Chagrin Falls

Disclaimer: I know I totally look pregnant in this picture but I am just standing with really bad posture. I tend to do this when I am holding babies.

The last day of my sister and nephew's visit we decided to show them around Cleveland. We first went to the Original Pancake House for breakfast which is always amazing! Then we took the kids to the Children's Museum. Whenever I have family come to visit I have to drive them around to see the amazing architecture. My sister was loving the old houses and it was a beautiful day so we decided to go to Chagrin Falls and walk around a little. I love Chagrin Falls because it reminds me of Downtown Naperville, where I grew up in Illinois. It has old little shops and nice stores all mingled together. I love the little popcorn shop right above the falls. So we got some kettle corn and walked around the falls.

Carter's favorite activity was throwing rocks into the river. What a surprise.

We also found a little playground along the riverwalk for the kids to run around for awhile. The kids loved feeding the ducks popcorn although I'm not sure we were really supposed to be feeding them kettle corn, oh well.

Palmyra, NY Part Two

This is the beautiful Palmyra temple looking out over the sacred grove. Marianne was able to go to a session the night we got there. Garrett and I went last time we visited and we loved it. The stained glass windows surrounding the outside of the temple are all scenes of the first vision and church history.

The next morning we got up and went to the Smith home tour. They took us through the first home that the Smith's lived in when Joseph was a boy.
This is the home that he lived in when he walked into the grove and received the First Vision. It is also the home where Moroni visited him three times to tell him about the golden plates. The tour takes you up into the bedroom where Joseph would have slept and Moroni appeared to him. It is amazing to me how many kids slept up there and how none of his brothers or sisters woke up during that night.

All this property was owned by the Smith family at one time. And if you head down this road you get to the frame home (pictured below) where they lived later on in Joseph's life. He lived here at different times after he was married to Emma and had to hide the plates in several places throughout this house including under the fireplace bricks and outside in their cooper shop.

This is the cooper's shop in the front of the frame house. I love the leaves in this picture!

More pretty leaves on the path to the grove.

Marianne and Nathan went ahead of us into the grove because we were looking for Carter's binky which he threw across the field. They found this amazing spot that looks exactly as I imagine the First Vision looking and read Joseph Smith's account. Then we caught up the them and sang "Oh how lovely was the morning" and then a few of us bore our testimonies. It was a great experience and we all really felt the spirit.

After our little meeting we wandered through the grove along the path. There is a lot of land through the groves so it is a beautiful walk. The kids loved seeing the leaves and talking about the First Vision together as a family.


I was struck again as I walked through the grove by my immense love and appreciation for Joseph Smith and his unwavering faith to do the Lord's will and restore God's church to the earth. I am so grateful for his willingness to be persecuted and hated and tested beyond my comprehension in order to fulfill the Lord's work and bring the gospel into the lives of millions.


After we were finished in the Grove we went to the printing shop downtown Palmyra where the first Book of Mormon was printed. Garrett and I hadn't been there before so it was really cool for us to see. They showed us the whole process of how they printing books in the early days of the church and it was a very time consuming process! Unfortunately we forgot our camera on this part of the trip so I have no pictures. It was a great trip and I think it was a really neat experience for my nephew Nathan to prepare for his baptism. We were so happy to share it with him.

Niagara Falls and Palmyra NY Part One

My older sister Marianne and her son Nathan came to visit us last week. Nathan is turning 8 years old on Halloween and he will be getting baptized shortly after his birthday. He has always loved the Joseph Smith story and the First Vision. His favorite song is "Praise to the Man" so when Marianne suggested coming out and going to the Sacred Grove for his birthday we were really excited. On our way to Palmyra we stopped to see Niagara Falls. We stayed on the US side this time but we decided to go on the Maid of the Mist boat because our friends said it was really cool. I'm so glad we did because it was amazing and so worth the 12 bucks!! I was a little worried that the kids might freak out when we went right into the heart of the falls, but they never did. Both of them thought it was really cool. We were all glad to have our ponchos on though since we got soaked!

This was taken right in the heart of the Canadian falls. The sound and energy of the water was amazing!

This is me in front of the American Falls. Only 10% of the total water of the falls runs over the American side, but they are still huge!

