Shutdown for Two Weeks

We had some special experiences this week. We also were privileged to assist in getting the temple ready for closure Saturday after the last session. Sister Timmy Siebach, our temple matron, had surgery last week and is doing better every day. The Cederlofs have gone home to Bountiful for two weeks and the Jones are taking charge of cleaning the temple.

Today in the Palmyra Ward a new Bishopbric was called. Bishop Kevin Hill, Robert Ingold, and Steve Clark were released after 5 2/3 years of service. Our new Bishop is Gary Wildey, previously on the High Council, Ken Grier, and Greg Templeman and Dave Collett executive secretary. Also Sister Nancy Bassett, our Home Teaching sister, turned 86 today and is the oldest member of the Ward. We have enjoyed getting to know her.

The temple has closed for two weeks for cleaning and maintenance. Monday morning we go in to help with cleaning and inventory. Tuesday is my birthday and Thursday we are taking a tour of the Susquehanna River area. We'll let you know what else we do.

We have had a wonderful visit from the Juan and Ginger Brea family this weekend. What fun we have had being with them. They arrived late Friday evening. Saturday they went off to Niagara Falls and had a wonderful day seeing the falls, taking the Maid of the Mist ride and seeing the film.

Paul, Juan, Sophia, Ginger, Tabatha, Zachary & Owen Brea. They now live in Massachusetts but came from theCamarillo Wards. Today we attended Church together and then walked around the temple.

As we entered the Sacred Grove Owen was picking flowers along the way. We had a delightful tour from Sister Ward to the log home and frame house.

Thursday the Temple Missionaries took a tour of the George Eastman home in Rochester. You might remember this elephant from last year. It was this room that Mr. Eastman thought was too small and he had it enlarged 9 feet at the cost of $700,000. They actually cut the house in half and moved it. The home was made of steel and for year no one thought they could do it.

As we started our garden tour it was raining so we didn't get as good a look as we would have liked but it is a very beautiful place. Mr. Eastman was a very generous man and gave away most of his wealth while still living. He gave away more than $100 million to education, hospitals, dental clinics, parks and theaters.

Elder Gary Clawson found his spot early and thoroughly enjoyed himself. We love Elder & Sister Clawson and have had a wonderful time serving with them. He is one of our sealers from the Logan Temple.

The Eastman gallery had an African exhibit and I thought the kids might enjoy these pictures.

Robbie's 5th birthday was a success from what we hear. Everyone enjoyed riding the train up and down the street and he gave the whack to break the pianta. We are anxious to see all our grandchildren, Corutney, Kaylee, Mallorie, Brayden, Tyler, Josh, Gage, Robbie & Riley. We send hugs and kisses to you all.

We topped off the week by watching the closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics. What fantastic games. This first picture is in London the host of the 2012 Olympics.

The Chinese did an incredible job. It's hard to fathom how they pulled it all off. It was fun to watch. We saw Michael Phelps win all 8 of his medals.

I found one picture from last week. The Hamiltons, Crookstons and us took a walk into the grove to see if we could find the witness trees and the pillows and cradles Bob Parrot showed us. We were successful. The six of us had a wonderful dinner Saturday evening at the home of the Hamiltons. They are from the Salt Lake Temple.

We had a great FHE with Sister Clark, a site missionary, telling her conversion story. She grew up Mennonite and found the church in Arizona. She has written a wonderful book about the life of her mother, Christmas Carol Kauffman, a very famous Mennonite aurthor. We all love it.

The grounds of the temple are so beautiful. It has been wonderful weather with lots of rain and everything is gorgeous and green. The corn fields are over 6 feet high and the soy beans are a couple of feet tall.

The highlight of our week was a visit from Leonard and Cindy Hayes from Arizona, formerly from Camarillo, CA. What fun to visit the sites with them. We attended an endowment session together and Paul and I were asked to be the witness couple and the next evening we went back and did sealings together. They are on their way to Washington, DC.

As we visited the Smith log house they were making some repairs on the front step. We got in through the back door. We also visited the Whitmer Farm and had lunch at "The Great Wall"

This is the apple orchard and the apples are looking good. Many of the orchards in the area have had a rough time with all the hail storms we have had. Bro. & Sister Cahoon, they serve as coordinators on Friday evening and work in the office, have a very large orchard and they have about a fourth of their orchards damaged.

We noted that the trees are too full to see the temple itself. We also send our love and support to Kenlyn and George Christenot who enter the MTC Monday morning in preparation of their mission in Virginia. What fun you have in store for you. Enjoy!! Their grandson, Jordan, also received his mission call to Riverside, CA. How fun to be out together.

We have had a wonderful week in the temple. The Rochester Mission sent their missionaries to the temple as a reward for their hard work. We had about 20-24 missionaries every morning. It was wonderful to have them and you can just imagine the laundry but it was worth it. We met these Elders in the grove. They are serving in Buffalo. We missed Sister Siebach the last part of this week. She went in for surgery on Wednesday and will be home tomorrow. We miss her sweet smile and leadership. Everyone stepped in and helped fill the void. We had more weddings and sealings of children this week than we have had for along time. I guess school is starting and the temple will be closed for two weeks for maintenance. We love and miss Sister Siebach.

