Trip to Kirtland

This past week was my Fall Break and some of the LDS students at Miami decided to trek up to Kirtland, Ohio and visit the church sites in the area. What a wonderful trip and great experience?! I have been before but it is amazing how you can hear the same thing over and over yet still continue to learn so much. I had so much fun!!
We left early in the morning on Friday and traveled for 6 hours (this obviously included many stops ... there were 6 girls!!) to finally make our first stop at the church's Visitor Center in Kirtland.

It was probably the best weekend to go because the air is just beginning to be crisp in Ohio and so all the leaves are turning. It was a goregous weekend and I enjoyed taking many, many pictures of the sites and of nature.

First of all, we had the BEST, BEST sisters missionaries as our guides and so our tour of the village of historic Kirtland was great!!

<-- us with the sisters... they were so sweet!

They first took us to the sawmill and ashery.

It is amazing to hear how the saints and people of those days did not waste anything. This is the ashery where they would bring their ashes to make soap, gunpower, and other materials. What would the world be like today if we lived our lives as the people in these days... a lot cleaner!

The N.K. Whitney store is so cute and one of the sisters missionaries described it as the "super Wal-Mart" of our day. Kind of funny... Racheal and I were admiring all the cutesy things in the store.

The historic Kirtland tour was amazing and the sites were beautiful. We also watched the imfamous Joseph Smith video in which I bawled my eyes out. I have seen it before... but I think we all know my tears are like waterfalls at times... I mean most of the time :-) The day was wonderful.

We started our Saturday off by taking a tour of the Kirtland Temple. I have been to Kirtland since they added their new visitor's center, but never in the new theater and wow was it great! They had us watch an introductory video and then at the end of the video they lifted the projection screen and drew back the curtains and directly in front of us was the Kirtland Temple standing majestically. It was beautiful and took my breath away. That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Absolutely stunning...

Alissa and I standing in front of the pretty flowers ouside the temple.

The "group" outside the temple. I love the green doors :)
Our next stop was the Morley Farm nearby. We took a 'little' hike up the woods to see the site the old schoolhouse stood. This was also one of my favorite memories beause the trees were absolutely goregous on our way up the little hill.

Posing at the bottom of the schoolhouse hill at the Morley Farm.

The last stop of our trip was the Johnson Farm. I had never been to the farmhouse and so it was an incredible learning experience.

Outside the Johnson home with the group for one last picture!! We took ALOT of pictures this weekend ....

What a wonderful trip and experience?! I am so thankful to have church historical sites within traveling distances and the opportuntities to learn and grow from them. I am thankful to have a little break from school and other responsibilities. I am thankful for the awesome student group we have and all the fun we had on this trip...

... like CATCH PHRASE!! This is one of Alissa's favorite games and so we played it during our long car rides to entertain ourselves.

Maybe not the best idea for Chip, the driver, to be playing in the dark, while driving, with no hands on the wheel, not looking at the road, and on the highway?! Still lots of fun!!