July Palmyra Trip

We went to Palmyra in the summer of '06 and had such a great time there. Andy served his mission there, so it was amazing to walk where he walked as a young elder and to meet some of the people he taught and served with in the wards. We couldn't let another year go by without going back one more time...so we squeezed it in this year. Literally. We left for Palmyra early on a Saturday morning, came home late Sunday night, and Tuesday morning we left for Idaho. Whew...what a week!

On this trip, we didn't tour all of the church sites, we just went back to our favorite ones. Our first stop was the Joseph Smith farm and the Sacred Grove. I just love walking through the grove, knowing that it is one of the few places on this earth that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to man.

There are benches throughout the grove, and our kids seemed to think that they had to sit down on each one. At first, it annoyed me a little because I didn't want to keep stopping...then I wondered...maybe they're right. Maybe you ARE supposed to stop for a while, take it slow and ponder things. What's the hurry?

If only trees could talk...what would they say of what they've seen?

From there we went over to Geraldine Buck's house where we stayed the night. I was so excited to see Geraldine. While I was Miss Idaho, I lived with the Buck's and since 1997, they had moved from Boise to the east coast, and then to Palmyra, NY of all places. It was like coming home again to spend one night at the Buck's house, and Sunday morning I went to the Palmyra ward's young women's class with Geraldine, who is in their presidency. I had at first went to Relief Society...but had only been in there for about 5 minutes when Andy comes walking in to tell me that Geraldine wanted me in class with her. Again, it was like coming home when I walked into the YWs room...I don't know what I'll do when I'm released from my YWs calling and have to start going to RS again!

We also took the kids to the Hill Cumorah Pageant again. They LOVED it. We spent some time before it started walking around talking to the cast members, and we ran into a few people that Andy had taught on his mission.



This year we snagged the wicked King Noah for a picture. Taylor thought he was awesome because he was wearing Keen's...oh brother. Matthew didn't know what to think of all these strangely dressed people.

Andy and I would like to come back in a few years with our family and be in the Pageant. He said he's wanted to ever since he was a missionary here...now that I've seen it, I think it would be awesome to be in it too. I think Andy would make a good Moroni. Captain Moroni...in a skirt with a sword.

A-W-E-S-O-M-E.........okay, he's going to kill me for that.