Halloween Fun!

Some of our Halloween fun this year!

We did this puzzle twice it because it was so enjoyable!

I was supposed to bring a veggie tray and it was almost Halloween!

Pumpkin patch in Kansas!

And then the carving!

Sunflower fields in Kansas!

Went to the school parade for these Trick or Treaters!

Ready for the Trunk or Treat!

Sam, a man of many talents, as you can see in the next two photos!

Cutest fairies ever!

A Frostie Day!

It's not cold yet but any kind of weather is perfect for having a frostie!  Always a favorite treat!

They've updated and remodeled Wendy's with a fireplace and comfy furniture no less.   It was like a play area to the kids!

Off The Beaten Track, Part 2!

Here are some more interesting places we visited!

The Joseph Knight Sr. home built around 1815:

"In 1826 a young man by the name of Joseph Smtih came to this home and worked side by side with this great family.  Mr. Knight said that he was the best hand he had ever hired.  Joseph Smith soon shared his remarkable testimony of the Restoration with the Knight family and many believed.  They became fast friends and defended him at every opportuity."  (from a plaque on the home)

"1830  the Colesville Branch was established--the first branch of the LDS church.  In 1831 sixty-seven souls left their homes and farms for Kirtland.  These stalwarts known as the Colesville Saints were hardworking faithful members of the new church and sacrificed much to follow their leader."

Love this statue!

In 1830 Hyrum brought his family from Palmyra to the home of his long time friend, Newel Knight. He came to become the first Branch President of the newly organized Colesville Branch.

Josiah Stowell home:   From 1825 to 1827 while working and living on this farm Joseph Smith courted his future wife, Emma Hale.  They were married just up the road from here by Squire Tarbell and spent their first married days in this home.

These two homes are owned by a member who lives in Arizona.  He and his wife and some of their friends take turns spending the summer here.  They live in part of the home and are available to show them to anyone who is interested.  They did not know we were coming but we just knocked on the door and they gave us a tour!  (Was originally South Bainbridge, NY, but now called Afton, NY.)

No house but just the site of the Squire Tarbell home.

There are quite a few things to see in the Palmyra area.

We passed by this school on the bus.  Oliver Cowdery taught here before helping Joseph with the translation of the Book of Mormon.

You can't tour the Martin Harris home because missionaries live here now!

Dan took a photo of where the Steed family lived!:)

We visited several cemeteries on our trip.  Our tour guide/historian knows them well.  Pine Grove cemetery in Massachusetts where George A. Smith had a marker placed to honor the members of the Smith family bureid here.

Harmony, Pennsylvania cemetery where we saw the graves of Isaac and Elizabeth Hale (Emma's parents)...

 ...and the infant firstborn son of Joseph and Emma.

And finally the Kirtland Cemetery where we saw this headstone:

 It is in memory of Joseph Smith's grandmother, Hyrum Smith's wife and daughter, and the twins of Joseph Smith, all of whom died and are buried here.

Great trip and we learned a lot!

Off The Beaten Track, Part 1!

Having a historian and an archaelogist as a tour guide rather than just being on our own helped us to see some significant but out-of-the-way places!

One of these was Topfield, Massachusetts:

This is the Congregational church originally built in 1663 (but since rebuilt). Five generations of Smiths including Joseph Smith Sr. attended church here.  There is a plaque on the grounds.

 We also stopped at the site of the Smith homestead: There is also a plaque commemorating this site.  The original home was built in 1690 and four generations of Smiths lived there.  The current home you can see in the background was built in 1876.  It is currently a private residence.

We visited the small town of Tunbridge, Vermont and had lunch at the Tunbridge Store.   Solomon Mack, Lucy Mack Smith's father had moved into the area in 1795. He and his son's established the general store as well as a local mill. It was at this general store that Joseph Smith Sr. met Lucy Mack. They were married in 1796.

During the years of 1812-1813 a plague of Typhoid fever devastated the New England countryside.  Sixty-four-hundred people died in five months  All of the Smith children were infected to some degree. Thinking the lowlands where they lived contributed to the sickness, they left Vermont and moved to West Lebanon, New Hampshire. 

The Smith family rented a home located on the southeast corner of Benning and Main. A KFC now stands on the site.  We had dinner there.  This is where Joseph had the operation on his leg which became infected due to his bout with the fever.

Then they moved to Norwich, Vermont in 1813 to this home. Although the home has been restored and remodeled over the years, the front of the house and its basic look is essentially the same as when the Smiths lived there.  It is a private residence.

This is  a photo of the land farmed by Joseph Smith Sr. The Smith family had two successive seasons of crop failure.   

Joseph Sr. planted one last time in hope of success.  If this resulted in failure he would take the family to New York where most of his brothers had migrated. The results of the third year were the same, total failure.  In fact the  year 1816 was known as the year with out a summer.  Snow fell in June.  This phenomenon was due to a change in weather patterns caused by the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia.  After 3 years in this home the family moved to Palmyra.

It was fun and interesting to visit these places!

Trip Heroes!

There are advantages and disadvantages in traveling with a group.  One of the advantages is all of the wonderful people you meet and get to know a little better!  Just looking around the first day on the bus, I thought everyone looked pretty ordinary just like us.  I am always amazed when I get to know people--everyone has a story and when you get to know someone you see them in a whole new light!  They are not ordinary but true life heroes!   Here are some of the people we met and learned about:

• There were two recent widows traveling together.  One was a convert and had been married three times.  She lost two of her husbands to unusual types of cancer--one having to do with his cornea and another had a salivary gland cancer that spread to his brain.  The other woman's husband died of a chemotherapy overdose.    Her husband was being treated for cancer with high hopes of remission when the nurse made a mistake at one of his infusions.  He died a very painful 3-month long death.  Heroes!

