Some of Our Family Reunion Pictures

Heather's post reminded me that I haven't posted any of our family reunion pictures. Here are a few from our second half of our trip. As soon as I figure out where the first half pictures are I will post some of those.

Here is the gang after walking down the Trail of Hope Sunday after church.

Daniel, Evan, Marian, and Sophia read the plaques along the Trail of Hope.

Our family at the launching point on the Mississippi at the end of the Trail of Hope.

Daniel, Evan, Marian, and Sophia at the Pioneer Pastimes area. They loved everything about this place!

Sophia intent on figuring out one of the activities.

Too bad Marian and Alora don't get along much! Here they are after they've just learned how to make candles.

Sophia with her rope that she helped make at the Living Center.

Evan with his candle.

At the Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters. We stopped here briefly on our way home as did the Wheeler crew and the Roark Janis crew. The kids acted like we hadn't seen them in months rather than hours. So funny!


I don't have a lot of pictures of Daniel in Nauvoo as he spent a lot of time with the older boys. It was one of the highlights of his trip. One afternoon, Derek and a few of the older cousins bought root beer and went and parked overlooking the Mississippi and drank their sodas. Daniel thought that was sooooo cool. Who do I owe for that root beer, anyway?

Our children LOVED Nauvoo. There was definitely a special feel to that place and the kids noticed it. We are already talking about when we will go again! We just didn't see everything there was to see. At one point, Evan said: "I just want to stay so I can experiences ALL Nauvoo has to offer." (Honestly, that is a direct quote.) I looked around to see where the tourism board was hiding after paying him to say that!
Daniel is already trying to figure out what he needs to do to become a performing missionary when he is older. He loved talking with those young men.

Bottom line: We had a wonderful time and it was so good to see it with our extended family.

Nauvoo

I already posted this on my personal blog, but I wanted to add it to the reunion blog as well.

Here are some highlights from our trip up to Nauvoo!

After a performance by the performing missionaries, they invited Esther onto the stage and sang a refrain of their song with her there. They chose her because she had been so vocal and excited throughout the performance.As a result, Esther and her other vocal cousins were well known by most of the sisters and they enjoyed talking with her everytime we saw them around Nauvoo!
Kids by the Nauvoo temple in their new Pioneer hats.

Nathan got really good at this Pioneer game. He couldn't quite catch the ring, but he got really good at throwing it! Daddy was so proud!
Cute pioneer kids at the Pioneer Pastimes area. There were two little log cabins - one set up as a house and the other as a school. There were Pioneer games, stick pulling, pretend animals, and all sorts of things for little ones to do.
Yeah! Daron put on a hat! And I think it looks great.
And Mommy had to get into the act, too!
We hiked two miles up and down hills, through thick mud and cowpies, and around thorny trees, across streams, and pulling handcarts all the while. Pretty much everyone ended up muddy up to the knees and many slipped and some were nearly run over by their slipping handcarts!
The kids rode the carts occasionally but Daron had them walk for quite awhile at the end so they could get a better idea of what Pioneer children had to do as they crossed the plains.
Each night throughout the summer, the Senior missionaries, the Nauvoo Brass Band, and the Young Performing missionaries do an outside variety show. It was pretty fun!
Singing about the mosquitos!

These two brothers, children of my ancestors, Moses and Nancy Naomi Tracy, are buried in this graveyard a couple of miles outside of Nauvoo.
Originally, although there was a record of where in the cemetary the boys were buried, there was no headstone. Some descendants put up this headstone years later.
Three sons of Moses and Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy died before they reached Salt Lake. Two of them are buried at the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds, and F. Moses was buried in Iowa as they crossed the plains.
Look carefully at this old map of Nauvoo. There are two circles that show the three properties that Moses and Nancy Naomi Tracy owned. (Two are close together in one circle.)
The Tracys first owned this property when they moved to Nauvoo. Nancy Naomi talks about selling the property to Wilford Woodruff (eventually the fourth president of the church). The Woodruff house continues to stand on this property.
The second property the Tracys owned. The lot they owned includes where the white house is currently and up to where the brick house is.
This is the third property the Tracys owned. It is right near the temple. Nancy Naomi mentioned in her life history that she could see the masons working on it from her bedroom window.
We saw the Oklahoma City Memorial on the way home. It was so peaceful and such a loving way to remember those who were hurt by the bombing in 1995.
The Park Ranger invited the kids to dip their hands in the water and leave their handprints on the wall - thus leaving a part of themselves.
Each chair represented someone who died in the bombing.

