Palmyra

Our bike trip was scheduled to start on Monday, June 1, but we wanted to spend some time up at the church sites prior to our ride, we wanted some time to ponder the lives of these early Saints that had lived in the area, we wanted to take our boys to the sacred spots and again tell them the story of the Restoration. We went up Saturday. We were actually hoping to go to the temple Saturday, but at too late discovered that it closed early on Saturdays.
Todd’s grandpa and grandma (Roger & Diane - another Roger, awesome huh?) lives just 20 minutes from Palmyra, so we stayed at his house. Unfortunately we picked the one week this year that they weren’t home. But they were still very kind and allowed us to go stay at their house. We were still sad that we weren't able to see them because they have always been super nice and very inviting whenever we've visited them before.
Sunday morning we went to their ward and were able to see a most of Todd’s aunts and uncles. Afterwards Todd’s uncle Christen (and aunt Suzanne) offered to take us to the Sacred Grove. It was a little cold that day, but fortunately we went to Christen and Suzanne’s house and they lent us some of their kids jackets for our kids (it’s June....I didn’t think I would need to pack the kids some jackets - Todd informs me that I am so from Utah).I have always loved the Sacred Grove. It is so beautiful and peaceful. There really is a sweet spirit there. We talked to the boys about what had occurred there. I don’t know if they understood a whole lot, but they understood that it was an important place to me. The kids did love the Sacred Grove... they ran and ran, playing with their cousins. And at the end, they knew that Joseph Smith had been there and that Heavenly Father and Jesus had been there.
Afterwards we went down the street to Hill Cumorah. We went to the visitor’s center, which has a tall Christos statue. The boys kept touching the nail marks in the sculptured Christ’s feet saying "That's His mark". (In our "scripture time" I had shown them a picture of the Resurrected Christ showing Himself to the Nephites. I pointed out that Christ had marks in His hands and feet - they really liked that).Of course we hiked the hill. It was such a nice and peaceful experience.
When we were done we went back to Christen and Suzanne’s home where they BBQd up some hamburgers. Even though I was so sick of BBQs, these hamburgers were AMAZING....the best I’ve ever had. Christen had smoked them to perfection.
We ended up leaving a little later than we had wanted to, but we had a good time. Todd's relatives are so sweet and friendly, and even though we don't live too terribly far (only 4-5 hours) we do not see them often enough.
After dropping me off at a hotel in Palmyra, just half a mile from the Sacred Grove, to put the kids to bed, Todd drove to Buffalo to pick up my dad and Lana who were flying in at mid-night. My mom arrived at the hotel a little after Todd had left and asked why my dad had chosen to come in at such a late hour. I told her that since my dad was doing all this as a favor for me, I was not going to be picky but rather be grateful for anything and everything. Besides, we were only planning on riding 70 miles the next day.

WHAT'S THE PLAN??

