This building is a replica.

Inside, they have it set up as it might have been in 1830.

The backyard had an apple orchard and outhouse.

I love this photo. I like the look of the building with dark wood, white mortar and red windows.

There was a visitor's center with several beautiful paintings:

Early believers being baptised:

Receiving the Holy Ghost:

After the Whitmer Farm, we drove with Adam's sister to Palmyra to see some more sites, but were low on time before the Hill Cumorah Pageant would start. Instead, we got ice cream at Chill and Grill.

Elliott and Jane are good cousin-friends:

The Hill Cumorah Pageant was interesting. I liked it, but was overwhelmed at first because you walk through the gates of a grass field and then are overcome by folks in costumes trying to make small talk with you :)

Elliott brought his bike, of course:

There were many opportunities to get pictures with the cast of the pageant. Adam's parents had arrived early and saved us great seats. It was a fun night all together.

Ithaca 2014

It had been 2 years since we went to Ithaca, NY as a family, sadly (last trip July 2012). We had a great trip in mid July and loved our time with Adam's parents, siblings, and hometown.

There are a lot of photos, so I'm grouping them into different posts:

Taughannock Falls

Corning and Shay's house

Whitmer Farm and Hill Cumorah Pageant

Ithaca Farmer's Market and GrassRoots

Watkin's Glen

Here are the cousins outside Maxie's Supper Club, first stop home from the airport.

And here is the grand meeting of cousins Arlin and Darwin Barlow - born just 4 weeks apart! They will be essentially the exact same age their whole life :)

 Two Barlow families:

 Jump time at Grandma's

 Playing at Stan Barlow Nationwide Agency!

 Elliott ate all the office mints

 Last hugs with Grandma Ka

 Flying home on the airplane:

Elliott's Baby Blessing

I'm two months behind, I guess, because Elliott's baby blessing was on September 4th.

Nonetheless, it was a glorious, sunny Sunday after a fun week with both Adam's parents and mine in town.

The New Parents:

After the blessing at church, we had a delicious family breakfast and lunch.

Yogurt parfaits and almond Danishes for breakfast.

(need to find the photo)

Salads, fresh tomatoes, salmon for lunch.

Here's the little angel, sleeping away while we partied in his honor:

Ian in Seattle

My brother, Ian, came to visit me and Adam about a month ago - in May.
It was wonderful to see him, even though we had just spent 2 weeks together after Briana died.

We found out April 7th that Ian will be serving a 2 year proselyting mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) in Quito, Ecuador!
We are very excited for him and the learning, growing, exploring, serving, and teaching he will do - but of course we will miss him terribly.

Ian leaves July 13th for the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center). This visit will be the last time I see Ian until he comes back in July of 2013! He won't get to see our baby (except in photos) since we're expecting it at the end of July, but Ian said he's glad he'll be home for it's 2nd birthday - when things get really cute (and feisty).

We had wonderful, sunny weather for Ian's visit and squeezed in as much as we could into 3 days.
Ian arrived by train from Portland after visiting his friend, Ben.

We walked around Seattle together, went to one of our birth classes, climbed at Marymoor Park and the Redmond Vertical World, went to the Seattle temple, and ate quinoa salad at the Kirkland Waterfront:

Here is our last photo together:

I love you, Ian! I'm going to miss you so much. Good luck in Ecuador.

Here is a funny video we made of pregnant me, dancing:

(hang on, I have to go find it on another computer...)