Emily's neck of the woods (aka Vermont)

I spent last week in Boston at a geography conference. One day we took a road trip to Vermont and New Hampshire. We stopped to take photos of the Boston (actually in Belmont) Temple

We saw many covered bridges and white congregational churches along the way. Our primary destination was the Joseph Smith birthplace in Sharon Vermont. The granite pillar is one huge piece. It is 38 1/2 feet tall--one foot for each year of the prophet's life. The home where Joseph Smith was born is under the white birch at the far left of the photo. The Smith family lived here from 1805-1807

The Smith family lived in several homes in Vermont and across the Connecticut River in New Hampshire. A Congregational church (photo) sits on the village green of Norwich. The last place the Smith family lived before moving to Palmyra.

The dairy farm (photo) is in Turnbridge. This is where the Smith (settled here in 1791) and Mack families (settled here in 1799) lived when Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack met and married. Later the Smith family lived here from 1807-1808.

From 1811-1814. the Smith family lived in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, which is just a few miles south of Hanover, New Hampshire the site of Dartmouth University (photo). One of the Doctors at the Dartmouth Medical school was the only doctor in the US at the time who was wiling to experiment with leg operations. He was sable to save the leg of young Joseph.

The two covered bridges are in South Turnbridge and North Turnbridge. Mack relatives ran a saw mill along the stream.

The last photo is a home a few miles north of Norwich and is the probable site of the home where the Smith family lived just before giving up on farming in New England and moving to greener pastures in New York. The left because of crop failure caused during the "year without summer" which was caused by climate changes and a very cold summer brought on by the eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia. Had the volcano not sent so much climate changing ash into the atmosphere the Smith family might never have been compelled to give up farming in Vermont.

Kuekenhof - the model for Grandma and Grandpa Fife's garden?

You be the judge.......

European Vacation

Annie and I enjoyed a week long trip to Europe. We visited France, England and Holland in a hurried eight days. I had a couple of days of business meeting in the London area and I talked Annie into joining me for the trip. We had a great time. I found out that luggage was over rated. Air France lost my luggage the first day and finally returned it to me in Amsterdam one week later - the night before we flew home. I was able to buy a few items and then spent many evenings doing laundry in either the sink or the tub of our hotel room. Such fun. Annie's suitcase was also lost for our stay in France but was waiting for us at Charles De Gaul before our flight to London. We were both very disappointed that I didn't have my suitcase. I was quite impressive at my meetings in London wearing jeans, a complimentary Air France t-shirt and my thin golf jacket (which I kept on for my meetings).
An early start in Paris. After staying for one night at the Paris Hilton, we are off to Hertz to pick up a car for the drive to Normandy - the highlight of the trip for me. It was so awesome, I'm going to put up another post on that part of the trip.

Out for an evening walk in London. Here we are on the pedestrian bridge over the River Thames between Embankment and Waterloo stations. If you look close you can see Big Ben over my left shoulder and the London Eye (aka Millennium Wheel) over Annie's right shoulder

Next Stop was Amsterdam. Here is Anne Frank's house viewed from our canal cruise. From her secret room in the attic, Anne listened to the radio with news of the Allied landing at Normandy on June 6, 1944. Her hopes of returning to school in the fall were soon crushed as she and her family were found and sent to concentration camps.

Venice of the North

I think I may have worked with these brick layers....

The Van Gogh museum was closed when we got there so the best we could do was have me poise in front of this nearby shop selling prints. You may recognize my outfit from the photo in London three days earlier.....

Tulips everywhere - Here is Annie inside the greenhouse at Keukenhof. Normally tulips can be found in bloom from mid-April through the end of May. This year due to global warming, winter lasted longer than normal so the tulips are a little late, but we found plenty in bloom during our visit on April 17.

Wind mills were not every where. We spent most of an afternoon looking for windmills and castles but with limited success. We were not very happy with the Avis GPS (tom tom). The Hertz 'Neverlost' GPS we used in France was far superior.

Cabo Wabo on the Baja

Lorie and I had an almost private cove for snorkeling. We were undeterred by the "attack of the jellyfish."






Katie, Lorie, and I enjoyed swimming with Ende the Dolphin.
















We hiked in to this amazing "cascada" in the desert. I opted for the low dive.














Tandem parasailing rocks.

Gordo, famous for buck fifty carne asada tacos and serenading as the "fifth Beatle."

"I... should of known better with a girl like you . . ."

"That I could love everything that you do . . . and I do . . . hey, hey hey . . ."

Dos Senoritas bonita!

El Rolando Viejo.

New Bike!

