Hill Cumorah & The Sacred Grove: Summer In Palmyra 2020

The Hill Cumorah pageant may have been cancelled this year due to Covid-19 but tradition is tradition and we still made the trip up here. We absolutely love this place with or without crowds and as you can see by the photos on the hill cumorah there was like zero people! This was definitely the place for social distancing and to take in the peace and joy that these historical sites give. I am so glad we made the 4.5 hour drive up year. It is soooooo worth the drive to feel all the vibes that these places give especially in their 200th year! What a blessing it is to be here and to continue this tradition with our two youngest children who on their own motive love to come here. I honestly think they enjoy this trip  because we always grab some lunch at Mark's pizzeria and eat dinner at Tom Wahl's burgers. Oh, and staying at The Palmyra Inn is always their favorite part of this trip! I captured a few photos atop from the hill cumorah as well as the The Sacred Grove. We probably saw five people which were all missionaries from the church in the grove but it was so nice to have some major quiet time to ponder all that happened here 200 years ago! Such special places! 

Hill Cumorah Pageant 2019.

For the past ten years since moving to the east our family has watched the Hill Cumorah pageant. As much as we love the story, and the message behind the Book of Mormon the pageant food is good too! My kids love the pageant potatoes, and walking around before the pageant starts to go on a prophet hunt. The pageant is a must-see performance that will incredibly touch the core of your heart, and I recommend coming to watch it in their final year which will be in 2020. 

Saturday In Palmyra, NY!

The Hill Cumorah Pageant this year was, as always a great experience! In spite of leaving late Friday evening, and arriving in the wee hours of the morning we filled our Saturday making memories as a family. This place never grows weary on us, and every year we come here we leave with a different experience, and it is always a good one! 

Church History Sites In Palmyra, New York.

For those of you who have known us for the past ten years know how much we love going to Palmyra to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant, and all the historic sites in the area. It is what makes our summer, and helps us to overcome the world. We love the peaceful feeling we receive while walking inside the sacred grove, and for once to pretend that life is absolutely perfect! It is the place where one can go to feel peace, and joy. There is no place I'd rather be than with my family while exploring this wonderful place, and to know that it all started here. 

Hill Cumorah Pageant '16

The past couple of weeks of July have gone by so fast that it seems as if we came back from upstate New York yesterday! After blogging about Lexie attending EFY in Kirtland yesterday I realized that i didn't document our spontaneous, quick trip to Palmyra to catch the Hill Cumorah Pageant. 

When we picked up Lexie on saturday morning we figured we weren't too far from Palmyra, and we all decided to take advantage and watch the pageant. It's become tradition, and we didn't want to break tradition! Counting our blessings for five hour energy drinks in which Jon takes only when we drive more than five hours, and in this case we did. 

We normally stay overnight at a friends home in Palmrya, but ended up going home right after the pageant. We figured since it was so last minute not to impose on them. Come to find out they weren't home all weekend due to a reception, and when I mentioned to them how we were there the weekend they were gone said how we could have had their whole house to ourselves! Such awesomeness coming from great friends, but it was meant for us to go straight home, and even though we arrived at 5am we still managed to attend church at 9am! Jon and I were running on fumes, but were coherent during sunday school, and I was asked to teach on the temple next week which is tomorrow! I think all the commenting I've done in class in this ward has prompted the Relief Society President to ask me to teach! I'm excited to finally teach a lesson. I hadn't taught one in so long, and the time couldn't be more perfect. Especially since we have the Philadelphia temple ready to open the doors to the public. I have been preparing my lesson in hopes that it'll inspire at least one person! 

The pageant, as always is spiritually amazing! We just love coming here. We had the time to walk through the sacred grove, and go by the temple. 

Another small, beautiful temple! 

Wish we had time to go through, but it was nice to walk the grounds, and capture these cute kids in front of the sign with such beautiful flowers. I look at this picture compared to last years post, and the kids somewhat look the same, but are still getting older. Wish they wouldn't! 

As always Jon took the kids on a "prophet hunt." Noah was so excited, and always looks forward to this. It's almost like an "i spy a prophet" game. He is getting better at becoming familiar with the prophets from the book of mormon. I know that by teaching him at home, and especially when we come here that it helps him to remember who they are, and what they did, as well as beginning to appreciate their role in how they lived their life. 

