Palmyra, New York

 I love Palmyra and think it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.  It's also the place where the most important event in this dispensation happened.  The Smith log home is where Joseph lived as a young boy.

 The back door looking out to the Sacred Grove.

 This is upstairs where all the children slept.  It was in this room that the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith to tell him about the Gold Plates.

 The Smith Log Home.

 The Frame home that Alvin built for the family.

 It was in this room that Joseph Smith brought the gold plates.

 He then hid them under these bricks by the fireplace.

 This is Alvin's tree.  It was planted right after Alvin died.  This is a Black Locust tree and the Gardener said he has never seen a locust live this long or get this big.

 The Smith family farm is beautiful!

 The sacred grove has an unbelievable spirit in it.  Mike and I walked around for about hour.  We were the only people in the grove at the time.  We said a prayer together in the grove and it was a really neat experience.

 We took so many pictures.  It was so beautiful in there.

 I love that we have built a Temple in Palmyra.  I know that Joseph Smith would be so happy to have a temple right across the street from the Sacred Grove and where he grew up.

 The Hill Cumorah.

 Mike was pretty sure this is where the plates had been buried.  He loves church history and did his research.

 The Moroni statue at the top of the hill.

 The E.B Grandin printing press.  This is where the Book of Mormom was first published and printed.

 It was a pretty messy project back in those days!

 They let me fold and put together my very own Book of Mormon.

 Alvins' grave.

 This is Martin Harris's Farm.  It must have been so hard to mortgage such a beautiful piece of land.  He must of had a lot of a faith!

We really enjoyed staying here and spending our Sabbath Day seeing the sites around Palmyra!

Peter Whitmer Farm

 The Peter Whitmer Farm was an amazing place to visit.  It was in this log home that the Church was organized at April 6,1830.  They packed 60 people into that little cabin!

 Joseph and Emma lived here for 6 months and during that time Joseph and Oliver finished translating the Book of Mormon.  Also, on this property Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and David Whitmer were shown the gold plates.

The church does such a great job preserving these church sites.  I didn't get a picture because it was a down pour outside, but there is the most beautiful stake center right on the farm.  In 1980 President Kimball prod cast General Conference from that Stake Center.  It's a pretty cool place and means a lot to me as a member of the true church.

New York City

 Mike and I have both been to New York before so, we just wanted to see some things that we have missed over the years.  Mike had never been to the top of the Empire State Building so, we took the elevator ride up and is it every worth it!

 The skyline sure has changed since the last time I was in New York City back in 1999.

 We went and ate dinner and then walked around Rockefeller Plaza and visited the American Girl Doll store.  We got some treats for our 3 wonderful girl's.

 Time Square was great.  We got some gelato and sat and peopled watched.

 Next morning we went to Central Park and enjoyed the beauty of that park right in the middle of a huge city.

 We then went to he 9/11 memorial.  We were kind of disappointed with this memorial.  There were no American flags waving anywhere and everything seemed dark and depressing.  I understand this just opened so maybe over the years they will add some color and life to it.

 The new Freedom Tower.

 We were there right after September 11th and there were lots of roses on the names.

 We wanted to check out where our hard earned money goes...Wall street.

The famous Bull in the financial district.  We had a great day in New York City and definitely got our exercise for the day walking around that city!