We stopped at a rest area just outside of OK City to celebrate Nathan's third birthday. We ate cupcakes we'd picked up at a grocery store and opened presents. He was so excited to be a big boy now. Unfortunately, the area was really shady and the pictures didn't turn out well. So you'll just have to take my word for it!

We got home late on Monday night and have been trying to get back into the swing of things ever since! What a marvelous trip!

My Reunionish Week :) for the blog

Since I am taking a class this semester and it is midterms this week I was not able to go to the Reunion, but I thought the hay I could share what I have been doing this week.

The class I am taking is Textiles and I am doing great in it. My midterm this week has been basically looking at fabrics, yarn and fibers. Then guessing what there serviceability, end use, and appreance characteristics (crimp, twist on twist, combed, etc.) are. Sounds like fun huh? Luckily I only have it twice this week.

I have a part time job on campus as the Lead Information Specialist for the Online Learning Department. Since Registration for Fall 2011 started this week and Summer Session is still going on, It has been a blessing that I am here to make sure authorization for students wanting to get into full class or class with requirements runs smoothly. I was designing email templates for this all day yesterday and working on some complex issues that have been going on for 3 weeks now, hopefully I will have them resolved by Friday.

I am also.in two service committees on campus. This week I began being part of the Recruitment Council to get more people informed about the service opportunities here at BYUI. I am also teaching "Realize the Vision" seminars. It teaches freshman about the Vision of BYUI, the resources here, and they can combine the two to gain, develop and succeed in their vision for life. I might be combing the two next week and teaching the Recruitment Council the Realize the Vision semniar.

I also am playing on a RecSport Beginner Soccer team and we have a game tonight! We are 6th in our league of 27.

And last but not least I lost my hard drive so I have been sitting in the Interior Design Depart redrafting a contest piece I am working on. (My NKBA Kitchen) Also working on redoing a couple of projects and steadily working on my Passive Solar home/ landscape design due in the Fall.

So that is basically my life. I wake up go to work or class, temple or devotional, service meeting or teaching, soccer game if I have one and then sitting in front of a dual screen computer until 11:30pm.

I hope ya'll's reunion week is less stressful as mine is going to be and hopefully I can get Spencer to do something with me :)

Love
Elaine

Editor's Note: Elaine, thanks for chiming in! We're having a great time but we sure miss you.

we made it.

2am. Safe and sound.

the best part was dinner tonight. We stopped at a rest stop in iowa to cook some inner on our camp stove: israeli couscous, seasoned green beans, corn on the cob, hot dogs and mac and cheese (sorta) for kids. Fresh mango appetizers to boot. As we sat down, e with pure delight in her eyes asked, 'so how was your day today mom?' I answered that I had had a wonderful day with my favorite people. She then answered my questions of how was her day and what did she do? She said, 'i played at the park ALL day!' I am glad that is what she remembered from our long, long day. We did stop three times to play at three 'parks' (rest stops). And I took pics but the palm pre is not slick enough to post them right now....

see ya'll in the AM.

8 June from Our Viewpoint

We woke up today in Hannibal, Missouri. We were all very anxious to get packed up and out the door. We were excited not to see the family, necessarily, but excited to get to a hotel that we are staying at for more than a night. We've been in four hotels in six days and Blair is very tired of packing our baggage around and in and out and up and down. And we are excited to see the family.

We took an hour this morning to tour the Mark Twain cave. I remember reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in school and wanting very much to see the cave. I have no idea why that appealed to me (not a fan of enclosed spaces) but it did. I also remember thinking that I would probably never actually get to see the cave. So, it was nice to mark that off my bucket list. Yay!

