Niagara Falls

Well, it wasn't quite my anniversary because we moved some dates around, but we arrived at Niagara Falls on Wednesday. We didn't get to do all the things we had planned. That's what happens when you try to see everything in one trip. But it was GREAT anyway. Took way too many pictures. I'll try to just pic some favorites to post here.

Me and my honey. Married 19 years!
These are the American Falls.

An upper view of the American Falls. Across the river you see Canada. This is as close as I got to leaving the country. No passport!

Looks like a fire, eh? (See, I picked up some Canadian while I was there). This is the mist off the falls!

The Niagara River just before the falls.

Highlight of our trip - The Maid of the Mists. This is the boat that takes you right up to the Canadian Falls.

All ready to go! I told Jarod to put on his poncho so he wouldn't get wet. The guy at the gate just laughed at me.

This is a boat across the river.

Once you get up near the falls, you actually can't see much! Just water in your face. So this is the best shot I could get of the Canadian Falls.

Can you guess what his first words were? "Can we go again?!?!?"

Now I know why that guy laughed at me. Despite the ponchos, we got soaked! Which is, of course, why the boys wanted to go again.

Can you see where Lindsie's poncho ended?

Man this place is beautiful.

Smith Farm

Today was an amazing spiritual day. So glad we made this detour on our way to Pennsylvania. We took a quick trip to Palmyra to see where the whole thing started.

First stop was the first place the Book of Mormon was ever printed. Learned a lot of interesting stuff here.
This is the printing press that printed the first ever published copy of the Book of Mormon.

Jarod got to fold a copy of the first sixteen pages of the Book of Mormon and we got to keep it. It's just a copy, but it is what it would have looked like back then.

Then on to the Smith Family Farm. This was the log cabin the Smith family first built to live in when they moved to Palmyra. Man it was as small as my hotel room and they had 11 people living in it! Yikes!

Out this back door is where Joseph would have headed when he went into the Grove to pray.

These are the bricks in front of the fireplace that were pulled up in order to make a hole to hide the Gold Plates under. These are the original bricks.

In this room the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph three times in one night to tell him about the plates and give him instruction. He would have been in this room with his 5 brothers! I didn't know that. I wonder why they didn't wake up? They must sleep like DJ does! Our tour guide was awesome. She has us all share our feelings about the Book of Mormon in this room, where Joseph very first learned of the existence of the plates. It was really neat.

Sacred Grove

We have spent a lot of time wandering through forested areas since we came east. There are trees EVERYWHERE. It's hard to wander without being in trees. But no forest has come close to the peace and beauty that is in the Sacred Grove. I wish so badly that we had had several hours to wander through the trails in the Grove, but time and a rainstorm cut our visit a little shorter than we wanted. I took a lot of pictures (as per mom's request!) but I'll just post a few.

A beautiful girl with a beautiful spirit in a beautiful place

One of the paths

" . . and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair . . I saw a pillar of light directly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me."

Joseph Smith History 1:16

Ugh!!

Having trouble getting my laptop connected to the Internet. I really have some awesome pics to post, so when I get this figured out, I will likely have another very long post! Right now I am using deans iPad, but I can't load pics from here.

Monkeys in the Zoo

Ok, so it has been a BUSY and EXHAUSTING six days. My blog has fallen behind because I am just just collapsing into bed every night and running and the crack of dawn. So this will be a very long post, but then I will be caught up!

Friday we drove from Kearney, NE to Des Moines, IA. We kind of followed the Platte River through Nebraska. This is a big river! Not as big as the Mississippi, but still bigger than I am used to seeing.
In Omaha we stopped at the Henry Dorly Zoo. It is a huge zoo and very cool. This picture is in the jungle building. We are crossing a wet and slippery swinging bridge.

Climbing through the roots of the trees.

They have a fun sky ride that goes over the zoo. Great views of the animals.

It was a hot and humid day. We are finding as we go east it gets very humid and we are not used to it! So here we are cooling off in the mist.

We got to ride an elephant!! Well, sort of. This elephant didn't go anywhere. In fact, we didn't even see any real elephants in the zoo so I'm not sure why they had this statue.

This tram gives you a ride all over the zoo. It was a nice break from hiking around in the heat.

It's hard to see because of the reflection, but the kids discovered a little baby gorilla. This little guy was very social with the kids. He was so cute, but it made me want to take him out of the cage and play with him!!

Can you tell which ones are the real monkeys? They kind of all look the same! : )

Chicago

Saturday we traveled from Des Moines, IA to South Bend, IN. We took a little detour up to Chicago. Approaching the city. Can you tell which one is the Sears Tower? It's the tallest building in the United States.

First stop - deep dish pizza! You always hear about the pizza in Chicago so we decided we needed to give it a try. OOOHHH is it YUMMY! And I'm sure sooo full of fat! But you only live once, so what the heck.

The cheese went on for miles I swear!

Next stop - Sears Tower. We only had a couple hours in Chicago, so that was what we decided to see. Here we are heading downtown. We have never been in a big city like this. It was a little bit intimidating, but so cool!

The elevator shoots you up 103 floors in about 45 seconds. Towards the top, it starts to shake and rattle a little bit. Man most places charge a bundle for a ride like that! Here is the view from the top. It's an inside observatory, you can't go outside.

This glass box is called "The Ledge." It is a glass box that hangs out over the city 1450 feet in the air! People get in it and look straight down over the city.

So here my children are hanging out over Chicago. I think Jarod was a little nervous. And yes, the big chicken (me) even went out on the Ledge! It was getting dark so my pictures didn't turn out. But I promise I really did it!

Night view. Beautiful city.

Arriving in Ohio

Sunday we drove from South Bend straight to Ohio. No stops. And we only slept four hours the night before. Good thing we have four drivers! It was rough, but we made it.

Had to make a quick stop at Notre Dame University before leaving South Bend. That is one pretty campus. Uh, oh! We missed a turn somewhere because we ended up at the Ocean!! Haha. Looks like an ocean, but it is really Lake Erie. Once we arrived in Kirtland and met up with mom and dad, we headed down to the lake for a picnic. Didn't take my three more than 6 seconds to be in the water! Wednesday we get to spend some time swimming in the lake.

Pretend surfing!

Um, Jarod, shoes go on your feet, not your hands!