Who's up for a little game of "FISH GOLF"??

 Kent and his buddy Mike like to play golf on a pretty little course north of us on their P days. One day they decided to ask the owner if they could use one of the carts to also fish the beautiful river running through the course. The gentleman, being a pretty relaxed kinda guy, (see sign below), said "Sure". So they planned a day were they could do both of their favorite things at the same time. Elder Mike is an avid fly fisherman and those of you that know Kent realize golf is his first love:) And so the game of "Golf Fish" was invented. Next time they hope to have better luck with the fish!

The Spirit of Elijah

Kent's sister Cari is one of the genealogy ladies in her Ward. She found some names on their line that had birth and death places in Vermont. Several of the lines ended with these names or didn't have children attached to them. We had to go up north to do some Missionary apartment inspections a few weeks ago and it put us in the vicinity of the towns mentioned. So we looked up family search and did a little research on "Find a Grave". That afternoon we walked several old graveyards looking for headstones with dates and possibly children's names. We were getting discouraged when, out in the middle of no where, we found a small cemetery that had a whole lines of graves with ancestors names on them! We found dates that were missing and also wives and children's names that hadn't been added in family search! If anyone saw, us they probably wondered why the weirdos with the black tags were giving each other high fives in the old graveyard:)

A lot of the old headstones are in bad shape. Cracked, broken and unreadable. We are going to have to do a little more research and find the cemetery maps to see what else we can find in the information they have.

At one of the larger cemeteries we were looking for a couple that had been married for many years but didn't have any children listed. We were hoping to find the headstone and see if there were names on the back. When we finally found the place, we realized with the amount of headstones and the different directions they all were in, it would be difficult to find the one we were looking for. With a prayer in our hearts we started driving slowly through. A little discouraged,  I glanced out the window and way back under a tree I saw their names! It was another happy moment. The Spirit of Elijah is real:)

Flowers and Berries:)

 I may just be overly partial, but the grounds are looking magnificent!! Everything is in bloom and growing so beautifully! Even the things we don't plant flourish and make it look fantastic!

Delphinium

Nasturtium

Cleome

Heliotrope

I probably have 200 pictures on my phone of the flowers:) I can't help it. Everyday I say, "They have never looked better" and then the next day, they do!! You know you love your job when it isn't hard to go out and weed, water and deadhead. Maybe there will be a calling like this in Heaven.......

NIAGARA FALLS

We visited Niagara Falls on Friday and Saturday the 17th and 18th of July. We were only a few hours away after visiting Palmyra, so we headed that way. I had been as a child and Kent had been with his parents but Niki had never seen them. They are so amazing and powerful!

We all put on our red ponchos and took the boat from the Canadian side. Even Slugger got in on the fun!

Before, we looked pretty good, but by the end of the ride we were soaked! The boat took us right up to the Falls and the spray was heavy. It was a great ride!

We ate at a restaurant in Canada that had ladies on stilts making balloon animals. She made Cole a very impressive motorcycle! Canada was great except for the VERY long wait time going back and forth over the border. Next time we go, we will just stay on that side!

We went back to the Blue Goose Farm to get Niki and Brian's car. We had our good friends from St. George, Cory and Marilyn Jones, meet us there Saturday night. They are serving in Philadelphia at the Mission office. It was so great to see them and spend a few hours together. We got up and attended church and had brunch with Jamie, Taylor, Ava and Sam before heading back the six hours to Sharon.

Sacred Historical Sites

 We planned to go to the Palmyra Pageant with Niki, Brian and Cole several months ago. Our trip began on Wednesday, July 16th. We drove 6 hours to meet them in Dalton PA. at our nieces little farm house. It is called the Blue Goose Farm:)

Our first stop on Thursday was the Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood site on the Susquehanna River. There was a great deal of construction going on for the future site the Church is building there. It is going to be quite wonderful once it's finished.

Next up was the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette New York where the church was formally organized and The Book of Mormon translation was completed.

Then we visited the Hill Cumorah where Joseph Smith was given the Gold Plates to translate. We stayed for the Pageant that was held that night. Cole loved the fire and water effects but didn't make it to the end before he fell asleep with his trusty dog Slugger:)

The next morning Niki, Elder Harman and I got up and went to the Palmyra temple to do sealings together. Nothing beats time in the Temple with your children!

Book of Mormon Publication site.

Smith homes

THE SACRED GROVE
This was such a neat experience. I felt the Spirit the moment we crossed the foot bridge. It was so peaceful even though there were a lot of people there for the pageant. My testimony of the Prophet Joseph grew that day:)