This is REIL fun

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Snuggle Sack

How do you take a nap when you're babysitting your baby sister? Make your own Snuggle Sack, ha ha! I came home from grocery shopping to find this and it was too cute to not grab my camera!

Noé got to spend 5 glorious days at the stake young women's camp this summer. This could have been her 6th year of camp, but she was only able to attend 3 of the years because of our cross-country road trip after Ali was born and you know moving to India and back (but she got to go to England and Hawaii those summers, so she hasn't complained). I went to girls camp all 6 years I was a young woman in Deer Haven Campground near Cedar City, Utah and loved every single minute of it. All of Noé's young women's camps have been at the Thomas S. Monson Campground and it is an amazing place (I know having camped there 3 times myself)!

I hope Ali and Macy will have awesome girls camp experiences and I hope we can go camping as a family each year too. Being out in nature always helps me feel closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. The Spirit speaks in a still, small voice and He is easier to hear in the quiet, peaceful outdoors.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Historic Palmyra

Since we moved to Ottawa we have been to Palmyra countless times. It is such a charming place though, I love it every time we get to visit. I probably have very similar pictures to all of these already on this blog, but here are some more from our summer trip with the Wilde family.

We visited the Grandin Press where the Book of Mormon was first published.

We also visited the book store and distribution center on either side of it as well.

The kids favorite part was getting the old-fashioned root beer and hard candy. I saved my appetite for our visit to the Olive Garden.

A replica of the log house that Joseph Smith lived in as a boy.

I wish I knew how to garden!

A replica of the frame house that Joseph's family moved into later on.

I love touring old homes and seeing how previous generations lived. The master bedroom with its spinning wheel.

The dining room.

The kitchen that opposite the fire had a stone sink with a water pump.

The larder or pantry.

The cooper's shed.

And inside.

There was also a big barn, but I like this little "garage" for the wagon.

Some of the fields, there was also corn on the cob growing not too far from this.

The sacred grove.

We usually take the shorter route through the woods, but this time we took the extra long route and I had no idea how huge this special place is!

I believe that in 1820 Joseph Smith came to these woods to pray to Heavenly Father asking direction on which church he should join. In answer to that prayer, Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to the young Joseph. Heavenly Father replied, "This is my beloved son, Hear Him!" Jesus Christ then told him not to join any of the churches that were on the earth, but that Joseph would be a prophet to usher in the last dispensation of the fullness of the gospel in preparation for Christ's second coming to the earth and His millennial reign.

With all my heart I hope that Christ comes again soon and that I am worthy to live in that glorious day!

I'm so grateful to have such great people in my life!

The real wild kids, or the Reil-Wilde kids, ha ha!

Every time I look at one of our family photos, I think, how did I get so lucky to get to spend my life with these wonderful people? I sure love this family with all that I am!

Blast from the Past!

This morning I woke up to some happy mail! My dad sent me these pictures, that I know my friend, Lois, sent to him. They are of Rocky's awesome birthday parties in Jr. High, from cheerleading (Jr. and Sr. High), and from our Spectrum show (show choir). What fun days!

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Hill Cumorah Pageant- America's Witness of Christ

Our dear friends, the Wildes were heading down to Palmyra, New York and asked if we wanted to tag along. We were so happy that our schedules worked out so we could hang out with them, plus we had never been to the Hill Cumorah Pageant before. The pageant was started in 1937 and after its 2020 production it will only live on in our memories as it will come to a close. The pageant tells the story of The Book of Mormon with the highlight being Christ's appearance to the Nephites in the Americas after his Resurrection.

Rain was in the forecast, but the day was gorgeous.

(My friend Sonia took this photo the day after we were there.)

The show waits for the sun to go down, so it doesn't start until 9:15. We had a great time visiting with the Wildes...

...and Jackie's friend, Sheri and her children that were a part of the cast.

We had a lovely surprise- we ran into our friends, the Pattersons that went to our branch in Mumbai!!

Their family was also a part of the cast. (We did get to see Laura and Tyler too, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them.)

Noé and Kaleb were so excited to see their friend!

And then we found more friends from India!!

The Patch family was also there to watch the Hill Cumorah pageant! How lucky were we? The Patches were on their way to Germany and the Patterson family were on their way to China. The stars aligned for us to see them on this special night.

Almost as soon as the show started it didn't start raining, it started POURING!!! We were completely drenched! Leonard and I looked at each other and asked if we should leave. At that point were already soaked, so we decided to stick out the 75 minutes and watch the whole show. The show goes on rain or shine, but it does shut down if there's lightning (luckily, there was no lightning!).

We put our camera away, but I found this one from LDS Living magazine. I wish we could go again on a dry day, but that probably won't happen, so I'm glad we got to see it in the rain!

Young Men's Camp 2019

Gavin, Leonard, and Kaleb joined with the Stake Young Men and leaders for a quick two day camp this year. They went up on a Friday morning to help prepare the trail for the Pioneer Trek the following month. They set up their tents for one night, and enjoyed some food cooked on the camp fire. On Saturday, they did some more work before venturing back home. They didn't get any actual photos from the camp, so I took this one when we were camping in Palmyra, in honor of it. I'm so grateful to have such great men who gladly serve!