Lynn Cleland

This is my 4th or 6th great grandmother Sarah Goode Marshall (we are still trying to figure out how many “greats” she is to me).  She, along with her 6 children came 1,400 miles across the plains and arrived in Salt Lake City in 1856.  She was one of the first handcart companies to arrive.

This is a descendant of Sarah Marshall, Lynn Cleland.

  He too walked 1,400 miles across the plains and arrived in Salt Lake City…but the year was 2009.  This awesome man decided to retrace the steps that his great great grandmother made over 150 years ago.  He has been researching for several years now on the exact route that they took, what foods and clothing they wore, what they slept in, etc.  Beginning in June of this year, Lynn walked from Iowa City, Iowa to Salt Lake City pulling a handcart weighing over 200 pounds.  He slept in a canvas tent and ate what the pioneers ate – which wasn’t much.  He has a website, faithgreaterthanpain.com, and he invited all those who could join him to meet him at This is the Place monument in Salt Lake and walk with him the last 3 miles of this trek.  Austin and I had the amazing experience to be there last Saturday and meet over 50 of Sarah’s descendants.  Some of my family members were able to come out and be there for the event as well. 

I can’t express the feeling I got when he arrived at This is The Place pulling his handcart.  It must be close to the same feelings that Brigham Young and the other saints who were already in Salt Lake felt when they watched all these faithful saints arriving at last.  So many of the pioneers lost everything – their family, their friends but they still came.  Lynn talked about after the first 3 weeks, he felt like he couldn’t make it anymore.  But then he remembered the motto that he put on his handcart - “Faith Greater than Pain” and he said it helped him to continue on.  We often wonder how the saints did it…and it was because their faith was greater than their pain.  They believed in this gospel and they would do anything to follow the promptings of the spirit.  I am so grateful for Lynn and his desire to do this.  It has given me a greater testimony of the importance of family history because it actually became real for me.  Here were several generations of us all gathered together on Saturday and it was amazing!  I am thankful for the example my great grandmother was and for her desire to join this church.  Who knows where I would be without her faith and determination to do what was right.  Here are some pictures from our trip and also a couple of newscast videos :)

This is the Place Monument

My Uncle Fred and Kylie

The descendants of Sarah Marshall

Great Uncle Ray, Aunt Debbie, and Great Aunt Beverly

 

Kylie and Lynn

Kylie after Lynn looked back at her….

If you look closely at this first video, you can see me and Austin and Kylie walking on the road.  Austin is wearing  a red hat.

http://connect2utah.com/content/news/story/?cid=53381

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=576&sid=8095450

Kylie counting to 10

Kylie has been learning her numbers!

I Made it!

Today marks 6 months from when I had my back surgery. I can't even believe it. The time has flown by so fast. My last appointment with the doctor is on October 8th. My back feels great so I'm sure he'll say I'm good to go. You have no idea how happy I am today! Thanks again to all those who helped me out. This has been a very difficult experience for me and I would not have been able to get through it without you guys!

Grotto Falls

Yesterday we decided to head down to Payson to visit the Grotto Falls.  Neither one of us had been there before, so we were excited to check it out.  It was a little bit chilly, but it was such a fun, short hike.  Kylie loved it.  I’m so glad she likes going hiking :)  The trail ends at the falls and it’s such a beautiful little area.  We were the only ones there, which made it even better.  If you haven’t been there, you really need to check it out.  We will now proceed to the 10,000 pictures I’ve uploaded :)

 

New light!

So with the new addition of my shower curtain, it quickly became evident that I needed more light while showering…it was like showering in a cave.  The curtain is very dark and thick and didn’t let much light in.  So I asked Austin if he wouldn’t mind putting a recess light above my shower and he got really excited and did it the next day.  I love my husband.  He is such a handy man and he loves to do projects around the house.  So anyway, I now have a sweet new light!

 

 

Apple chips anyone?

