Columbus Ohio

Next up on our trip was Columbus Ohio. We got there just after the lights turned off for the night.

Indianapolis Indiana

I'm going to post a second post today. This is on account of our next stop being... more boring to everyone but me.

We went to Indianapolis, and hopefully will again in a couple of years because there is a temple currently under construction. It has made a lot of progress since we were there, but at the time, the walls had just gotten above ground.

Also, there was not really any safe place to let the kids out to run around. So it's just this picture.

St. Louis Missouri

We visited St. Louis. This was our second visit.

And because we were heading more ore less straight to Maryland, on the way out of town this time we passed this.

Independence Missouri

We stopped by Independence Missouri As well. This is another instance of not getting to build a temple the saints were commanded to.

The Hedrikites own this plot of land and have marked out the location the temple sat. They are not the actual cornerstones, just markers. The markers are embedded in the ground. I ran across the South East stone completely by accident. The others I had to hunt for. I almost did not find the western stones at all. I appreciate their efforts to preserve the location all the same.

Liberty Jail

The Liberty Jail is a mockup based upon records of the time describing the jail. This was built to be a jail, not a home converted to one. It would be hard to imagine a way to make it more dismal and secure.

From a photographer's standpoint, I was a bit disappointed. I know some of you will think I missed the point, but I did not. I really did not. There was just so much to this visitors center I thought was interesting, and that I wanted to photograph. Unfortunately, they only allow you to go through on the tour, and the tours are so close together that there is little time for photos between your tour and the next.

This was about all I was able to get.

Far West Missouri

So, we decided to stop by Far West. The Saints never had a chance to build a temple here, but they did lay cornerstones.

The way the church has preserved it, it is almost like a large room with trees for walls. It feels a bit like a temple.

Paige let me go and take pictures while she watched the kids. I came back to this. Apparently James thinks he is ready for his license.

Kansas City Missouri

Last time we were here, the temple was a near empty shell still under construction. It turned out beautiful, and even more so when I went back for night shots.

Though we did have some frustration with Lilly not wanting her photo taken.

Summer Trip - Denver

I get distracted easily. This is my excuse for 2 things:

First, I was posting pics from the summer trip and I wandered off. For a couple of weeks. But here I am with some more.

Second, We drove East to visit Family. The first night we Stayed in Denver with my Uncle John. I have no photos from this visit. I got distracted.

But I have photos of the visit to the Denver Temple that we did. At least I thought to do that much.

Sliding

AFHS had a carnival for their homecoming this weekend...so off we went.  Lilly spent an hour sliding down the bouncy slide with brief intermissions in the bouncy house. She joined right in with all the older kids and became fairly adept at the jump-sit-slide-roll combination. James was not so sure about the soft surfaces, so he jumped on the grass all night. We played games, won a few pieces of candy (they were very kind to little kids) and walked home happily (or grumpily in the case of James) exhausted.