Cedar Point!

 Cedar point has the most roller coasters in one park out of any theme park in the world. And boy did it not disappoint! It was so much better to be there with cousins too! Joe and Heathers kids are close to my kids ages too so they all had cousins to ride the rides with. 

Heather took her younger two and my younger two on some smaller rides and the rest of us did the wild rides. Rides that almost made me pass out and went like 93 MPH. I'm not kidding. Thank goodness for motion sickness patches. 

Brett was scared to death of the fast roller coasters. We had him pick one he would do and it was the gatekeeper. Which was an awesome ride- my dang sunglasses flew off and heather almost caught them in the air. He was so freaked out to almost tears but liked the ride after it was over. We were all happy he did it! 

They went on the water ride so much we paid for them to get in the dryer. The were soaked! 

I love this picture. It shows almost our whole group!

Matthew and Easton and such good buddies. 

My fav ride was Steel Vengeance. It was insane! So fast and weaving in and out of what looked like an old steel structure. It went up to 74 MPH

This was the ride Bryan was really wanting to go on since his mission. Everyone was always talking about it and he couldn't go as a missionary. We did it first thing and it was absolutely insane. It goes up for what feels like forever and then goes straight down. This is the one that almost gets to 100 mph. Hannah was my roller coaster riding buddy. We had a funny saying about making bad decisions all day. 

What an awesome day. Not only did cedar point have amazing roller coasters (18 of them) but it was nice and clean. They had little kids rides and adult rides too. Being there with our cousins was the best part. My kids loved this as part of our trip. They drove home after the park and we drove part way to the airport so we could get up early the next day to get home. It was the best way to end out trip! And a highlight for my kids for sure. 

Temple Dedication Sunday

We went back and forth on what to do on the Sunday we were there. Our good friends Dan and Roni (Bryan worked with Dan on his mission) told us there was a temple rededication of the Columbus temple. It was going to be broadcast to the Kirtland stake center. I was going to go to an outdoor church meeting outside the Kirtland temple but Dan since he is in the bishopric got all of us tickets into the dedication. 

The Kirtland stake center is .6 of a mile from the Kirtland temple and even closer to the Newel K Whitney store. Bryan had a lot of good memories at this church. They met for meetings and zone conferences all the time here. 

When our church dedicates a temple you have to be over 8 years old to attend. You treat the inside of the church building like a temple and are reverent. It's broadcast from that temple to a screen in the chapel at the church you're at but you sing etc too when the everyone is asked. 

This was one of the coolest experiences of my life because we are steps away from where the early church leaders walked. The first temple in our times was dedicated a half mile from where we were sitting and here we were singing the same song they wrote for that meeting. I was wondering if the people who lived were understood how cool this all was! I know around here I don't think much about our mountains because I see them everyday but when someone comes from out of town they are amazed by them. I wonder if that is how the feel about being around the Kirtland temple all the time. Amazing. 

Dan and a few of the boys outside the church. My older boys were there too but already went to the car by this point. 

Bryan did run into a few people who remembered him from his mission there which was cool. We tried to visit a few more people but weren't home. 

Of course we went back to the temple to walk around. It was closed but it felt like a good place to hang around. 

Bryan knew Rebecca and Kane Thornton while serving as a missionary. They actually baptized Kane but they have since stopped going to church as far as I know. We met them in town to say hello and spend some time with them. Glad we did. I've known Becca through social media and was happy to finally meet her in person. 

That afternoon we left for Dan and Toni's house to eat lunch. Bryan has a lot of people he loves from Ohio but this family is one of his favorites for sure. I loved meeting their daughter and grandkids! I've met Dan and Roni once before when they came to Utah. 

Dan told my kids what a good missionary their dad was. It was good for my kids to hear about Bryan's mission. Especially Tyson who would leave a little over a year from this on his own mission. 

We headed past Cleveland to meet Joe and Heather in Sandusky Ohio because we were going to cedar point the next day. it was only about a 4 hr drive for them to meet us and they have been wanting to go anyway. It made it really fun to see cousins on our trip!