So I found another new love.  It’s a dehydrator.  My mother in law let me borrow hers and I made apple chips today.  It is sooo stinking easy to do.  I have a bunch of onions going to waste outside, so I’m excited to use this dehydrator  to make dried onions.  Anyway, hope you all are having a good week!

Slow news day…

So I feel like the people on the news when they do a 20 minute segment on Darla the hula hooping poodle and after it’s all over you think, “Wow, must be a slow news day.” Nothing really fantastic or exciting has been going on since I last posted. There are a few things, so here we go!

So I have been wanting to buy new floor and toilet mats for my bathroom because the whole look of it was starting to feel like an old woman had picked out the colors. It was a pale green color before and I had a boring old white shower curtain. Well, I happened to be perusing Target the other day and found these glorious soft brown ones. They were amazing and I had to have them. When I went home and switched everything out, it still looked dumb. Then I remembered seeing these really awesome shower curtains at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I distinctly remembered seeing the price tag saying $16.99. So last night we went to look at them again, and the price was not$16.99. It was $39.99. $40 for a shower curtain! I quickly got disappointed, but my dear hubby told me I could get it anyway. I sure do love him… Anyway, last night as I was putting the curtains up, I looked at the tag to see how to wash it and it said Dry Clean only. DRY CLEAN ONLY! You mean I seriously have to take my shower curtain to the dry cleaners! Good grief… But they looked absolutely awesome, so whatever. Now for a new vanity… :)

This picture does not do justice for how awesome those curtains are. Am I seriously getting excited about a shower curtain – yes I am!

Thought I would share a funny story about Kylie. The other day I had just gotten clean sheets out of the dryer and was putting them on our bed when Kylie starts crying and backing away onto the other side of the bed. I asked her what was wrong and I don’t know what she’s saying, but she’s pointing to something on the floor. I look over expecting to see a spider or something. But no, its worse than that….its…a…DRYER SHEET! Oh yes, the ever scary dryer sheet. When I picked it up to show her what it was and that it wasn’t scary, she started sobbing her eyes out. Yeah, most kids are afraid of the boogey man or the dark. My kid is afraid of dryer sheets….

Well folks, that’s all I’ve got. Tune in next week when I talk about how many poopy diapers I’ve changed. Jk, I’m sure something more exciting will have happened by then.

Labor Day

So for Labor Day we decided to go up American Fork Canyon and have a brunch.  Since we were all sick of eating hot dogs and hamburgers, we decided to do breakfast.  It was so nice to just be outdoors and relax for a while.  Austin brought his hammocks (which are so dang comfortable) and we just sat around and ate, layed in the hammocks and played cards.  I really had a great time.

 

Uncle Dobaley and Kylie.  So Kylie can say everyone’s name but Jordan’s for some reason.  She calls him Dobaley :)

The Sweet Tooth Fairy Bake Shop

I found my new love….  If anyone hasn’t been here before, you need to go!  Seriously.  It’s this little bakery shop in Provo that’s located right next to the Quilted Bear on University Avenue.  I had a strawberry shortcake cupcake and Austin had a cream cheese brownie.  Now I’m not really a cupcake fan, but this one was to die for.  Anyway, that’s my advertising for the day :)

The yummy goodness before it was ingested into my belly

Kylie hyped up on her lollipop

Well it’s no Van Gogh, but Kylie likes it :)

Well I got Kylie’s bowl back from Color Me Mine.  It’s a tad bit hideous, but Kylie loves it.  I love her little green hand print.  Sorry, I couldn’t get any decent pics of Kylie this morning because she was too interested in stuffing her face. 

I had to take a few pictures of her this morning.  I’m sorry, but I have the cutest kid in the world.  She is so darn beautiful and I thought she looked so cute today.  Can you tell I’m a proud mom? :) 

Wow, can we say glued to the TV?  (Like her bling by the way?)

She’s such a happy kid