First site: John Johnson Home

In Hiram, OH is the John Johnson farm where Joseph Smith lived from 1831 to 1832.  The Johnson home served as headquarters of the Church.

When we first walked into the home we entered the summer kitchen.  These are some of the things in the kitchen. 

The sister missionary asked the kids if they noticed anything different than what they had in their kitchen at home.  Lacey immediately said, "The exit sign".  Out of all the different utensils and pots and bowls, she picked the exit sign.  Too funny.

In March 1832, Joseph was attacked by a mob in the middle of the night and was tarred and feathered near the home. The next day, despite his injuries, Joseph preached as he often did to a large congregation gathered in front of the home and baptized three persons. This is the room he was pulled from in the middle of the night.

 

 The kids were so saddened by this story.  Joseph's little baby boy had been sick and ended up dying from exposure to the cold. 

 Joseph received an outpouring of revelation within these walls, including a magnificent vision of the Father and the Son and the three degrees of glory. This was the room the revelation was received in.  This was Aidan's favorite place out of the whole trip.  He said it was such a "spiritual place"  He said he felt like he could review the past and that he could image Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon in this room. 

Here are just some pretty shots of the area.

 Our goal for the trip was to stop at as many roadside apple cider places as we could.  We found one as we were leaving the Johnson home area.  The apple cider was awesome and gone in minutes.  Mom bought some good cashew brittle as well. It was a good stop.   

1830 edition

Just after we left Niagara Falls we hurried over to the Buffalo Public Library.  Yes, a big attraction on our list. Why?  Well, we found out through Ryan's cousin that you could go to the rare books section and actually handle a 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon.  Most of these first edition books are under glass and not to be handled.  So it was a rare find to actually hold one.  The first printing of the Book of Mormon was in 1830 and 5000 copies were made.

There was no separation of verses in the first edition of the book.  It appeared more how a novel would with just chapters.  It would have been cool to read the book that way.  I understand the need for verses as points of reference but the book is a series of stories and it would have been cool to read it that way.

It was so amazing to see and hold the book.  I wondered whose it was and who read it.  You hear stories of the Book of Mormon's being passed from one person to the next to read.  I wish I could have known who read the book and how it impacted their life.  Were they converted?  Did Joseph Smith himself touch this copy?  I could just feel the history in the book.

They only let two of us in at a time and they wouldn't let the kids in.  However, they did let them in at the end to just look at it and not touch.  The librarian there said this was the most requested rare book to see and he shows it at least once a week.  I was shocked!

This was such a highlight and a rare treat!

Niagara Falls

We arrived in Niagara Falls about 9:00 p.m.  We decided to stay on the Canada side of the Falls.  We checked in at the hotel and then ventured down to see the falls at night. 

They have a bunch of colored lights on the horse shoe part of the falls and then red white and blue on the American side of the falls.  It was so amazing.  You couldn't get a real feel for the falls at night though so the next morning when we saw it, it was still jaw-dropping.

You can walk right by the drop off of the falls.  Just standing there and hearing the roaring of the falls and then looking practically over the fall is overwhelming.

This is the American Falls.  It is really pretty too but not as grand.  The bridge is Rainbow bridge that connects the US and Canada.

So we all scratched Niagara Falls off our bucket lists!  We chose not to do any of the boat tours just so we wouldn't have to deal with the possibility of screaming girls freaking out.  Plus we could see and feel the majesty of the beautiful falls from where we were.

Fall Break Road Trip

We planned a trip to Kirtland and Palmyra and invited my parents to join us.  We have wanted to do this trip for a long time and were so excited to do it in the fall.  Fall this year wasn't that spectacular but we were hoping it would better up north.  We planned every minute of our trip, packed, and bought lots of food, travel games, books and activities for the kids.  Our plan was drive to Cleveland (5hrs away) and spend the night there then pick up Ryan from the airport in the morning and then head off to Kirtland by 9 a.m.

We were all happy starting off!

Everyone had books, movies, games, leapsters to play.  Grandma Nana did a great job playing with the kids.  She definitely was the entertainment of the back seats.  She had started telling them the story of Heidi.  The kids got really into it and wanted her to keep telling the story but she broke it up into sections.  She is a great story teller.

