Happy 6th Birthday Eliza!

 Eliza had a birthday and she was so excited.  On her birthday she got to be the super star in her class.  We made a poster, Lucy and I talked to the class about how cool Eliza is, and we passed out treats.  This year it was cold and it snowed on her birthday!  I told Eliza that this was the kind of weather when she was born.

 After school Lucy and I took Eliza out to lunch to McDonald's.  They ate and played around for a little while.  That evening we had Grandma and Grandpa Schwitzer and Grandma Young over for a birthday party.  Grandpa Young was out of town and we missed having him.

 Eliza really wanted a glow pet so, she was extra excited about this present.

 A Tinkerbell Jewelry box.

 A new sleeping bag.

 How we love Eliza!  She is so much fun and can tell the funniest stories.  She makes all of her siblings laugh.  She is kind and is a wonderful older and younger sister.  She loves to color and create.  She likes playing outside and loves to swing.  She just learned how to do the monkey bars at school and is very proud of herself.  She is dancing right now and enjoys doing that.  We are so happy Heavenly Father blessed our family with Eliza!

We hope you have a wonderful year!

Kirtland Temple

 The Kirtland Temple is run by the Community of Christ.  It's sad that the church does not own this temple but, it is still a very neat experience to visit this first temple.  They would not let us take any pictures inside so, we took a lot outside.  Some amazing things happen inside this temple.  Jesus Christ appeared in this temple along with Moses and Elijah.  It was neat to sit in that main room where these events occurred.

 The door was green back in the day.  I guess green was a really cheap paint color.

 Mike is standing right by the window in the temple where Christ appeared.

 We then headed down to the temple quarry to see where they had gotten all the rock to build the Kirtland temple.  You can still see where they had cut away at the stone.

We loved visiting the Kirtland temple and learning so much about our church history!

Kirtland, Ohio

 This was probably my favorite stop of our whole trip.  I learned so much in Kirtland that I didn't know.  Maybe I need to start paying more attention in Sunday School but, some pretty amazing things happened in Kirtland.

 There is not a lot of water in it now but, this is where lots of people were baptized into the church.

 Kirtland is beautiful and we just missed the fall leaves by a couple of leaves.  As I walked around I thought how hard it must have been for the saints to leave this place.

 The famous Newell K. Whitney store.  My love for the Whitney family grew as I learned all they did and sacrificed for the church.  They were an amazing family and if it wasn't for this family I think the progress of the church would have been a lot slower.

 The main store.

 They have a book in the store of people that came to the Whitney store to purchase items.  We found Mike's relative Truman Angel in the book.

 Newell K. Whitney was called as the 1st bishop of the church.  In their store was the first Bishops store house where people would come and either trade items or get help in times of need.

 The Whitney's gave Joseph and Emma the top floor of the Whitney store to run the church and as a place to live.  This is the table that Joseph and other leaders sat at.  Many revelations were received in the Whitney store.  The most famous being the Word of Wisdom.

 This is the room where the school of prophets was held.  It was in this room that visions of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ came to the men in that room.  We read some accounts from the men in that room and it brought tears to our eyes.  The spirit was so strong in that room.

 The Whitney's home in Kirtland.  They used this home to bless the lives of others.  They were constantly feeding the poor and helping with needs of the church.

 Joseph and Emma's room in the Whitney Store.

 View of the road taking you into Kirtland.

 The saw mill.

 The ashery which was owned by the Whitney family.  All money they received from this went to building the Kirtland Temple.

 The actually door that Joseph Smith walked into when he came to the Whitney store.  He told Newell K. Whitney, " You prayed me here.".

 We then stopped at the Issac Morley Farm.  Issac Morley lived outside of Kirtland but, it was on his property that the priesthood was organized within the church and missionaries were sent out.  This pictures shows Joseph Smith with the priesthood brethren and he then tells them that only little bit of the priesthood is here but, one day it will fill the whole earth.

 This is the trail that went from the east coast to Kirtland.

 Also, on the Morley farm visions of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ happened here also.

I did not realize all the visions that happened here in Kirtland.    There were also other multiple visions of Jesus Christ in Kirtland along with him appearing in the Kirtland Temple.  What a neat time to be a member of the church in Kirtland and witness such wonderful things.

Niagara Falls

 We made the drive to Niagara Falls and we went over the boarder to the Canadian side.  The view on the Canada side is so much prettier!  We got there in the evening and walked over to see the falls.

 The power behind all the water is unreal.  We just sat there and starred at the falls for a while.

 We went and got some dinner and it got dark after that.  They then put lights on the water which was cool.  The picture is blurry because it was so dark.

We stayed at a cute Bed and Breakfast.  In the morning we ate in the dinning room with all the other guest.  They were all from Virginia and all were very nice couples.  They could not believe we came all the way from Utah!  We did our best to represent!