The Sacred Grove

The Sacred Grove is visited by tens of thousands of visitors each year. The vast majority of visitors are members of the church. The grove obviously changes over time but there are five trees within the boundaries that are called 'Witness Trees' because they were alive when Joseph Smith was a boy and could have possibly witnessed the visitation of Heavenly Father and Jesus. Three of those trees are now dead. The oldest tree in the grove was estimated to be 350 years old when it died. The exact location where Joseph Smith went to pray and had the vision is not known. He said in his history that he 'retired to the woods to make an attempt.' The Sacred Grove has been maintained as hallowed ground since it is near the boyhood home of Joseph Smith. When in the grove, we assume we are near the spot where the Father and Son appeared.

There are pathways throughout the grove. We were assigned to patrol one of three sections of the grove for one or two hours per shift. There are benches throughout the grove for resting, contemplation etc. We sat occasionally but got our exercise walking around the loops. Without a map, it could be easy to get lost. The majority of visitors were fairly reverent and respectful of the rules...then there are those who smuggled in a dog, others who left the pathways, and a family that took sticks presumably for walking sticks or carving. For the most part, the time spent in the grove was very peaceful and shady. We were in the grove during a thunder and lightning storm in which the trees didn't protect us from the torrential rains. We got soaked and muddy!

This shows some of the remains of a fence constructed by the Smith family that went along their property line.

Click to enlarge:

Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning!

Parking lot Missionary Reunion

There are four missionary couples who served together at Heber Valley Camp who are working as volunteers during the 2010 Hill Cumorah Pageant. Another HVC missionary couple is serving at a nearby Young Women's Camp. We had a chance meeting at a WalMart parking lot before we made plans to connect. How strange is that?


Here are the womenfolk: Susan Evans of Logandale, Nevada - Kathy Conlin of Nibley, Utah - Deon Cole of South Beach, Oregon - Suzanne Felter of St. George, Utah - Maurine Schuster of Nampa, Idaho.

The Brethren: Gary Felter, Reinhardt Schuster, Reed Conlin, Roger Cole and Vaughn Evans.

Reed and Roger with funny trailer -

It ought to be parked at the church.

Peter Whitmer Farm

On April 6, 1830 in Peter Whitmer's small log home in Fayette, New York, Joseph Smith and five others formally organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The home has been reconstructed on the original site. We didn't get too much out of the tour of the Visitor's Center, as the Tongan sister was hard to understand, but we enjoyed the home and beautiful farm surrounding it. Nevertheless, we are glad we weren't assigned to work there.

Abigayle's Blessing

Abigayle was given a name and a blessing today in Oklahoma City. We feel badly that we couldn't be there. No family members, just ward family, were there. (I stole these pictures from Jodi's blog)
Here is a cute picture of the Hawkins family: Ty, Jodi with Abby, Owen, Miles and Olivia. This is my baby with her 4 babies, age 4 and under (but not for long). From July 8th to August 10th, Jodi and Ty will have 2 two year olds!

Mom and Baby

5 weeks old

Independence Day Weekend

Robin, Andrew and girls arrived from their week at Bear Lake just before noon on Friday. We watched the girls while Robin and Andrew joined Jill's and part of Kim's family at the movie theater to see 'Eclipse.' We had a fried chicken dinner with homemade Oreo ice cream. (Note to self: next time, stockpile a bigger supply of ice to prevent an emergency run to the store...thanks Andrew!) The Logan fireworks were on Friday night. We stayed home with Aubrey while the rest went to watch the fireworks show. With the 4th of July being on Sunday, we decided to have a family dinner get-together on Saturday. Candace's family couldn't join us due to sickness. Reed smoked a brisket and made some very tasty dutch oven potatoes. He fixed coleslaw. I made baked beans, scotcheroos and homemade rootbeer. We had grapes. Robin supplied chips and Jill brought a salad. The table cloths, napkins and cups were in red, white and blue. After eating and clearing things up, the adults visited and the kids played. The cruise-in parade was going on but no one went. I was too busy to take pictures but I did get a few:

Brynlee, Ashlyn and Jayse watching the homemade root beer brewing. Andrew had picked up some dry ice. Later, Bryan had to dash to Hyrum for some more flavoring to 'rescue' the watery rootbeer. (Note to self: next time buy McCormick's rootbeer extract in the first place instead of the cheaper Walmart 'Great Value' brand which wasn't a great value)

We were going to eat outside but it was quite windy and cool. Since we had just 19 of us, we ate in the kitchen instead of the banquet hall downstairs.

The younger kids enjoy the dress-ups.

Ashlyn says she is dressed as Ariel.

No comment

Kim, Robin and Jill

Jill with Aubrey -
Aubrey has just started walking all over the place.

