Yes, it's 12:30 am. I haven't played much with Picasa, but found this cool collage tool! I made this my desktop on my laptop, and love it! Thought I would share with y'all!

Graduation!!!

Thursday was Matt's Graduation. More than 5,000 ASU graduates from three campuses received their degrees. In attendance were his beautiful wife Stephanie (guess who's writing this), Scott, Chari, and Jakey, Darell and Cerise, and Brent and Debbie. Matt wishes to express his gratitude for those that took time out of their busy schedules to support him on this important day!

Friday was Matt's Convocation, the graduation ceremony for the College of Technology and Innovation. He graduated between his two good friends, Robert "Guido" Aker and Raymond Churchwell. Enjoy some pictures!

Matt, Steph, and future ASU grad - Jakey!

Robinson Family (sans Ben and Josh, who were in finals)

Son and Happy Mom!

Happy Matt!

We are the Threeeeeee.... Amigos! Ray, Matt, and Guido (left to right)

Matt and Department Chair, Dr. Roberts

How Matt really got his degree (J/K!)

One happy Grad!

Dad and Grad!

Mom's happy she's 2 for 2 in the college grad department!

Steph deserves an honorary degree! Now time to get Steph through!

Graduation Day 1

Jake exemplifies what I feel inside! What a cutie!

Graduating Tomorrow!

Here's where it all began... I still love Sesame Street!

El Tour de Tucson

Sorry we are a little behind! The weekend before Thanksgiving the Outhier-Robinson Riding Team embarked on a monumental first - El Tour de Tucson. Stephanie was not given the green light to ride so she ran the support vehicle. Brent and Debbie completed the race together on a tandem and Matt had to ride solo. They finished the Metric Century before sundown! Congrats are in order!

Flashback to Chicago!

I just got Brent and Debbie's pictures, and wanted to share a really fun picture we took. Enjoy!

Far West

Far West was just a little chilly!

It had been prophesied that a temple would be built on this land and that the twelve apostles would leave on their missions from this spot. People considered it impossible because the saints had been driven from the area. Under the cover of night the twelve sneaked to the temple sight. They laid the cornerstones of the temple, sang the hymn Adam-ondi-Ahman, and departed for their missions. This location is now guarded by a imposing tabby, who just begged to come home with us.

Adam-ondi-Ahman

We left Gallatin at the crack of dawn, and held a Sunday service at Adam-ondi-Ahman. It's a beautiful area, and it's amazing to think of the things that occured there, and the things yet to occur. We sang the hymn named after the area in the freezing morning. It was a wonderful experience!

No, it's not a scene from the old Batman series, there just wasn't anyone to take our picture!

Preacher's Rock, where Joseph taught many a sermon from this rock.

Matt and Steph, freezing their fannies off!

We beat the gatekeeper, and had to walk 500 miles to Adam-ondi_Ahman, uphill, both ways, in the freezing weather.

Hannibal, MO

We stopped in Hannibal, which is the birth place of Mark Twain. The town was just finishing up a Harvest Festival. Dinner was pizza. We also received a lovely tour from Pete, a Belgian Draft Horse.

Tom and Huck.

Carthage

Abraham Lincoln gave a speech from this doorway!

Poor Hyrum

A view from the side entrance.

The well.

The Carthage Jail.

Carthage was an amazing place. The town was quaint. I expected to feel sadness, but I just felt peace. Willard Richards offered to hang in the place of Joseph Smith Jr. In return, Joseph Smith promised him that his friends would fall on his left and his right but that the bullets would not pierce his clothing. Because of this blessing, our family has grown and were able to make this trip!

Nauvoo Temple!

Matt and Steph, after our session.

The bell tower.

The back side of the temple.

A Moonstone.

A Sunstone.

Evening view.

The high point of the trip was our time in the Nauvoo Temple. Rebuilt and dedicated in 2002, it is 99% accurate on the outside. The main difference is that it is now crowned with the Angel Moroni, versus the Nauvoo Angel in the 1800's. Enjoy the pictures!

On Friday, we spent the morning in the temple performing baptisms for the dead. It was a special experience for all of us, as it was the first time we had all been in the temple together. In Joseph Smith's journal, when he baptized one of Stephanie's relatives, he wrote, "Today I baptized Brother Robinson. The Spirit was there, and we had fun."

Saturday morning, Stephanie and I did an endowment session. The Spirit was strong, and we were uplifted.

Willard Richard's home - Nauvoo - Thursday thru Saturday

The original entrance to the home, around back. You walk down a flight of stairs, then come up through the basement. What were they thinking?

A view from the back porch of the old outhouse.

Side view.

Front view.

A very old couch, looks somewhat familiar!

Nauvoo was the highlight of our trip! We arrived Thursday evening, just in time to stop into the Visitor's Center and get some quick pointers for our stay. We checked into the Willard Richards home (Stephanie's Great-great-great-great-grandfather's home!) This home was frequented by the Prophet, Joseph Smith, many of the 12, and even Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Nauvoo Charter in the home! An extra cellar was added during the civil war, and many of the stones in the cellar were original temple stones. We even found a couch that resembled W.O.'s couch that is sitting in our living room right now! Stephanie's only complaint was that if felt like we were being charged to stay at Grandpa's house! It felt just like home!

Chicago (10-14 thru 10-15)

We flew into rainy Chicago late Wednesday night, and enjoyed a tour through the streets of historic Chicago in the dark! We stayed at the Raffaello Hotel, right next to the John Hancock Building, (or is that the Herbie Hancock Building?) We enjoyed luxurious accommodations, and arose bright and early Thursday morning. We enjoyed an early breakfast, and braved the wind chill factor as we walked to Navy Pier. Because it was sooooooo early, everything was closed, but we got some good pictures.

We toured the observation deck of the John Hancock Building, and learned all about Chicago from David Schwimmer. Although we left without trying a deep dish pizza (since it was so early), we all enjoyed our stay in Chicago!

Erin, Mike, and Andrew - Chicago misses you!