trek of '08

Here are several of our pictures from our exciting journey back east! You'll have to put up with my poor photography, as several of these were taken while we were driving along.

We were excited to make it to beautiful green Ohio. We stayed in Akron, which I loved the moment I saw the Panera Bread right next to a Baja Fresh...could life get any better than this? Probably not.

The next day Carlos and I went to Hiram, OH to see the John Johnson Farm. We had our own private tour. It was a very beautiful day, and we enjoyed every minute of it. (It was here that several sections of the D&C were revealed, and where Joseph was tarred and feathered).

The next stop was Kirtland, OH where we (once again) were privileged to have our very own tour of the town!


Here is a slightly crooked picture of us in front of the Kirtland Temple. It was wonderful to think about the amazing events that occurred here where the windows of heaven were opened!

The next stop was in Niagara Falls. We got there pretty late, so none of our pictures really turned out--It was fun, but probably not our best experience on the trip. Let's just say, we have little desire to return to Canada anytime soon. :) Moving on to the beautiful Palmyra...

In Palmyra, you could really feel the Holy Ghost very strong. We were blessed to be able to attend the temple there. It was great to remember our feelings of when President Hinckley dedicated this temple. I thought it was very interesting that these sacred places had been so well preserved, and that cities weren't built over any of these places so that we could appreciate them and feel the Spirit there still today.

This is a view of the temple from just outside of the Sacred Grove. So neat to have a beautiful temple right next to where the restoration began!!! The sister missionaries took us on a tour of the log cabin, and the larger home that Alvin was building for himself and his bride-to-be up until he died. After he died, the other boys finished the house and the whole family moved into it.






Here are a few pictures we took in the Sacred Grove. It's so hard to catch with a camera how beautiful it was, and how strong your feelings are when you're there. It was actually raining when we were there, but we were protected by the trees so we didn't get wet.











After a full day in Palmyra we drove to Albany and spent the night there. The next day was also cold and rainy...so rainy we could hardly see the road. We drove up to Vermont (I've always wanted to go there) to see Sharon, VT--the birthplace of Joseph Smith Jr.
Vermont was absolutely gorgeous...you wouldn't believe how green it was!










It was really cool to see the heavens meeting the earth. We were especially excited to see the sun shine through the clouds (at least a little bit).




We finally made it...alive!!
Here we both are just outside of the beautiful visitor's center. It was amazing, right when you get there you can hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing--coming from the trees. It feels like angels are surrounding you singing in this very sacred place, and really set the tone for our entire visit here. Church historians believe that the small log home where Joseph was born was just in front of this monument, and slightly to the left.

Here is the monument that was actually dedicated by Joseph F. Smith in 1905. The prophet Joseph Smith described himself as a "rough stone," so that's just what the monument was. (Sorry this picture is so dark, you can hardly see Carlos standing at the bottom of it).

This concluded our church history tour, and from here we drove down to our "vacation home" right off of the northern shore above Boston. (alright, it's not really a vacation home, but we sure are treating it as such, as much as we can!!) We really loved the opportunity we had to go to all of these amazing places. You can't help but think of all the sacrifices that the saints had to endure, and how strong their faith had to be! We hope you can all take your families to these very sacred places and enjoy them as much as we did!!