Hometown Moments

A. I. Root Company is a candle company that was founded her in Medina. Amos I. Root was a manufacturing jeweler that in 1869 became the owner of a beehive. Originally he sold honey and honey candy as a hobby and then became one of the leaders in bee keeping in the 1800's and 1900's.

The candles at A.I.Root Company are beautiful and smell wonderfully. While we walked through the show room we saw so many types, colors, shapes, and smells of candles. These candles are used by Oprah and Michelle Obama. The top picture of this post is of the rejected candles are are sold in the warehouse. I forgot to take any picture of the candles in the showroom.

For lunch we went at a diner just down the street from SM's work. A diner called Dan's Dogs. They sell all kinds of hot dogs.

Above you see two of the hot dogs eaten that day. These were SM's hot dogs. You will notice the hot dog closest to the front is a peanut butter and jelly hot dog. I also took a bite of this hot dog and was surprise that is was actually very good. The peanut butter makes the hot dog!

And here's the group! Family, thanks for coming and thanks for all the fun times!

Lehmans...an awesome store

We also took the family to see a store called Lehmans. In this store you could buy so many things...but especially things you'd need if you were Amish and needed things that didn't require electricity to run.

I just had to take a picture of this pig BBQ. That's one way to make a statement.

They had a rocking chair that was just Gracie's size.

And glass items for all the lanterns...beautiful glass!

And pots, and hand grain grinders, and meat grinders, and almost anything you can think of that doesn't require electricity. Oh, they also had items that do require electricity, but those weren't fun to take pictures of.

I love Polish pottery and they had a room full of different kinds of pottery. It reminded me of some of the pottery I saw while in Germany.

And after spending so much time window shopping, we had to take a minute to relax in the rocking chairs. Fun times were had by all!

Smucker's Headquarters

We found the headquarters to Smucker's and had a great time looking at all the different things that Smucker's makes...and it was a lot more than I ever imagined.

They had different displays every three or four feet away. I wanted to take a picture of every display but tried to keep control and didn't take a picture of everything...just some things. Isn't that display cute?

(This is what the above picture says) 1897 The J.M. Smucker Company was started in 1897 by Jerome Monroe Smucker. He sold homemade apple butter in stoneware crocks from a horse-drawn wagon. (This picture was in a small museum area of the headquarters).

Decisions had to be made about what to buy and what to leave...since there wasn't going to be a lot of room in the van as they drove back to Utah. Luckily, they got everything they wanted and had room to stash it in the van for the trip back to Utah.

Once again I was drawn to all the color of the glass.

Gracie was so cute and ran to the Pillsbury Dough Boy. I was even drawn to this cute guy!

Yep, we were all excited about our purchases. Look at those grins!

Amish Country

Tuesday (May 11) SM and I took our family a couple hours south to Amish Country. The day was full of rain but every time we got out of the van, the rain stopped and we were able to really enjoy being tourists. Above is a picture of a quilt. I absolutely love handmade quilts and loved wandering in different quilt shops.

And here is a silly photo but a very cute guy!

Here is a fun stained-glass window. I am always drawn to art. Amish country is like taking a step back to a simpler time. The Amish people have chosen to have a simplified life without some of the modern conveniences that we have.

While driving down different roads, you have to be aware of the buggies. And we found that the Amish youth are very friendly...that they'd wave a short wave as you passed them on the road.

What a great family!!

Lake Erie

Here's a photo of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law taking pictures. Let's just say that we all love to document our events with photos.

After visiting Kirtland we had the opportunity to drive to Lake Erie...and it's huge. It's one of those lakes that looks like the ocean since you can't see to the other side nor around the edges. The weather was a bit cold but almost everyone had fun throwing rocks into the lake.

Here's me...cold but happy!

What a beautiful lake! And how wonderful to have visited it the first time with our family!

Church History Site - Kirtland!!!

With our visitors in town, we had to go to Kirtland and take in the Spirit of Kirtland.

I just had to throw in this picture of Brigitta. Don't I have a beautiful niece?

And here is SM...hanging out at the wood mill.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered and lived in Kirtland Ohio from 1830 to 1838. During this time, the prophet Joseph Smith received many revelations and blessing from our Heavenly Father. Kirtland was the first headquarters of the Church. The first temple was built in Kirtland. There were so many firsts revealed here...such as the first Stake was formed, the first Bishop's Store House, the first Missionary Training Center, the first bishop called, the first patriarch called, and many other firsts.

In the memo, we were told to wear light blue...just kidding. Everyone just matched...well, almost everyone. Look how happy we all were, we had great sister missionaries giving us a tour of the Kirtland Visitors Center. One sister missionary was from Lehi and the other was from Louisiana. I just wish I had thought to take a picture of them.

And here we are! What a great group! If I knew how to crop I would crop a lot of this picture. I guess that's motivation to learn how to use Photoshop.

A creative landscape photo. Beautiful stream and house.

Inside the N.K. Whitney Store listening to the sister missionaries talk about what Bro. Whitney sold at the store and how he provided for people who couldn't pay him for items. The more I learn about Bro. Whitney the more I'm impressed with the way he cared for people.

Gracie was a big tease and SM was a great facilitator. But we love her so much that we'd do a whole lot for that little girl.

I love this photo of Ben. At this table behind Ben is where Joseph Smith received the Word of Wisdom. This is the health code that members of the church follow which includes, but is not limited to, no smoking, no drinking alcohol and no coffee.

Mother's Day 2010

If I could figure out how to move these top two photos, I would. So you will just have to imagine these two photos at the bottom of this post and you can start reading this post from the third photo down. And here is the gift! Mother's Day was full of visitor's this year. SM's parents, sister & her family came to visit from Utah. SM helped make a special breakfast of whole wheat waffles, strawberries and whipped cream. Yummy! What a great way to celebrate mothers!

That afternoon, SM's mom got to open her Mother's Day gift from her children with two of her children, two of her grandchildren and two of her in-laws. As you can see, Gracie wanted to be helpful and really help grandma open her present.

"Need some more help, Grandma?" asks Gracie as she reaches her hand in to help open the gift. And my MIL loved her gift from everyone!

And we all looked on in eager anticipation to see what we had got her...dressed in our comfy clothes because it was Sunday afternoon, a day of rest.