Saturday in the Sun

Today, after an ok sleep in our hotel, we got up and got ready to go to the Temple.  We decided to do sealings this time, which was a neat experience since I've never done that before.  I was amazed at how the sealer had the whole thing memorized and said everything perfectly about 25 times without hesitation. Not bad.  There was another couple joining our group and we all commented that they must be newlyweds because they were staring into each other eyes the whole time.  We found out later that they had been married for 12 years.  They sure showed us up!

After the temple, we went back to the hotel and checked out so we could do some more touring.  We headed straight to the Smith farm to check out the log house, the new house and the Sacred Grove.

This is the fireplace where Joseph hid the Gold Plates by removing bricks and placing the plates underneath.

I realized that I'm turning into my dad.  At every moment I would point something out to my kids and say, 'This is amazing.  Did you know that this is where THIS happened?'  'Can you imagine being here when it actually happened?' 'Kids, pause for a moment.  Do you feel special?'  etc, etc.  It used to drive me nuts as a kid...now I do it.  It's the circle of life.

Then we made the trek into the Sacred Grove.  This was the moment I couldn't wait for.  You could hear the birds singing throughout the whole grove, it was magical.  Of course, I could also hear Logan SCREAMING "Where's The Waterfountain!"  because he was very thirsty.  I feel bad for those that were trying to have a moment.  It wasn't happening for him.

It was awesome to pause for a moment...even though the moment was forced upon my kids and not voluntary, and take a family photo in this amazing place.

I stood in a grove where the Father and The Son also stood.  It was amazing.

then we headed over to the temple for the kids to see it and relax in the shade.

They showed us this stone wall on the Temple grounds that was the original property line of the Smith Farm.  They built that with their own hands and it's still there.  My kids thought it was cool to touch a rock that Joseph Smith had touched.  Of course, they thought it was cool AFTER I had them pause and think about how cool it was to touch a rock that Joseph Smith touched.

Our last stop on our Palmyra tour was to see the 4 churches that all stand on the same corner in town (no wonder there was confusion) and to the WB Grandin print shop to see where the Book of Mormon was first published.

We grabbed a bite to eat and hit the road jack.  We made a stop in Watertown for some groceries at Sam's club.  Holy cheese is cheap.  Awesome!

It was a fantastic weekend.  I loved it.  We're tired.  Kids went to bed.  Now to unpacking and cleaning my house.  Thank goodness this is a long weekend!