New England

 We decided to spend the hot part of our summer in the cooler northeast part of our country.  The kids and I flew into Boston and drove up the coast into New England.  It was so fun for me to show them this part of the country that I love so much.  I feel much peace when I visit New England.  My testimony grew so much as a missionary there and I love every time I can go back to visit.  

 We visited the Nubble Head Light in York, Maine.

 We visited the Portland Head Light.  This is one of my favorite places in the entire world.  I would love to close enough to visit this place on a regular basis.  To me lighthouses are a reminder of the power God but also that safety that we find from Him.

 Each of the girls had their own cameras to take pictures with.  I even let them try out their skills on my new camera.

 The kids loved the lighthouses so much they asked if we could see some more so we went to another lighthouse near Boothbay Harbor. Along the way we found a giant fisherman.

 This is Pemaquid lighthouse.  It has some interesting rock formations that go from the lighthouse into the ocean.

 The girls loved climbing all over the rocks.

 Cameron was a little tired of lighthouses but thankfully we found a golf coarse right on the coast.

 The girls wanted to see more lighthouses and we found this one in Rockville, Maine.

 This statue of Paul Bunyan is in Bangor, Maine.

We made our way to Burt Hathaway's house.  I love him and I was so glad that I could take the kids to see him. 

We went candlepin bowlng.  You use these little balls and the pins are skinny.  Its actually really hard. 

 
Burt took us on a little drive.  We went and found this funny little sign.  It is the most stolen sign in the USA.

We just happened upon the Sunday River golf course.

He took us to this old covere bridge.

and to snow falls.  The kids fell in love with Burt.  We all wished we could stay here longer.

 It seems like we always take a picture by this red barn.  He is 83 years old and still so active.  He is a great man who has served faithfully and diligently in the church ever since he got baptised.

I introduced the kids to whoopie pies.  Cameron wasn't interested.  

 I also introduced them to Ben and Jerry's.  Cameron was very interested in this.  This may have  been a mistake because it is expensive.

We toured the factory and it was fun to see how they make the ice-cream.

From Ben and Jerry's we went to Sharon, VT. to the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I love this monument.  There is a very tender spirit here.   I spent time here as a missionary. 

 I hope my children will have a love of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I know he was a prophet.  I have a very strong testimony of his work.  I gained that testimony as a missionary when I testified of him every single day.  I share my testimony of him with my children every chance I get.

 while we were at the Joseph Smith memorial our car broke down.  This was a bummer.  We had to get someone to jump start it and then go trade it in in Manchester.

we made it to Boston in time to go see the temple.

 I told Cameron to pick out a few golf courses to visit.  I had no idea that he knew where every golf course in the United States is.  It seems like every exit we passed he knew a golf course that was nearby.

This is the international just outside of Boston.

It  was cold and rainy in Boston but it kind of added to the atmosphere and although we were freezing we loved the change in weather.  In Boston it was 53 degrees.  When we left Las Vegas it was 113.  A 60 degree change in weather is always interesting.  We were able to visit Lexington and Concord. 

We went to the Minuteman monument.

 we crossed over the stone bridge where the first shots were fired in the Revolutionary war.

 
 We went to take the tea party ships tour.  The kids thought this was great.  I thought it was way overpriced.  We did learn a lot so there was that and it was fun to watch the actors tells the story.  It was entertaining for sure.

 Cameron and Clara throw "tea" over the side of the ship.

 The girls take cover with this political protestor.

we found the Paul Revere statue

and the old North Church

This is the Paul Revere house.

The golf course Cameron was dying  to see was TPC Boston.  It was beautiful but not my favorite of all of the beautiful golf courses we saw.

Cameron saved all his money to buy course books from the golf courses.  

 Cameron really wanted to go into Rhode Island so we decided to visit one of the Mansions in Newport.  This is the Breakers.  The kids thought it was really cool.  It was one of Lauryn's favorite things on the whole trip.

We went  to TPC River Highlands. Cameron was a little disappointed because they were cleaning up after  a tournament and the pro shop was closed.  

One of the workers gave him a towel from the tournament which I thought was really cool. 

We went to the construction site of the Hartford, Conn. temple.  

We drove through the Yale campus.  I hope one of my kids goes there just so I can visit them.  It was beautiful.  We visited the golf course at Yale.  It was a beautiful course but we really loved that the flags looked like BYU flags.  

 Next we headed into the big apple.  I was very nervous about taking the kids into this big city.  We decided to drive into the city and I was a little worried.  It was a breeze.  We hardly even hit a red light.  We stayed in a great hotel in a great location and we handled the subway like pros.  The kids loved everything about the city.

We loved riding the subway.  The girls were thrilled to see an actual subway rat.

I wanted to make sure we were back into our hotel room by 8pm.  The first night we went to the Empire State building.  It took forever but it was totally worth it.  By the time we got down it was 11pm.  I never once felt unsafe.  There were so many people around and plenty of families.

I thought this picture of the kids was kind of cool.  Cameron was  a little bit nervous and had some anxiety but he handled it well.  The girls are ready to move to NYC.

