van der Horst family reunion- Sun Valley, Idaho

Group photo on Sunday afternoon

Sunday morning before going to church.

We went to Craters of the Moon National Monument and went caving in the lava tubes. It was otherworldly down there.

Feeding a crowd like this is not an easy task.  We just had to do a "Baked Potato Bar" while in Idaho.

Grandpa Celebrated his 75th birthday with the whole family.

Clark and the rest of us heading out for a horseback ride

Spencer with his horse, Chester.

We took a hike in the beautiful Sawtooth Mountain Range

We played lots of games, including some silly ones like this giant sized, battleship-inspired ping-pong ball game.

We played games all week.

Grant is an early riser.  He talked Grandpa into an early morning fishing trip at the nearby river.

The whole group prior to our bike ride.  We did an 18 mile trail in the mountains.  We were proud of everyone for completing the whole trail, especially little Laurel on the smallest bike. 

The Harriman Trail

More family games- Raingutter Regata.  We made the boat in the middle.

Our group ready for rafting

White water rafting on the Salmon River

Look out for squirt gun attacks.

Uncle Bret took us for a shooting experience with rifles and pistols.

That's some good shooting.

Hanging out and more fishing on the Big Wood River.

Hill Cumorah Pageant and Family Reunion in Pittsburgh!

We were able to make a two-for-one trip this weekend.

First we went to Western New York along with the Youth conference kids and saw the sites in Palmyra, especially the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

Then we split off and went to Pittsburgh to meet with family, especially the McConnell family reunion.

First of all we had to get something to eat. This place was a lot of fun.  Everything they serve is some sort of crepe. Breakfast crepes, dinner crepes, dessert crepes...

Next we went to the E B Grandin Print shop which is the location of the original printing of The Book of Mormon.

This is a replica of the Smith family log home.

This is the Bible from the Smith family.  Joseph studied this Bible to seek answers to his questions. 

The upper room of this house is where Joseph would have stayed and would be the spot where he received important revelations.

In the Sacred Grove

At the Hill Cumorah, waiting for the pageant.

Prior to the show, the cast walk around and chat with the audience.

The next day, I took my two boys to the Palmyra Temple

Spencer turned 12 a few weeks after they closed the Raleigh and Washington DC temples, so this was a first time experience for him.

We made it to Pittsburgh and toured around the city.

We had a lot of good times with cousins and grandparents...

Check out this reenactment photo:

Fishing trip

I went camping with the Boyscouts this weekend.  We did some fishing.  They were biting. Everyone caught something.

Laurel's Special Day

On Saturday, May 19, Laurel was baptized.

Hiking Old Rag with the boyscouts

I went along with the boy scout troop 765 for a hike of Old Rag mountain in Shenandoah

We backpacked into base camp and set up hammocks instead of tents.

Hiking the trail

At the summit

Ahhhhhh...

We stopped at Barbecue Exchange in Gordonsville on the way home for some awesome southern cooking.

Some exhausted scouts on the way home.