Hill Cumorah Trip...Day One

Way back in July we hit the road again for a trip to Palmyra, NY to see the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah Pageant. This is another random little place that holds a special place for me and members of my church.

I have to admit, I was not super thrilled about traveling by myself with the kids. It was a five hour trip to Rochester where our hotel was. The kids thought it felt like nothing, they were well seasoned road trippers by this time.

First stop was the Sacred Grove. This is exactly what it sounds like...a sacred grove of trees where God the Father and Jesus Christ came to Joseph Smith. There weren't many people there because it was Thursday evening, the night before the pageant started.

Maya and Eden were so taken in by it. There recognized how special and sacred it was.

Camden on the other hand was mostly interested in finding a stick that looked like a Harry Potter wand. He was more reverent and patient than any other 3.5 year old boy would have been. I didn't even have to bribe him, he was just that good. Maybe his spirit recognized the sacredness of that place which kept his energy and loudness under control :)

Then we went to the Smith Family Log Home...

Eden reading a verse from the Smith Family Bible...

The upstairs bedroom where the angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith and told him about the gold plates that became the Book of Mormon...

Smith Family Frame Home 

We had a nice evening, the kids were great until bedtime. I had to get all mean mom on them because they were fighting and complaining over who slept where. I gave them a good lecture on how they were behavior was showing ingratitude...yadda yadda yadda. And that there would be no more of it the rest of the trip...and there wasn't. But here are a couple pictures of the sleeping situation...

Yeah, so if anyone had a reason to scream and cry about who they were sleeping with it was Maya and me! Camden and Eden are crazy sleepers! Poor Maya though...she had to sleep with C the first night and he wet the bed! He had NEVER wet the bed before...it was awful. The poor housekeeper was so nice and didn't even act a bit disgusted even though I was.

And that was the end of day one.