Our tribute to Ann Jewell Rowley

In honor of Ann Jewell Rowley

Promise by Evelyn Hughes
(Ann Jewell Rowley baptized and confirmed May 6, 1840 at Nightingale Bower near Birchwood.- Wilford Woodruff Journal, Vol. I, page 385. )

He tells her-
"Sister Ann,
your are the forerunner,
the first of your family
with faith to accept the covenant of baptism.
This is your contract,
a promise of exaltation
if you endure
faithful to the end."

My is a  husband is a descendant of Ann Jewell Rowley.   The first stop on our "bucket list"  this summer was to take our five children on  a pilgrimage to Martin's Cove and Rocky Ridge in Wyoming in her honor.  May 26, 2013 "  It is early Sunday morning.  Travis and I are enjoying the Wyoming wind on the cabin's porch.  Travis reads me stories of the pioneers.  I hope we get to meet these amazing people on the other side.... Travis shares so much with me.  He loves it here.  I can fee of his testimony.  I know Travis knows adversity.  I am grateful we have experienced adversity in great magnitude over the past five years.  It has helped me know the Savior.

70,000 Mormon Pioneers crossed the plains... 600 pulled handcarts... a 1300 mile journey....150 died.  William Clayton- "There is nothing to fear from your journey if faith is you constant companion."

ADVERSITY IS A PRIVILEGE!   I knew then that the angels of God were there.   Was I sorry I came by handcart?  No, neither then nor any minute of my life since.


Even though we aren't called to cross the plains, we are called to live righteously.  There will always be
"Rocky Ridges and Devil's Gates to pass....

Giggling in the Sweet Water River

Oscar the famous dog

In Honor of Ann Jewell Rowley

Little Feet
Free as the summer breeze,
they run or skip over prairie grass
alongside lumbering carts,
hunt berries along creek beds,
chase butterflies, pick wildflowers,
play games and never worry
about hunger, and the coming winter,
never wonder
how many steps are in a thousand miles- Evelyn Hughes

"Born in the wilderness of Affliction:"

The woman's pull

Families are Forever

Wandering through a quiet shaded cemetery in between my 15 baseball game weekend, I stumbled across the headstone of my great grandmother's mother's head stone.  Suddenly my mind is racing with questions, stories are created in my mind... I am having soo much fun!  My little ones are lingering behind becoming somewhat impatient of their mother and her strange hobbies.   My weekend is perfect.... baseball and graveyards.  What else matters on a summer's day?

My favorite ball players!

This is a must have pic for any summer bucket list and fortunately I grabbed my camera in time  to capture it.  The thunder had just clapped and the lightning had bolted and they were out the door in their bare feet joining the amazing music created by a summer rain storm..  I love the July rain when one minute the sky is clear and the next the black clouds have gathered and sent an amazing storm.  They giggled, laughed and danced in harmony with nature's music...I will save this memory for when I am old and gray and my five are far away playing with their own children in the raindrops!

July 2013

When July comes, it seems that the Mountains call us... they beckon adventure and quiet.  We steel a few days and leave our busy routine behind.  It is is the mountains we reconnect with each other and deity.   Our little ones build forts and roast marshmallow and our bigger ones can't wait to throw a line into the sparkling water.   Rigby,  my biggest one of all is most  at peace  here....  It is here we are happiest.  It is here I find the the words...

Rain drops fall pelting the dry earth.

we hover for protection, waiting for sky to clear

adventures await...

fish call,

lightning threatens.

The storm ceases

grass is wet....beautiful

fishing begins!

smiles for miles

Maleck insisted we climb to the tippy, tippy, top!