Eric's trip to India (by Eric)

India was unlike anyplace I have ever visited. It is impossible to really describe and so I hope that a few photos will at least give an impression of our experience. Above is the Taj Mahal. It was amazing to walk around it and consider that it was being built in the early 1600s a few decades after the English set up their first establishment in the Americas at Jamestown. It was impossible not to be amazed.

Here are some pictures of people and places we visited.


I love people watching anywhere I go, even somewhere like Kmart. So you can imagine I had plenty to take in on the streets of India. The people were some of the most friendly I've met anywhere.

This is Sarnath, the birthplace of buddism.

Sandstone windows at Jodhpur fort.

Riding camels in the desert outside of Jaisalmer.

Humayan's tomb and precursor to Taj Mahal.

Ruins in Lodi Gardens, Dehli. On the banks of the Ganges River before our dawn ride.

Quick trip to Utah and Lake Powell

The last weekend in September we got to go through the temple with my two youngest siblings who are going on missions. Our entire family was able to attend. It was a very memorable day. We won't have another opportunity to ALL be in the temple together for over 2 years. What a great day!

For Christmas last year my parents invited all the adult members of our family to go to Lake Powell and said they would rent a houseboat. We had originally decided that we weren't going to go. But we kind of arranged Jess and Jon's temple day to coordinate with the dates for Lake Powell. So since we were already going to be in the general area anyway we decided to go ahead and go to Lake Powell as well. Everyone went to Lake Powell except Jacki and Brian, they have a 3 week old and didn't feel like they could make it.

Eric and I left all the kids except for Meg with a sitter and flew in Thursday night really late. We met Jed and Jamie (who had just flown in from Las Vegas) at the airport and rented a car. Then we got up Friday and went to the 10a session. We enjoyed Cafe Rio take out (YUMMY) and then drove with Jed and Jamie in the rental car down to Page, AZ. We rented the houseboat on Saturday morning and stayed until Monday afternoon. (Every one else stayed until Wednesday.) Then we drove to Las Vegas, where we caught a flight home and Jed and Jamie dropped off the rental car and picked up their real car. Quite a bit of planning and coordinating for this trip but it all worked out.



The only pictures we managed to take were of us leaving but we really did have a great trip!