This picture and the one below were taken from the observation deck before you go down the elevator to the boats. I love this picture because you can see both the American and Canadian Falls and you can see the constant pillar of steam that rises above the Canadian Falls. It looks so cool.

I love the beautiful fall leaves against the blue sky and the falls. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

When we arrived in Palmyra we only had time to visit the hill Cumorah before we had to get the kids to bed. We were there a little before sunset and it was beautiful. The kids loved the monument and rolling down the hill! We had talked to the kids and explained that this is where the Angel Moroni had instructed Joseph to come and get the plates, so when we walked up to the monument, Rylynn saw a guy standing next to it and asked, "Mommy is that guy Moroni?" The guy laughed and told her she could call him that if she wanted to.

Family picture taken by "Moroni"

Me and the kiddies at the monument.

Carter pointing to the Moroni statue

The beautiful Hill Cumorah before sunset

Doesn't she look like a little missionary?
I think I need to split this post into two, so I will post about the Sacred Grove tomorrow.

Garrett's musings

If you are just craving some sarcastic, witty reading, check out my husband's new blog! Here is the link: http://lawdawghall.blogspot.com/ or you can just click on "Garrett's Blog" in our list of "Friends and Family" blogs.

Hot Chocolate Round Two!

The very next day!!! But this time it was THREE cans of STEPHEN'S hot chocolate. Very sad! Good thing they're so cute.

Cooking adventure, not so much

So I was complaining to my wonderful husband today that I am sick of EVERYTHING I usually cook and I really didn't want to plan the menu of meals for this week because nothing sounds good to me at all! (no I am not pregnant:) So he was so sweet and went online and came up with a great surprise dinner for us and we made a shopping list together and he went to the store while I entertained the kids. Well unfortunately, he got home at 5pm which is when we usually eat and as we all know cooking a new dish takes a little longer than usual. So I was helping in any way that I could and finally he just had to blow the surprise and tell me that we were having PF Chang's lettuce wraps, mongolian beef, and fried rice so that I could help speed up the process. I was so excited because I have totally been craving PF Chang's lately. (again, not pregnant) So we were both frantically reading recipes and making our dishes while the kids got hungrier by the minute. We gave them a couple hold me over snacks, but those only last for so long. They played together well for awhile, but then everything got a little crazy. Next thing you know Carter has the huge hot chocolate canister upside down and there is chocolate powder everywhere! Then to make things worse Rylynn thought it was hilarious and started running through it and then proceeded to lick the chocolate off her feet. So we both yelled at the kids to stop while still cooking. Finally the lettuce wraps were done so I sat down with the kids and started eating while Garrett finished up the rice and beef. They were really good, but the kids kind of just picked at the lettuce not really knowing how to eat them. Then the beef came out which they loved! They ate a ton of that, but then Carter decided he was done and started chucking food everywhere. I knew he would love the rice if he would just wait a minute so I tried to tell him that more food was coming and to STOP throwing food at me. Then he threw his fork across the table right at my head. Luckily the rice was done now and as I suspected he loved it. So finally Garrett got to sit down and eat with us. Carter and Rylynn ate the rice just fine for a couple of minutes until the rice started flying across the table again from Carter!!! At this point we got him out of his high chair stripped him down and put him in the bath and we really never had a minute to enjoy the meal together. Rylynn followed suit and hopped into the bath too. Garrett went in with them while I started cleaning up the disaster which was our kitchen. He told them that they really needed to be careful not to splash too much and that he needed to come help me for a minute. Luckily got a lot done pretty quickly working together, but apparently it was a little too long for the kids. They had of course made a huge mess in the bath and not obeyed Garrett so they were out of the tub and in jammies right away. The good news was that they totally wore themselves out and they were both asleep before 8pm. Garrett and I finished cleaning up the kitchen and both agreed that next time we will just fork out the 30 dollars and get take out. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but soooo not worth all the time and craziness. Oh well, on the bright side, it was fun to work with my cute husband in the kitchen; we don't get to do that a ton. Thanks for the thought honey!

Day Trip to Cincinnati

Very early on Monday morning the whole family drove to Cincinnati so Garrett could attend a conference for the Federalist Society and the kids and I could go to the amazing Cincinnati zoo. 

