Church History Museum and Gilgal Park

For Family Home Evening 75 or so of us from the ward went to the Church History Museum. They had various guides that manned each station. It was really cool. I learned a lot more than you do when you just run through it by yourself.

Death masks of Joseph and Hyrum. Hyrum was shot in the chin, so you can see where they had to add plaster. The modern paintings of Joseph are based on this mask.

A replica of the bible Joseph Smith used to correct the translation of the bible. If one word was wrong, he'd just cross it out and write it in. If it was longer, he'd write a letter next to it that referenced it to a document he was creating.

The actual transcript of the translation of the Book of Mormon.

Drawings for the Nauvoo Temple

African saints interpretation of the Mormon Creed in the pioneer era:

"Mind Your Own Business".

Doing research for the atonement garden I am working on at BYU-Idaho, someone told me about Gilgal Park. It is a strange sculpture garden near Trolley Square in Salt Lake. A man made sculptures, many on Old Testament themes over his lifetime. The family kept the park and made it open to the public.

"The Altar"

The stone arch is a monument to the priesthood. The pile of rocks with plows sticking out on the right is a monument to peace (Isaiah reference to weapons being turned into plows).

Yes, this is a Sphinx with the head of Joseph Smith. Not sure what it means.

B-Y-U Cougars

Bethany, Katrina and I went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. We took Celeste and Jackson along. They didn't last long in the exhibit, but liked running around campus. We took them to the Bean Museum of Taxidermified animals. We passed all of the tents lined around the Marriott Center waiting for good seats for the home basketball game against Wyoming (We won).

It is so special to have the original Carl Bloch paintings brought over from Europe. There was a very strong spirit inside the exhibit. It is free, but you need tickets. You can get them at:

http://carlbloch.byu.edu/

Better Than Tucanos

I had two bananas that were near the end of their life span, so I looked up a recipe for Brazilian fried bananas and made a modified form of the recipe. It was unbelievably yummy:

3 Bananas
1 large Egg
1-1/2 cups of Finely crushed bread crumbs (I used a french baguette bread that had dried out and ran it through a cheese grader).
a pinch of salt
4 good shakes of cinnamon
1/3 stick of unsalted butter

1. Heat up pan on medium high.
2. Cut bananas in thirds, then cut the three pieces long-ways.
3. Dip the banana in egg yolk so that the bread crumbs stick to it.
4. Dip the banana in the bread crumb, cinnamon and pinch of salt mixture. Coat thoroughly
4. Put the butter in the pan. When the bubbles die down, set the bananas in. For this, you just have to have enough butter to cook the underside, then flip it and cook the other side.

The bananas should have a slightly crispy texture to them. Best served warm.

Fanny Dack

Who is Fanny Dack?

She is buried in a cemetery in Bountiful, UT

From what I've pieced together from the Internet and PAF, Frances (Fanny) Dack Parrish was born on 28 Oct 1795 in Wicklow Co., (Dublin) Ireland. She emigrated from Ireland to Elizabethtown in Ontario, Canada with her family. She was married there in 1820 to Samuel Parrish (she was 25). Missionaries found them in Canada, and they moved to be with the saints in Nauvoo. She was endowed in 1846 (at age 51) in the original Nauvoo temple. She came across the plains in 1847 with the first pioneer groups. They lived in Centerville (Parrish lane in Centerville is named after the Parrishes she married into). She died in 1851 at age 56. How is she related to me? She is Grandma Martineau's Great Great Grandmother, which makes her my Great, Great, Great Great Grandmother.

I took the picture of her headstone today. I had to climb over the little fence around the small cemetery in a dress.

Escape Artist

Giving exception to the magician's code, Celeste reveals the mystery of her ability to escape her crib at will.

Caption Contest

You may have to double-click on the image to be able to see the excited expressions on everyone's faces.

Ogden Train Museum

Yesterday the Cummins Family invited me to ride the front runner up to Ogden with them to see the train museum. We also saw the indoor skydiving and surfing place, the megaplex theater my company designed and the Ogden temple.

The model train at the museum was fabulous.