Our Last Trip to Fontenelle Forest

Our Fontenelle Forest pass expired at the end of April. It's a bit sad that we didn't take more advantage of it. I had promised the boys they could play in the water on a warm day and we didn't make it there until dinner time. We had a picnic on the boardwalk above the railroad tracks and were blessed to have a train come through while we were sitting there. Ryan had the youth activity at 1900 so it was a rushed trip.
This is a great photo of Alexander b/c we have so few of him smiling.
Benjamin wanted to take these sticks with us when we left, but we told him to take a picture of them instead. He was satisfied with that.

Ryan's New Hobby

Today I started what Elizabeth calls, my new hobby. One of my friends, Doug Lewis (no relation) at work is a Freemason, so I finally had someone to really talk to about it. I submitted my petition to George W. Lininger Lodge 268 to join in March. In April, the Lodge voted and I was admitted into the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Today I was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason.This is my name tag I got during a One Day for degree work. There are three degrees in Freemasonry, Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. Usually, you have three months to complete the degree work (one each month). However, the Grand Lodge will occasionally approve conducting all three degrees in one day. It is a long day with a lot of information to absorb, but it was awesome. There were 16 of us going through the degree work that day. One candidate would actually participate in the ceremony and the rest of us would watch. One of my other friends at work, Dan, also joined and he was the candidate for Fellow Craft. I had the honor of being the actual candidate to go through the Master Mason ceremony. That was fantastic.

Much of our church history has it's roots in Masonic tradition. After all Joseph Smith Sr. (Ontario Lodge No. 23), Joseph Smith Jr. (Nauvoo Lodge), and Hyrum Smith (Mount Moriah Lodge No. 112) were all Freemasons. Many church members do not really know to what extent and how much. It was not uncommon in the early days of the church for Freemasons to join the LDS church and for Mormons to join the Masons. However, some bad blood during the Illinois period caused a schism between the two groups. I think it was a very different experience for me than many of the other candidates that day, because I discovered what many of the similarities are.

It is interesting, that as I began talking to Doug about Masonry, I discovered I knew a number of men who were Freemasons. All of them are good men, and it helped me to make my decision to join the Masons. I'm just sad that I only get to attend one meeting at my Lodge before I leave for Utah for two years.

One sad thing is that the Brotherhood I feel with Brother Masons is absent in Elder's Quorum. I hope to learn from Masonry how they are able to have that strong bond between Masons and bring that back to the church to strengthen my Quorum. I think Relief Society has a number of things they do to strengthen their feeling of being a Sisterhood. However, I do not see the same in our Priesthood Quorums.

Civilian of the Quarter!

Ryan got an award in his division at work. He has Army drill and won't be there to accept it. He always gives me a hard time about when we were playing Candyland early-on in our marriage and I said "I want that square" and that's the one I drew. He was sure I had stacked the deck. Anyway, last quarter, Ryan had commented on how he wanted the statuette they receive for awards... and he got it. So, it's not just me. Congrats Hubby!