The Western and Southern Open

The Clarks are HUGE tennis fans and, although we are not, we thought it would be fun to join them opening weekend of the Western and Southern Open. They always go several times throughout the tournament but opening weekend has cheap tickets and you can just wander around watching matches as well as see some of the big tennis stars practicing. Noah was thrilled, ha ha!

We got there around noon so the first thing we did was grab food. It's always fun sitting with cute little Ciara.

One of the famous tennis players McKenna saw while he was walking around after his practice session.

It was definitely a scorcher but we really enjoyed watching the tennis matches!

And a few practice sessions. This is the guy McKenna saw earlier...

and this was a German tennis star, apparently ranked super high. He's one of Kenna's favorites!

After several hours my guys were ready to go home so we took one last picture together.

I stayed on with the Clarks to watch a few more matches and practice sessions.

More highly ranked players; they were both from Russia.

We had such a fun time and will definitely make this a yearly thing!

Rolling Into August

Just a boy and his dog!

Time with my dad. Heidi and I went down on a Sunday to be with him while Mom got some much needed rest.

And one Friday night I spent the night so she could get a full night's sleep. I will always remember this special night with him. He slept for a bit but around midnight he woke up and we watched TV, took trips to the bathroom, and shifted him from seat to seat. We didn't talk a ton, a little about the upcoming college football season, but mostly just sat there together in companionable silence. Such a treasured time.

In early August David had a business trip to Baltimore so he took Noah with him. Noah spent those few days with Parker and they had a fabulous time together! Noah even went to our old house to see Princess. She got right on his lap and gave him lots of cuddles.

Dad was so bummed about losing his hair during chemo but, once he stopped, it started growing back. I took this picture to show him how much hair he had again!

We celebrated Mom's birthday with dinner...

cake...

and presents.

The following sequence of pictures is absolutely amazing, ha ha!

My boys adore their grandma!

Before heading home we grabbed some silly pictures of Bryan with Lincoln, ha ha...

and then some with the boys.

Bryan was leaving for Florida for a new teaching job at Flagler so we wouldn't be seeing him for a few months. Goodbyes are always hard.

While going through such a rough time with Dad's declining health, I made sure to capture those little things that reminded me that life is beautiful and God is amazingly good. Beautiful sunsets...

and Black-eyed Susans always fill me with joy!

Kirtland

We had a wonderfully fun, full day of visiting church historical sights! Our first stop was the Morley farm. The Morleys were early converts to the church and built Joseph and Emma a home here. Although they only lived here a short time,  Joseph received 13 revelations at this farm that are now in the Doctrine and Covenants. There was an older missionary couple working there that gave us information about the farm and had the kids play some games.

We then walked up the hill to where a small school house used to be. Here Joseph prophesied to a group of men about the growth of the church and 23 men, including Joseph, were ordained high priests.

Next we headed to Historic Kirtland. We had a short stop at the Visitor's Center before touring the Newel K. Whitney and Company store.

This is the original table Joseph and his counselors met around. In this room Joseph received 16 revelations, comprising sections 84-98, and 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

The School of the Prophets room. During one of the meetings held here, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to members of the school. Unfortunately we ended up with a very awkward picture, ha ha!

About 85% of the store structure is original!

Enjoying this beautiful day in Historic Kirtland!

We visited the ashery...

and the sawmill.

It was just before this picture that David had picked up one of the axes right as one of the sister missionaries came to check on why we were going so slow and lagging behind everyone. It was awkward to say the least and I tried to cover it up by quickly telling the boys to pose for this brotherly love picture.

The Johnson Inn Resource Center had a ton of cool information, paintings, and artifacts.

The Newel and Elizabeth Ann Whitney home.

We were all ready for some lunch! It was a nice break filled with arm wrestling...

thumb wars...

and ginormous sandwiches.

Our next stop was the Kirtland Temple.

Unfortunately they were not offering tours so we tried to break in. No luck, ha ha!

We just had to settle for being creepy peepers...

which was still highly dissatisfying.

We decided to roam around the building...

and encountered an older couple who had once served a mission in Kirtland and were back visiting the area. They told us a whole bunch of interesting stories about the history of the temple and their time serving there...

and since they still had connections, they tracked down the person with the key and opened the front door for us to have a look. Although we couldn't go past the doorway, it was so nice to get a peek inside, especially for the Clark kids who hadn't been before.

We always come across some interesting dead creature when we're together.

At least this bat died with a huge smile on his face!

We strolled around the Kirtland North Cemetery where some of the early members of the church buried their dead.

Ice cream break!

On the way to our last stop of the day, we came across a pretty bad car accident that had occurred mere moments before we got there. Of course Ryan got out to help some of the injured people though thank goodness everyone seemed to be ok.

Our last tour of the day was the John Johnson home. Joseph and Emma lived here for a year and, while there, Joseph received 16 revelations that are now recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. He also continued his work on the translation of the Bible. This was the room where Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon received the vision recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 76.

It was on these steps that Joseph Smith delivered a sermon the morning after he had been ripped from his home by a group of men who had tarred and feathered him.

Time for some fun pictures in this beautiful spot!

We ended our day with dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings where the kids got very involved with the trivia contest!

We were thinking of going to Lake Erie the next morning but everyone was just ready to head home so that's what we did. It was such a fun little trip to share together!