Uncle Mike with Keaton, Carlie & Kennedy

My brother Mike came up to Wyoming from Mapleton, Utah this past weekend with his youngest three kids Keaton, Carlie & Kennedy. Max had a great time wrestling, playing soccer, playing wiffle ball, walking to the playground and to the stream. Keaton & Carlie are great soccer players and Kennedy entertained us with great dance moves!

Proud Grandparents

Last Sunday we traveled over to Ririe, Idaho to see Grandma & Grandpa Bridges along with our new niece, Emry Bridges. Garrett (Mark's brother) gave a beautiful blessing for Emry during church and Max and I got to hold and feed her during church. What a beautiful new addition to the Bridges family! A girl to boot ... which is almost a novelty on the Bridges side! Congratulations Garrett & Ginger!

Mt. Rushmore

A day and half later of driving .... we made our way across South Dakota and found our way to Mt. Rushmore. My parents took my brothers and I to Mt. Rushmore back in 1980 on our big summer vacation so it has been 29 years since I had been there. The monument is amazing and we were able to watch a short film on the making of the monument. Max ran around and loved being out of the car. We also got to see a mountain goat and a few interesting things along the way.

Rest stop along the way.

Max at Wall Drug .... pretending to be a cowboy.

Less than 2 feet away from the mountain goats at the monument.

Grandma & Grandpa with Max.

At last we finally made it and had nice visit at Mt. Rushmore.

Nauvoo Women's Garden

Our next stop was over to Nauvoo and we were able to spend some time at the visitors center, the Womens Garden and at the Nauvoo Temple. My mom went to the dedication of the Womens Garden over 25 years ago with a group of friends from Delaware. I remember her going and hearing all about the beautiful statues. I was really excited to spend some time in the garden, see the beautiful flowers and of course view all the statues. I've included the video at the end of Max singing, "I Love To See the Temple" in front of the Nauvoo Temple. This same video is on Facebook too ....

Great stop on our journey coming across. Highly recommend this to anyone coming or going across country!

Hyrum & Joseph Smith Statue on top of hill next to the temple.

Nauvoo Temple

Womens Garden Statues

One of my favorites.

Carthage Jail

Our next big stop was in Illinois at Carthage and Nauvoo. These are two historical towns for our church and I had never been to either one of them. I was excited to go and see this first hand and to feel the spirit while touring the jail, visitors center and temple. What a beautiful part of the country - very green and lush. The flowers were amazing and the weather ended up being perfect. There are lots of pictures to upload! Enjoy!

Joseph & Hyrum Smith Statue outside Carthage Jail Visitor Center.

Memorial of Joseph, Emma & Hyrum Smith
The top window is where Joseph was shot and fell out of to the ground.

Inside the room where Joseph, Hyrum and others were held.

Window from which Joseph fell out after mob shot him.

Kitchen area within the home / jail.

Original Door that leads to the stairs & jail cells.

Original Cell that Joseph & Others were held in until they were moved to the master bedroom of the jail keeper.

Uncle Scott's ....

After we left Winchester, our first day of driving got us to Milford, Ohio where my brother Scott and his family live. We spent the night there with them and of course Max was so excited to spend some time with his cousins! Unfortunately, his cousins had Scouts and Young Womens to go to that night but, Max still had a great time playing with their new dog Lucy and their trampolene. Max even convinced me to give it a try with him so, here is proof that I stayed up with him. We had a great time and loved seeing Uncle Scott and Aunt Angela's beautiful house!

Saying Bye For Now

Mark started working as a Government Employee for the Army Corps of Engineers on August 17th and left for Afghanistan on Sunday the 23rd. After spending the morning together, Max and I took Mark to the hotel where he met up with the other men and women he would be traveling with. While we are so happy to have a job and getting new experience, we were sad to say goodbye for now. I'm grateful that Mark will be able to come home every 3 months and so for now I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving in SO many ways. Here are a few pictures of Max & Mark at the drop-off in Winchester.