Upstate New York

Niagara  Falls
It's impossible to capture the scope of this place in pictures.  It's AWESOME in every sense of the word.  Here's some pictures.

Maid of the Mist

Fun times!  All about the memories!  💙

From Niagara Falls we went to Palmyra to see the church sites and the pageant.  The funny (?) thing was we got to Palmyra "too fast" and had to stay an extra day, just to see the dress rehearsal of the pageant the day before they opened.  But I refused to leave a day before we could see it, just for the sake of moving on!  Here's some pictures.

The view from the top of the hill, seating for 9000 people!
(My kids just verified that number, so I haven't lost my mind)

Angel Moroni

The Sacred Grove from farther away.  Joseph's "temple"

The view from the exact same location, looking the other direction.  Our temple!

Such a beautiful place!

Brooklyn took this picture with my phone.  She found the flowers in the
Sacred Grove.  I really love how it turned out!

We take for granted that you can just show up to the temple any time and do whatever ordinances you want to.  In Palmyra, you have to make an appointment to do the ordinances, and they have restricted hours and no clothes rental!  It takes real dedication to the Gospel and sacrificing your time in driving long distances and working around when the temple is open for specific ordinances.  I always wanted the chance to live outside Utah.  Things are too easy, too accessible.  We drove about 25 minutes to get to church in Ohio.  It was about 40 minutes to get to church in Boston.  We attended the wards closest to the campgrounds we were staying in.  I need to do a better job of making sure I/we get to the temple regularly, not take our "easy" blessings for granted!

The sacred Grove was such a beautiful, peaceful place.  We took 30 minutes and wandered off by ourselves (Mat stayed close to McKinley).  We picked a place to sit and just think; about the things you can hear when you're not distracted by phones and life, about what it meant to be in that place where the Restoration began.  After we came together again, we talked about how important it is to have quiet time, time to pray and reflect on what God might be trying to tell us.

We were able to see the dress rehearsal of the Hill Cumorah Pageant held the night before opening night.  It is all about what happened in that place, the First Vision, how Joseph Smith received the plates, stories from the Book of Mormon, and how Moroni deposited the plates in the hill to be found by the right person, at the right time.  I was grateful to have seen it before we took off for Maine!

Roasting some mallows!

McKinley latched on to any kid with a fishing pole.  She can make friends
with anyone, which is one thing I really admire about her!  She's decided
she needs her own fishing pole, and we need to go fishing!

This lady's name is Geri.  Actually Geraldine, but she'll handcuff you if you call her that!  We had the funniest experience with her!  She drove by our campsite as Maddie coming out of the bathroom and saw her Les Miz shirt - 24601.  She went and parked her car and then walked down toward us as we ate breakfast.  The hilarious thing was that she questioned our poor campsite neighbor brusquely about who was wearing that shirt with those numbers!  He looked perplexed and gently explained that he didn't know anything about a t-shirt with numbers on it!  The family is from Germany, so he probably had a hard time understanding her NY accent.  He came over after she stayed so long talking to us to find out what all the commotion was about.


Turns out she is a retired federal agent from NYC!  She's retired law enforcement!  And her badge number was 24601!  She was very much like a lifelong New Yorker, accent, personality, everything.   She talked to us for over an hour and we laughed the whole time.  It was a great way to start our morning!

The other thing I had to do in NY was see my friend, who actually lives in South Jordan, but she was in Rochester to see her parents and family the same time we were there. Gretchen was one of my mission companions.  I was her last companion, so clearly, I was her favorite!  And while I love my family dearly, it was kinda nice to go away for a couple of hours.  💕 We went out for lunch and ice cream, and to a pier on Lake Ontario.  It's always great to see her, no matter how far we travel to make it happen.