Well, it is new to us! Lorin's sister has a neighbor with a little girl & they get all their hand-me downs. It works out great for us because we get whatever they don't use - including clothes & now a bike! It doesn't have training wheels, so Lorin is going to pick some up after work & see if we can get them on tonight. Polly was so excited to just sit on it, I had a hard time coaxing her to come inside. I can't believe she is old enough to have a bike - not that I think she will get the hang of it right away - but just the fact that her legs reach & it's something she is excited about makes me wonder where the past 2 years have gone!

*After looking at picture from Lake Powell - Erin said she hoped Polly would wear her Spider Man hat everywhere she went - trust me, she does.

Happy Birthday Jackie

Jackie is just 9 weeks away from becoming an Emmett. So in true Emmett tradition she needed to be blogged about on her BIRTHDAY. (Brain dropped the ball on this one). I heard they enjoyed dinner at PF Chang's this evening. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE!! I look forward to celebrating many more in the years to come as an Emmett. I am blessed to have another wonderful sister-in-law joining the family.

All is well so far.

There won't be any pictures included - I don't have a copy of the x-rays of the new knee yet. Apparently all went well during the 2 and 1/2 hour surgery and I appreciated your prayers and expressed concerns. David Murray, the surgeon, recommended I spend 10 days in the transational care unit for physical therapy so the hospital stay was my longest yet. This surgery was a whole differnent ballgame compared to my previous back surgeries but my current plans are still to have the other knee operated in September as soon as the LOTOJA race and peach ice cream are taken care of.
I came home yesterday and am still trying to catch up on a few things. The "knee bending maching" was delivered yesterday and the physical therapist was here for an hour this morning giving me instruction on what I have to do to rehabilitate my knee for the next 3 weeks before I start out-patient therapy at the hospital. The only problem I can see so far is that it will take at least 10 hours per day to get everything done, not counting all that goes with living, eating, bathing, etc. I am relatively pain free and have not had a pain pill for the last 30 hours. As you are all aware, I have been blessed to sleep well so night time hasn't been much of a problem.
It has been good therapy for me to review what I missed on the blog while I was away from home - thanks for your submissions.

Lake Powell

Well we just got back from a COLD Lake Powell. It was freezing on Thursday, then it warmed up Friday & Saturday. Too bad the water was cold all weekend. :) It was fun to take the new boat out & watching the 6 dare devils (Bob, Mark, Lorin, Jake, Ross & Cassidy)that got in the water, it made for a fun trip. They have a houseboat time share at the end of May but it might be too short of notice for Lorin to get time off.

Lorin was the first to go out behind the boat & had it not been for the hot water shower on the back, I don't think he would have done it again, or that anyone else would have dared. I just had to get this picture of his face, he was so cold! Now that the family has the boat, we might need to think about some dry suits for these spring boating trips. :)

Polly had a great time, even if I was constantly telling her to sit down for fear she would fall out! She had fun helping Bob drive, holding the flag & just playing with her cousins.

I just enjoyed relaxing as much as I could. I was worried about being uncomfortable in the boat if it got bumpy, but it worked out great. The boat is big enough that any seat is a good seat & I hardly noticed th waves. Don't pay attention to my anti-tan. It's just the sign of a true mom, right? I'll see what I can do as the summer goes on, but it's obviously not a priority. :)

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX #8

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!! Here's to you "BIG GUY." Nothing un-lucky about this 13th day...

Knowing we would be coming home from Colorado on Alex's big day, we celebrated a few days before with the family. I think Alex is giving some serious thought to his wish...

Even when Alex feels a bit sick his can smile and have a good time... Not sure about the driver not watching where he is going. I just think of Alex's smile and I have to smile too!

More photos to follow... I only have a few on this computer

Belated Birthday

I really messed up by not getting something on here about Mary and Amanda's B'day until now. It only makes me realize how much we need Papa John back on his feet so he can keep up with these b'day matters. Mary and Amanda seemed to have a great b'day listening to Conference. And since I had no idea what they wanted, I sent them shopping with each other while I worked on the yard.


Mary is still as amazing as ever (and you'll notice was able to work on her tan while in Hawaii last week). Amanda continues to work hard in school and at her various jobs, but still seems to find time for all her social activities. I couldn't live without them and love them immensely. Keep smiling "ladies" and hope you had a happy birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT-OUT TO CLARK

Today is Clark's Birthday So I just wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday on the Blog!  He is a wonderful talented husband and I love him!

Gettin' some air on the wakeboard

Clark's chopper bike he built!  You should see him ride it-- its hard with a 6 foot long fork and 4 foot wide handlebars! He has another one that I ride sometimes, they are a lot of fun! 

Clark up in Park City getting ready for the Alpine Slide

Just some cute baby pictures!  They are always fun to look at.  Clark just informed me that he sucked his thumb until he was 7!

Nice Bowl Cut!

He's just a little guy!

His family has a blog if you feel the need to see MORE pictures of Clark!! 

Click here for the Pierson Family Link

Announcing the Jaredita Educational Assistance Program