Hill Cumorah Trip...Day Two

My sister was in Rochester visiting her in-laws so we met at a park where the kids could play.

It was fun because only Olivia knew we were coming, besides her parents, so the rest of the cousins were so surprised! We pulled into the park parking lot near where they were playing, we had the windows rolled down and their "Cousin Song" (We Are Young) blaring through the speakers. It was Maya and Eden's idea, they thought it was so hilarious!

Cousin's catching up...

They had such a great time at this park where their Uncle Andy spent many days when he was growing up in Fairport, New York.

C loved showing Maxo his dare devilish moves...

I made sure to get some pictures with my sweet nieces and nephew...

 Olivia

Gisele

Mari

Tessa

and Max

My kids were happy to see their Tia again...

After the park we did some touring in downtown Palmyra. We went to the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was first published.

Maya was having a hard time keeping her eyes open in pictures so we always had to take a couple of pictures so she didn't look like she had a drunk eye. It took four shots before we got one where she looked normal but I made my eyes huge just to be obnoxious.

Camden fell asleep on our drive into town so I had to carry him during this entire tour!! My arms were so sore the next day.

After Palmyra we headed over to the Palmyra Temple...This was my most favorite picture that I took the whole trip.

Next we went to Hill Cumorah and we went through the visitors center...

Maya thought it was cool to find a Book of Mormon in the Mayan language.

Camden was completely enthralled with the 2000 Stripling Warrior mini movie. It was the most still he was all day except for when he was sleeping.

In true Mormon fashion, I ran into someone I knew. Out of all the thousands of people that were there I ran into Gordon and Sharon Smith! They are from my hometown in Oregon. He was my bishop and I used to babysit for them. CRAZY!

The girls were happy to get a picture with one of the cast members from the pageant.

This is a shot of the hill before the show...

Here is a nice close up of me and C while we were waiting (2 hours) before the show started.

A shot of the show. Not that great but it gives you a good idea of how incredible it was.

The kids got to spend a little more time with Olivia, G and Mari before the show started. We got one last picture on our way out.

I was worried about the anti-Mormon people who were screaming horrible things through megaphones as we were stuck in the traffic jam were going to traumatize my kids. It just got Maya all fired up. It was hilarious to see my typically quiet kid wanting to fight these people. I don't get why people have to be so disrespectful and hateful but it still didn't kill the spirit that we felt that day and night. We didn't get back to our hotel until almost midnight so the kids were worn out which it made for a very smooth bedtime.

***Oh and if you actually made it to the end of this post you deserve an award but you also get this little fun nugget of information. I didn't realize until I was brushing my teeth before bed that I had forgotten to put in my other earring that morning! That means the entire day I went all 80's and NOBODY said anything to me!!! It's funny too because in most of the pictures you don't even notice but there are a couple where it is totally obvious. Nice huh.