Texas (Anna Fowler)

The summer has come to an end, and I have yet to post an update on our Dallas adventures. I hope this isn't too lazy, but I'm going to just refer people to our family blog if they want to hear more about Dallas. Here are some interesting internship posts:

Internship Intro
Playing
Perks and Quirks of Internship life
More playing
And more playing
Remember Andrea Jessop?
Everyone swims here
Wankiers and Jacksons

Excited to see you all (or should I say y'all) soon!

Happenings in Boise ID (Jamie Harper)

Lots of pictures, you were warned!

First off, we have a new potato dish in honor of living in Idaho every week. check out my blog if you really want to know details (boring!) Also, seen above, I have been diligently scrapbooking digitally one page a day . . .Thanks to MBASA for showing me how!

Strawberry picking in the local fields led to an unfortunate event, but provided lots of jam.

Dave's work party- it was HUGE! I swear the whole city of Boise was there and they gave out free food galore! We even got to take this amazing center piece home and make a delicious tropical fruit salad. It was nice to be in a company that treats its employees so well!

Golfing in our backyard course on Dave's birthday.Zoo Boise . . . exciting!

The local beach . . . and you though Boise was inland . . . and yes, we did touch the fountain, yep, we're cool.

We have loved being close enough to have a few visitors from home

Trying out local restaurants like Big Jud's, flying pie, etc Here is the one pounder- luckily for our health, we split it. (no, not me and Jackson! . . .how much weight do you think I am gaining here!)


Hitting the local museums and sites.

Bike rides on the greenbelt river trail . . . ok so this background is the only part of the trail that ISN'T gorgeous. I am not sure WHY we took it here! (yes, I bought a new bike trailer and use it daily with even more appreciation for it)

Lots of games with Dave. Ticket to ride, online settlers, game nights with ward friends . . . we love games.Jackson learned to walk in our tiny apartment.

Jackson turned one! He absolutely hates cake (watch him throw it away here)

Still to come,

Float the Boise River

Enjoy the 24th in Utah (we have to go home for some of my work meetings)

Camping in McCall
Running a 10K

Biking to the dam

Shshone falls

Golden Spike

We are really enjoying our time here and feel like it is passing too quickly. We have made some great friends we will be sad to leave here. I love having Dave home nightly and on the weekend. I can't believe how quickly school is starting for me (August 17) which means my summer will be over! I am loving your updates. Keep 'em coming!

Question- Have any of you had the opportunity to share the gospel? I mean I know we all are sharing just by our examples, but I wondered if there were any specific stories. I have been praying for opportunities to share the joy I feel, so far I have made friends, but haven't had the opportunity to share. This upcoming weekend, we are hosting a family I met here in Boise, at my house in Utah. I am hoping they will want to see some church sites and ask more questions. Any advice?

Where do you think you're going? (Amber Brady)

My husband and I were talking the other night about how we have really enjoyed being here in Wisconsin and what a blast it is to go on day trips every Saturday. This made us realize how we squandered the previous school year. We barely went anywhere and we have decided that we will continue day trippin' when we get back to Utah since we never lived there before and we most likely will not live in Utah after school is over.
Now for the part where I tell you where we've been lately. Mike had July 3rd off so we went to the Houdini/Appleton area museum. It was a nice little place and it was very interesting to learn about the greatest magician/illusionist. It also grossed me out when I saw the very large lock picks and read about where he hid them. Ick! We also enjoyed the exhibit of local sports and the girls really liked the Curling section. We also saw Independence Day fireworks a day early on a bridge over a freeway where we were eaten alive by mosquitoes so you can bet we loaded up on OFF! bug spray after that.
On Independence Day we drove up to Green Bay and went to Heritage Hills which has several buildings from Wisconsin's frontier era. There were volunteers dressed up in costumes from ~1830s telling us about daily life of the early settlers. We were especially excited about the Moravian church since my husband served his mission in the Czech Republic and you don't see any Moravian things in CA or UT. We also took a little class about espionage during the Revolution and there was even a little Belgian farm there along with chickens, sheep, and cows. At one point we took a tour of an officer's home. It was rather nice and in the kitchen there was even a cradle and high chair. My toddler came over to the cradle and wanted to take the blankets off but when I told her a baby was sleeping there so she decided to rock the cradle and told everyone to be quiet for the "baby sleeping."


This past weekend we became very ambitious. We drove east to Manitowoc on the shores of Lake Michigan. The largest maritime museum on the great lakes is there so we just had to go and take a tour on the U.S.S. Cobia, a WWII sub that was rather successful in battle, had only one casualty during the war, and the crew even made friends with the Japanese sailors that they rescued. This photo of us was taken in the torpedo room where people slept in bunks above where the torpedoes were stored. We then went over to Two Rivers beach just to take a love at Lake Michigan and dip our toes in the water. I just talked with Kristen MacRory yesterday and found out that they were there at the same time but we weren't really close enough to realize it. My husband and I didn't bring towels or swimsuits since we weren't certain if the girls would like it and we had one more place to go. Our final stop was at the Maribel Caves. This place was very cool and the caves were just a short walk from the parking lot. I think my toddler thought the seven dwarfs would come out at any moment and sing Hi Ho to her. It was a wonderful Saturday since the girls also took long naps when we got home. I can't wait to hear more about everyone's adventures!

Provo MBASA BBQ (Briawna Hugh)

So, I know this isn't really part of my internship adventure but I thought I'd share this cute photo of the ladies who came to our BBQ last night, along with their families. It would have been crazy to try to get everyone's husbands and kids into the picture so we just took one of the gals. We met at Bicentennial Park, ate, played, and generally just got to know each other a little better. It was fun and we can't wait until everyone comes "home" so we can do it again.

