Swensen Sentral

Off to see the Joseph Smith, Sr. farm in Palmyra, NY. Joseph Smith's boyhood home, 3 bedrooms for 9 people! The farm. The Frame House: a larger house built by Alvin for his parents, but he passed away before finishing and asked Hyrum to finish and take care of his parents. The Smith's only lived in it for 4 years until a sly man came into town and kicked them out. The Sacred Grove. The Hill Cumorah Friday night we got to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant, and it was wonderful. This is the view of the stage from the top of the hill. Waiting for the Pageant to begin. Chase got to meet Nephi before the pageant began, and he was so excited! (It's the one Book of Mormon character that I've really taught him about so he feels like he knows him) It was so cute because he really thought he was REAL. Jesus appearing to the people in the Americas after his death. Blessing the little children. Visiting the Peter Whitmer Farm. It was raining so we only got a picture inside the visi...

With Rick's parents here, we've been visiting as many places and doing as many things as we can here in Mass. This place is so cool! It is a whole town replicated after an old village from early 1800's. From the old buildings, to the people dressed in period clothing, to the real animal farms and cheese-making factory, and blacksmith shop, EVERYTHING is authentic (not even any cars aloud). It was definitely a highlight and a must-see for anyone coming to Boston. Chase found it very exciting to feed the pigs.

This was the greatest 4th of July I've ever experienced! We went downtown and took part in Boston's Annual Independence Day Parade. It was so neat to be exactly where the birth of our country began. We saw Colonial Soldiers marching to drums and piccolos, carrying our flag in honor of their country and their freedom. It really took me back 230 yrs and I felt their pride in defending this great land. I felt gratitude for the bravery they exhibited and the sacrifices they made to allow me to live free today. They had so little and lost so much, and because of it I am so rich. This 4th of July was much more than fireworks and barbeques, more than wearing red and blue shirts and star-spangled flip flops. It was a rememberance of those who went before me and sacrificed to give me my freedoms today. Walking in the parade. The parade ended at The Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony. We also saw the USS Constitution embark on its one...

So we had this rainstorm the other day that just DOWN POURED! It lasted for about 10 minutes and then just let up. It was so weird. The wind was blowing too which made the rain that much more wild. It was strong enough it broke a limb off the tree in front of our house which stabbed the car windshield of this poor guy. The storm created this literal river in our street which carried all our garbage cans away, so I had to run down the street and grab them before they were lost. There was so much debris that fell from the trees that it clogged the street drains and created this lake at the end of our street. After it stopped I took the kids out to check it out, and Chase had a blast playing in the water. Here is a BEFORE and AFTER picture of how much water was in the street before it drained. It was unbelievable. Cars were getting stuck going through it b/c it was so deep. I saw this one poor man pushing his car through the water. As you can see, our Princess Amelie did not want the ...