Baptism in Indiana

Brynlie turned eight on November 7th and was baptized on November 12th. Indiana is a long way away, but we made arrangements to attend her baptism.

Nov 10 (Thu)    

          We flew from Salt Lake through Minneapolis to Indianapolis. We rented a car, stopped for a late lunch, then drove to Bloomington (about 1 1/2 hours in rush-hour traffic) arriving at Andrea and Jason's house just before 6 PM. They have a nice house with a lot of room.

Lauren in a tree in front of their house

Kohler tying knots - knotty boy!

Brynlie being herself

Nov 11 (Fri)

          Andrea, Jason, and the kids took the day off so we could have a family activity. We went to Nashville, IN, a quaint town with a lot of fun stores. It was about 20 Minutes away from their house. We started by looking through some of the different shops.  

Hanna loves to shop

Lauren asks, "What is this?"

Brynlie goes for the stuffed animals

After looking in several stores we went to some historic buildings in Brown County History Center. We looked at an old schoolhouse, a historical museum, old buildings, and even an old jailhouse.  

One-room school house

We are so sad, I thought we skipped school today

Display in the Brown County History Museum

Old-styled farmhouse

At least we are happy to be in jail

We then went to a pizza place for lunch. They had gluten-free pizza that was very good. The regular pizza was good too. 

Kamary actually smiles

We then looked in more stores. Nashville is a fun town. There was a fiddler in the street that let Kamary and Lauren play his fiddle. It was fun.

Hanna found a new boyfriend

Is this big enough for Kohler?

Happy family!

Lauren played the fiddle in Nashville

As we ended our tour of the town we went to the Chocolate Moose and had ice cream cones. 

This is more our size

We then went to Yellowwood State Park and hiked on the Jackson Creek nature trail. 

Eager hikers

Hanna was telling Diane all about the book she is reading

Hanna and her book

Kohler was making up a story about how the Roman soldiers came through the area.

A Roaming soldier

It was a pretty walk through the woods with pretty girls.

The twins

It also included a nice lake.

Too cold for swimming

The famous kazoo ensemble

Nov 12 (Sat)

            This morning we went with Andrea to take Kamary and Kohler to a rehearsal of "Oliver" then we went with Andrea to the Farmer's Market. 

Pepper stand in the Farmer's Market

We then walked to the downtown square and went into a mall that was all decorated for Christmas.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

And what do you want for Christmas?

Is this a long distance call?

 We then met Jason and the rest of the kids on the square. They were actually in a music store. We checked out some pianos and the kids liked the keyboards. From there we walked around the square and took the kids into the mall to see the Christmas decorations. We then went back to the Farmer's Market.

Town Square in Bloomington, IN

I went to get Kamary and Kohler from their rehearsal. The kids all got a treat then we headed home.

More - I want some more

Kamary in rehearsal

We went to the church for the baptism (getting stuck in game traffic). The baptism was nice. Diane played prelude then lead the opening song. Hanna bore her testimony then Kamary read a talk on baptism by Jason's parents. Brynlie was then baptized. We sang hymns while waiting. Lauren and Brynlie sang "Gethsemane" then Diane and I gave talks on the Holy Ghost. Brynlie was then confirmed. The primary president spoke and then the bishop spoke. We then closed with a song, "A Child's Prayer". Brynlie payed careful attention for the whole service.

Brynlie with her family

Brynlie with her grandparents

Our wonderful grandchildren

Nov 13 (Sun)

            For sacrament meeting they had their primary program. The kids did a good job. Lauren sang a solo, "The Lord Gave Me a Temple". After church we went home and had some lunch; we then said goodbye to everyone except Hanna because she was attending the YSA branch. We headed to the airport for our return to Utah. 

It was a good visit and we miss having our family closer to us, but we know that living in Indiana will bring them many good opportunities.