Ohio

I was fortunate to combine doing a CME conference in Ohio with surprising my best and longest time friend, Melissa Ethington. Morgan, her husband, and I were in cahoots for a few months planning it out. It's been a few years since seeing this girl and it was time for another slumber party!

We are both turning forty this year and I brought her some bike related gifts. She is training for her second 100 mile ride! She is quite the speed demon on her bike and took me on a few rides while I was there. We met up with her friend Lindsay at 5:30AM and rode through the beautiful trails that are all throughout Toledo.

Melissa is up in front

Twenty miles done!

I think my favorite bike ride was our last night with the whole family.

This was our destination-Handel's ice cream shop. You will be singing the "Hallelujiah" chorus after eating this deliciousness.

I got to see a ton of neat places including the Toledo Zoo with the Empie and Ethington kids (E squared?)

 Marin was my snuggle buddy right off the bat. She is as cute and cuddly as these penguins.

Love the Meerkats!

Maxwell's smile can tame a buffalo.

After a full day at the zoo, we ate very well thanks to Morgan the BBQ master.

Another awesome part of the trip was going to Kirtland to see the historic LDS temple and nearby home of Newel K. Whitney. He became a member of the church and generously shared his wealth to serve others and build up the church at that time. Many sacred experiences happened at these locations.

 

This room is the "school of the prophets".

I got a personal flute concert by the one and only Manhattan. She creatively combined two hymns together for an upcoming performance at church.

And lastly, I learned about the naked mole rat. If you don't know what it is, Marin and Maxwell can give you all the details. 

I feel very blessed to spend time with this amazing family!

Happy birthday to me!

Sure got spoiled on my birthday this year! We finally decided it was time for us to buy our own raft. We got a 15ft self bailing raft from NRS and all the "fixin's" for a multi-day trip. It was a very exciting day.