Palmyra

Our bike trip was scheduled to start on Monday, June 1, but we wanted to spend some time up at the church sites prior to our ride, we wanted some time to ponder the lives of these early Saints that had lived in the area, we wanted to take our boys to the sacred spots and again tell them the story of the Restoration. We went up Saturday. We were actually hoping to go to the temple Saturday, but at too late discovered that it closed early on Saturdays.
Todd’s grandpa and grandma (Roger & Diane - another Roger, awesome huh?) lives just 20 minutes from Palmyra, so we stayed at his house. Unfortunately we picked the one week this year that they weren’t home. But they were still very kind and allowed us to go stay at their house. We were still sad that we weren't able to see them because they have always been super nice and very inviting whenever we've visited them before.
Sunday morning we went to their ward and were able to see a most of Todd’s aunts and uncles. Afterwards Todd’s uncle Christen (and aunt Suzanne) offered to take us to the Sacred Grove. It was a little cold that day, but fortunately we went to Christen and Suzanne’s house and they lent us some of their kids jackets for our kids (it’s June....I didn’t think I would need to pack the kids some jackets - Todd informs me that I am so from Utah).I have always loved the Sacred Grove. It is so beautiful and peaceful. There really is a sweet spirit there. We talked to the boys about what had occurred there. I don’t know if they understood a whole lot, but they understood that it was an important place to me. The kids did love the Sacred Grove... they ran and ran, playing with their cousins. And at the end, they knew that Joseph Smith had been there and that Heavenly Father and Jesus had been there.
Afterwards we went down the street to Hill Cumorah. We went to the visitor’s center, which has a tall Christos statue. The boys kept touching the nail marks in the sculptured Christ’s feet saying "That's His mark". (In our "scripture time" I had shown them a picture of the Resurrected Christ showing Himself to the Nephites. I pointed out that Christ had marks in His hands and feet - they really liked that).Of course we hiked the hill. It was such a nice and peaceful experience.
When we were done we went back to Christen and Suzanne’s home where they BBQd up some hamburgers. Even though I was so sick of BBQs, these hamburgers were AMAZING....the best I’ve ever had. Christen had smoked them to perfection.
We ended up leaving a little later than we had wanted to, but we had a good time. Todd's relatives are so sweet and friendly, and even though we don't live too terribly far (only 4-5 hours) we do not see them often enough.
After dropping me off at a hotel in Palmyra, just half a mile from the Sacred Grove, to put the kids to bed, Todd drove to Buffalo to pick up my dad and Lana who were flying in at mid-night. My mom arrived at the hotel a little after Todd had left and asked why my dad had chosen to come in at such a late hour. I told her that since my dad was doing all this as a favor for me, I was not going to be picky but rather be grateful for anything and everything. Besides, we were only planning on riding 70 miles the next day.