Leonard, Cindy and Paul on top of the Hill Cumorah

If you can believe it we have some trees changing colors. I guess they don't know it is still summer. We will really start seeing the grove change as we look out the window from the temple.

What a fantastic week. Also we want to send hugs and kisses and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Robbie, our grandson, who is 5 today. We love you. Have fun at your train party tomorrow.

Well it is just words this week. I just downloaded my pictures and forgot to drag them over into the folder and then promptly deleted everything off the camera. And I had some great pictures this week. Oh well, what can you do.

Monday after the temple most of us headed over to the county fair to watch the harness races. We didn't stay long but went back on Wednesday with Katie and Aaron Zsemberry and then on Saturday night we went back for the demolition derby. We remembered all the fun times with Gary Yeates when he competed at the Ventura County Fair.

Monday afternoon our group went on the sacred grove tour with forester Bob Parrot. What a wonderful afternoon walking over this sacred ground and learning many things about the Smith farm and what the church has done in the last few years with this land. They are letting the forest regenerate and in ten years it has done remarkably well.

Saturday we were privileged to serve in the baptistry and had several groups with about 24 youth. It is always wonderful to serve with these great people. Today, Sunday, we took a walk up the Hill Cumorah and a walk through the grove with the Hamiltons and Crookstons. A great Sabbath. I watched a great talk given by Pres. Monson at a BYU devotional in 2004. Three great points. 1. Live within your income 2. Stand firm for truth 3. Find joy in service. Have a great week.

Today, Sunday, we travelled to the Hamilton Branch to present the "Come to the Temple and Claim Your Eternal Blessings" during their joint RS and Priesthood meeting. A wonderful Branch, very friendly and several people we recognize from the temple. They are about 2 hours from Palmyra and south east of Syracuse.

Colage University is in Hamilton and it is a beautiful campus. The drive going up to the university is lined with huge oak trees.

Saturday it was Pirate Canal days in Palmyra. We ran into Bro and Sis Wildly who were dressed for the occasion. During the early Erie Canal days pirates would be found along the canal.

We also met Bonnie Hayes and her husband down at the historical museums. She has pulled the four historical museums in Palmyra together and does a wonderful job.

Tony Collie led the kazoo band and Susan drove the van. There were several members of the ward who were also in it. Sarah Baker was there. She was in Paul's seminary class.

Thursday Paul went to Amsden's to mow the back field. I stopped by the barns to see the new pigmee goats. They were two days old and so cute. They jump all over the place.

This is Dee Amsden with a goat that is a month old. They also have lammas.

For FHE this week President Siebach gave us his "Come Unto Christ and Shepherding" & "Laban's Sword" lesson. He had a staff and crook made for each of us. They were made by the Amish and are hickory. They will be a treasure.

He has his own Laban's sword. It's pretty heavy and we wonder how they were able to fight with these swords.

Our special treat this week was tonight we decided to climb the Hill Cumorah and when we got to the top there was David, Jennie Hawks and their granddaughter. They are my cousins from Ogden, Utah. What a surprise for both of us. They are out on a temple trip. This is their 40th anniversary this year and they wanted to go to 40 temples. They also have their papers submitted for a mission and are waiting to hear where they will go. We look forward to seeing them in the temple tomorrow morning.

Tonight we drove over to Zion's Camp and everyone was meeting to decide what to do over shutdown. There are many plans but nothing definite yet.

Sunday we attended Church in Palmyra, did our home teaching and actually saw three of our families. Later that afternoon we invited the FM missionaries for dinner. We have the Deckers on the left, they are from Apple Valley; The Judys from Idaho Falls, and the Youngs from West Jordan. The Youngs do a lot of wood work and have given us a beautiful clock wood cutting of the first vision and a beautiful pen set made from walnut from the Hill Cumorah. We have all been here over the last 15 months.

A relaxing Sunday afternoon with Elder Young on the front porch.

Sister Rogerson has been a site missionary and is going home this Wednesday. She is a wonderful missionary and we have had her to dinner several times and been on many of her site tours. She is returning to BYU for graduate studies. She lives in Sandy, UT.

Thursday we had a special treat. Brother & Sister Hughes, who live in Ithica home of Cornell University, invited the Saturday morning missionaries to their home for dinner. They were our Saturday morning shift coordinators for the last 15 months.

The Pestanas, Gehrigs, Crookstons, Archibalds Simons and us.

We had a great trip down with the Pestanas and stopped at McKenzie-Child factory and home. The home was purchased in 1980's and decorated it with their ceramic and furniture. It was a farmhouse built in the late 1800's and was a dairy farm. It is decorated so lovely. They wouldn't let us take any pictures inside the house . It is all hand made and painted and very expensive.

This view overlooks the Cayuga Lake

Below is a piece of the work they sell. They make pottery, dishes, furniture, and draperies.

After dinner at the Hughes they took us through campus and to some of the beautiful waterfalls and gorges they have around the lake and in Ithica. It's rather hilly but very beautiful place.

This is the gorge several of us walked down. It is as beautiful as Watkins Glen. The layers of slate are incredible. Makes you want to study geology. (Tyler I got you a piece of slate).

This is an old mill which is at the mouth of the gorge.

We have been getting a lot of our family files completed this week. We have sent some home for the kids to do and they are doing a great job on getting them done. Palmyra should be changing to the new system by the end of August.