At Zone Conference last week the sisters from Chardon Branch furnished our lunch. They had a most wonderful sliced tomatoes they had purchased from the Amish in Burton. Since we teach Insitiute in Chardon on Wednesdays we decided to make a day of it and see the sights. This was the first indication we found the right area.

It was fun to see buggies parked at the stores and horse droppings across the parking lot.


Wal-Mart had nice covered buggy parking areas.


Since it was a nice sunny summer day not very many farmers were in town. The produce stand we visited was doing a booming business.

Yes, we're in Amish country.

We had an authenic lunch at Mary Yoder's. We had a hard time finding it and asked two little ladies. They gave us directions and then said, "It's really expensive, but, you it will be OK if you go there once."

We had noodles on mashed potatoes smothered with chicken gravy. It sounder gross but Martha Mae, our server, said it was delicious - and it was. It filled us up and after a couple hours we had room for a Blizzard at Dairy Queen.

What a great day!

The Middlefield Cheese factory is famous for its Swiss cheese. We went through the museum and saw the film on cheesemaking. Elder Millet liked the sharp Swiss and I went for the mild. I think I like his best. The factory is on Nauvoo Road. It is neat that an Amish community would chose a Hebrew name for its street.

This brought back lots of memories. Growing up we had a cow and separated the milk. Mother used the cream as her bartering tool. The town seamstress really liked cream and made lovely dresses for us in exchange.

It took quite a while and a bit of muscle to work the separator but the worse part was washing it. There was about 25 little parts that stacked together and each had to be washed individually. Mother checked up on us to make sure it was done properly. If I had a choice of the two jobs I would do the turning and Marie would have to wash it.

Leslie wrote, "This is how big the tomato plants were when we got back from Utah. They were huge and we picked 25 pounds that I used to can tomato sauce. We picked several more pounds for eating. And I'm sure there is plenty more waiting. The kids had a great time picking. Thanks for the yummy garden!"


Yes, we have tomataoes too - by the bushel. Thanks to the Amish produce stand. What will we ever do with so many? We also got a bushel of peaches, many zucchini, onions, a huge green pepper, and fresh basil. No pineapple pie - shucks.

The most important thing about Family Home Evening (we are the shepherds for our YSA Ward) is the treats. Well, I got the great idea of making bread and baking it at the building. We put the dough in the fix and mix and started out. We stopped to get gas and at the gas station I opened the back of the car and punched the bread down. Remember it is HOT in Ohio.

By the time we got to the building the dough was way over the top of the bowl again. Thank goodness it was stuck to the lid or we would have had a real mess. Shaping the loaves was like working with air and the loaves were very, very lumpy.

I made 8 loaves and even before the lesson started and I had time to take a picture over 2 had been eaten.


The YSA loved the bread and jam regardless and ate and ate. Ed was lucky to get a loaf to take home. We'll try this again in the winter.

After sleeping on a blow-up bed for two weeks we were thrilled to get a beautiful bedroom set from the Mission Home. The bed is a king pillow top and is soooooo comfortable. The highboy fits in the bedroom and the night stands are here and there. We have lots of drawers and cubbies. We are now set.

The dresser is awesome and fits in the living room. Please notice that the family pictures could be updated.

Our work is done here. We not only teach classes but I seem to be the Insitiute secretary. We work with 5 Stakes and each Bishop needs to know something about every activity, etc. We are so thankful for computers.

We have a place to sit and study. Our couch also makes into a bed. So come and visit. We have room for you.

Our kitchen is small but adequate. We have a good sized pantry, very large closets, and a storage closet.

Our bathroom is definately a one-man/onewoman setup, but it has the essentials.

We found this darling entertainment center at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Our stereo fit perfectly. What a buy!

We were thrilled to go to the Columbus Temple with a group of our Young Single Adults. This is the first time we have gone to a temple in the evening for a long time. It is about 3 hours away so it makes a long night.


Karene, Ben, Conrad, and Adam. Great young people.


My boxes of clothes were late in getting sent so I am still wearing the same dress. I hope they come soon.

This is the view from our balcony. Ohio is very green - just like Lynden. The farmers to not irrigate due to the abundance of rain. The sunsets are gorgeous.

We were fortunate to join with 56 institute teachers for the last 3 days of their Church History Tour culminating at the Kirtland Historical Site. Brother Karl Anderson (who is our Institute Director) led the tours and what a spiritual experience. The Kirtland Temple is so awesome. Elder Millet's great-great grandfather, Artemus Millet, was the chief mason for its construction.

Ed at the top of the lighthouse in Fairport Harbor on Erie Canal. The Canal was like the airport in the early days with saints coming and going.

We are so fortunate. We rented the first apartment we looked at. I had spent 4 days at home on the internet and finally decided to just come and hope for the best - and this is the best. We are near a large shopping center, WalMart, Home Depot, Key Bank, a car lube shop (which we needed after 2200 miles of driving) the major freeways, and the Salvation Army thrift store. What more could we ask for?

The Kirtland Historic Site is about 5 miles away, the Institute and Single Adult Ward which we will be attending about 10 miles. Traffic is very heavy and it takes about 25 minutes to go 10 miles. The streets are very confusing - again thanks for the GPS.

We are on the 6th floor.

Did you say rain. It comes down in buckets. They say if you don't like the weather in Ohio wait 10 minutes - it will change. We waited under the canopy for about that long before venturing out.

The trip to the Visitors' Center at Martin's Cove was long, dry and hot. It gave us a little perspective as we asked ourselves "Why did they come this far North from Salt Lake - why not just go straight across the plains." Well, the answer was very simple - they had to follow the river. We are so glad we had an air conditioned car and a GPS. It is worth its weight in gold. We would literally be lost without it - especially in Cleveland.

Ed posing as a handcart pioneer at the Mormon Trail Center in Florence, Nebraska.

The temple at Winter Quarters is next to the pioneer cemetary and the Visitors' Center. This is a very interesting area - narrow streets, limited parking space, tight, tight but very spiritual.

Crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois. We spent 3 wonderfully hot days in Nauvoo. We also saw the pageant in Kanesville. All the entertainment was very well done. We are so thankful for our great LDS heritage.

Joseph and Hyrun as they began their last ride to Carthage. The statue faces the temple with a view of the Mississippi River in the background.

The beautiful Nauvoo Temple. We attended a session and loved the antiqueness of the atmosphere. We met Leo and Pam Liddle from Bellingham who are serving as temple missionaries. What a wonderful place to serve.

What a surprise to see Elder and Sister Parent at the MTC ready to serve another mission in Guatemala. We loved serving with them at Temple Square.