Garrett's conference centered on the Presidency and the Courts - how the Constitution should be interpreted and what criteria a President should use in selecting judges.  The speakers included Edwin Meese III (Former US Attorney General) and President George W. Bush. Here are some pictures:

Garrett with Edwin Meese III, who happens to be Molly's former boss.

President Bush speaking about the economy and the President's role in appointing judges.

President Bush mingling with powerful citizens of Ohio. Who's that handsome guy behind Kenneth Blackwell?

 If you want the play-by-play, it goes like this:

Bush: How are you doing today?

Garrett: I'm well, Mr. President. How are you?

Bush: I'm good. I just got off the ranch in Texas this morning, so I'm relaxed and I feel good.

Garrett: You look good.

Bush: Thank you.

It was an awesome experience for Garrett.  No matter how you feel about a particular President, it is a pretty amazing thing to meet one.  

So, while Garrett was hobnobbing with politicians, the kids and I were mingling with zoo animals. (Some might say we got the better end of that deal or that we essentially did the same thing:))  

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden was the second zoo opened in all of the United States.  It was rated number 10 best zoo for children in the country and I definitely recommend it!  The living areas for the animals were set up so well and they had so much more space than the Cleveland zoo.  I think that is why the animals were way more exciting to watch because they had plenty of room to roam around.  They were very lively and got really close to us!  

The giraffes were the first stop and it was hard to pry the kids away because they kept coming right up to us.  You can feed the giraffes at this zoo but we didn't want to fork out the extra money since we had already had to pay 7 bucks for parking!

The next stop was the reptile house.  It was so cool!  There were alligators right in the middle of the room just looking at us as we walked around.  The room was full of huge snakes, lizards, and even a Gila monster.  There were some really weird looking creatures, but it was so cool because the snakes were actually moving around and not just sleeping in the corners.

This snake was totally charging Rylynn!  She was freaked out at first, but then she thought it was really cool.

The Botanical gardens are all throughout the park and they have butterflies all over the gardens.  Rylynn especially loved this since she is obsessed with butterflies.  It also helped that it was 81 degrees while we were there and a totally gorgeous day!

My favorite part was the gorillas.  There were five of them and they were all walking and climbing all over the place.  Their habitat had a huge waterfall in it and a river and caves.  They got so close to us.  One of them started walking along upright like a man and it looked really freaky.  They had lots of different kinds of monkeys which is one thing I really wish the Cleveland zoo had.  

All throughout the zoo there were these cool play areas for the kids with statues you could climb on and other fun things to get them out of the stroller and stretching their legs.

There were several different kinds of bears too, but my favorites were the polar bears.  There were four of them and they had a really cool habitat too.  This one is taking a nap right in front of a waterfall.

A really nice lady gave us free ride bracelets so we were able to ride the train through the park which was Carter's favorite part.  We also got to ride the carousel a few times.

We were planning on going to the zoo, and the children's museum to fill our time, but the zoo was so cool that we never made it to the children's museum.  We spent all day at the zoo and had a blast.  Luckily it wore the kids out a lot so the drive home went really fast.  It was such a fun day trip!

lesson learned

I just have to write a quick follow-up post to our miracle story. Tonight Rylynn and Carter and I went to the grocery store with my mom and as we were leaving I realized we had lost Carter's binky somewhere in the store. So I sent my mom to the car with the kids and I ran around looking quickly to see if I could find it since I had just bought it today! I couldn't find it and it was late and I wanted to get the kids in bed so I just headed for the car. So when I got in Rylynn asked if I found Carter's binky and I said no I couldn't find it and she said, "You know what you should do Mama, you should say a prayer and Heavenly Father will help you find it." I thought that was so sweet and I was so proud of her for applying the lessons we learned from our camera miracle. Then my Mom said that as they were walking out she was telling the kids that she didn't know where the car was and that Rylynn had told her that if she gets lost she can just pray and ask Heavenly Father to help her find the car. I was like wow, she really learned that lesson well! So I just wanted to record for posterity the faith of my little three year old. It is always a good reminder to me that I need to have more childlike faith.