The Favorite

In case anyone was wondering, Jonathan is everyone's favorite person.

Seth loves talking to him about WWII and planets. They were looking at pictures of some of the rovers on Mars. Jonathan is patient enough to explain and reexplain everything to them.

Joseph Machin

When my parents came out this summer, they brought a couple of binders filled with our family history. I went through them and photographed each page and now I'm typing all of the stories. It's not surprising that at some point many of my relatives were in Utah. As I read about where they were, I have been figuring out where they were and then we go visit those places.

Joseph and Sarah Machin  (he later changed the spelling to Machen) emigrated in 1869 and were able to take the train to Utah because of the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

Promontory Summit where the transcontinental railroad was completed.

They lived in Minersville for about a year or two after that. I'm assuming that he worked in the mine in the area. When he was living in England, he learned how to work in a smelter and he was probably working in a mine before that.

My favorite part of visiting the mine was looking out to the mountains. They haven't changed very much since my great-great grandparents were looking at those same mountains.

After a few more moves, they ended up in Sandy. There Joseph worked in the Mingo Smelter along with farming and other odd jobs. I found out that there is a plaque and a little mine car where the smelter used to be.

After working in the smelter for 15 years, the family moved up to Idaho for a brighter future for their children.

I am so grateful that my great-great aunt took the time to compile the stories and that I now have the opportunity to visit the same places that my ancestors once lived. There are still more places to find and I look forward to visiting them.

Payson Temple

We finally made it down to the Payson Temple. It is a lovely and very large temple.

I love all of the details in the stone.

We only have a few Utah temples left to visit!

Remember

Last month, I found out that there is a monument in New Jersey called "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism" that was gift from President Vladimir Putin, the people of Russia and the artist, Zurab Tsereteli. 

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The world changed so abruptly that day, but there were others throughout the world that offered their hands and hearts out in friendship. No matter how bleak the circumstances, you can still find good.

Khan Academy

Two years ago, I needed to brush up on some of my math skills. I asked Jonathan if he had any ideas. He introduced me to Khan Academy.

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It is a FREE website that has a number of different subjects. I feel like math is currently the most developed subject they currently have. There are videos on how to solve the various types of problems and then you solve the same types of problems yourself. I can't say enough good things about the free education that Khan Academy is offering to anyone who is willing to work for it. It is my dream for Jonathan to work there because they are providing such a wonderful service to anyone with an internet connection. Just imagine all the lives that are changing and the people that are convinced that they aren't good at especially math. They are opening opportunities that would otherwise be closed off because of the limits people place on themselves simply because they believe they can never be good at math. Education is powerful at changing lives and Khan Academy is making it more accessible.

Differences

Jonathan and I are extremely similar, so much so that it's a little creepy at times.

There is one way that we are very different. Jonathan enjoys having variety with our dinners while I could stick to the easy, yummy recipes we've been using for years. Since I work all day, Jonathan has taken over cooking. (Yes, I am spoiled. Yes, I enjoy it thoroughly.) He has started making spaghetti sauce from scratch and I'm pretty sure he has now used our Kitchen Aid more times than I have. Sometimes on the weekend, I make dinner. It almost always involves the Crock Pot and frozen chicken. I have no problem admitting that I am lazy when it comes to cooking. Hopefully for Jonathan's sake I will become more like him in the future.

148

148 is a pretty big number. Sure there are a lot of bigger numbers, but I would say it is still large. Currently there are 148 temples throughout the entire world. For an added perspective, when my parents were growing up there were 13 temples and only 4 of them were outside of the United States. Now about half of the temples are outside of the United States. The latest one is the Indianapolis, Indiana.

Each temple is truly a House of God. I feel so blessed that I have always lived within a reasonable distance of a temple and now I am spoiled by living around so many. Honestly though, it doesn't matter how near or far a temple is to you. It matters if you take the time to go there. Even if you just spend time on the grounds of the temple, you will feel the spirit there. In the coming months and years there will be hundreds of temples throughout the world, so long as we go to the ones we currently have.

Promontory Summit

At the end of July, Jonathan and I went out to Promontory Summit (also known as the middle of nowhere) where the first Transcontinental Railroad was completed in May of 1869. I have been reading a lot about my Machen family history and my great-great grandparents took the train out to Utah when they emigrated just months after the railroad was completed.

They still have a little bit of railroad track for the replicas of the Central Pacific's Jupiter and the Union Pacific's No. 119. It was interesting to learn that the Jupiter is a wood burning engine while No. 119 is coal burning. Though it makes sense because the Jupiter was coming east from the forests of California while those coming west were struggling enough to find enough wood for the railroad ties.

