Church History and Coming Home

Before Jordan and I left Michigan we were able to drive out to Kirtland, Ohio and visit the main church attractions. It was about a 3 hour drive there and while I was less than thrilled to spend our last Saturday driving and being tourists instead of relaxing, I was really glad we went. We took lots of picutres there, too many to post. I really learned a lot about the early Saints in Kirtland and the LDS church's tours were amazing. It was a little strange to go to the Kirtland temple and have a tour from a different church, but they still did a good job and it was neat to see the first temple ever built in Joseph Smith's time.

Us in front of the temple.

It decided to rain pretty hard that day, luckily most of our touring was over when it started.

On our drive home to Utah we had the privilege to spend a day in Nauvoo. I had been there when I was 16, but Jord had never been so it was exciting for us to go. We woke up as early as possible and made the first temple session that morning, which was amazing. The interior of the temple is incredible, patterned after the original Nauvoo Temple. We didn't have near enough time to see everything, but we got to see a lot of the Joseph Smith sites, Carthage Jail, and did the wagon ride to see the highlights. We'd love to go back there someday and spend more time on everything.

We really loved this experience and were so glad we took the time to stop. The Pioneers made such huge sacrifices and it was neat to see a lot of their history. It took us another 18 hours driving in a car to get to Utah, and I was so tired of the trip by the time we got home. But just thinking of how long it took the Pioneers to make the trek made it a little easier! It's good to be home and back in the grind, but it is always sad when fun summers come to an end...

Cedar Point

This past weekend our friends Bryce and Camille came up to our neck of the woods and we headed to Sandusky Ohio to Cedar Point! In case you don't know (like I didn't) Cedar Point is the #1 Roller Coaster Park in the World. It was about a two hour drive for us, and unfortunately we had stayed up way too late the night before we went so we were all a little tired throughout the day, but it was a lot of fun.

Bryce, Camille and baby Graham all ready to go. Poor Graham was sick, but he was so good throughout the day.

Me and Jord


This is what you see when you walk in. We were so good and got there before they had even opened the rides, so we had to chill for a bit before we got going. How's that for ambititous?



Meet Ride #1. This is the Millenium Force. We decided to do one of the biggest ones first to get a good thrill and hopefully not wait in a really long line. We definitely got our thrill with this one! The first drop is 300 ft high, you go about 92 mph and my legs were like jello after we got off. We decided this was our favorite.

Does that make your hair curl just looking at it? Try going up that sucker, while looking over at the water right next to you, all the while knowing there is not one thing you can do to turn back! Super intense.

The next ride was Thunder Canyon, but only the boys participated in this one, Camille and I didn't want to get wet (mostly me). The boys were sure they wouldn't even get wet...

...they were sorely mistaken.

Our next stop was this big wooden rollercoaster, Mean Streak. The boys went first and told us it was super jerky and killed their backs. So we opted for the very front when we got up there and it was really fun! We didn't get jerked around at all, just enjoyed the ride.

Here we come to the highlight of the day, the Top Thrill Dragster. The entire ride lasts only 17 seconds, you go from 0-120 mph in about 4 seconds. You also climb 420 feet to the top. The anticipation on this one was killer, but the ride was over so fast that you really couldn't even register how high you just were. Looking at it was much scarier.

A closer view of the top, the track twisted right near the top on the way up and on the way down, very fun.

Bryce and Camille waiting to take off

Me and Jord waiting to take off, I was so nervous it was going to take off while I was smiling at the camera, so I couldn't quite relax, if you can't tell.

This one was really fun, but made us a little dizzy. It's called the Raptor, and you are dangling the whole time so it's really fun. It had lots of loops and corkscrews throughout the entire ride, but since the track is above you, you never know what's coming.

Our last stop was The Mantis. On this one you are actually standing the whole time and we got seats near the front to have a better view. It was a lot of fun too, but you had to be careful with your head so it didn't get knocked around too much.

Me and Camille waiting to go.

Bryce snapped this pic of us while we were on it, but you can't really see us.


This right here was Graham's entertainment for the day. He loved the maps, he went through a couple of them during the day.

The day was definitely a success. There were quite a few rides we had to miss out on just because it was so crowded and the lines were so long. We for sure could have spent another day there, but time did not permit. We tried to shove as many rides in as possible, but by about 8:00 we were totally wiped and ready to head home. It was a lot of fun and if you ever have the chance to go, do it! Thanks again Bryce and Camille for heading out to do this, wouldn't have been the same without you!