Third Stop - Kansas City

In Kansas City, we visited my brother, Bill and his family.  It was a wonderful reunion.  We don't see him often enough.  Bill and Karen have a lovely home in Grain Valley.  We met his son, Ken and wife, Jennifer at the Kansas City Temple Open House.  They enjoyed seeing the inside.  It is beautiful inside and out.  The temple is about 1/2 mile from Ken's home and they watched it being built.  They were surprised that there was no large room.  They expected it to look like a church or cathedral.  There are small rooms, each necessary for ordinance work.  We had lunch at Ken and Jen's afterward and were able to answer questions.

Second Stop - Little Rock

Monica and Scott had a baby girl about a week and a half before we got there.  We enjoyed our visit with them, the baby and Anna.  Scott is a very proud Papa!

April Road Trip

During the temple shut-down, we took a road trip.  We had five days!  First stop was in LaPlata, Missouri where we looked up Wayne's nephew, Michael Cooper.  He had not seen Michael in 40+ years.  Michael is about son, Mark's age.  We had a great visit and enjoyed getting to know him.  La Plata is only 2 hours away, so we will go back and meet his wife and children and he promised to come and see us

Ellertson's visit - May

We had a real surprise when the Ellertson's turned up at the temple.  We were able to have a good visit after we got home.  They have changed very little.  We both got caught up on what our kids are doing.  We love visits and invite all of you to come.

Spring Flowers - May

The flowers this year, are gorgeous.  Even our little flower garden outside of our front door is spectacular.  We had a mild winter and then it really warmed up the middle of April.  The flowers have bloomed and gone.  The new missionaries will not get to see them.

John Deere Factory in Waterloo

A bunch of us drove to Waterloo to visit the John Deere Tractor Assembly Plant.  The guys loved it.  It was interesting.  We were able to follow the assembly line from start to finish.  Then we had lunch and spent 1/2 an hour in a shopping mall.  (Big treat for me.  I even found a sweater)  Then home. 

Prarie Grass Exhibit

There is an acre set aside for prarie grass.  The deer love it - they hide in it because it is tall.  There are other critters who also live in there.  Once a year, the grass is burned.  We watched and it was amazing.  The fire was an inferno.  I had to back way up because it was so hot.  Within a minute, however, the fire was gone, completely, leaving a blackened acre.  That was three weeks ago.  Now it is growing and you can't tell where the fire was.