Pictures of Cousins and relatives

While we were back east, we were able to get some pictures of some of the families, and some of the girl cousins as well! This is Uncle Fain's family on Sunday morning. Their family and Uncle Elon's family play handbells, and had two programs the Sunday we were there. We really enjoyed tagging along and getting to listen to the bell music and the vocal arrangements.

Carrie got this picture of all the girl cousins who were at the morning program. Sam and I decided to go where our relatives normally do for morning worship. We went along to the evening program.

We were delighted that Aunt Iva's family were able to be there at the same time we were! Here are Carrie and Rose with Aunt Iva's three girls. The next picture is of Aunt Iva and Uncle Kenn with their lovely family.

Driving home from Pennsylvania, we stopped in to see Grandma and Grandpa Morley in Missouri. Grandma showed us the baby quilt that she sewed for the first great-grandchild, with help from the granddaughters to embroider the animal squares.

We grabbed a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with Grandpa's bass guitar. We were happy that we got to see them too!

Adventures in Missouri and South Dakota

I've had these pictures on from September and am finally getting around to posting! Hang tight to hear about our adventures in Pennsylvania in December!

 Two days after we got back from camping, we girls took off to Missouri. We went to help our friends the Goodwins, but we also got to spend some time with our grandparents and cousins. I hardly took any pictures, but I did get this one of Carrie sawing some wood for Grandma and Grandpa! We cousins helped stack wood and cut pieces that were too long.

We enjoyed making some freezer meals for Goodwins. These are some homemade pizzas we made them.

We also stopped at a seed store/gift shop that sells heirloom seeds.

Hats decorating a wall. 

Baskets and quilts for sale.

Some cute aprons.

It's kind of hard to tell, but these pumpkins were quite large!

I enjoyed looking at these colorful paintings.

An old-fashioned phonograph (?) playing music.

On our way back from Missouri, I got this picture of a combine in the field. I think this was just across the border into Colorado.

Not long after we got back from Missouri, the whole family went to South Dakota! The first morning we were there, we girls helped move things out of the church basement, while the guys prepared for concrete to be poured in Keith Lavery's shop. Alanna Lavery and Rose put screens on the church windows.

About one o'clock, the cement truck came. Everybody went out to the shop, either to help or to cheer on the helpers. Thanks to the Yarrison boys from Pennsylvania for their help with the pouring! 

The only picture of their work I got was this one of them pouring and smoothing the concrete. We are thankful for what the Lord helped us accomplish during our short visit. 

"Be Steadfast, Immovable, Always Abounding in the Work of the Lord"

I had this post started last year when Penn View was in revival. Matt Maloyed, youth pastor at Beavertown God's Missionary Church preached a very simple message with ideas he got--of all things-- from Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss! (He did have a Bible text, by the way: 2 Tim. 4:1-8). He had three points about sharing Christ.

1. We need to realize that we will encounter rejection.
Sam-I-Am's friend did not want to try the green eggs and ham because he was afraid they would not taste good. It's the same way with people who encounter the gospel message and have not tried it. They may be hesitant, or downright reject the message. But we must not give up. Go to the next person!

2. Keep it simple
Sam-I-Am's message was very simple: "try it!" Our message is simple too: "Just try Jesus"!

3. Stay on the message
Sam-I-Am certainly didn't deviate from his message! He kept urging his friend, over and over to "just try" the green eggs and ham! Brother Maloyed pointed out that we should not just be trying to get people to church, although that can be an avenue where they can hear the gospel. Our aim should be to get people to Jesus.

Camping, four-wheeling, and my first time to hike a fourteener!

On Labor Day, we loaded up our motorhome with camping gear, loaded the four-wheelers on a trailer behind Dad's truck, which Sam drove, and took off with new friends the Russels for a few days in the mountains. We had a blast four-wheeling, hiking, reading stories and cooking over the fire. I have a lot of pictures I want to share, so you might as well get comfortable. I'm making up for not posting much for a while. :)

    

We found a camp site late in the afternoon. The first order of business was to build a fire. Brother Jonathan Russel brought this grill to cook on.

I thought the axe leaning against a pile of firewood made a neat picture.

Breakfast the first morning.

We decided to take a hike to get a little in shape for the hike we were planning up Mt. Antero. We went a ways up the Missouri Gulch trail. Ahead is my friend Angie. Going up mountains, she and I go at about the same pace-- slower than everyone else! It helped me feel better that I wasn't the only one left behind. :)

Coming back, we stopped on this bridge just down from the trailhead. The boys amused themselves-- and the girls-- by throwing big huge rocks in the creek and making a humongous SPLASH!

I caught Danny just after he threw a rock!

Later the same day, all we young people took the four-wheelers as far as we could take them up Missouri Mountain. Then we walked the short distance to a lake up there. Last summer some of the kids had hiked up Missouri Mountain, which they nicknamed Mount Misery because of the hard climb. We decided it wouldn't be a good idea to try to climb it this time! But we did enjoy the lake. Here we had just left the four-wheelers and were heading toward the lake.

After a short distance over a couple hills, you come out and see the beautiful lake!

I took a panorama of the lake and the gorgeous scenery. It was just so peaceful. The only other person was a fisherman way down on the other side.

Then we all started back. I traded four-wheelers so I could get a more comfortable seat! The four-wheeler I came up on about rattled me to pieces!

There were a few unfortunate times when we had to stop for Sam to get his three-wheeler going again. Usually it didn't take long and we were on our way again.

A stand of aspens along the trail. They almost made a canopy.

In the evening, we needed more firewood. The boys decided to try cutting down this dead aspen tree. Can you spy Timmy chopping with the axe?

A little bit of a better picture. It was hard to get a good picture because of all the foliage in the way!

Sam tries to figure out how to get a strap high up on the tree so the guys can pull it over.

Sam climbed part-way up the tree so he could loop the strap around a branch.

Everyone gathered to watch. Sam got the strap looped over a branch, and all the boys (and Dad) pulled as hard as they could! When the tree started to fall, they let go and ran to get out of the way!

Crash! If you look closely, you might see the dust raised from the tree falling. The tree was so brittle, it broke into pieces when it hit the ground!

Suppertime.

Enjoying coffee or hot cocoa around the fire the next morning.

We made our way to the Mt. Antero trailhead and unloaded all the four-wheelers.

Making sure the four-wheelers have gas, and making sure we have enough water and a little lunch. We rode as far as we could get on the four-wheelers, then hiked the last half mile or so to the top of Mt. Antero.

Getting up above timberline on the four-wheelers.

At one point, we came around a curve and got hit by a blast of wind! We stopped for a minute and found shelter behind this sign-post!

When we were getting close to the top, we had to leave some of the four-wheelers because the high altitude wasn't agreeing with them. While three of us waited for a couple people to drop the others and come back for us, I zoomed in on them.

Starting the hike to the top.

Huffing and puffing up the trail. At least Angie and I were huffing and puffing!

The people who had gotten dropped off started up while two came back to get the rest of us. There the first hikers are on top.

We made it to the top!

Even the wind was celebrating-- it made my hair go crazy!

The view from on top.

After we successfully got to the top, we decided to have a little picnic in this spot just down from the summit. It was sheltered from the wind and made the perfect spot to eat our sandwiches and apples.

In the middle of this picture are the four-wheelers at the end of the four-wheeler trail. Along the top of the ridge to the right is the trail.

Starting back down.

A look back from the four-wheelers at what we climbed. Angie and I were a little dubious at first about the steep hike, but it was fine.

The scenery was gorgeous! This is seen from the four-wheeler trail up Mount Missouri. We so enjoyed our time camping with the Russels!