ANOTHER FUN WEEKEND 

AT BEAR LAKE

Playing with glow sticks at night

Bryan took this photo with the kids running across the words with glow sticks in their hands!  Pretty cool!

Grace, Addison and Aubrey

Grace, Addison, Grandma, Abigail and Aubrey

A perfect day at the lake!

24th of July at Red Butte Gardens


Since all three of our husbands had to work Tuesday, Anne, Laura and the kids and I headed out for a day of play.  Laura discovered that the 24th of July is a "free" day at Red Butte Gardens - perfect!!


Laura had been to the gardens years ago, but for Anne and myself it was our first visit - and what a treasure this place is!!  We were amazed at the gardens -- the variety, the planning!!  And the children's garden - AMAZING!  


We had a wonderful morning.


First check the map!!  Off to the Children's Garden

Finding lot's of fun little doorways 
and places to run 
and hide 
and sit and smile!

Then let's sit and play in the sand for a while!

Then, the Water!

Next - off to the Fragrance Garden
Now don't be deceived by my pictures - I concentrated on the people, not so much on all the greens and flowers, I'll leave that to Bryan.  


Everywhere you look are amazing plants, trees and flowers.

Bryan and I spent the 4th of July relaxing at Bear Lake with his parents.
  

We did a lot of reading 

and of course stopped for a Shake.

While we waited for our shakes, 

this family entertained us.  Grandmas, 

aunts, uncles and cousins all performed

their choreographed dance.  It was fun!

"They came to dance, dance, dance"

"saying ayo"

"gotta let go"

Whadda ya think, Van Bibbers - maybe we CAN dance.

Okay, here's the last of our vacation highlights.
Pictures approaching the Sacred Grove - Palmyra, New York.  What a beautiful opportunity to walk these paths and contemplate the sacred and holy experiences that took place here.   The Smith farm and surrounding areas were beautiful and it was so wonderful to visualize the places where the Prophet Joseph Smith lived and walked.

Our next stop, the Palmyra Temple.
Again - so beautiful and peaceful.
You can see the temple peaking through the trees behind us.

Next, we walked to the top of the Hill Cumorah.

Oh how fun it would have been to be here in July for the pageant - next time!

We sat here for a bit and Bryan wrote a letter to Elder Taylor Van Bibber serving in the Alaska Anchorage Mission!

 Our next stop was the Peter Whitmer farm where the Church was organized in 1830.  After leaving the farm we drove south through the Finger Lake region - what a beautiful area.