“The most beautiful moments always seemed to accelerate and slip beyond one’s grasp just when you want to hold onto them for as long as possible.”― E.A. Bucchianeri

So I can not even believe how BLESSED we were a couple weekends ago.

We got to get off work early one Saturday and head up to Palmyra NY for the rest of the weekend.

& This was hands down the highlight of my summer..

And we made it just in time for the last night of the Palmyra Pageant!

So if you're not a member of the LDS church let me just fill ya in a little bit because this post might be confusing why all of this is so amazing.

Palmyra is where Joseph Smith grew up, saw God, found the gold plates that he translated into the Book of Mormon.

& Where he eventually was run out of by mobs..

[Which let me tell you there were still people all over protesting and saying horrible things about our church while WE were just there.. and that is one thing that I will never understand and I feel like I complain about alot.
I just feel if something is so sacred to someone else.. we would never do that to them.. and I don't understand why anyone would be so terrible to other people. Whether they believe it or not.]

But I'm off my soap box..

:)

We were so lucky to get to road trip down with some of our friends..

[Whom obviously the camera feels it is more important to focus on as well]

The pagaent is a play of stories of the Book of Mormon..

& honestly is just amazing.

They people in it do an awesome job & it makes seem so much more real and it is just so easy to feel the spirit seeing all of these amazing events and all of the amazing people around you that have traveled all from around the United States to be there.

Then the next day we got to do some fun sight seeing..

[& yes during this sightseeing we did get to see some awesome original paintings]

But I thought I would start with these so I could kind of explain things a little more..

So the Book of Mormon is an account of the Americas.

It in no way discounts the Bible or replaces it.. and I think in every way helps me understand it better and definitely increases my faith in both the Book of Mormon and the Bible.

We believe that an angel appeared to Joseph Smith telling him about the ancient records that had been hidden in a hill until someone was ready for them.
I understand how in today's day and age that sounds unbelievable..
But after you read and study everything.. what really becomes unbelievable is that God wouldn't love us as much today as he did when he spoke to the Prophets in the bible time.
Especially now when the world needs Him the most.

We also in no way worship Joseph Smith.. anymore than anyone who believes in the Bible worships Moses.
Do we believe he was a prophet of God.. and a good man who was killed for what he/we believe in..yes yes we do.

We got to see a replica of Joseph Smith's house..

It was so cute.. but it amazed I think everyone how small it was in comparison with houses today.

It's funny that they were SO happy back then..

& it is so easy to get caught up in material things that don't matter and forget what's important in life..

It was also amazing how self sufficient they were 150 years ago..

Things were so much more simple..

Then the best part of the visit was the Sacred Grove..

This is where Joseph Smith saw God..

& it is just as special as it sounds..

You can completely feel everything here.. it does feel just like being in a temple.

The spirit is so strong.. and it's beautiful.

We never ever wanted to leave.

It felt so sacred and away from everything in the world.

If we came out to the East Coast only to be here and to better understand how much so many people have gone through to give me the most important thing in my life.. it was definitely worth it.

We got to see the Palmyra Temple..

[Yes.. Blake has some pretty awesome photography skills.. :) He is one cute.. impressive guy ]

 

& We got to enjoy how breathtakingly beautiful the temple grounds have proven to be are everywhere..

And we got to see how intense.. and how LONG it took and what an investment it was to print original Book of Mormons..

Holy Smokes.

Then we got to see one of the original copies of the Book of Mormon.. There are only supposed to be 500 of the originial 5000  that are thought to exist..

The boys decided that houses back in the day..

are actually modern day inspiration for a Rock Climbing wall!?
[I think that are called river rock houses.. or something like that]

Holy inappropriate.. oh.. boys.

:)

I guess you never grow out of that "hey.. get off the wall!" stage deep inside.. even as a man..

We got to see the Whitmore farm where the church was organized..

& Although it is amazing everyone fit in this cabin..

I think it's more amazing that the church has GROWN so much..

It's just a testimony to me that if something wasn't touching these people's hearts it wouldn't be that way.

This gospel is so amazing.
& These people who knew that it was true and gave their lives for it.. are my heroes.
 

[Our friends felt bad Blake was making me be by myself in all of these pictures.. haha but then our camera only wanted a picture of the house obviously anyway..]

Then we got to see the Hill Cumorah where the golden plates had been buried..

I believe in this gospel with my entire heart..

I know that probably seeing a lot of this and not knowing what it's about probably seems kind of crazy and unbelievable..

But once you read the Book of Mormon it is obvious that no person could have just written it..

& it is impossible to not feel how good it is.

This church and this gospel of Jesus Christ makes everything make sense.. why you are here.. what the point of everything is.. how important family is in this eternal plan..

& it really makes you never want to do anything bad for the rest of your life.

And I don't understand how if something makes you feel like that... even if you don't believe in it.. how you could think it was a bad thing.

And I really believe that if you do have love for other people you would want to share something that is so important to you.. and that would make them happy and full of purpose for eternity.

I love you guys.

I hope that everyone is enjoying AUGUST (holy cow..) & the end of their summers!

Thanks for loving us enough to read about our life and the things that are important to us.

:)