Here are a few photos of a few prophets he spotted. Of course the first one that caught his eye was Joseph Smith. 

 Here's my sweet Noah with the not so nice Noah!

 Like me Noah has a few favorite prophets. There are just so many that were such great examples to the world. Here he is with Abinadi.

Lehi. 

and here are all the kids with two of Lehi's sons Nephi, and the not so nice Laman. 

We absolutey love coming here every year. It's like spiritual food, and going to Kirtland before coming here was perfect! So grateful for these opportunities, and the blessings that come from it. Here's hoping that everyone will make it to the pageant someday. It'll truly change your life, and you'll leave feeling so inspired! 

HISTORICAL MOMENTS DURING THE HILL CUMORAH PAGEANT '15.

It's amazing how quickly one year rushes into another, especially when it comes to the Hill cumorah pageant. This has seriously become a major tradition even when we don't have our oldest daughter with us. This year we invited the daughters of a dear friend of mine to experience this wonderful spiritual, theatrical experience with our kids and they loved it. 

I was a bit worried that we were going to get rained on because the forecast called for rain all week!! I was praying the whole weekend that we wouldn't! Apparently Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was asked to give the opening prayer on the first night of the pageant, and in his prayer he asked that the weather would not affect the pageant, and it didn't rain at all! It always storms every year around pageant time and so having that prayer was a blessing, and truly a gift from God! 

We saw all the historical sites which include the sacred grove, the top of the hill cumorah,  book of mormon publication site, the Peter Whitmer farm, Joseph Smith Farm, and of course I had to take a picture of the kids at the temple. 

In the past I've written separate posts about most of those sites here, here, and here, but this time I decided to put all the pictures with a snippet into one post and I hope you enjoy. 

Here are a few pictures of some our moments in Palmyra...

 ^^^ The clan at the top of the Hill Cumorah. I still can't believe I hiked this when I was seven months pregnant. That was five years ago! This time I was seriously out of breath when I got to the top! Made me realize I need to get back into shape! ^^^

 ^^^ Cute Lexie, and sweet Myesha. This was her first time here, and both she and her sister were so excited. You're probably going to see more pics of these two more than their sisters because they were too busy chit chatting, walking, and having fun. It was hard to capture a photo of them together! ^^^

Noah and Chelsea's favorite part of the pageant is going on a "prophet hunt" to talk, and meet some of the people portraying them. Here a few of their favorites...

  ^^^ Lehi. ^^^

King Noah may have been a liar, and overall a bad person, but Noah only likes him for his costume. The fact that he's tall, and stands out makes them want to take a picture with him even more. It isn't easy getting a photo with Joseph Smith. There's always too many people waiting to take pictures with him. We got lucky. 

  ^^^ Nephi. ^^^ 

  ^^^ Now, these two are among my favorites...Mormon, and Moroni. ^^^

  ^^^ The valiant Abinadi. ^^^

  ^^^ and another one of Noah's favorite...Samuel. ^^^

^^^ see, I told you you'd see more pics of these two. ^^^

As much as we wanted to do a session at the temple we didn't make the time, and besides...it's always filled to capacity! A little FYI...always make an appointment. We were lucky to have done a session the last time we were here! Still...it's nice to walk on the temple grounds, and take in the spirit. It truly is beautiful. 

 Taking these pictures really made me miss my Sierra. So looking forward to seeing her at Christmas!

This year we finally had a proper tour of the Book of Mormon publication site. In the past we normally would just walk in, read all about the history on how the Books of Mormon were printed, and look at all the tools, and machinery they used to make it possible. It is so amazing how all this came about in printing, and publishing so many books of mormon. 

 Can anyone guess who this is? For those of you who went to BYU, or read LDS books, or listen to audio Cd's will be familiar with this face... 

^^^ It's John Bytheway. The last time I saw him was almost nine years ago when I was at the Salt Lake temple. It was nice running into him here. Small world! ^^^

FOOD!! 

Driving around, and doing all that touring made us hungry!! We normally eat at a place called Chill and Grill, but instead we had this pizza which was delish, and then a couple of hours later had ice cream and "chilled." 

^^^ That pistachio tho. ^^^

The Peter Whitmer Farm is one of my favorite historical sites. I get really sentimental when I come here. The fact that this is where the church started is amazing! Who knew it would form with just six members, and grow in numbers. There are now at least 15 million members worldwide. Truly amazing! 