While biking last year (when I was 9 months pregnant, biking 20 miles to help encourage Grant to come out) Todd and I came up with an idea of biking the early Saints’ journey. We decided we could do it once a year, one portion of their journeying at a time. We decided to start this year off by taking a 300 mile bike ride from Palmyra, New York to Kirtland, Ohio. We invited my mom to join us, which she gladly accepted (she’s a glutton for an adventure). My youngest sister, Lana, offered to watch the boys, but we still needed an adult to help her out. I called up my dad, and he was kind enough to agree to help her out. (he secretly wasn’t sure we could safely do this bike ride and he wanted to be close by to help us – he’s very sweet that way).
Todd had not taken much school off for the last four years, so when it came to the end of his last year, he had about 8 weeks off. A week and a half was spent by Todd going to his parents and having some alone time with them. Two weeks was spent in Utah. Two weeks were spent in Ogdensburg, New York, and a little less than a week for our bike trip. We planned on starting our bike trip on Monday, June 1 and reaching the Kirtland temple by Thursday evening. Todd had an exit interview on Friday morning he had to be at down in Athens before he could graduate on Saturday, June 6th. Because of this interview, we had to push it to make it to Kirtland in time.
We got our bikes ready, bought riding gloves, bike helmets (nope, I've never had one before), reflector vests and other supplies. A friend's mother-in-law who is in our ward had gone on an organized biking trip across Iowa about 5 years back. I pumped her for information and tips. She lent us some good cushioned biking pants and some great anti-chaffing lotion. When she and her husband had gone on their trip, they had ridden a tandem bike. She said it was one of the hardest thing about her trip. I had often teased Todd that I thought we should do our trip on a tandem bike. hehe Todd wasn't ever really sure if I was serious or just teasing. Either way he was very firm in his refusal. He claimed that I only wanted to do the tandem bike because then I could sit back and enjoy the ride while he peddled my butt (his words, not mine). I thought it was quite rude of him to claim that about me...maybe he knows me too well.
With all the things we got, this is really all we each had. We were traveling light. The one thing that made that possible....credit card. Originally Todd had wanted to camp at night. I informed him that if I was going to be biking 70 miles a day, I wanted to sleep on a bed, plus packing a tent and sleeping supplies on the bike was not desirous at all.
I packed two pairs of under clothes garments, two pairs of socks, two shirts, and two pairs of padded pants. I would try washing one pair of everything at night and hope it would be dry enough to wear the next evening - wasn't as successful as I had hoped. I did wear both pants the entire time. The extra padding did help, even though I felt like I was walking around with a dozen Kotex in my pants.
My mom had brought bandannas (she LOVES them), and even though I joked about them at first, I wore one the whole time because it covered my ears, protecting me from getting earaches from the cool wind. Of course my bandanna was bright orange (my mom also loves bright colors) so with that and my reflector vest, I looked like I was a construction worker. Sexy I know.
We would get snacks and protein bars to help energize us between food stops. I really enjoyed having Starbursts to suck on while biking.
I mapped out our ride using Google earth and put in for the walking directions. I printed the directions out, but I also have an iphone which uses Google maps, so that is what I actually referred to most often.
The directions had us going on back country roads across New York, but when we arrived around Palmyra, we noticed a bike trail that was running along the Erie Canal (the canal the Saints had ridden on). I stopped at a nearby bike shop and inquired how far the bike trail went. He told me the Canalway Trail went all the way to Buffalo! ( it only goes to Lockport, NY - I should know, I've ridden it) We immediately decided that we wanted to go that route. After our change in the journey, we would meet back up with the original map at the western border of New York. From there we rode the five following the Seaway Trail. This trail runs along Lake Erie. It is so beautiful. We followed this road into Ohio, then weaved our way down to Kirtland.
At the last minute my sister Lyndee decided that she would go on the bike ride with us. Todd and I have an old mountain bike (one that we had been riding regularly until I got my new bike last year) that is at least 10 years old and is a heavy, awkward, uncomfortable beast, we lovingly call it the Ground Pounder for that is what is written on the bar. Because Lyndee didn't have a bike, we brought it along...with Todd knowing full well (and admitting to me) that he was going to be the one riding the Ground Pounder, at least he's honest with himself.

Cousins

Here are the boys and all their cousins. 8 boys, 2 girls....the oldest being 7.

While in Utah, we went to 3 graduations... all for my niece and nephews. We went to Robert’s Kindergarten graduationwhich Mikey loved because the school’s mascot was the rattlesnake and they had a painting of a rattle snake next to a volcano (two things Mikey just loves) Robert and Emma moved down to Mesa just after his graduation, so it was good that we got to see them before they left. They sure are cute kids and we love them so much. Robert’s always been so good at being friends with Mikey Roger and Emma are just a month apart in age...and they have the same hair styleWe met my brother’s new wife, Nina and her son Luca (that's Grant asleep on her lap). Luca is William’s age, and this is a picture I caught of them I thought it was so cute that even though they don’t know each other that well, they still embraced one another.

