D.C.

The background picture is the U.S. capitol with my mom and Aunt Lorene in front. Top left is me in front of the D.C. Temple. Directly below that is me with Laura and Bridget in front of the Mesa Temple. Bottom left, me with the Washington Monument in the background.
Top right two pictures are me at Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home/farm etc. Below that we are in the Library of Congress. Below that my parents and me in front of the National Cathredal. It is huge and we couldn't get any pictures this close of the whole thing. The bottom right picture is of us on a WWII army truck that was water and land ready.

Highlights of my trip to Washington D.C.:
-The Temple, I'm always so excited to see a new one, but most of all I just love being there. There isn't anywhere on Earth I'd rather be.
-spending time with my mom and aunt.
-Fiddler on the Roof-we saw it at the National Theatre. It was well done and moved along quickly. Much shorter than the movie. I hadn't really caught the story line before. I felt a little saddened at the loss of tradition they experienced, even though I don't agree with the practice of choosing spouses. I'm sure grateful I was able to choose my spouse!
-Amazing tour guides. We went on a lot of tours. They talk the whole time you are with them so it's impossible to remember all they say. I gained an appreciation for new ideas, many sacrifices from the founding fathers and others througout history. The night time tour was particularly amazing.
-The Lincoln Memorial was a favorite, he is an inspiring man. I'm excited to learn more about him and his life.
-Mt. Vernon-George Washington's farm and mansion.
-Holocaust Museum- so much to see there and too much to read and think about on one visit.
-Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was shot
-Korean War Memorial
-Arlington National Cemetary- we saw a changing of the guard and wreath ceremony. It was amazing. The cemetary seemed quieter than sacrament meeting. I probably wouldn't take my young children there anyway. It's a special place. I wish we would have had more time to walk around there.

I spent a really fun day with friends in Arizona. I had a big layover. We went to the Temple in Mesa and visited a lot. It was so nice to be able to see them and enjoy the beautiful warmth of Arizona in springtime.

I'm overwhelmed with the amount of things I want to study! What a wonderful time I had. I enjoyed some time away from the kiddos, even though I missed them. I came back refreshed and ready to begin again. Thanks to my wonderful husband who made this trip possible and for my parents for inviting me along!

In Nauvoo

The favorite activities for the kids included:
throwing rocks in the Mississippi River, and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa

The pictures, left to right, then down
top left: Brynn and Joel sitting in front of a mouse trap from the pioneer days
Macy had a thing for bending sideways, this is one of many
Brynn, Joel and Macy on the wagon ride(Temple in the background).
We are all at the blacksmith shop. Joel was right in there "helping"
Macy in grandma's apron, showing off her face wound.
Joel and Grandpa in front of some of the tools they used.
Stan and Joel in front of Grandparent's door to their apartment (the upstairs of a farm house)
Me, Brynn and Joel, rope making
Joel took the picture of us in the grass.
Mom and Dad T. are site leaders at the Family Living Center
Brynn and Macy on Easter morning
Brynn throwing rocks in the river, barge in the background
Wagon ride
Joel in front of the horses pulling the wagon.
Kids in front of Grandma and grandpa's home.

Did I really miss Macy's birthday?

Macy is 3 now! Brynn really wanted to help decorate these cupcakes and she had a great time doing it. Macy wanted to help too, maybe next year...

I LOVE these faces

Kids are so easy to please. I love the family parties with just the five of us. They played and played until way past their bedtime.

Why we love Macy:

-She is funny and entertaining (she often sneaks into Brynn's bed and eats her candy. I still haven't figured out why Brynn doesn't choose a different spot to "hide" her stuff. Macy always finds it. It's like she can smell it or something.)

-She is sweet and says "I love you" more times in a day than you can count.

We are so happy and blessed to have this special girl in our family!

