Palmyra and the Sacred Grove

A few months before this vacation, I went to a Relief Society fireside where a descendant of Hyrum Smith spoke. The man and his wife were interesting to listen to and also brought along several artifacts from the Smith family history including the clothes that Hyrum was wearing when he was killed in Carthage Jail. At the time, I was actively looking at vacations in Europe. This was finally going to be my year! I could possibly put to good use the German I had taken (and mainly forgotten) in middle school. But during the fireside, I had the distinct thought that a European vacation would be frivolous at this time, and we needed to take the family to see the Church history sites in New York. When I got home I had to break the news to Curt that I thought our relaxing kid-free vacation should be replaced by a family trip--the kind of trip that you need a vacation to recover from! Curt was immediately on board and we (meaning I) began to plan. Soon, our plan to travel to Palmrya to see the Sacred Grove turned into an entire East Coast vacation. I jokingly call it the most expensive fireside ever, but I think this trip was definitely meant to be. I still have hope for Europe some day. One good thing about flying seven people cross country for ten days, is that now Europe for two actually seems affordable!

So that is how we all ended up here, in front of the Palmyra Temple on a beautiful summer Sunday.

On our Sunday morning visit to the Sacred Grove there was a youth tour reverently occupying every bench. The next morning, a week before the Hill Cumorah Pageant, we had the Sacred Grove all to ourselves. Definitely a highlight of the trip.
Other highlights included, the Peter Whitmer farm.
Grandin Printing Shop,


an original Book of Mormon,

Alvin Smith's grave,

the Martin Harris Farm,

and the Hill Cumorah.
The stage was almost set up for the pageant the next week.



We loved the Christus in the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center. This is a slightly different version by the same artist that created the one on Temple Square.

Monday morning we visited the Smith Log Home which I thought was actually roomier than it looked on the outside. Of course, it was still pretty small for a large family.

Outside the Smith Frame Home.

Lucy Mack Smith created floor coverings just like this one that she would sell to help support her family.

This is the hearth in the Smith Frame Home where the golden plates were hidden for a short time.

Before leaving on Monday, we stopped once more at the Sacred Grove. Other than the people who took our picture, we were all alone.





Better than Europe.

Christmas and New Years

What's Christmas Eve without calling for Pixie? Note the extreme enthusiasm. Actually, no one was quite ready for the tradition to die.

Pixie spent a lot of time dancing at the window. So much time that we were finally able to snap a picture. Amazing what can happen when your kids are older.

But old or not, they know that Pixie brings presents and you have to call for him to get the gifts. That's just how it works. They each got pajama bottoms and a Christmas pillowcase.

Christmas this year was an all day event due to church being at 11:00. The kids decided that they wanted to look in their stockings and open one present before church and then wait for the rest until after church. Their reasoning was that they would be less rushed and could then spend the rest of the day in their pajamas. Since they are all older, no one wanted to get up before 8:00 anyway. Yes! the advantage of teenagers. After church we still had to wait because Kevin was taking the sacrament to a few couples in the ward. We always take our time on Christmas opening presents one at a time, but this was longer than usual and I really enjoyed the slower pace.

Kevin gave Rachel the cute hat and the iTunes card.
Ahh, X-Box Kinect! Camille actually started asking for this right after we bought it. We had to feign ignorance (is it like legos? oh, you just want one of the games? what?) for a month while the kids tried to explain the whole gaming system idea to their supposedly tech-clueless parents.

After we opened gifts, Verl and his family came over for dinner. My parents were also visiting, so we had fun seeing family.
Welcome 2012! We had a great time at Kim and Shaun's rockin' New Year's Eve Party. Lots of good food and family.


I had video of the noise and excitement of New Years Eve, but for some reason I keep getting an error message so it's not posting. My only New Year's goal is to finish blogging about LAST year's vacation before this summer's vacation. (Which due to the expense of last year's vacation will consist of a pool pass and a camping trip!)

December was Grand!

December brought my 46th Birthday. Oh grand, the downhill slide to 50 has begun. We went out to dinner with Verl and Sanae because it was their birthdays also. Curt surprised me by telling me that we were going somewhere on the weekend, but he wouldn't tell me where. It was fun to look forward to a mini-vacation.

But first we had a fun family party with the Grafs. Sheri, Lynn, and Raquel were up from Cedar, and it was great to get together with them and the northern Utah Grafs.


We all listened intently as Justin told his engagement story. So romantic and fun.

Cute cousins! We missed Trevor and wished he had made it home in time. However, we are glad he's back now.

The fleet (feet) is in. You know that family is here by the pile of coats and shoes. Such a great sight.

We called for Pixie and watched the new church video on Christ's birth. It was a grand time spent with family.

And then it was time for my surprise outing. We left at 2:00 on Saturday. I kept asking where we were going. Curt wouldn't say until he pulled off the freeway and onto State Street. I burst out laughing when he pulled into a small motel that was oh so slightly run down. Curt went in to check on our "reservation." Notice the lovely display of furniture outside the office door. He was doing his best to convince me it was our destination. I wasn't fooled, but I thought it was funny.
Curt gave a nice speech about how it doesn't matter where we go, it only matters who we are with. I agreed and said "then let's go home."

He then said he was off by a few blocks and pulled into this little motel. Once I started noticing, I found there are lots and lots of little motels all down state street. Here's the second one. What is it with the furniture outside?
I wasn't worried about staying in one of these lovely lodgings. I knew that even if Curt wanted to start slumming, I had keys to the car, and I wasn't staying.

We continued our way up the street, and I could see the Grand America. I've always wanted to stay there, but didn't think this would be the weekend. Just as we were about to drive past the hotel, Curt pulled into the parking lot! Yeah! This was turning into a Grand adventure.

After being personally escorted to our room by a member of the hotel staff, we were able to enjoy our executive suite. Here is the view from our balcony.
The courtyard below.
Our sitting area.
White marble bathroom.
Can you see why this is a 5 star hotel?
The lobby was decorated for Christmas. The hotel mascot, a penguin, even had a holiday home created for him out of gingerbread and candy.


There were 18 panels throughout the lobby and hallways that told a Christmas story. At each panel, you had to find a star and mark it's location on a card. At the end, you could take your filled-out card to a pastry shop and get a cookie. You didn't have to stay at the hotel to participate. It was the hotel's gift to the community. The last panel in the story talked about the star that shone at Christ's birth. I found it impressive for a business to so readily reference Christ.

I saw two of my middle school students on this outing. Being in middle school, you can imagine how thrilled they were to see their math teacher! Kids that will say "hi" to you in the halls look shocked and repulsed to see you anywhere outside of school. So hilarious.

Every table in the expansive lobby had decorations and trees were everywhere.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, Garden Cafe. The food was artfully displayed and oh so delicious.


We then went to the Gateway to look at gingerbread houses. This was one of my favorites.
A walk through Temple Square to see the lights rounded out the evening.
When we returned, our bed had been turned down and chocolates and slippers were left on the tray. The lights were turned down low and soft relaxing music was playing in the background.
The next morning we got dressed for church and left for home. Our 24 hour getaway was the perfect break from the Christmas rush. The Grand America lives up to it's name and is GRAND! We think this should be a yearly tradition!
For more pictures and a better description of the hotel click here to read Pioneer Woman's blog. On second thought, once a year is not enough. Maybe this should be a twice-a-year outing. Or we can just pack up and live here for a few weeks until our money runs out and we have to live in one of those "quaint" motels on State Street. It could just be worth it.