• We met a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and his wife.  We asked him lots of questions about getting into the choir and the commitment it requires both from him and from his wife who is not in the choir.   She is a Church widow whenever her ward meets in the morning, and it's hard to go on trips and participate in other events because of his schedule. This trip was for her.  I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and they are two more heroes!

• We had dinner with a couple who have a goal of trying to visit every state Capitol.  They were able to cross Montpelier, Vermont off their list on this trip and have visited over half of them so far.  They also serve as Church service missionaries working from their home in St. George and helping with missionary apartments, and car and bike repairs. Heroes!

• I saw a woman and her daughter and the woman looked so familiar to me.  It turned out she is Anne C. Pingree who served in the General Relief Society presidency under Bonnie Parkin.  Her husband died this year but in the late 1990's they served as mission president in Nigeria.  One night over dinner she shared some of their African experiences which were amazing!  She also gave a lot of service while she served for 5 years in the presidency and has spoken in General Conference! Another hero!
  

• Two couples it turns out came on the trip because they are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversaries. For one couple it is the 30th anniversary of their sealing as they were converts after they were married.  They joined early in their marriage and raised all four of their children in the gospel, and they all served missions and all married in the temple.  The couple themselves are temple workers and have had many ward and stake leadership positions!  Heroes too!

• I talked to a woman on a bench who needed to sit down for a few minutes like I did.  I asked why she and her husband were taking this particular trip.  It turns out her husband had served his mission in New Hampshire many years ago and had always wanted to take his wife to see the fall  colors there!  And on top of that they had always wanted to visit Kirtland.  They served a mission in Illinois and at the end of their mission they had scheduled a few days to go visit Kirtland before returning home from their mission just in time to get to a grandson's baptism-- a promise they had made to him before they left.  But there was a problem at the end of their mission, and the mission president needed them to stay a few extra days and so they had to skip their trip to Kirtland at that time.    Missionary and grandparent heroes!

• There was a older-than-most-of-us couple we met the first day.  They have served a couple of missions and given much family and church service.  But what impressed me the most about them was that they were always smiling!  And they were both a little feeble, but they were loving every minute.  Way-to-age-gracefully heroes!

• And finally there were three single women traveling together. When I had a conversation with them I learned that they had all three served a Senior mission in Germany and that is where they met each other!  They have stayed in touch and got together to do this trip with each other.  Aren't they awesome heroes too?!

Look Who Showed Up!

Cosmo!

He came to the football watching party tonight!

The whole group!

That's the real Cosmo!

(At least he was a few years ago!)

Visitors To Kirtland!

I visited Kirtland 46 years ago!  At that time we were able to take a tour of the Kirtland temple.  We were able to do that again on our trip this year!

The temple has had many special visitors!

 "The Prophet Joseph dedicated the Kirtland Temple on March 27, 1836, repeating the ceremony several days later. Beginning in January and continuing past the dedication, many Church members witnessed heavenly manifestations during this glorious season, culminating in Jesus Christ's appearance to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to accept the temple. Moses, Elias, and Elijah also appeared to Joseph and Oliver to restore priesthood keys  for the salvation of all mankind." 

Dan likes to point out the sun-halo around the steeple on the temple in this picture he took!

46 years ago we toured the temple and then were on our way.  Since then the Church has developed a whole site and I have been anxious to see it!

From a Church History manual:

"The early Kirtland years were one of the most significant periods in the history of the Church, although at the time few members comprehended the importance of what they were experiencing. Wilford Woodruff recounted that in April 1834 the Prophet Joseph Smith told a group of priesthood holders: “You know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it. … It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America--it will fill the world.”Even so, the limited vision they possessed fired the Saints’ souls, and the infant Church grew, developed, and matured."

Loved this beautiful painting in the Visitor's Center and the movie they showed there telling the story from Elizabeth Ann Whitney's point of view.

I have been especially anxious to see the Whitney Store:

This is the original store built in 1827!  Amazing to me that it has survived this long and so special that the Church was able to acquire and restore it!   (**See the end of this post for all the amazing things that happened right here!)

Two happy visitors!

Bedroom the Whitney's provided for Joseph and Emma.  

Joseph Smith III was born in this room.

Called the Revelation Room: Sitting room for Joseph and Emma. 

This is the actual table where Joseph sat and received and wrote revelations and worked on the translation of the Bible.

Desk in the School of the Prophets room:

More special visitors in Kirtland:

"The Brethren met here, in the store’s School of the Prophets Room, during the winter of 1832–33. Also, from 3 December 1832 to 21 June 1833, at least eighteen meetings were held here, including the hallowed meeting of 23 January 1833. The nature of the events that took place here lend the room the sanctity of a temple." (A recorded visitation of the Father and the Son!)

Most special visitors of all: More missionaries!

A husband and wife repairing a fence...

And our missionary guide...

I loved a favorite quote she shared with us:

When we obey, we receive blessings!

When we obey with exactness, we receive miracles!

A fitting tribute to the faithful members in Kirtland!

 **The Newel K. Whitney store, located at the four corners area in Kirtland, was built between 1826 and 1827. Many important things took place there, including the following:

1. Joseph and Emma Smith lived there beginning in the fall of 1832.
2. The store became the headquarters of the Church.
3. Joseph Smith III was born there on 6 November 1832.
4. The School of the Prophets, which commenced on 24 January 1833 and ended sometime in April, was held there.
5. Many revelations were given there to the Prophet Joseph Smith, including Doctrine and Covenants 84, 87–89, 95, and 98.
6. For a time the store was used as the bishops’ storehouse.
7. Joseph Smith completed much of the translation of the Bible there.
In 1979 the Church acquired the Newel K. Whitney store and soon after began to restore it. The building was dedicated 25 August 1984 by President Gordon B. Hinckley.