Palmyra

Last Wednesday after Dan got home from school, we loaded up the car and headed out for a week long road trip. Our first stop: Upstate New York. We spent Wednesday night and Thursday night with our friends, the Storey’s, who live in Geneva. It was so fun staying with them in their new house that they had just moved into the day before we got there!

Geneva is about 25 minutes from Palmyra, so with Nessie in tow, we spent most of Thursday in Palmyra. We first visited the Hill Cumorah. We took the path up the hill and walked around the Angel Moroni statue. We had fun playing on the hill and reflecting on the events that once took place here.



Then we drove a few minutes up the road to the Smith log home, the Smith frame house, and the Visitor's Center. The log home is a replica on the exact footprint of the original home, but the frame house is 85% original. So neat to walk on the floorboards where Joseph walked, see the actual bricks of the fireplace hearth where he hid the gold plates, and be inside the walls that witnessed so many hisorical moments. The sister missionaries took us on the tour, and they did a great job of inviting the spirit through their stories and singing.

The tour ended at the path leading to the sacred grove and we were left on our own to explore this significant place. We loved that we were here in the spring . . . . we imagined it looked just like this for Joseph. We also loved that we were the only ones there. It was a beautiful day. The bees were humming, sweet birds were singing, and the woods were so peaceful.

We ended our church sites tour with a visit to the E. B. Grandin printing shop in downtown Palmyra where The Book of Mormon was first published. It was so neat to see how much work and labor went into printing those first 5,000 copies.

Hocking Hills

I knew it was going to be a great day the minute I opened our front door and saw Joni wearing the EXACT same shirt I had on. Our eyes popped out, our jaws both dropped, and then we burst into laughter. Rocky said it was priceless.

We had fun hiking to the Rockhouse (in honor of Rocky) and then down to the waterfall by Old Man's Cave. We waded in the water, skipped rocks, screamed at snakes, and did 1,2,3 - Weeee! with the girls til our arms were tired. We ended the day with a picnic dinner by a lake . . . . so I was right. It was a great day.

Slate Run Farm

On Friday morning, Dan took his ABO (The American Board of Orthodontics) test, a monumental event because it was the LAST test he will ever have to take. EVER! (unless he failed it . . . . but I don't think he did:) What an awesome feeling. Anyway, to celebrate this great achievement, and because he got home by noon on the first 80 degree day of the year, we decided to check out a place we've never been to before . . . . Slate Run Living Historical Farm. This place was so neat. You experience first hand what life on a farm would be like in the 1800s.

The farmhouse was built in 1856. I love walking through houses like that and trying to imagine what my life would have been like during that time period. So different.
Lots of fun things to do on a farm . . . . like running through the clothes, walking on stilts, swinging on swings,and being pulled in a wagon!

But life isn't all play on a farm. There's lots of hard work to be done. We saw this farmer earlier cleaning out the barn stalls, and here he is spreading the manure on their soon to be pumpkin patch.
And there are a lot of animals to take care of on a farm. These hogs were HUGE! And extremely stinky. Our favorite animal was the 5 day old lamb who was "baaaaa"-ing VERY loudly. It was so cute! So of course we had to "baaaaa" back!Exploring the barn.Annie said her favorite part was milking the cow!Look at all that milk squirting out!What a cool place. I'm sure we'll be back!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter this year. The girls have been so excited . . . . especially Annie who kept track of how many more "sleeps" until Easter. Our ward doesn't start until 11:00 so we had time before church to take a few pics and to search for hidden Easter baskets! The girls were thrilled.

Opening their Easter presents from G & G Cole: Pinocchio and Bolt! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa! We had some friends over for dinner . . . . everyone pitched in for a delicious Easter feast! Ham, potatoes, salad, cooked carrots, pretzel jello, rolls, and fruit & dip. So good.
I tried to be ambitious and make place cards for everyone. I think they looked cute on the table:)After dinner the kids hunted for candy filled eggs. Tyler and StacyAnn brought their chocolate fountain for dessert. What a great way to end the evening!

Officially Spring

Rec League Basketball

Our team - me, Rachel Freeman, Lynnsey Kimball, Heather Teeples, Jessica Nye, Kiki Comin, Karli Dean

Every Wednesday night I get to play basketball with these awesome ladies. It's so fun to be able to get out and continue playing a sport I love to play. We also play church ball, which is fun, but Rec League is when we really get to play. I think we're a lot better this year . . . . we're more familiar with each other and play well together. We just finished Winter League and won our division (thus the trophy!) but lost to the winner of the other league in the Champ of Champs tournament. But we don't feel too bad about the loss - all but one girl on the other team played basketball in college (including OSU) and none of us did. We just can't compete with that. But we still have fun and we all love it. Now begins Spring League. This will probably be our last chance playing because 3 of the girls are moving this summer, and hopefully some of us will be pregnant next year:) But it's been great. Great teammates, great exercise, great opportunity to continue playing sports. I'll definitely miss this when we move next year.