About half way was Columbus, OH.  We decided to stop at a park and take a quick break.  After following my GPS to a trailer "park", we finally found a real park.  It was great!  The kids got the wiggles out and we all got to move around some.

We made it to Cleveland around dinner time.  We unloaded at the hotel and went out for dinner.  The kids were anxious to get in the pool.  Unfortunately the pool was so freezing.  Even the hot tub was colder than a bath I would take at home.  The kids were die-hards though and still got in.

 Don't they look like two kids from the 90's with their discmans?  I always laugh when I see them rocking out to their discmans.

 We all slept well and were ready for our first day of touring the church sites.

Halloween crafts

Everyone around me has been crafting Halloween crafts and I caught the bug. I made a new wreath, spray painted some branches, and made some poison bottles out of plain glass containers. It has been fun. I have a couple more things in mind but we will see if I get to them this year.

I made the labels to put on the bottles and added corks to the top.

I modge podged the BOO letters with cute Halloween papers. Then I tied strips of burlap around the wreath. I love it!

I found the sticks on the side of the road. They were simple to just spray paint and glitter up a little. I love how they look.

So thanks girls for giving me the bug!

My Starbucks Morning

So I had THE greatest discovery this week. Probably the best discovery of the WHOLE YEAR! Last year I was introduced to Starbucks Carmel Apple Spice drink. It is one of few non coffee items you can get at Starbucks. How I lived in Seattle for 2 1/2 years without knowing about it is beyond me. My naivety saved us a lot of money though while living in Starbucks land. Anyway, I love them and find any reason to swing by the Starbucks that is 6 miles from my house. It is hard to justify going that far and especially if it isn't cold outside. Well the other day it was a brisk morning and I had to go right past the Starbucks to go to the school I was subbing at. I watched them make the drink right in front of me and was shocked when they used regular apple juice. What made the drink so good then and different from just warm apple juice? I decided to look up online once I was at school if anyone knew how to make the drink. I had tried attempts but no success. Well, I found the key ingredient is cinnamon syrup and the kicker is...........Starbucks sells it in their store! So right after school I went and bought a bottle for $6.95. That is the price of two large drinks!

I was so excited to try it and share it with Ryan. I bought all the other supplies apple juice, whip cream and carmel sauce.

(Notice my Seattle mug even!)

Then I made the Carmel Apple Spice drink at my house. I was in heaven. I am so exited about this discovery! To make it even better, I made Pumpkin Scones which are also a love of ours from Starbucks. I think mine our better than theirs though. It was a delicious Starbucks morning.

Mmm Yum!

Lehi's dream

A couple of weeks ago I had heard of a Family Home Evening to reenact Lehi’s dream. I thought it was a great idea and that my kids would love it. So I told them the story and talked about all the symbolism from the dream. A little tough to understand at times but they got the just of it. After we reviewed the story we went into the backyard where Ryan and I set up their own iron rod, tree of life and "fruit".

We tied a ski rope from a tree to the door on our shed to be the iron rod.

The tree the rope was tied to was our Tree of life.

At the base of the tree was our "fruit" or what is delicious to our family, Reese's Peanut butter cups.

So I blindfolded the kids with the "mist of darkness" and first had them grab hold of the rope and walk to the tree and partake of the fruit. They all did that well and loved it.

Then the second time we blindfolded them but didn't lead them to the rope. We just let them wander for a bit. Ryan laughed at them and persuaded them to follow him in all sorts of directions. I then started talking to them and slowly led them to feel where the rope was. Once they felt the rope again they knew where it would lead them and they raced to the tree for another treat.

This is Lacey wondering on her own and of course ran right into the fence nose first. This wasn't so great for teaching purposes right when it happened but later we were able to apply it to the pain of wondering on your own.

We had Ryan and Aidan pulling her in different directions.



Then she was finally led to the rope. We tried to get Cassidy to be blindfolded but she just wanted to run back and forth holding the rope and eat the candy.

The whole lesson turned out so great! They knew how it FELT to live through Lehi's dream. I love that they can talk about holding the rope and why it was important and how SAFE they felt when the rope was in their hand. They KNEW it would lead them to the treat they wanted. And they understood how confusing it was when they didn't have the rope and how it sometimes hurts when you are wondering off on your own. I hope they remember this and that it will help their little testimonies. Ryan and I sure enjoyed teaching them this way.