Trip to Independence Missouri

A few weekends ago we went on a little church history site seeing trip with some friends from church. Our first stop was Far West.

The only thing left of the city that they built is the 4 temple cornerstones. This plaque was later added to tell about some significant events that happened there.

Over in the corner under the glass cover is one of the cornerstones. We had to leave quickly because it started to rain really hard.

Our next stop was Adam-ondi-Ahman.

There is a bluff that over looks a large valley. It is really pretty there.



The next day we went to the Liberty Jail in Independence. We learned a lot of interesting things about the history of the jail.



The walls were very thick. The roof was not high enough for some of the prisoners to stand upright.

Our next stop was the visitors center in Independence. You can learn a lot of interesting church history. They have a small wagon and cabin for the kids to explore.

From Independence ...

Here is the Community of Christ Temple in Independence. It is quite a sight to behold. We went on a short tour of it. This church has the same origins as ours and it's interesting to see how different it has become.
Click on the album link for more pictures!

Emma is 2

Emma turned 2 on April 26. Here are some pictures from her birthday celebration.

Emma knew exactly which present she wanted to open first. I had to buy her presents when she was with me at the store and she really liked this one. I think she remembered the size of the box and picked that present out specifically.

It's kind of tough opening presents when you are two - especially when your siblings don't have the patience for it and really want to help you along.

She finally got out the little cell phone she wanted to play with. Maybe now she won't always play with mine.

She knew just what to do with it. She'll even babble when she holds it up to her ear - unfortunately she ceases all noise when you put an actual phone to her ear.

She was too interested in the phone to open anything else - her brothers had to end up helping her.

Here is a pretty new dress from Grandma.

Emma is not really into any characters or animals. I decided to go the simple route and just make some cupcakes. She doesn't care - as long as it's cake!

She wasn't sure what to do with the candles.

From Emma's Birthday

She didn't even really dig into the cake!
Happy Birthday Emma!

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. I thought I would finally get around to posting the pictures.

Emma is finding the candy eggs.

Rachel filled up her basket.

David liked eating the candy.

So did Josh.

Here are the birds nests we made out of chow mien noodles and marshmallows.



Here are Rachel and David in their new Easter clothes. Josh had already changed but he looked pretty similar to David.

Emma in her new dress.

Rachel

David

Sisters

Check out that great smile!

And those big blue eyes.

Aaron made some yummy bird nest cookies - it's something his Grandpa would always make.

From Easter

Click on the album link for more great pictures!

More from the storm

Here is our front walk after it had been shoveled.

The piles of snow on the sides of our driveway.

The deep drifts around our swing set.

It's funny, it hasn't really snowed much more, but the snow keeps getting deeper because of all the wind. We probably have an additional 8 inches on our front walk today. I'm hoping that we're done with snow for the winter. The kids are anxious for Spring!

In like a Lion

This is what our March 1st looked like.
We were officially treated to one of Nebraska's blizzards. The schools were all closed but Aaron went into work. Last night and this morning they were saying that the snow would stop around noon and that we would get 5-8 inches. Around 10 or 11 they changed the "winter storm warning" to a "blizzard warning" and that we would get more snow until 6 or 7 and lots of strong winds. Aaron came home and luckily made it to about the bottom of the driveway.

He passed hundreds of stranded cars. We probably only got about 9-12 inches of fallen snow, but the drifts are 3 or 4 feet deep. Hopefully it won't take all spring for the snow to melt.

Emma's new haircut

This was Emma's hair before. It had a lot of different layers and was always in her face. I have trimmed her bangs but I didn't feel equipped to give her a hair cut. I took her to a place that specializes in kids - Ponytails and Buzzcuts. Overall, I wasn't that impressed, but I do understand how hard it is to cut a little kid's hair when they won't sit still. I thought it was pretty funny that they put on a movie for Emma to watch and then they kept telling her to look down at her feet. Anyway, here's my cute almost 2-year old!