A Week for Family

We worked hard this week to get all of our work done by Thursday.

On Thursday Amy, Rex, and Oliver Harris flew to Tulsa and then drove here to Bentonville. It has been so fun to have them. When we came home for lunch on Thursday we found two hooligans climbing the trees in our our forest.

They think it is amazing that we have a real forest in our back yard. They have a hard time to stay out of the tries. When we finally got them to come down we all headed to Tanyard Creek for a great hike.

 There's a dam there and the water that comes over the spillway creates this nice waterfall. There are tons of trails and rocks and water. It's a boy's paradise. We saw a pretty good sized snake, lots cardinals, a crawdad, and a turtle. We threw rocks in the water. It was great.

On Friday we hiked around a nice little nature area near our house.

Carol and the boys found that they could see some fish if they looked really close.


Saturday we visited the Pea Ridge National Battlefield Park. It's the scene of an important battle of the Civil War. They have a nice movie there and the drive through the park is pretty. I bought a CD that explains all of the places in the park. Needless to say, I will need to go back another day to listen to it.

This is us hiking to a place where you can see the trenches that the Union soldiers dug in the side of the hill over 140 years ago.

Then we drove to Garfield, AR where they have this place that sells GIANT ice cream cones. These are the "baby" sizes.

Amy was supposed to go home early today but the airline cancelled her flight and put her on a flight tomorrow afternoon. So we were able to enjoy an extra day of fun today.

We had stake conference this week so we drove an hour south to visit the Fort Smith area. We went to church in the Van Buren branch. It was testimony meeting. When we walked into the meeting we met the sister missionaries who are there. They are amazing, of course. They introduced us to a man that they had there at church with them. It was his second time. They were glad I was there so that he could sit by me. I asked him why he came to the church. He said that he has been looking for the Kingdom of God. He has visited several churches but they didn't seem very welcoming. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "This is the Kingdom of God on the earth. You've found it." He had a little Book of Mormon that the sisters had given him. They had even given him colored pencils so that he could mark it up. When testimony time came I felt that I should bear my testimony. Again, I testified that this is the Kingdom of God and that we are led by Jesus Christ himself through his living prophet. When I sat down he asked if you had to be member to go up and speak. I told him everyone was welcome. So he got up and again said how he had been looking for the true church. He thanked everyone for being so welcoming. He warned them that he would be back again. After that several converts got up and shared their stories and promised him that if he prays he will get answers. It was pretty sweet.

Then we drove to Parley P. Pratt's grave site.

Then we drove across the bridge to the south side of the Arkansas River to Fort Smith.

It has been a great week.

Tomorrow morning we leave to drive four sisters to St. Louis airport so that can meet their mission president to return to their regular assignments in Nauvoo. Keith and his family will meet us there. So next week will be a travel blog like this but with different players.

Life's great. We are blessed. The Church is True. Heavenly Father loves all his children.