The celebrations continue...the main 4th of July parade, which is in Hyrum, is tomorrow. Hyrum's fireworks are tomorrow night. Then the fireworks are over until July 24th.

Miscellaneous

We had our email account hacked and some unauthorized, questionable and embarrassing emails were sent out. Since this is the second time this has happened, we took both computers in for check-ups. It has been really hard to live without a computer for a week! Now we're playing 'catch-up' and are trying to get everything set up again. At least we didn't have it as bad as several of the missionaries at the Family History Center in Salt Lake (Reed's cousin's wife included). Their accounts were hacked, phoney emails were sent to people in their address books asking them to send them money as they had been mugged on vacation and needed to borrow money immediately to settle their hotel bills. Then the email account password was changed and they were locked out of everything.




Here is Courtney working at a snow cone shack. When we dropped by to see her she said she was supposed to work from 12 to 5 p.m. but her replacement didn't show up. She had to work until 10 p.m.




The Schvaneveldt kids took turns going on short 4-wheeler rides with us. Here are Hailey and Natalie checking out the main waterfall up Providence Canyon. I'm going to return with walking sticks to hike to the top of the spring. We still need to take the rest of the grandkids to the waterfall.

Our roses are blooming, looking pretty, and doing well.

We lost one of our climbing roses for the second time and decided not to replace it. The other one has been making up for both of them. This number of blooms and the growth this year are incredible.

* Jill had us up at her home for a really good grilled steak dinner on Father's Day * Kim had a birthday on the 23rd of June * Reed's dad would have been 100 years old on the 27th * His mother would have been 95 years old today * We are frustrated with our sprinkler system, or more accurately, our secondary water system * We are sad to hear of the death of a 17 year old young woman who collapsed and died on a hike at Heber Valley Camp. A final report hasn't been given but heat exhaustion was suspected. The death took place on her first day of camp. The girl's mother was one of the leaders and was on the hike too. One of our granddaughters is sceduled to attend Heber Valley Camp this summer and three more get to go next year * Jill and Brandon were on their way to eat tonight before attending a concert and were rear-ended * We postponed the family hike to the Wind Caves that we had tentatively scheduled for today * We are going to have a family gathering here on Saturday to celebrate the 4th of July *

HAVE A SAFE AND FUN 4TH OF JULY!!

Family Bear Lake Day

Robin and Andrew rented a condo at Ideal Beach (Sweetwater) in the same building where we had our unit for 25 or so years. They invited the family for a beach day. 22 of us participated. Burkhardts placed their gazebo and chairs on the beach to stake out a place for everyone else's gazebos and stuff. We had removed the trolling motor, downriggers, nets, tackle boxes etc. from our boat and loaded up the knee board, tow lines and life vests. Several were able to go knee boarding while some just went for a boat ride. Unfortunately, not everyone got a turn as the day was cut short by high winds and rain in the afternoon. I was especially proud of the first-time boarders - Mason, Tanner, Hailey, Natalie and Ashley - who overcame fears and did so well. Some were 'naturals.' The old pros did well too - Jill, Courtney and Kaden. We found a sandbar to take off from. Jill and I positioned the kids on the board and gave them pointers and encouragement. Reed was a patient driver.














We had a few problems...the beach was a long way from the parking and the loads were heavy, the tow rope got wrapped around the prop, Brandon got his van stuck in the sand, the wind blew the gazebos over, we battled big waves taking the boat back to the marina, it was difficult loading the boat in the wind, the rain started in earnest when we were covering the boat, we got sunburned, the sand removed the toenail polish from my recent pedicure etc....but everything worked out and we had a great time! Thank you to the Burkhardts! And I almost forgot, we saw a moose on the way home.

Family Reunion

The Milo and Mary Ransom Reunion was held on Saturday, June 26th, in Centerville...just 2 or 3 blocks north of the old house in Bountiful where we lived when Kim was born. There were 72 family members in attendance. The food was excellent. We're in charge of the reunion next year. Reed's mother was the oldest child of Milo and Mary. Aunt Betty is the youngest and only surviving child. Aunt Irene (O'Dell's widow) and Aunt Idella (Don's widow) round out the oldest living generation.

Irene - Idella - Betty

The next oldest generation consists of grandchildren of Milo and Mary. Front row, L - R: Diane, Janet, Susan, Sharon and Karen. Back row, L -R: Lynn, Jeff, Richard, Bob, Ross, Reed and Bill.

Five of the Conlin/Dana cousins in attendance: Front row - Kim, Heather and Brooke. Back row - Tami and Candace.

Big brother Mason with little sister Brooklyn

Some of our grandkids hanging out in the shade:

21 month old Brooklyn was so excited and happy to play with Bob's dog. She was so careful, gentle and loving when she pet the dog. She would giggle when she got licked in the face.