Stop #1 HILL CUMORAH

Tyler and I decided that we would take a few extra days on our trip from Virginia to Utah and visit some historical church sites. So Friday after school, the kids came home and we loaded into our new car or truck...(not sure what you call an Excursion) and began our road trip. As we pulled away from our Virginia house, there were a few tears from the kids. I think it finally dawned on them that we would never be back. I even felt myself choke up...maybe more at the thought of not having Jordan and Shanda living right next door....

But once we hit the freeway, the snacks started flowing to the back seat, and spirits lifted as we set out for our first hotel and first historical site...THE HILL CUMORAH!

We went into the visitors center there at the hill to learn a little more about it. They have a large statue of Christ that the kids got to see and touch. Then we went outside to hike the hill. And hike we did....I had no idea that you could drive up to it. We took the windy back and forth trail up to it...and with Ace in the Baby Bjorn, it was a quite a workout for me...the next day my calves and hip flexors were killing me!

The kids learned that Joseph Smith had to walk 3 miles each time he visited the plates. As we came back down the hill, we went through the wooded trail and Duce said to me, "This must have been what it looked like for Joseph when he came." I think it did. Very green and quiet.

Next stop, THE SMITH FAMILY FARM and SACRED GROVE (or "Secret Garden" as Josie kept calling it)

(in an effort not to overload the blog, I'm going to spread out the posts...stay tuned for #2)