Philadelphia Temple Groundbreaking Ceremony

Jason was asked to help out with the first aid tent at the Philadelphia Temple groundbreaking ceremony.  That meant tickets for all of us!  This ishim with his medical team.  The hardest (and pretty much only) thing they had to do was to keep the tent from blowing away in the cold wind.

This is not a grave site.  It's the dirt they used to turn over for the ceremony!  Notice all the nice, shiny, golden shovels in the back.

This is the view from where I sat, and what you will see a you walk out of the future temple.  Not too shabby!

 You can faintly see the picture of what the temple will look like.  Very different from Manhattan, and so beautiful!

President Eyring and city officials breaking ground.

Then it was our turn!  What a wonderful experience.

Ashley Becomes A Teen

Ashley turned 13 years-old last week.  It's hard to believe I am the mother of a teenager, but it's also very fun.  She is so helpful around the house and I'm sad that she has to be in school all day, because then I have to do everything myself.  We had a fun little party.

 

 To prove that she is my child, she chose a double chocolate cheesecake as her birthday cake this year.  Yummy!!

Central PA Flood of 2011

This past Wednesday, our tiny town was sandwiched between a tropical storm and a hurricane, causing tons of rain and, as a result of the rain, flooding.  This is Mahoning Creek.  It is supposed to be (and usually is) a little creek that runs next to the middle school.

This is Ashley's school.  The school was probably under four feet of water this morning.  By the time I took the picture it was down a foot or two.  She left her flute in her locker.  Luckily, though, that is about the only thing we lost in this flood, where many have lost everything.  We feel very fortunate.

There is supposed to be a highway in between the store to the right and the school. 

First Day of School 2011

Blogger is giving me a lot of problems!  Actually, it's probably more my computer than anything, but I'm struggling to be able to publish lately.  Anyway, my three oldest started up school again this last week, and here are the traditional first day of school "it's way too early for pictures, Mom" pictures.

Rachel's Baptism

Rachel was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last Saturday. It was a wonderful day with lots of family.

Here she is with all of her cousins who were able to come. I'm not sure what the sunglasses are all about, but it's funny. Believe it our not, for three days, all of these kids and their parents, my parents, Jason's mom and brother all stayed with us in our house during a record-setting heat wave, and with only one shower. That's how the best memories are made!

Eggs!!!

After waiting 20+ weeks, we finally got our first egg from our chickens! We have gotten two more since.

This is the third egg compared to a store-bought egg. It's the darkest brown of the three. The fun has begun!

Our Last 4th in PA

We have enjoyed our Independance Day celebrations while living here in Pennsylvania. The small town celebrations are always the best. We meet at a park right next to the Susquehanna river, have a picnic dinner, play games and listen to a local band play patriotic tunes until it's dark enough to watch the fireworks. The fireworks are always very impressive here, too. They did a full 30 minutes of them this year and all of my girls loved every minute.