Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Hello!

Hello everyone!  So obviously blogging is not one of my strengths :)  But I love reading all of your blogs and reading my past entries so I thought I would play catch up for the past few months.  The past few months have definitely had highs and lows, as it has for all of you.  Most of the highs of the past few months were time spent with many of you.  We are so grateful that we have all of you in our lives, we are grateful that we have our little family, and we are grateful that we have our loving Heavenly Father.

On that note, please enjoy catching up on our highlights of April, May, and June.

Love you lots,
Emily

June!

June was fabulous!  We were so excited that Summer was finally here.  The highlight of June was having my parents in town.  My momma came early, on the 2nd.  And my Daddy joined us on the 12th. Barton was able to take a few days off of residency and we hit the road to see Nauvoo.  If you are unfamiliar with Nauvoo, it is the city where the early members of our Church lived before heading west.  We were there from the 13th to the 18th.  Fabulous is an understatement.  I love learning about History and I love my parents.  Having both was a great combination!   Here are a few highlights from our trip to Nauvoo:

Pioneer Pastimes. Pioneer Pastimes was definitely Abigail's favorite part of Nauvoo.  It is a cute little area where there are little cabins to play in, dress up clothes to wear, pioneer games to play, etc.  We spent lots of time there.  (Especially Abigail and Grandpa when the historic homes became a little too much for the attention span of a 3 year old.)


Barton and me getting a little competitive on the stilts

The Temple.  The Nauvoo Temple is built on the top of the city, looking down on Old Nauvoo.  It is the focal point of the city.  Numerous times Abigail would stop what she was doing and point out the temple.  It is one of the most beautiful temples, inside and out.  Barton and I had the opportunity to do some family names while we were there.  I am so grateful for the promises of the temple.  That it seals us for all eternity.
The temple was another of Abigail's favorites.  When we stopped to see the temple grounds Sunday evening she asked if she could walk up the steps.  She started singing "I love to See the Temple".  She continued to go up and down the steps over and over singing it.  It melted my heart.


Carthage Jail. Carthage Jail is where our beloved Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum died.     The spirit there is so strong.  I can't even form words to express the feelings felt there.  It is definitely a sacred place.


The Old Nauvoo Cemetery.  One of the most beautiful and peaceful spots that we stopped while in Nauvoo.

The Shows! We loved all of the plays, music, and dancing.  Barton has added Nauvoo to one of the places he wants to serve a couple mission someday.  I would love it.
Abigail was the main star of one of the plays

The Mississippi River.  It humbles me to think of the courage the pioneers had to cross the cold river, leaving behind their beloved city of Nauvoo.  

 The carriage/wagon rides. We loved all of the carriage and wagon rides.  Abigail even got to sit in the captain chair for one of them.


The Gorrells. These are the Gorrells.  Barton and Brandon were best friends with their son in Ohio.  They are serving a Temple Mission in Nauvoo right now.  It was so much fun to spend a lot of time with them while we were there.  

The different historic homes.  I loved touring all the different homes that the church has reconstructed.  It is always humbling to learn about the pioneers and their sacrifice for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The midwife's house
Learning how to make rope.  Abigirl loved having a jumprope to take home
This home is where the idea of Relief Society Started.

Here are a few more random pictures from our trip.  
Ab's catching a ride!
Enjoying a dinner in our dinning room/bedroom.

Grandma entertaining Ab's in the car



May!

May is one of my favorite times of the year! This May the highlights were going to Mississippi and our Anniversary.

Our trip to Mississippi:
Barton's twin graduated in May.  We were so grateful that we got to go join the fun!  We were there from May 7th through the 13th.  We had so much fun catching up with all of the Sloan family.  We wish that everyone wasn't so scattered across the United States; but at least we have trips like this to catch up on each other's lives.

While we were there we celebrated Barton and Brandon's 30th birthday.  Nerdy Thirdy was the theme.



Thank you everyone who sent letters to Barton!  He loved them!



Congrats Bran on the big accomplishment of graduating from Optometry School!



The pool is always on the list of things to do when we get together! 


Some of the older boys got some nasty sunburns.  This picture doesn't do the burns justice.

Abigail had a dental trama while swimming at the hotel pool.  Good thing Dr. Daddy was there!  I would have ran her straight to the ER if he and Uncle Josh weren't there.

She walking, slipped on some water and hit her tooth on a pool chair.  The tooth was intruded...aka pushed back up in the gums.  I didn't even know that that was possible!  Thankfully the roots didn't fracture and the tooth in coming in beautifully.  It isn't even discolored!
Daddy has been keeping a good eye on it with X-rays:

We took advantage of everyone being together and took some family pictures.
Grandma's Gang (Abigail is her Baker's Dozen, #13)
It had been years since we were all together!  It has been so long ago that we now have lots more kids.  Here is the last Grandma's Gang picture:
We miss you Grandma!

I love watching Abigail play with her cousins.



While in Mississippi we got to spend a little time with our good friends and business parters, the Skanchys!  We love these people.  It was so good to see them.  Glad they will always be in our lives!
Abigail LOVES sweet James!


On the 19th we celebrated our 7 years of marriage!  I am so grateful to be married to my best friend.  He surprised me and took me to the ballet.  (A big thank you to his co-resident Kristina who gave him the tickets.  And to the McCoys for babysitting Abigail.)  It was a fabulous night.