If you’re looking for a resource for LDS (Latter-day Saint) Trek prep activities, I have some helps for you! If you’re looking for a script for an activity, here’s one I put together with the help of other resources I found online, and then edited to fit our needs. For our activity, we met on a farm/ranch with the youth, leaders and “ma’s and pa’s”. We invited everyone to come in their trek-wear,...

Two weeks into our visit to New Zealand, we finally felt well enough to make it out to visit Russell. Formerly known as Kororāreka, it was the first permanent European settlement and sea port in New Zealand. It is situated in the Bay of Islands, in the far north of the North Island.  To get to Russell, you can take a long round-about drive up a peninsula to get there, or you can take a ferry. There are car ferries from Opua, or...

No visit to Switzerland is complete without a scenic tour around Lake Lucerne. Jared wanted to drive the circumference of the entire lake, and we also stopped for a nice walk through the city of Lucerene. We were immediately drawn to the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), which is an eye-catching landmark that crosses diagonally over the Reuss River. The bridge was originally built in the 14th century as part of the city’s fortifications....

If you’re driving East on I-84 from Portland (about 30 minutes away along the Columbia River), you can’t help but notice the towering Multnomah Falls cascading down the the cliffs next to the freeway. I first saw these falls twelve years ago when Jared whisked me away to the Oregon Coast for our honeymoon. We didn’t stop then…and, in fact, I’ve never been able to get him to stop since. We’ve usually...

I’ve never been golfing before. I’ve been hesitant to try–as I’m not always the most coordinated with my hands. I grew up as a soccer player–and feet–I can handle–but hands? Clubs? Ack! Perhaps these could work to increase one’s sports skills. My husband’s family is from Central Washington, and nearby to his hometown is the tourist destination of Crescent Bar–a little island on the...

After visiting the Holy Spring Water Temple, the Coffee Plantation, and swinging by Lake Batur, we continued further East until we reached a parking area for the Mother Temple of Besakih, which is located on the slopes of Mount Agung (Gunung Agung—check out a map of Bali and you’ll see it nearly to the Eastern tip). We were entranced by the beautiful selection of sarong fabrics, but having already upped our stock of sarongs a week...