Church

Today we really let freedom ring!  We started out the day by attending our annual 4th of July breakfast at the church.  The food was REALLY good and there was a LOT of it.  Much of it Carmen didn’t recognize so we helped her out!  After the meal, there was a pie eating contest and I (Kirk) thought that I had gotten out of it when they called me up to participate.  I had to eat a whole lemon meringue pie and felt very sick afterward!  I had lemon all over my entire face and it took a long time to clean up!  I am still smelling lemon in my nose!  🙂  I won, however, and got the prize for that round!  The girls and Carmen thought that this was absolutely hilarious.  Carmen has seen some things here in the past couple of days that they would never do in Spain!  🙂

After the clean-up, we went out side and had water balloon tosses and then a water balloon fight after that.  Here is Carmen getting ready to catch a water balloon.  Right after that it broke and got her all wet!

The kids decorated their bikes and rode around the parking lot in a small 4th of July parade.  After the parade we went home, relaxed for the afternoon, watched movies, played the Wii and had a dinner of grilled chicken.  I just got a new grill for father’s day and this new grill is helping me not to burn the food every time.  It’s amazing what a good grill can do!  I now know it wasn’t all me burning the food every time I cooked!  🙂

At about 8pm, we drove over and picked out a spot for the Naperville/Ribfest firework display.  We met the Oscarson family there and they brought their two students, Luis and Maria.  We had fun (as the pictures above show).  The fireworks were spectacular!  It seems like the City of Naperville outdoes themselves every year.  The shows keep getting better and better.  The whole thing was put to music on one of the local radio stations and they had some good toons to the explosions in the air.  When they were done, we drove home extremely exhausted from two late firework nights in a row!

Today we had our combined Young Men/Young Women activity at church and went ice blocking on a nearby hillside.  Carmen came and went down the hill a couple of times.  She thought that was a really crazy activity!  She said that they do nothing like this in Spain!  🙂  Also there were Ryan and Emily Oscarson with their two students, Maria and Luis.  They had a great time too.  We had to get a picture of all the kids together!

Today, the last day of our 4-day spring break, 1500 mile road trip (Sunday – Wednesday), we visited the Kirtland Temple on our way home.  The Community of Christ has done a nice job keeping the temple maintained.  They have added a new visitor center addition since we were last there:  a theater where, after the movie is over, the curtains open up to a full wall of glass looking out onto the temple.  They now charge $2 per person “maintenance fee” to tour inside the temple which is a little weird, but we paid and went on the tour.  The kids’ knowledge of the events of the times stunned the tour guide!  🙂

What a great sacrifice those early saints made to build that temple.

All-in-all, we had a GREAT trip and even enjoyed most of the 24 hours worth of driving (round trip) we did. 🙂  We hope that the kids learned a lot from the trip and now have a greater appreciation for our Church heritage.

After we visited Kirtland (see previous post), we drove to Palmyra where we stayed at the new and beautiful Palmyra Inn (two thumbs up if you go there and need a place to stay).  Today we saw the sites around Kirtland (the Hill Cumorah, the Grandin Building, the Sacred Grove, the first log cabin, the frame house, etc.)  and then drove to Fayette to the Whitmer farm where the Church was re-organized.  What an experience for us and for the kids.  Being there in early spring gave us a feel of what it would have been like for Joseph. 

There have been a LOT of updates done to the sites since we were there last, especially around the sacred grove site.  The old log cabin has been rebuilt, there is a new visitor center, the road has been moved to eliminate traffic between sites, and the frame home has been restored to period time.

The last time we were there the Palmyra Temple was being built.  Now it is completed and we had a chance as a family to walk the grounds together.  The kids enjoyed the picture taken by the sign to add to our collection of all the temples we’ve been to.

Well, spring break is here and as is typical of the Halliday family, we decided to do a road trip!  Our destination:  LDS Church sites in Kirtland, OH and Palmyra, NY!  Yesterday we drove the 6 1/2 hours to Kirtland, visited the John Johnson Farm (in Hiram, OH), and today enjoyed the sites in Kirtland. 

We hadn’t been here since Kirstyn was about 6 months old (almost 10 years ago)!  We were impressed with all the new sites they had built there (sawmill, ashery, Whitney home, updated visitor center).  The Whitney store was the highlight due to the amazing things that happened there.  We didn’t get to tour the Kirtland Temple becuase it’s closed on Monday’s and Tuesdays. 

At the visitor’s center, there was an exhibit of bronze sculptures that was absolutely amazing.  The sculptor’s name is Angela Johnson and the exhibit is called “The Healing Power of Jesus Christ.”  What a talented and insightful artist!  The exhibit is moving to Nauvoo in May so we’ll get to see it again for our family reunion.  The sculptor has a web site you can visit.  It’s http://www.ajsculptures.com/.

We had a unique experience in Kirtland this time around.  The senior missionary couple (Elder and Sister Christensen) were going home the next day after their 18 months of service and we were their last tour.  The really gave it their all, knowing that we would be the last ones that would enjoy their knowledge and spirit.  It was quite the experience.  The kids really enjoyed their time in Kirtland.