We then grabbed lunch and zipped up the road to Keokuk to get settled and ready for this reunion. I hope all goes well but if it doesn't I won't be to upset with Blair who is responsible for this entire reunion.

St. Louis Adventures

On Monday morning, we sent Daron off to New Orleans for a business trip. The kids and I were going to meet Emily and her girls but her 4 year old woke up sick. So we decided not to hang out. So we were off on our own!

The St. Louis Zoo was lots of fun. We got there about 9am and stayed until 2pm. It was very hot and humid, leaving us sweaty, panting, and dripping by the time we got back to the car. Esther's favorite part - riding the carousel. Nathan's favorite part - the elephants. Heather's favorite part - the sea lion show and the penguin house, which was freezing!

The Zoo is located in an area of town called Forest Park. It's a large green park where the 1904 World's Fair was held (remember the musical Meet Me in St. Louis?). Forest Park now has golf courses, tennis courts, museums, the zoo, lakes, pathways, boating, etc. It's well taken care of and just beautiful.

We went back to the hotel for a rest, took a quick dip in the pool, then headed down the street to the Golden Pancake for "Happy Face" chocolate chip pancakes and Country Fried Chicken. Yummy! Daron, meanwhile, was having shrimp gumbo.

Tuesday morning we slept in. Well, the kids got up about 6am (yikes!) and I tried to sleep some more while they watched cartoons. We finally got out of the hotel and saw the St. Louis Art Museum and the Missouri History Museum - both free museums at Forest Park. And the Art Museum is located in the only building left from the World's Fair. Beautiful collection at the Art Museum and a fascinating exhibit on Charles Lindbergh and also the 1904 World's Fair.

Our lunch was at Bixby's, a nice restaurant at the Missouri History Museum. Perhaps not the best choice for two very tired kids. As it was, they were not very well behaved and were rather embarrassing. But probably no one really noticed but me. But the food made it all worth it. Paprika and citrus hummus with vegetables, baby spinach salad, foccacia bread with melted gruyere cheese and portabello mushrooms.

Daron got back about 3 o'clock and we picked him up. At the hotel, Daron and Nathan took a nap while Esther and I ran around the hotel doing laundry, eating popcorn, and hanging out. Dinner was at The Fountain on Locust, an art deco period restaurant with great sandwiches, salads, and ice cream sundaes.

This morning we rushed to the Arch overlooking the Mississippi River and rode a tram all the way to the top. It was pretty nifty - like a little escape pod from a space ship. Not a great place to be if you're claustrophobic, but a good way to meet new friends! We met a nice couple from Maine. You stand at the top of the arch at 630 feet and peer out tiny viewing windows, trying not to think about the slight swaying feeling you have. My sister, the civil engineer, would remind me that the swaying is a good thing. Yeah.



Our next stop was the Lumiere Casino ... to meet a trolley. We were the only ones on the guided tour and it was very informative as we drove around the city learning about the origins of St. Louis and the historic buildings. My favorite story was about Mr. Laclere, the founder of St. Louis. At one point, he went further up north to build a fort and left his son, Shoto, in charge of building homes and a trading post. The son faithfully accomplished his task, starting to make friends with the Indians and getting things under control in their new settlement. Shoto was 14 years old!

After the trolley tour, we ate lunch at Fitz's, home of Fitz's bottled root beer. Can we say yummy?! The only unfortunate thing was that we drank so much root beer we had to bring the rest of our lunches in to-go boxes!


Then we picked up Heather Lorraine at the airport and now we're on our way to the hotel. We should be there within the hour.

Damon's Family -- Expect The Unexpected

Trips never go as expected. Except when they do.

I'll let you decide if ours did or not as I unfold our story of travel to the reunion.

Monday morning we left Roark's house. By we I mean me Damon, Tiffany, Taylor, and Emily. Roark has made a change in his life. No more rushing around all stressed out. So he told us we'd leave sometime in the morning and not to worry about it.

True to his word we got off to a stress-free start.

After driving all day we reached Branson Missouri in the early evening. Had a nice dinner at a local BBQ. Pulled pork sandwich, yum. I'm a sucker for French Dip sandwiches so I bought one of those too. Tiffany and Emily had Caesar salads -- good choice! Taylor had a beef plate and half my French Dip.