I've grown up seeing the black and white photo of the two trains meeting, so I was very surprised to see how colorful they are in real life.

As we were leaving, we stumbled upon ATK Aerospace Systems. Jonathan and I both decided we should become rocket scientists so we can work there when we grow up.

It was amazing to see just how large the rocket booster that was used for the space shuttle is! I love all of the different adventures we are able to go on.

Flashback Friday

Jonathan has been backing up all of his pictures and videos to Google Photo over the past few weeks. (It's taking that long because of the thousands and thousands of pictures he has.) Well, after we got our camera Jonathan was practicing at we just so happened to be babysitting Lyla. Google saw the pictures and videos and made this cuteness.

I'm pretty sure this was the summer before her second birthday.

Elder Machen

I have been getting into my family history lately. It is fascinating learning who my ancestors are and their life experiences. One of my favorite things to learn about is my grandpa Machen's mission to Tahiti in the late 1930's. I haven't gotten my hands on his mission journal yet, but the stories I have read so far are wonderful.

This is one of my favorite stories:

"Then there was the time that Neal suddenly became very ill with an attack of kidney stones while he and his companion were laboring on one of the small islands. All of the members of the Church fasted and prayed with him and his companion until he was relieved of his pain and suffering. Those people had a child-like faith in the teachings of the gospel and their humility and sincerity were of lasting influence to the young men who had been sent to work with and teach them."

I can't wait until Jonathan and I have the opportunity to go and visit his mission. I think that there are many people there that still remember him because my grandparents served another mission in Tahiti in the 1980's and there were people that remembered my grandpa from his first mission.

It is such a blessing to me to have these wonderful memories to draw strength from as I face my own challenges. Our ancestors were real people that faced real challenges and we can still learn from them.

A Ty Weekend

A few weeks ago, we were able to spend the weekend with Tyler. It was a lot of fun! We started out at BYU, but apparently all of the cool things don't open until 10am. As we were waiting, we wandered around the library. We went to the map room and looked at a few different globes and maps. Then we stumbled on the 3-D printer and got to watch it print a simple piece. I can't wait to have a 3-D printer! I already have some ideas of what to print!

After the library, we headed to the Erying Science building to look at the crystals they have on display. Ty loved reading the names of them and telling us about which ones he has at home. We also went to the Bean Life Science Museum. He had to look at all of the animals and didn't believe us when we told him they have a liger. The in face do have a liger and it is not a mystical creature that Napoleon Dynamite would have you believe. It is an animal that's father is a lion and mother is a tiger.

Tyler liked knowing what all of the animals names are and he read every single plaque to us.

For being 8 years old, Ty doesn't always act like it. Even when he was a toddler, he preferred eating off of the adult menu rather than the kids menu when we would go out. As an eight year old, one of his favorite things to eat is ribs. He licks the bones clean! 

On Sunday, Tyler came with me to nursery. At first he was pretty bored because I was focused on getting out toys for the kids. After awhile, we started playing catch and some of the kids got really excited and wanted to join in. I had the kids take turns throwing the ball to Tyler. Ty was so patient with them and made sure that anyone who wanted a turn got one. After church, we went to the park so he could really throw the ball.

The thing that I was most excited about was seeing Tyler get interested in our family history. He was so excited to learn about all the famous people we are related to. That is a great place to start! Unfortunately, the weekend went by quickly, but I am so glad that we were able to spend some time with him.

Independence Day

It has become our tradition to spend our Independence Day up in Idaho with my brother's family. This year, my parents and Garrett started their trip in Orem with us. Then we made the drive up to Idaho Falls a few days before the best holiday of the year!

Ruby enjoyed her time in the pool with the big kids, until they started splashing too much.

The morning of the fourth, we headed up to the farm to play and shoot some guns. It was so cute watching the kids drive around. Clara enjoyed being driven around by the boys.

Then the guns came out.

I was very happy that I was able to hit one, especially since I wasn't wearing my glasses! Jonathan fell in love with the 

The kids had to do some more swimming, but this time they could slide into the pool.

We got to our spot to watch the fireworks a bit early, so the kids pretended they were Jedis with glow stick light sabers.

We had great seats for the show, as usual!

I am so grateful for this country and all the wonderful freedoms that so many have sacrificed their lives for.

Clip Board Wall

I have a problem with loose papers taking over my desk. It drives me absolutely crazy! Thanks to browsing on Pinterest, I got the idea of hanging clipboards on the wall to organize the mess.

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 Before the company I work for moved, they were getting rid of various supplies including clipboards. I grabbed 8 and hung them up on my wall.

I love them! I have everything I need without it being a mess all over my desk.