Palmyra

We had the opportunity last week to go to Palmyra, NY and see some church history sites. Sterling's sister, Hilary, was in town for a Model UN competition for a class and came with us! It was AWESOME to have another adult to help us outnumber the kids. We decided to take a nanny with us on all of our family vacations.
Palmyra itself is awesome. I am not a history buff like Sterling and I still loved seeing all of these sites. Even with the distractions of kids, crazy weather, and swollen feet the spirit at these places was so strong I don't know how you could not feel it. Amazing.

Our first stop was actually the Hill Cumorah but there was a quick thunderstorm while we were on top of the hill so we didn't take any pictures, but we went back on out last day so there are pictures of Hill Cumorah later on.

The next stop was the Smith Farm and Sacred Grove. This is the log home Joseph lived in at the time of the First Vision.

My absolute favorite part of the trip was standing on the back porch of this home looking toward the sacred grove just like Joseph on that day in 1820.

The upstairs of the log home where Joseph was visited by Moroni.

This was taken on the road down to the frame home (the home Alvin Smith was building before he died that the Smith's later moved into). You can see the Palmyra Temple in the background.

This is the brick hearth in the frame home where Joseph once hid the plates last minute from a mob.

This is the sacred grove. Griffin was screaming at the top of his lungs at one point so we didn't get to walk very far into the grove. I was surprised to see how bare the trees were. It's not known what day Joseph went into these woods to pray except that it was early spring. This may have been how it looked back then. It's not how you see it depicted in art and stuff.

The next day we went to the Grandin Press, where the Book of Mormon was first published.

We stopped at Alvin Smith's grave.

A few miles north is the Martin Harris Farm. This site isn't church owned so there are no tours but still cool to see.

Next we went about 1/2 hour south to the Peter Whitmer Farm where Joseph finished translating the Book of Mormon, the Church was organized, and the first 3 general conferences were held. (Sorry Mesha, apparently the guy taking the picture for us didn't know you were there...)

On day 3 we drove over to Niagara Falls. It was SOOO windy. They had to close of bunch of the sights and things to do because of the wind so we didn't we to do too much while we were there but at least we got to see it.

On our last day we walked around the temple grounds.

This Temple is the only temple with clear, totally see through windows on one side so that you can stand in the temple and see the sacred grove. Gordon B. Hinkley wanted people to be able to be in the temple and see where God has appeared and where he now appears. Here is the view you see when you look out of those windows.

All the stained glass in the temple has a sacred grove motif. Gorgeous.

Lastly, we went back to the Hill Cumorah and got to hike up the hill and see the monument.

We had such a great time. This makes me want to go to Navoo really badly now. Thank you, Hilary, for coming with us and helping us with the kids.