"Now Let Us Rejoice"

For Easter we bought ourselves the book "Our Latter-Day Hymns," by Karen Lynn Davidson.
Since our kids are young and we wanted at least Brynn to remember this trip, I felt the need to keep talking about our experiences with the Church History sites and our testimonies of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I decided to give our Family Home Evening lesson on "Now Let Us Rejoice", Hymn no. 3 in LDS Hymnbook. This song was written by W.W, Phelps. I'm going to share a little history provided from the above book. I hope I'm not infringing on copyright laws.
The author quotes from the Comprehensive history of the Church: "In, 1833, a mob, plentifully armed and numbering between four and five hundred, came upon the settlement at Independence. They tore down the two story brick building in which the press was housed and in the lower par of which the Phelps family lived; they destroyed the press, burned the books and papers, drove Mrs. Phelps and her baby out upon the street;...and they served warning on all the Saints living in the county not to do any more work or build or buy or sell in their settlements." The Saints were soon after driven from their homes in the dead of winter.
Here is a link to the words of this hymn:
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=3&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=3&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

This song is powerful evidence of the testimonies of the early Saints. I have always liked this song but it has taken on a deeper meaning to me now. After witnessing the strength of the parents of our nephew who just passed away, I know they believe this too. It is because of the Savior's atonement that we still can rejoice when really hard things come our way.

Salt Lake

We left Thursday, March 25, after work and traveled 5 hours to Lethbridge.
Friday morning we met up with family to caravan down to Logan, UT. It was great fun. Maybe because they took my two oldest kids and Macy slept for a big chunk of the afternoon. =)
The beginning of the 2 + weeks road trip. Click this link to see our route and note the kilometers and days traveled. I feel triumphant in accomplishing this adventure! We all still love each other and had a wonderful time!
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=beaumont,+alberta&daddr=Pleasant+Grove,+ut+to:broomfield,+colorado+to:nauvoo,+illinois+to:Sioux+Falls,+Minnehaha,+South+Dakota,+United+States+to:keystone,+south+dakota+to:great+falls,+montana+to:beaumont,+alberta&hl=en&geocode=Fd0XLgMdb2s9-SnhkO3NwRygUzHFHVGccsDFcw%3BFVboZwIdVAFX-Snnx5tBH4RNhzEeLL208h-9pg%3BFZ0jYQIdRoG8-Sk7-IhbzIprhzGwQryQ6JcFBw%3BFZq-agId1ZON-im3UcGO4SXnhzFJYMOFT3_S4A%3BFReFmAIdWXg8-inXrL3gmLSOhzHP_LKoOv-V3g%3BFfjKnQIdevbV-Sm7AKUYFjZ9hzGgi8c_-4kZLg%3BFcvL1AIdOK9d-Sk7uIxljTdCUzGoRVmOsVbe1g%3BFd0XLgMdb2s9-SnhkO3NwRygUzHFHVGccsDFcw&mra=pe&mrcr=3,4&sll=46.591631,-102.398471&sspn=14.466076,43.198242&ie=UTF8&ll=46.589069,-102.392578&spn=14.466076,43.198242&z=5

Interesting sign. Joel lost his first tooth in Logan!

It was just a one room Pulled it out himself.

bathroom at a gas station.

We visited Temple Square. It was so much more meaningful

now that the kids are older. We went in '07 and Brynn didn't

remember anything. They loved the "big Jesus statue"

Fun to "touch" the Temple and talk about the pioneers who

built it by hand. Just these doors alone are amazing!

I'll put our trip posts in pieces so I can add the best pictures and some journaling with it. We don't have any from the funeral weekend yet and we had some great family pictures taken, just our crew and all the Torries. Those will come at some point...

Teaser

I have some updating to do. But, my computer is having trouble loading all the pictures from our trip so I'll try again later.
While visiting some great friends in Colorado on our adventure, they introduced us to this FUNNY and clean comedian. Here's a favorite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bVblNA3drM

We are grateful for blessings of the Temple

We are so thankful to have the gospel in our lives! Our nephew, obituary attached below, was killed in an accident almost two weeks ago. The funeral was amazing. His mom and dad have been comforted by the prayers of many and the knowledge that Wayne is alive and they will be able to be with him again one day. We were able to have all the Torrie family together, which hasn't happened since the summer of 2003.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hjnews/obituary.aspx?n=wayne-julien-torrie&pid=141131869