Spearfish South Dakota, Road Trip 2011 part 2

We finally arrived in Spearfish South Dakota on Sunday night of the 19th for Holly and Jared's wedding on June 21st.  It was SO GREAT to see family and hang out with them for the next few days.  Holly and Jared live on 5 acres and are very self reliant.  They have a river that runs through the property and it has a water wheel hooked up to it to water the organic garden, they have solar pannels for electricity, a chicken coop,  and a man made sauna.  I am very impressed for what they have done with the land.  It was so great to see Heather and Travis, I hadn't seen them in over 3 years.  I got to meet my new neice Stella, who is such a doll, I was just wrapped around her little finger. 

                                      Rick and Emma loved swinging on the rope over the river.

            Rick and Jackson are only 3 months apart and just hung out together all week

Me and my Sisters Holly and Heather went and got Pedicures for the wedding!

Holly and Jared Capp got married at the court house on the morning of June 21st,

That afternoon family and friends gathered on their land for an exchange of the rings and

some vows along with a few friends and family sharing stories of the happy couple.  Then

we had a bbq and music as we partied the rest of the evening.

The sisters kiss on the cheek (its a tradition)

The happy couple with mom and dad

Emma trying on the flower head band

Heather and Baby Stella

Mom and Carson

Little Stella, how cute she is!

Father Daughter Dance

Jackson and Rick love Uncle Brandon

Me and the girls wearing sarongs and trying out the sauna.

Rick loves his aunt Holly

Me and little Stella

It was so great to be able to come to the wedding and spend some time with Holly and Jared.  They

are really happy and really glad I got to be here with them.

Driving and driving....Road Trip 2011

On June 17th we set off on the biggest road trip we have ever taken in our lives.  We were on our way to South Dakota for Holly's wedding on the 21st in Spearfish SD.  After the first day we stopped in Independance MO and stayed at the Drury Inn for the night.  The next day we went site seeing around MO.  We first stopped at the Visitors Center and had the tour and got information on other historical sites.

We then stopped at the Liberty Jail.  Where Joseph Smith and 3 other men were held for 5 months.  The original jail had been torn down, but the church was able to get ahold of the original stones and then recreate the jail for the visitors and church history.  There was such a spirit there.

We then went over to Farr West where the corner stones are laid for a future temple to be built.  This area is BEAUTIFUL and when you walk onto the grounds it feels like your walking into a temple.  Such an amazing spirit can be felt.  We were the only visitors, so we had a picnic, played a little and just enjoyed the beauty and spirit around us.

Just down the street from Farr West is the LDS country store.  So we stopped in.

These are replica face plastors of the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith just after they were killed in the Carthage Jail.

Lastly we stopped by Adam-ondi-Ahman.  This is the place where the saints will meet during the 2nd coming of Christ.  This place is beautiful and can totally understand why this place was chosen.  The church owns all the land.   As we were atop the hill overlooking the valley, a song came into my head and I sang it to Emma:  When all that was promised, the Saints will be Given and none will molest them from morn until eve'n and the earth shall appear as the garden of Eden and Jesus will say to all Isreal come home. 

After we left Adam-Ondi-Ahman, we stopped at a hotel in Kansas.  Pony Express Hotel.  Then headed on our way to SD.  We were about 100 miles away from Spearfish when we stopped and 1880 Town to let the kids out and see all the cool buildings from the 1800's.  This is also where a lot of the props from "Dances with Wolves" are located and the original horse "Cysco" lived his last years at this town before his death in 2007.  The movie was mostly shot in SD.

Here are some of the props from the movie:  Dances with Wolves