On Tuesday we had a fun day. Rode the 'duck', an amphibious vehicle for land and water. We figured out though that it wasn't really like a duck. Sure ducks swim and walk. But they also fly. Taylor and I were disappointed it didn't fly too like a duck.

Laura, Emily, Rebecca waiting for the "Duck"

Grandpa and Grandma on the Duck with their quackers

Happy Tiffany, Cool Damon on the Duck

Sarah, Emily, and Laura on the Duck

Laura and Emily quacking away

In the afternoon we watched a big production called Noah at a Christian theater. It was quite a production, huge set, huge cast, and lots of live animals. What TIffany and I found strange was it didn't move us at all. We didn't feel inspired to anything. Maybe we're spoiled with the excellent church videos that can be inspiring. But for all the expense and professionalism of this production they somehow missed making it inspiring. They tried though. The script had lot's of 'praise the Lord' and 'believe in the Lord' but the words fell hollow. Weird.

Tiffany and Taylor on stage in theatre

Taylor during backstage tour, demo of how quick costume changes work

Damon, Grandma, and Grandpa walking into the massive theatre

Damon, Grandpa, and Grandma right before the show 'Noah' started

The evening entertainment was no more inspiring but it was very entertaining. Picture this. Hundreds of people sitting around this arena filled with dirt.

Performers are riding horses around doing fancy tricks and stunts. Competitions are going on. Pigs are racing around the arena. Little ponies dressed like race horses are running around. Kids chasing chickens to see whose chicken is faster.

Suddenly Grandpa Janis walks onto the dirt in the arena. He's got two pistols and he's slinking like a cowboy in a gun fight. In the middle of arena he's given a … toilet seat.

Now picture Grandpa Janis throwing a blue toilet seat like a horseshoe. And Grandpa Janis winning the toilet seat horseshoe throwing contest.

While all this is going on food is being shoved in front of us. Cheese rolls, soup, a whole roasted chicken. Corn on the cob, half a potato. And an apple turnover for dessert.

NO UTENSILS! Admittedly this was the ultimate man feast. Crazy abandon ripping a whole chicken apart with my bare hands and shoving big chunks of dead bird flesh into my mouth. All the while my eyes and ears feasting on the activities in the arena.

This the famous Dixie Stampede in Branson Missouri.

Earlier in the evening Laura did something I'll remember whenever I think of this trip. We had purchased popcorn and water and everyone was eating and drinking. What I really wanted though was a root beer in a cowboy boot cup. I said something about it, Laura was sitting next to me.

A few minutes later she shows up in front of me with a huge smile on her face. And a cowboy boot cup with … root beer in it! She had asked her dad for some money so she could buy it for me. Ahhh Laura, you made my day :)

Laura, Damon, Emily, and Sarah toasting. See the cowboy boot cup? Gift from Laura :) This is the Dixie Stampede pre-show.

Grandma and Grandpa -- 52nd Anniversary!

Taylor, Chad, and Tiffany ready for the entertainment and dinner to get started. Taylor has laser eyes, don't look directly into them!

Grandpa throwing a blue toilet seat horseshoe and winning the contest!

We are driving the Nauvoo today. In fact Taylor is driving, Chad is in the passenger seat. Tiffany and I are being chauferred. Frees me (Damon) up for writing this :) It's Wednesday now.

Shortly after leaving the hotel this morning Heather called. Her alarm hadn't gone off and she was rushing to the Salt Lake airport. It was questionable if she could make her flight. Daron and Heather Rose are picking her up in St Louis this afternoon. A missed flight would create a very challenging logistical problem because there are no airports near Nauvoo.

Heather got to the airport then realized in the terminal her driver license was missing. With no time to spare she ran back to her car looking for the license. Couldn't find it! Went back to security and by some miracle had her social security card and driver's license. They let her through! They let her board! She made the flight!!!

This was a miracle. Roark taught High Priests Group last Sunday -- the best presentation in High Priests group ever. He talked about tender mercies of the Lord. This was a tender mercy for Heather to make this flight.

Trips never go as expected. Except when they do.