Nona and Papa come for a visit to Utah

Nona and Papa came last week to visit us and we really had a fun time. The first day they were here we headed up to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. We found out that it is the biggest dinosaur museum in the world. Pretty cool! Jay was a little nervous about the dinosaurs at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly when he realized they weren't real.

By far, Jay's favorite part of the museum was the sand table. It is so fun! Jay spent about half an hour playing with the dinosaurs in the water and sand.

Jay also liked "digging" for dinosaur bones.

On Tuesday mom, dad and I went up to Salt Lake to Temple Square. My great grandpa and my great great uncles were pioneers and we heard the first general store in Salt Lake was owned and operated by one of my uncles. It used to sit somewhere near Temple Square so we went to find it, but it has been moved. My dad remembers visiting it when he was younger. We enjoyed looking around anyway. We went to the Church History Museum and saw a beautiful display on the history of the Church. It is amazing to me what the early saints suffered for our Savior, Jesus Christ. They had such faith. We also went to the Family History Library and did a little research there. By the way, if you are a member outside of Utah or Idaho, you have to go to new.familysearch.org and sign up (using your membership number and baptism date). It is an incredible new program the Church is now using. Unfortunately, the program is still in the works which means members in Utah and Idaho cannot access it yet. Too many people online would crash the system. So soon though, everyone should be able to use it. I have been up to the Family History Library twice since I went with my parents working on genealogy (thanks Jill!) and I have had some awesome experiences finding my family on my mom's side in Italy. I have been looking through microfilm of very old Catholic Church records that come from the two specific towns my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa are from in the Trento region. It is so amazing! What a blessing that they kept records. A historian at the library told me that many European countries kept excellent records during Napoleon's time because he was very strict about having detailed records of his conquered peoples. He wanted to know who he could tax and enlist into his army. Not so good for those people, but awesome for genealogists! After Napoleon died, many countries continued with the tradition of keeping detailed records, especially Italy, and specifically Northern Italy/Austria. Yea for me!!! Anyway, back to my parents visit.Up at Temple Square we also went to lunch at the Sky Room (SO YUMMY!) and we saw the 2009 International Art Competition. There are some amazing pieces in the Conference Center right now. I definitely recommend going if you can and you haven't. One of my mom's favorites was a statue of Mary and Martha back to back entitled, "Duet, Mary and Martha" done by Annette Everett. "The sculpture refers to the Biblical figures of Mary, representing the spiritual and creative self, and Martha, symbolic of daily cares and responsibilities. She says each of us is both Mary and Martha and if one side is neglected we are incomplete and unhappy."

I also loved this piece entitled "They did not doubt" by Joseph Brickey. I pray every day to have the strength and faith of a stripling warrior mother now that I have my own little man running around.
We had a great day together and enjoyed spending time in such a beautiful place.

The next day we went on a beautiful hike up to bridal vale falls and had a picnic. Jay enjoyed running around outside.
Jay and grandma also "fished" in the Provo river. They didn't catch anything though :)

Later that night we saw our wonderful cousin's Jeff and Sara and their beautiful kids James and Mei. Zina came with us as well. The kids love her! We only caught a few pictures.

On Thursday and Friday my mom and I went to Women's Conference. It was wonderful! So uplifting. I loved being with my mom on campus, learning together. It really was a great experience and I am so glad she was willing to come with me. Dad hung out at home and helped watch Jay. He also worked on crocheting the blanket he's making for Melissa and Reed's baby. One day we walked all the way to the dollar movie theaters to watch the movie Push.
One of my favorite sessions at women's conference was entitled Children of the Promised Day. One of the speakers, Linda H. Christensen, who is on the Primary General Board shared with us an experience Elder Nelson told in one of the Primary General Board meetings. He gave her permission to share it with us. Elder Nelson had asked the board if there were any questions for him. One sister raised her hand and asked him, "How do you teach children to feel and recognize the spirit?" Elder Nelson's first response was to tell them to not be quick to answer a child's questions. Most questions are behavioral. Children want to know why they can't do something or why they have to act a certain way or do things their parents want them to. Elder Nelson said, when these questions are raised we must stop and say to them, "What do you think?" He then told a story about an experience he had with one of his daughters. It was Sunday and it had just snowed. His daughter came to him and said, "Dad, can I go out sledding with the Bishop's son?" Elder Nelson stopped and asked his daughter to go get the family Bible. Together they read Ezekial 20:20 which says, "And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." After reading this scripture they spent a few moments talking together about how our actions are a sign to God of our love and obedience. His daughter felt the spirit. She was taught by the Holy Ghost and then made her own decision to stay inside instead of sledding with the Bishop's son that day. Never again did she ask about Sabbath day activities again. What a beautiful story! My only hope is that I can know the scriptures well enough to turn my children to them in times of need (needless to say, I'm no where near where Elder Nelson is :) In that same session a quote from Elder Eyring was given. It comes from the First Presidency article in the recent April 2009 Ensign entitled Teaching True Doctrine.

"A wise parent would never miss a chance to gather children together to learn of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Such moments are so rare in comparison with the efforts of the enemy. For every hour the power of doctrine is introduced into a child’s life, there may be hundreds of hours of messages and images denying or ignoring the saving truths.

"The question should not be whether we are too tired to prepare to teach doctrine or whether it would be better to draw a child closer by just having fun or whether the child is beginning to think that we preach too much. The question must be, “With so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine from me will fortify them against the attacks on their faith which are sure to come?” The words you speak today may be the ones they remember. And today will soon be gone.

"The years pass, we teach the doctrine the best we can, and yet some still do not respond. There is sorrow in that. But there is hope in the scriptural record of families. Think of Alma the Younger and Enos. In their moments of crisis, they remembered the words of their fathers, words of the doctrine of Jesus Christ (see Enos 1:1–4; Alma 36:16–19). It saved them. Your teaching of that sacred doctrine will be remembered."

The conference was awesome and the best part was spending time with my mom. We hope to go back again another year.

On the Friday after Women's Conference we all headed up to the Connelly's cabin. It was very rainy but we still enjoyed ourselves. It is so beautiful up there! On Saturday morning we tried to go up to Provo Falls which is out near Kamis, but the road was not plowed and we couldn't make it all the way up. We still enjoyed the drive though. Here are my dad and I on the way up.

We stopped by a little park on the way home. Jay loves to play on the play ground and feed the duckies there.

We also went to a farm and saw some cows being milked. Jay was a little scared.

One day my mom, dad and I went out to Midway and Heber to see the town. One of my Great Grampas and a Great Great Uncle helped settle the towns of Heber and Kamas. They both ran mills in the two towns. On our way back from Heber, my dad noticed a sign in front of bed and breakfast that said, "Johnson Mill." We stopped to find out if it might be the mill his Great Uncle ran. Turns out a family by the name of Johnson bought the mill 10 years back because it was once called the Johnson Mill and turned it into a B&B. Lo and behold, it was my Great Great Uncle's mill which ran until the 1950s.

Here I am in front of the mill.

Here is one of the sacs the flour was stored in.

It was pretty cool seeing the old mill. We were so surprised to find it so easily! We had so much fun up at the cabin. My parents left early Monday morning. We were sad to see them go but I am so glad they could come. Jay certainly loved having both sets of grandparents around. We love you guys!