Brace yourselves folks this is a VERY LONG POST with many many pictures! I just couldn't help myself! This was one of the most amazing trips I've been on and one that I'll remember for the rest of my life. Parker and I flew to New York to see my sister Tifani for 5 days. I was in total awwwwwwww of the scenery and surroundings. It was incredible. Hope you enjoy and get a little idea of the fun we had together.
I'm sure you can tell that this is Niagara Falls:) This was amazing to see!! It was a little tricky getting good pictures with all the people around. I swear I was stopping every 5 minutes to take a picture of something while I was there. The area Tif lives in is so beautiful. I was in love with everything!
Ohhhhhh how Payton and Kayden make me laugh. They are always entertaining and full of hilarious things to say. Kayden was going in for a smooch and I was all for it!
This was a much needed trip for both of us girls.
On Sunday we went on a little walk along Corbett's Glen. There are places everywhere to walk, ride bikes and run. It is awesome!
Tif and I went out for dinner together one night while Jake watched the kids for us. Then we took another stroll, it was so nice!
Okay.......it was seriously FALL TIME over in New York and I was loving every bit of it!!! We went to this grocery store and it was so awesome and I can't remember the name of it. I know it starts with a W....Wyndmans or Wydmans??? I don't know. But just look at all the pumpkins!! I had to jump in, I just had to!!
Earlier that day we all drove out to Lake Ontario. We rolled up our jeans and got our toes in the sand. Parker has no fear of the water and kept running to it. Thank goodness for the sand toys to distract him. This boy loves the water like the rest of us do!
Tifani found out about this old lighthouse that was built in 1922.....pretty cool to see.
Here is where we start a really special part for me. This is where we went to all the church history sites in Palmyra, New York. Here is the temple there, it's right across from the Smith Farm. I didn't realize how close by these places are to each other.
This is the Hill Camorah. It is literally a huge hill that goes straight up. We zig zagged our strollers up to the top and were totally pooped and out of breath. We get the the top and look to our right......we see a parking lot!!!! AHHHHHHH, we could have driven up and walked right over to the monument. Oh well, we got a good laugh out of it. We actually prefer to say that we hiked up the Hill Camorah with our babies. It sounds better right?! We think so:) There was this couple up here that were from Germany, we asked them to take a picture of us. They had no clue what we were saying. We had a full on conversation with neither one of us understanding each other. It was hilarious!
This is the view down from the top.....gorgeous!!
Here we are in the Sacred Grove. This place was exactly how I would have thought it would be. It was beautiful and incredible. We had both left our strollers behind and wished that we had them to wrangle the boys in but we made it through. It was hard for me to be able to reflect at that moment what had happened there because I was so worried about Parker running everywhere. But these places mean so much more to me now. I feel like I've connected with each place and there is a tender place in my heart for these places. I just think about being there and I get emotional. My testimony of the gospel has been strengthened greatly from being here. It was an amazing experience. It was surreal.....I don't know how else to explain it. You think about all the incredible things that happened here. This is where it all began. All of the trials and tribulations that were suffered so that the gospel could be restored to the earth. All of the miracles and blessing that were given. I felt so lucky and blessed to be there and spend that time with my sister. It was really special.
I love this boy.....he makes me so happy and has brought our family so much joy!
This is the Smith Farm. I was shocked at how many kids they fit into this house....I believe it was 9. This is the view from the back door, looking out into their garden and the Sacred Grove is just beyond that. It was a beautiful site. This isn't the original home but the foundation is. The parents slept on the main floor and they had another room next to it called a "labor room or sick room". Lucy would go into there to have her babies. If anyone was ever sick they would stay in that room until it passed over. All 9 children were upstairs!! 6 boys were in the open loft area and then 3 girls were in a room with a door. Even though this isn't the original home, they said the air space is the same where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph 3 times in the night. It was amazing.
This is a place that Joseph hid the plates once under the bricks of this fireplace. This is a home that his brother Alvin built. The family moved into here for a few years until some financial troubles caused them to moved back into the first home.
It was a beautiful home and much larger. I'm sure they were very happy here and it must have been heartbreaking to lose it.
This is where they had bee hives. They hollowed out tree stumps and bees built their hives in here. It was so cool.
These boys.....aren't they adorable. They had a lot of fun together!
Another view of the Palmyra Temple......this is the view you get standing in front of the Smith Farm.
One of our first walks was along the Erie Canal. Tifani loves walking along here and I totally understood why.
We went to the Children's Museum on day and they had an area set up just like Sesame Street. Parker has no idea about Big Bird yet but it looks like hes happy to be in front of those famous doors!
Love these blue eyes! Overall this little stud bucket did amazing for me. It was pretty exhausting traveling and being on a plane for so many hours. But he did pretty dang good. No matter what happened it was worth everything to be here and make this trip. I had the most amazing time and I'm so grateful we were able to come. Dave and the kids survived thanks to family and friends! I was thinking one day that Tifani and I have both lived close by to some amazing church sites. With our husbands schooling and careers it has caused us to live in some amazing places. When we were in Iowa, Tifani came out with her first child Payton and I had my first Tyler. We drove down to Nauvoo for the day and explored the area. We had a blast. Years later she is in Rochester and we were able to spend the day in Palmyra with our 3rd babies, both boys and only a week apart. It was pretty amazing and pretty special. I think it actually changed a part of me in a good way. Strengthened me in ways that I needed strengthened. I loved this trip, loved every part of it and I love you sis.
