A plethora of pictures

I think I either need to post more often or stop taking so many pictures in between. Not sure what it's going to be yet....anyway, it was a good and humid summer. I found that it went by very fast although it was fairly uneventful.

Justin is busy with school (I know, what a shock!) now that it has begun again. We were glad to have a visit from Andrew recently and spent a lot of time traipsing across Missouri and Illinois and probably frightening people on the way. We had a great time with him here and were sad to see him go but we were lucky to see him.

We feel very blessed to be here and to have this experience although we miss family and friends like crazy. With that said, however, it's because of the awesome support system we have that has allowed us this experience.

I've included some pictures of the goings-on in these here parts lately. Okay, some is relative. Like I said, I'll have to figure something out before I post again. But I hope you all enjoy! Love to everyone!

Earlier in the summer, we were able to go see the Royals play the Yankees in Kansas City. We decided to wear our Red Sox gear with Royals hats. (When it comes to baseball, I cheer for the Sox and anyone who beats New York). At first, we felt rather conspicuous with the suspicious eyes of the Yankee fans following us and burrowing into the back of our heads (yeah, like freaking parasites) until we started seeing more and more Red Sox gear among the throng. We started to feel more at ease and even ended up sitting among fellow fans. Unfortunately, the Royals lost. I have to say, however, that the stadium is among the coolest I've been to.

It's amazing how I took temples for granted. The closest one to us now is St. Louis which is about 1.5 hours away. With some ridiculous road construction, this ended up being an all day event. Atleast we're still closer than some around the world.

Ahhh, White Castle.


Look who I found!

This is the Liberty Jail. What an amazing experience. We were lucky to have enough time to stop in Liberty before heading to the Packers vs. Chiefs game in KC. I'm so glad we did. It's been a while since I've been and it is such an amazing spirit there.

>Sigh<

Doesn't he look like a kid in a candy store? Or even a step above that?

My favorite photo of the stadium that evening. What a beautiful sunset!

Our game faces. Oh, yes. We were ready.

GO PACK GOOOOO!!!!!

Boo! They lost BUT to qualify that fact: Aaron Rodgers did not play so it was our 2nd and 3rd stringers against their starters. As we were leaving, we heard a Cheifs fan mention "It's a good thing Rodgers didn't play. He would have creamed us." That's right, man! And don't you forget it!

So we still held our heads high!

Although I think brother was a little traumitized. Meh, we ate our sadness away at Steak N Shake. And that's an easy thing to do at Steak N Shake, man. Amazing. Food. Enough said.

The next day we found ourselves in Carthage. Such and incredible experience there too. This is the window looking into the martyrdom room.

Carthage again.

This is looking through the bullet hole which was carried the bullet that killed Hyrum. Interesting to me that you can look through the hole which carried a fatal bullet to Hyrum and also see the very place where Joseph was also killed. "In life they were not divided and in death they were not separated."

Nauvoo, the city beautiful.

This octane of chocolate totally had Rachel's name all over it. Literally.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE THIS COW?

The beautiful and mighty Mississippi river with Andrew the conquerer in the foreground. Westward, ho!

Such fun! Such crazies!

Such wind!

Ippississim!

The beautiful Nauvoo temple.

The next day, a day in St. Louis, Louis. Where we danced the hoochie coochie. And Justin was my tootsie wootsie. (Okay, if you don't know the song, look it up. "Meet me in St. Louis"). This was at the Mizzou vs. Illinois game in Rams stadium. Go tigers! I think Justin sat on his sunglasses.

After the Mizzou game, we made our way to the Cardinals game a few blocks down the way. It was a rather humid and hot day and I couldn't help but snap this picture of Justin standing under a mister with the kids.

Two crazy sports fans.

Pretty cool that you can see the arch from the stadium. And the Tums factory, apparently.

It was his first major league game! Notice all the white shirts in the back? That's the St. Louis mission at the game for "Mormon Night." It's a pretty cool sight to see that many white shirts in one section. Plus they're fun to watch the game with because you know they won't go too crazy on you.

And, finally, here at home again for the home opener at Mizzou.





I had to catch some of the traditional chants and cheers on video. It's such a cool ambiance being at a home game with all of the rich traditions that a school like Mizzou has. After every first down, the announcer yells "M-I-Z" and the crowd yells back "Z-O-U."

Another fun tradition. Before every kick off, the crowd (and especially the student section) lets out a nondescript bellow which rises in pitch until the kick and after the kick screams "Go Tigers!" It's a lot of fun.