We played a lot with Addison, Colton, and Jackson as well. We went down to the creek and caught crawdads and tadpoles. And Aunt Tavia played with Grant I was proud of Mikey when Jackson (3 ½ year old) was splashing Mikey and Mikey just calmly asked him to stop. After being splashed a few times, and Tavia asking Jackson to stop without him obeying, I gave Mikey permission to take care of business. Jackson then stopped. But I was proud of Mikey for not getting upset and acting out in anger. Mikey loved catching the tadpoles and got quite good at it. He loved that they were baby frogs, and loved holding big frogs even more. In fact, all my kids did Just no one tell Grandma Sherry...I think she’d die at the thought of it all.

Great Outdoors

While in Utah we went driving around in ATVs. (Notice William smiling in the back) We would go out to what we call "The Red Sand". We had picnics there. The kids would eat just sitting in the sand. But so would the adults. But we wouldn't get as dirty as they would.
We found where there is some hieroglyphics. It was pretty neat, but it was a big stretch for me because we climbed up there with Mikey, Roger, and William. I was quite nervous.
We also drove out to the Toquerville Falls. Here's a picture I found of Todd holding Mikey at the falls four years agoHere's a picture of him with GrantThe last four years have been rough on the poor guy

We Have An Emergency

After four kids and five years, I have finally had my first ER visit. We were having another BBQ (surprise, surprise). As we were finishing up eating, the kids were sliding down the pool slide onto the pool cover. Suddenly William started crying. Addison lead him over to us. As I was going towards him, he suddenly turned to Addison to hold him, something he normally would not do. I swept him up into my arms, but was instantly aware of how limp he was. I got Todd’s attention, he quickly came over. We were nervous about how he was acting. Addison informed us that he was on the top of the ladder to the slide when he fell back. She didn’t see him actually fall, so we couldn’t be sure that he was at the top, nor were we sure about how he hit the ground, but we were sure he landed on the cement. After holding William for a little while, Todd decided that the only way to be sure that he was okay was to get a CT scan. (It is helpful being married to a doctor)We drove to the nearest hospital, which was 30 minutes away. It was nice having Todd’s experience with the ER because he knew exactly what to do. We filled out the paper work, and got taken in. The doctor had agreed on what Todd had previously said. He thought that even though William may be fine, with the circumstances of the fall and the way William was acting, it was safer to make sure William wasn’t having any internal bleeding, so a CT scan it was. William did not appreciate being in the ER, and was fussing about the blood pressure cuff and the heart monitor that were attached to him. (He was actually kicking them off and refusing to wear them...you couldn’t tell by his size, but William is strong). Because of his willingness to not cooperate, they had to sedate William before getting the CT scan. It was actually kind of freaky how suddenly he went out from the medicine. After his scan, it took him a long time to wake up. It was a great chance for me to sing him the “Baby Bear Song” (a song I have made up because of William’s request).His scan came back clean, which I was grateful of, and even though the visit ended up costing us a lot of money, it was worth making sure that our little boy is okay. Besides, a track record of 5 years and no ER visits (especially with 4 BOYS) I will not complain. May we have another 5 ER-less years.

Barbecue Anyone?

While visiting my dad in Utah, he had us over for dinner almost every evening. Now this is a problem because my dad, being a newly single guy, does not do a lot of cooking. In fact this is what his refriderator looked like when I got to his house Water, Almonds and squeaky cheese. Don’t worry though, he took care of things. We ended up having barbeques out on his porch every day.

By the end, I couldn’t look at potato salad or chicken without getting sick.

But we did get to see my grandparents. The kids didn’t like this meeting too well

Until I stepped in

After eating our food, we would all go swimming. The boys really improved with their swimming skills. They were doing awesome. They would do flips under water....and above water

And we were able to go on a night-time boat ride with Bampa where we did run into four beavers....or the same beaver four times.

So, even though I won’t be able to barbecue for the rest of the summer, thanks dad for all the great meals and time!