 On Tuesday Morning we woke up and went to the site of the twin towers where the 9-11 memorial is.  I was worried that the museum would be a little too much for the kids.  I have heard that it is very emotional and so we just went to the infinity pools.  It was a very somber place.  I was able to tell the kids how sad I was on that day.  I didn't want to ever have children.  I didn't want to raise children in such a wicked world.  I took myself off of my fertility medicine.  The next week I was at the temple and I was so overwhelmed by a feeling of courage and strength.  I realized that God is so much more powerful than man.  There are many more good people in the world than there are bad.  I am so grateful that I chose to have children.  I know we will face many different challenges but I also know that God will always win in the end and I want to always be on His team.

 We found the survivor tree.  In all the wreckage of 9-11 this little tree survived.  Now people come and touch it for good luck.

 We rode the ferry out to see lady liberty.  She is always so much bigger than I remember.

 We made our way over to the Brooklyn bridge where we walked half way across.

 You can get some great views of the city from here.

 This was an old entrance to the subway.

We went back to our hotel and Cameron changed so that he could go do baptisms for the dead in the Manhattan temple.  It was such a great experience for him.  He says that this was the highlight of his trip.  I am so glad he had the desire to go to the temple.  

 We met the Nielsen's who are serving in the temple.  He used to be in our Stake Presidency.  It was great to see them.  Pres. Nielsen helped Cameron find his way into the baptistry and get situated.  The people in the temple were so helpful.  I couldn't go in with Cameron because I had the girls.

Meanwhile the girls played outside while the sister missionaries gave away copies of the Book of Mormon.  It was a great experience for the girls to watch the sisters share the gospel with many people as they were passing by.

 The sisters said that the girls were good luck because they had never given away so many copies of the Book of Mormon before.

 after Cameron was finished we went for a little walk in Central Park.  Of course Clara had to do some tumbling.

 I really wish we would have had more time to play in the park.  You could spend a whole day here.

 We took a picture at the Museum of Natural History.

 Then we headed to Times Square.  Again we were out late but we never felt unsafe.

 There were guys like this to make sure no one got our of hand.  Of course Clara about flipped out that there was a horse in the middle of this busy city.

 Times Square was so crazy and busy and we loved walking around and doing a little shopping.

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 We found the coolest Disney Store ever.  It really was amazing and we wandered around here much longer than we had planned.

 By this time Clara was feeling very comfortable on the Subway.

 Cameron not so much.  I can't wait to take these kids back to this city.  There is still so much to see.

 Cameron discovered a love for bridges.  He took video of us going over every bridge.  His favorite was when we went over and under the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel bridge tunnel bridge.  It was over 17 miles.  It was really cool. But that was in the family reunion portion of our trip and the picture will follow.

 We went to Philly and saw the liberty bell

 and Independence Hall

 and Betsy Ross' house

 and Elfreth Alley which is one of the oldest streets in the United States

 Here the kids are spanning the entire width of the street.

 I think this is such a cool little street.  It is still private residence.

 We found the construction site of the Philadelphia temple.

 The next day we found the DC temple.  There was a huge rain storm the night before so everything was really bright and green.

 We went out to visit Congressional golf course.  I thought it was by far the prettiest course we saw.  Everything was so well manicured.  It was very high end.  Cameron knew exactly which holes were which.  His love for golf is inspiring.  He studies these courses.

 see what I mean?  Is this not beautiful?  We learned that while we were at the temple and the golf course there was a reported shooting at the Naval yard.  It ended up being a false alarm but they were taking no chances in the city so there was a lot of confusion and congestion in the city. It was crowed and hard to get around.  The kids were tired but they were little troopers and we still managed to attack the city.  Again...we need to go back because there is just still so much to see.

 We went to air and space.

 the national monument.

 Cameron making sure the monument doesn't fall down.

 I couldn't ask for better travel partners.  They are such good sports and willing to do whatever.  They love everything and get excited about seeing things.  They don't complain as long as there is food in their bellies and plenty of water to drink.  I can't imagine how exhausted they must have been by this point in our trip but they still wanted to go go go.

 Jefferson Memorial.

 as I mentioned before it had been raining.  Lauryn was not paying attention and stepped into a mud puddle.  She slid and got mud all the way up to her waist.  It was in her hair and all over her body.  She was not happy that I took this picture. She wouldn't let me take a picture of the mud.

 Mr. Lincoln.  I cannot believe I got a picture with no other people in it.  
 The Vietnam memorial

 National Archives.

 Museum of natural history.  Dum Dum

 The white house.

 The changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington cemetery.  I felt very strong that my kids needed to see this.  It ended up being a very powerful experience for them.  We are all grateful for the sacrifice of our military.

 The kids felt a strong spirit here.  I was glad they recognized it.

 Mt. Vernon.  This is George Washington's home.

 Where George Washington is buried.

 The lawn by his house.

 We next went to Williamsburgh.  Of course there is a golf course there.  The girls were both asleep in the car so I took Cameron to see this course.  It was another beauty.

 We walked around Williamsburgh in the rain.  The kids were a little slap happy by now and we laughed and giggled at pretty much nothing.  This is Cameron in front of the William and Mary campus.

I look forward to many more adventures with my family.  I love spending time with them and sharing my love for this beautiful country that we live in and my testimony of the Gospel.

Now...where to next...