Joe's visit to Pittsburgh

Joe came out to Pittsburgh for one of his residency interviews. We were so excited to see him for a few hours!!! Yay, we had a visitor!!!

It's been a while since John & Joe have been able to share a sentimental moment together.

John & I built a tent out of blankets for a date!!

Misha's Visit

What wonderful sisters I have!

The Bailey Bridge from "It's A Wonderful Life"

Book of Mormon Publication Site

Smith Frame Home

Palmyra Temple

Misha riding on Shauna's Tractor

What a cute baby boy! J/K

"Oh, I'm the Happiest Christmas Tree!" John & I went to a friendly tree farm today to get a Christmas Tree. The Tree Farm turned out to be someone's yard. We got the only one that didn't look like a bush, i.e. wider than tall.

Mikayla lookin' all spiffy for her Miss Mansifeld competition. She did a great job and was hilarious in her video.

Washington DC in all it's spendor and crazy people running everywhere.

It really is the in thing to do to jog by all the national monuments there.

John sporting his remaining summer tan.

What a beautiful day in Washington DC! The funniest part was that we had to go through a major security check just to eat lunch.

We felt wild in the Natural Museum of History.

Eliza has at least doubled in size since I saw her last. Everywhere we went, people asked if she wanted a kid's meal and a high chair. We just laughed and thought, "she's only 3 months old!"

Misha, Eliza, Shauna, and I had so much fun together. I just sat back and let the experts Misha & Shauna show me around Palmyra. What times we had!

More Stops in Palmyra

This was probably my favorite site. What an amazing miracle it was for the Book of Mormon to be published the first time!

I am obsessed with "It's a Wonderful Life!" I loved frolicking across the Bailey bridge.

The Peter Whitmer Farm. It was so fun to be here and watch Misha pretend she had never been here before:) Eliza really liked the rug inside, not hesitating to spit up on it.

Our New Old Desk

We recently bought an old desk at a 2nd hand store, and I had the

crazy idea to paint it "gourd" yellow! It was so fun to

sand, paint, and antique it up!

Our Cemetery

Our favorite bench where we love to read books, watch for deer,

and look at the beautiful fall leaves.

The view from the cemetery is amazing! It seems more like a large park!

We literally just have to walk through a small forest and shazaam,

there is the cemetery right next to our house!

The Washington DC Temple on a Beautiful Cloudy Day

The temple looks like a huge fortress with golden spires pointing into the clouds. How amazing!

John L. Bennion, future M.D., Captain, you name it!

John after his Oath and Integrity Ceremony
where they awarded him with a stethoscope.
Way to go John!

Amazing House

We drive by this house everyday and I've fallen in love with it!
A lot of homes here are really old fashioned, fixed-up homes that are adorable!

Welcome to West Virginia!

The Journey East to West Virginia

Holy toledo, we were so cramped in our little car. The water jug kept falling on us:)

A sweet prarie house out in the middle of nowhere (nowhere is Nebraska)

I'm sick of being in the car, as you can see.

More prarie

Nauvoo, now that's one beautiful city!

John wasn't too thrilled to be taking so many pictures.

The Nauvoo Temple from a distance. We walked down the Trail of Hope on Parley Street towards the Mississippi River. All of a sudden we turned around, and wahlah.

The Mississippi River!

My favorite roll of hay

This tractor is for you, Mish!

In front of our new apartment with our packed, jammed, squished, shoved stuff
in our heavily loaded, low-rider car. Really!

Yay, we made it to our new home.