Back row (L-R): Becky Russell, moi, Karen Powell, Tiffany Bishop, Julia Moss, Alicia Schick, Marissa Grimmius, Stacey Huff, Jill Kruse, Emily Jones
Front Row: Susan Rosengren, Kisha Reeder, Kricket Barnum, Claire Jones, Erin Hatch

Oahu (Heather Hatch)

Finding an internship for this summer was a bit of a rollercoaster. Especially starting in May, when one opportunity after another would present itself, and then fall apart at the last minute. Just when we had gotten used to the idea that perhaps an internship just wasn't in the cards for us, on June 19, my husband got a call at about 9pm with an offer. One week later, we found ourselves in the Honolulu airport being picked up by the President of BYU-Hawaii to start our summer adventure.

James will be working with BYU-Hawaii, doing several projects for the University (most of them finance). It's an unpaid internship, but the university paid to fly our whole family out and back, and have also paid for our apartment...so it's not so bad!

We've never been to Hawaii before, and are so, so excited to be here. We don't have a car here, but we can rent a car for the day from the university, which we plan to do every weekend. President Wheelwright rented a minivan for us for our first Saturday here, and told us to go explore the island...which we did!

Our first stop was Waikiki to walk around some of the touristy shops. We were acutally trying to get to the USS Arizona Memorial, but we were having troubles with our GPS. So, we ended up in Waikiki and decided to walk around.

Finally, we realized we had to change the zone on the GPS, and we headed over to the memorial.

Ethan is manning one of the artillary guns, and loves it!

The boys in front of the USS Bowfish. Justin is apparently camera-shy.


We took a boatride out to the memorial (free!), and there really is a special feeling there. The wall of names on the memorial was pretty sobering.

The memorial is built over the wreckage of the USS Arizona. Several decades later, oil is still spilling to the surface of the water.


Justin throwing a huge temper tantrum on the boat...apparently he didn't get the memo that children are supposed to remain orderly and quiet so as not to disrupt the reverent atmosphere for others.

The little trouble-maker trying to remove the safety signs.

It was an incredible place to visit, though someday we'd like to go back so that we could visit all the exhibits (they have age-limits that our boys didn't meet).

We're really excited to be here, and love reading about everyone else's adventures, so keep the posts coming!

Chicago [ Christie Coombs ]

Well I am finally getting around to a quick post on here about our summer adventures. We are in Chicago, or just outside of Chicago, for the summer and we are LOVING it. We have seen a ton of fun things and really like all the people around here. Cody is also liking his internship with United Stationers.

Here are just a few pictures of some of the places we have been. I also put the first two pictures because most of you left before we had our baby and I thought you might like to see him.

[ This is Devon ]















[ He is already getting bigger! ]















[ The Children's Museum - it was GREAT! ]






















[ The Navy Pier ]















[ We do a lot of swimming ]






















[ The Taste of Chicago - yummy stuffed pizza & cheesecake ]















[ The Sear Tower ]















[ Chicago! ]

The Mackrory Family Finally Checking In From...

Take your guess...

Did you guess...

Wisconsin!?!

I know, Wisconsin would not have been my first guess either. But, you can imagine our excitement when we found out that we live just 90 miles south of Door County, "The Cape Cod of the Midwest." We have spent two weekends up there thus far and have reveled in its beauty, its shopping, its fun, and its beaches. Granted, it is no Hawaii (lucky you Heather!!!), but it is still a lot of fun.

More specifically, we are living in Appleton, Wisconsin while my husband completes his brand management internship with Kimberly-Clark. He is working on a new product for the Depends Brand (Hey, no laughing!! Well, okay, I guess a little chuckle is understandable. I mean, after all, it is adult underwear!). He is loving this opportunity to work on a great brand and is very happy with his project, the company, and his experience...and so are the kids and I. This part of Wisconsin is very religious and family friendly. The people are very welcoming and kind. We love the "country feel." Another of our favorite destinations thusfar have been a couple of farms where they let visitors feed, hold, and ride their animals:

The weather out here has been interesting. We spent the first 3 weeks seriously wishing we had brought more than 1 or 2 winter outfits due to the wind, rain, and cold temperatures. This last week has been spent baking in the heat and humidity (95+ degrees). I grew up in St. George where 100+ weather isn't at all uncommon, but the humidity adds in a whole different factor! We are still adjusting to that aspect. But all in all, we are enjoying our time in the "America's Dairyland." I absolutely love driving along the country roads (or the highway for that matter), surrounded by lush green fields and trees and seeing the quaint, classic, red barns dotting the landscape.

LOVE it!! It is refreshing and beautiful.

As a part of our "Wisconsin experience" we are trying a new cheese each week and writing a "review" on our family blog. Feel free to check it out at mackroryfamilyfun.blogspot.com. Here is our recent encounter with Blue Cheese:

Let's just say, even though my daughter liked it, next time (if there is a next time) we will not eat it just on crackers. We will try making a dressing or some other such recipe.

We moved out here in our Camry...no roof bags or anything...and it has been nice to live a little more simply. (Thank heavens for cheap toys at rummage sales though!) We took about 3 weeks, visiting family, many church history sites, and the Lincoln Presidential Museum on our way. I was worried about doing such a long car trip with the kids, but they did great and we loved our adventures.

Happy summer to you all and please keep posting! I am enjoying reading about "our combined MBASA adventures" all across the U.S.