 ^^^ this boy on this particular trip was a little hard for him to look at the camera! still a cutie with his sisters.  ^^^

I didn't take too many photos inside the sacred grove as I was deep in thought depicting Joseph Smith kneeling and praying to God. Truly amazing what happened here, and how it has changed so many lives...including mine. 

 ^^^ Noah was pretty much carried the whole time sitting on Lexie's shoulders. He says he can see the trees better when he's high on top! ^^^

^^^ I couldn't end this post without thanking this lovely lady...my dear friend Emily. Her family is amazing, and she is such a wonderful host when we come visit and stay with her. She's so fortunate to live in the heart of it all. Sometimes I wish we could just pack up, and move up here! ^^^

Going to Palmyra every year is always a treat for our family, and in all honesty I never want to leave this place. This whole area has such a strong spirit, and I'm so grateful for the spirit that it brings. One that'll make anyone who's visiting whether LDS or not wondering why they're at peace mixed with feelings of appreciation of where it all started. 

At least that's how it is for me. 

"The best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask from books, but to go to God in prayer, and obtain divine teaching." 

~Joseph Smith

Happy Monday, and hope your weekend was great! 

The Sacred Grove

One cannot leave the town of Palmyra without walking inside the Sacred Grove. The Sacred Grove is where it all started. Where a young 14 year old boy knelt down to pray to God to ask which church he should attend. And then all of a sudden a bright light appeared in the sky and then God the Father, and His son Jesus Christ appeared to him, and answered his question! They both answered to him, "none." They told him that he was the chosen one. The one to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ, and His true church upon this earth which I am now a member of. 

I know. 

At first I couldn't believe it myself, but when the missionaries were teaching me about the Joseph Smith story I felt my heart beating a million miles a minute, and I knew it was true. 

And I know it to be even more true now. 

Every year when my family and I go the Pageant the sacred Grove is the number one place we run (not walk) to. You'd think it be the temple, and that's super important too, but the the Sacred Grove is a place where you are surrounded by nature, and the fact that this is where the beginning of something great happened makes the spirit even stronger. Our family loves it, and I know that the Sacred Grove is another place where you can feel peace, and be in tune with the spirit. 

After all...this is where it all started. 
The kids were super excited to walk through it yet again. We walked through on Saturday during the day, and then again on Sunday before we headed out. It rained on Sunday, and regardless of the muddy trail we walked through the entire grove. I wasn't thinking of how muddy my shoes were getting. All I was thinking about was what a beautiful place this is, and how it never changes, and the feeling that I get is always different. I can understand why anyone would want to come here to pray, and receive revelation for themselves. 

There are some days where I wonder why the Lord chose to appear to a 14 year old boy, but then I look at Lexie who is 14 at the moment, and am amazed at her maturity. Joseph Smith sure must have been a mature 14 year old boy at that time for Heavenly Father to appear to him, and put a major responsibility on him where it would change the world. 

And it has.  It truly changed mine! 

There are days when I wish I could live in this part of the country so that I can come here seeking answers to prayers, and do my visiting teaching. Attend the church at the Peter Whitmer farm,or Palmyra ward, and make a whole new group of friends both young, and old. This whole area would be a wonderful place to serve a mission, and when our kids are grown, married, and completely on their own, Jon & I would love serve a mission here!

It truly is a wonderful place to visit, see all the sites, and if you want to learn more about LDS church history this is one of the places to come. Every time we come here we always feel leaving with a unique strength that helps us endure life no matter what challenges come our way with a sense of peace. It's easy to forget the things of the world & all the silliness & drama that comes with it when you come here. It is a great reminder of my conversion, and why I believe in it so strongly! 

Everyday is a new day to do better. 
And now I leave you with my testimony...

^^^I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he restored the gospel on this earth for us to have. Prophets have been around for years, and having one today to lead and guide us is a blessing...a huge blessing! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It definitely is another testament of Jesus Christ, and along with the bible they are two of the best books ever written. I know this because I've felt it through reading it! I am thankful for the temples that are built upon this earth, and know that as long as I strive to live a good life in being an obedient daughter of God that I will be with them forever, and reign with Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ for all eternity. ^^^

Have a wonderful weekend!