Road/Field Trip

Zach turns 8 in October! It just seems like yesterday I was 8 months pregnant suffering through a record heat wave. But all that was forgotten when my first little boy was born, right? Tom and I have been talking to Zach a lot recently about getting baptized. What does it mean? What do you believe/have faith in? I realized that we needed a little gospel "crash course". My failure as a mother to prepare him for this day had become quite evident, but that's all I'll say about that right now. So I decided we needed to go on a field trip, like the ones in elementary school to the zoo or to a museum. Yesterday, we left at 6:30am and drove 5 hours to spend the day in Palmyra, New York.

1. Harmony, PA. Now called Orchard, Pa, or something like that. This was only a 7 mile detour off the main highway, so we decided to check it out. There's a beautiful monument depicting the scene of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey receiving the Aaronic Priesthood.

2. Hill Cumorah. This is where Joseph Smith found the Plates.

Matt was petrified walking along the top of the hill. While taking this picture, he was grabbing Zach because he was afraid he was going to fall back and down to the bottom.

3. Palmyra Temple. The kids were excited to see the temple, but were a little confused when it didn't look as big as the Washington, D.C. or Salt Lake Temple. Matt said seeing the temple was his favorite part of the trip. What I loved most was the landscaping. There are always such beautiful flowers.

I had the hardest time getting a picture of Allie. She kept making these strange poses. I wonder where this girl got these crazy pose ideas from? Can anyone say her brothers?

Got it!

4. Smith House/Sacred Grove. This was my favorite part of the trip. While in the Smith House, Matt kept asking, "Why is there so much wood?" I tried to explain our house is made mostly of wood, but we have paint and carpet to make it look nicer, but he didn't quite get it. During our walk along one of the paths, Zach found a "really cool" caterpillar. That was Zach's favorite part of the trip.

Notice the temple in the background.

5. Grandin Buiding. This is where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were published. Did you know it took 7 months to print the Book of Mormon and almost a year to bind them?


6. 4 Corners. A popular site to see in such a small town. In "downtown" Palmyra, there is an intersection with 4 different churches. From this picture you can see 3 of the 4.

We all a great time. Zach said along the way, "this is funner that I thought it would be". I think he said the same thing before our rope broke while parasailing, but fortunately nothing like that happened in Palmyra.