Where it all started...

We started in Palmyra. We went to the Visitors Center first. And then to the Hill Cummorah. We saw the statue for the Angel Moroni. It was raining but cleared up for us to have a nice momement ont he hill Cummorah. The Spirit was amazing there, and there was such a reverence.



Little Man took this picture of Randy and I.

And this is what was behind us. From the top of the Hill Cummorah this is what I imagine Moroni saw when he buried the plates.. minus the roads, power lines, and modern stuff.
And then we went to the Smith Family Farm. I was beyond excited.

The Smith Family log cabin.. plus a Sister Missionary. This was so small, and it was just amazing that they all lived there.
The well.. you get a double shot.. because I really like the black and white picture also.



I posted this fence before.. but I still love it... a lot.

I don't have a single shot of the Smith's home without people. But this is it. It is the original home they lived in. It was humbling to be there. Where the gold plates were, where the Prophet lived.
And a few shots of the inside. Much of this is how it was when they lived there.





Their kitchen sink.

This is where they made their barrels.

And their barn.. which Randy gets credit for these last two shots. Doesn't he rock?

Going into the Sacred Grove.
At this time we had a serious storm brewing. Thunder, lightning, rain and it was nasty. I was trying to not be worried.. but it made me nervous. And my hopes were slowly being diminished on finding the perfect shot in the Sacred Grove. And I proved to be right. It was too dark, and the amount of lightning made me nervous to be in a large grove of trees.
Now a little about the Sacred Grove, I expected it to be smallish. But it wasn't. It was quite large, bigger than I expected. I had no way of knowing which place it was that Joseph knelt and saw God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. But, I did feel the most sweet Spirit and a great reverence for the place I stood. It was amazing. The gratitude I felt for a young boy kneeling and praying to our Father in Heaven was overwhelming. The peace was wonderful, and the Spirit testified of the truthfulness, that he saw what he said he saw.



Our Little Family pictures in the Sacred Grove. Do you see how dark it is? I was quite bummed, but the Spirit was just wonderful.

But I did make everyone go back the next day. The sun was shining, and my heart was in need of this picture. The one I had in my head. The one that I would always look and say I was there. Right there. And thankfully my family obliged to my crazy obessession and we went back. And the sun came through and my picture was made.

This is being blown up huge for my home. I am in love with it. It is what I had envisioned. And I am forever grateful that my family would be drug over 90 minutes out of the way, so I could have my picture. And if you are interested I am selling prints of it.

And on our way out of the Sacred Grove. Isn't it pretty.
It was beautiful and peaceful, and I felt even more at peace enjoying the Spirit without being worried I was going to be struck by lightning.

Back to the Palmyra day...
We hit the Peter Whitmer farm next. It was pretty awesome. How is that for details. :) This was the home where the Church was officially organized. I was humbled at the size of this building where so many Saints gathered, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored. Joseph Smith also received 20 revelations there, and did a lot of translating there. What a great place to visit. So many great things happened there, it was so peaceful and amazing.
Okay.. the pictures.


The room they gathered in to orgainze The Church.

And where Joseph resided in the Whitmer home, and received revelations.
And then we went back to the Palmyra visitors center to view the movie Joseph. But before we could go in I was getting out of the van and heard a voice. A voice I hadn't heard in 10 years. A voice I loved. A voice that changed me. I heard Ed.
Now many of you might not know the significance of this.. but you get to learn about me. I moved to a small town my Sophomore year of High School, where I was the ONLY LDS kid. I went to Seminary my Freshman year.. and my Sophomore year I had home study.. that I kinda did. But not really. And then my Junior and Senior year I didn't do it at all. Shocker huh? Especially since my Dad was Bishop half the time. Now you know my deep dark secrets. Anyway.. I was going to UVSC, because let's face it BYU wouldn't take me.. I didn't even apply. I had agreed to go to Institute, but basically I was going to go.. it wouldn't work with my schedule and I would go about my life without any worries and life would be all good. I signed up for class, figuring this Ed guy would be boring and I could easily justify working at that time and not going to Institute. And then I went, Book of Mormon.. we started and this guy came in and he was different. He wasn't uptight and stuffy. He wasn't boring. He actually could spend a FULL hour talking about 1st Nephi, chapter 1, verse 1. I was shocked. I was entertained, I was enthralled and I was hooked. So I stayed. I had many interesting conversations with him. And Ed J. Pinegar changed me. I fell in love with the Book of Mormon. My testimony grew leaps and bounds in just a short amount of time. I even signed up for another Institute class. It prepared me for so much in my life, and really changed me for the better.
Okay.. that was a long explanation but you have to get it to understand. I heard his voice.. I haven't seen him in nearly 10 years.. and I melted. I ran over to him, (really I RAN) and I was like ED!! How are you? Do you remember me? You taught me institute! You are here! How cool! (firing this all at once.. those who know me know I talk way too fast!) I was giddy, I hugged him, we talked, he remembered me! I introduced my husband and kids to him, and then I was able to thank him. Thank him for the change he helped to bring in me. I still don't think he knows how important he is in my life. I am so incredibly grateful for this man, and for his inspiration to say all of the things I needed to hear.. and for his love of the Gospel.. for his willingness to serve the Lord. He is currently serving a mission in Palmyra, New York. Cool huh?

See I look totally excited!
We watched the Jospeh Movie.. which was great.. and I hope to get to watch it without my kids sometime, because parts of it scared them, and it was harder to watch knowing it was hard for them.
Then we went to the Book of Mormon Publishing Site. It was awesome.






All of those are pictures of stuff that was used to do the first book. It was pretty amazing.

And the outside of the building.. it was beautiful!


And the last pictures of Palmyra.
It was awesome. We loved it.
And stay tuned for Kirtland.. and Niagra Falls.