We're Back!

After a 6 week sabbatical, we've returned to the blog! Between visitors here in NY, our trip to Idaho and back we've been very busy bees. I downloaded nearly 900 pictures (lucky for you I'm weeding out only the VERY best!)  Lets start with a visit from Grandma Julianne.  We decided to give her a taste of some of our favorite activities - blueberry picking and walking the Hudson River pedestrian bridge. 

We  also hit up a favorite swimming spot, Bellayre Beach, but sadly no pictures of this.  Then we drove off to experience our first ever Hill Cumorah Pageant. This is a production our church puts on yearly on the site of where Joseph Smith found the gold plates, that were later translated into the Book of Mormon.  The stage and effects were AMAZING.  They had fires, thunder and lightning storms, water effects, etc.  It was really quite a show!  While there we ran into two people from St. Anthony, Idaho - such a small world.  

 There are nearly 700 cast members and the staging is incredible.  We took the kids to the visitor center and saw up close the costumes used in the pageant.  The play tells the story of the Book of Mormon and includes the visit of Christ to the Americas.

 Lyv has been doing the weird cling, and acting like she is frightened of something routine lately, mostly at times when there is nothing at all to be scared of.


Jack and Grandma enjoying some pre-pagaent popcorn.  Note - Jack has a pop in hand.  This became a permanent appendage of Jack's body for the next 6 weeks.  None of my family would refuse him a drink for any sort of soda so now I'm trying to break him of this!  Good luck.

 One of my favorite pictures, the kids at the feet of Christ.  Many people are confused on Mormons being Christians.  Christ is the center of all we believe and worship.  "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ....that our children my know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." 2 Nephi 25:26


Sam was a good sport and allowed us to spend his birthday traveling!  Here's the greatest 7 year old on his big day!  He didn't mind driving as long as we stopped at McDonald's for lunch!)

We walked through the sacred grove before leaving Palmyra, and looked for a tree that I had never heard about before - the Adversity tree (to your left)  It was split into two at the bottom, but eventually grew back together into one tree.

 The grand finale - Sam blowing out his birthday candle on his birthday brownies.  Happy Birthday Sam.  We love you!