Our Trip to Ohio

Cole has a cousin in Ohio so we made plans to visit them for a quick weekend before Christmas. We managed to leave ahead of the huge snowstorm that dumped over a foot a snow here, but since we hit the DC area at rush hour the 7.5hr drive turned into 9hrs and a few snow flakes began to fall late in the drive we rolled in around 1am.

We enjoyed a very relaxing few days with Rob and Laura and their kids. Laura was a fabulous cook and they introduced us to many new recipes. Laura is also an avid couponer and has motivated me to start up again and she showed me an even easier way to do things which I've already implemented and am very excited about.

Cole and Rob spent most of the time swaping family and childhood memories and stories. It was fun to hear about the younger years in the family. They also played a lot of made up ball games, one being "Kibble Ball." Take turns throwing a ball into the cup the other person is holding and whoever loses has to eat some kibbles n' bits. Rob lost as you might tell from the picture.

Our kids had fun with their 5 kids, especially Dominic who played with their transformers and other "boy" toys the whole time. Tessa took a great interest in their dog Misty although she never got enough courage to pet her.

Kirtland, Ohio

One of the best parts about our trip was that on Sunday Rob took our family to the Church History sites in Kirtland. I was so excited to hear that they only lived an hour away from there. I've always had a great love of the history of the Church and the early saints.

We watched a video in the Visitors Center and then were taken on a tour of the Newel K. Whitney Store and Whitney home.

The Newel K. Whitney store was a fabulous experience. The Prophet Joseph Smith and his family lived on the upper floor of the store for about a year and a half. Joseph had a office upstairs also. He received over 20 revelations from our Heavenly Father there in the upper rooms of the store (now recored in the Doctrine and Covenants). One room was also used for a meeting room for what was called the School of the Prophets. There are several accounts of the leaders of the church seeing the Savior there also. The Spirit that I felt there was undeniable and it was an incredible to be in such a sacred and important place.

The Whitney home was neat and quaint. It was neat to see the way people lived and functioned back in the 1830's. We were told an account of the Prophet Joseph Smith healing a woman in this home.

We also were able to go and take a tour of the Kirtland Temple. The temple is not owned by the LDS church anymore, but by the Community of Christ Church. The Temple has such a unique design which is very different from most all the LDS temples throughout the world. If I remember, the 3rd floor was used as offices for the leaders of the church, the second level for education purposes, and the first floor for worship and ordinances. This was also a very sacred and special experience. We know that the Lord appeared in this temple to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, as well as, Elias, Moses and Elijah and that the priesthood keys were restored there.

(Beautiful and Huge painting of the early LDS church members building the Kirtland Temple which was hanging in the Visitors Center. The artist is Walter Rane who was and still is in the church ward that I grew up in.)

(Outside the Kirtland Temple door.)

We were also able to see Brother and Sister Pederson at the Visitors Center where they are serving a mission. They are from Oregon and are in the same church ward as my parents are and I grew up with their kids.

It was a fabulous trip to Ohio and I'm very grateful we were able to go.