Matt & Shauna: April 2012

NIAGRA FALLS

April 22nd, 2012

Crossed another thing off my bucket list today!!! :) We spent the majority of the day at Niagra falls. The high today was 49 degrees but we just put about 4 layers on and headed out. We stayed out there for over 3 hours the first time. We walked all around. Talk about GORGEOUS!

Someone got married right in front of the falls. It was just the couple, the officiator and a photographer. It was kinda cool, but quite sad that they had no family there. Fun for us to see. We took a picture. :) Along with every other tourist there.

The coolest part was going on the Maid of the Mist boat that takes you all around the falls. We all put on the ponchos and went out to see it up close and personal. Even Zoey got a cute little kid poncho! She was such a trooper too! It was a cold day and we got wet and all and she didn't seem to mind at all. We tried to keep her somewhat dry but it literally is impossible.

We went out again at night to see it all lit up! I LOVE the American side! You can take a walk up the river all the way to the falls and you can get less than 3 feet from the falls! The Canadian side has a better view but from much farther away. Those city lights across the way are Canada.

Horseshoe Falls at night! Gorgeous!

Zoey is going to love this picture one day :)

Then we went back to the hotel and warmed up :) Zoey always has a lot of fun. Everything is a toy to her. She's precious! It was fun to take her on a lil road trip!

Palmyra, NY

April 20th

We've been wanting to take this trip for a little while now. Palmyra is less than 6 hours from us so we thought we'd pay a visit while we're living out here.

Our road trip wasn't bad at all. We went with some friends and caravaned there. Steph and I just laughed when we saw each other! :) ha ha ha... Two prego ladies in the identical outfit. Cute and comfy...great minds think alike!

Zoey didn't mind the trip much at all! She just played with her toes and she was especially loved it cause we gave her a bit of our shake.

We left just after 3 and had a beautiful drive. Of course bridges and sunsets are what I took pics of!

April 21st

The next day was church history day. We started just out of Palmyra at Peter Whitmer's home and the church. This is where they officially restored the LDS church to the earth on April 6th, 1830. It's also where some of the Book of Mormon was translated.It was fun to see but I'm sure glad I didn't live in those days! We have things so nice and easy for us now! I love the luxuries of technology and all!

This is the church that they built on Peter Whitmer's property.

Then we made our way to Palmyra where we got to see the Smith home(s).
This is the epitome of why Joseph Smith was so torn about which religion to join back in the 1800's.This corner has 4 different churches. The Methodist, The Zion Episcopal, Presbyterian, and the First Baptist church. It just really shows the religious diversity in Palmyra.

Palmyra LDS Temple

This is the 1st house.

And their second house that Alvin started building for them before he died. 80% of this structure is original! Cool, huh? And the box sitting on the dresser in the bottom right corner is where Joseph used to hide the plates.

The Sacred Grove was really neat to see and be surrounded by. The apostles have said that it is the 2nd most sacred ground after Gethsemane. There are places to walk around and sit and have your own spiritual moment. Unfortunately it was raining and the kids were running around like crazy but we were still very blessed to be there. :)

This was one of my favorite things!!! It's the Book of Mormon publication site. The Missionaries really knew their stuff and I thought the info was very intriguing. Most places refused to publish the Book of Mormon in fear that the ridicule would be so much that they would go out of business. The owner of this place also turned them down several times but in turn softened his heart when they decided to go back one last time to ask if he would print it here.

So above in the top right corner is where they sorted all the letters in different fonts and sizes to place individually on something that looks like this.

Can you believe they had to hand place every single letter in the Book of Mormon. There are 6,607 verses in the Book of Mormon and who knows how many words! That would take forever!

Then below is the actual press that they used. They would make 16 pages on one paper and then hang them to dry before folding, cutting, and hand bind them all as a book. It's no wonder why Martin Harris had to mortgage his home in order to afford having the Book of Mormon published. He paid $3000 for 5000 Books of Mormon. They didn't cut any costs, they wanted the nicest of the nicest for the books. They got the best type of bindings and the best type of covers and all. So the Books ended up being quite pricy, which we don't really think about today, cause we don't really have to buy them. The average Book of Mormon was over $1.25 which back then which was an average of 3 days wages. It was one of the most expensive books! Yet many people bought them!

Another fun fact is that it took 8 months for several trained men and boys working 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week to complete the first few copies. It was officially out on shelves 11 days before the church was established on April, 6th, 1830. They didn't finish all of the binding until July of 1831.

This is an original bible from that time period and on the right is one of the 5000 original Book of Mormons. Neat huh?

Can you tell I was really intrigued by all of this. People would be dumbstruck to see me typing this on my computer and then being able to push print :)

These paintings are also originals! Beautiful paintings.

Can you tell I was really intrigued by all of this. People would be dumbstruck to see me typing this on my computer and then being able to push print :)

Last stop was the Hill Cumorah visitors center. Where Moroni was sent to be taught and eventually to get the golden plates to translate. Not much to see, but there is a monument there with the angel Moroni on top.

Excerpt from my journal from that day.

There wasn't too much to see there. It's geared toward non-members and stuff but we did get to do something that was cool. The Joseph Smith movie (that I have seen before) was slightly redone using journal entries from Lucy Max Smith. So we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie in a small room with just Matt and I and Zoey. It was cool to see the movie in his home town where it all began! I am glad we re-watched it! But boy what a frustrating movie. It makes me have so many mixed emotions! For one, it makes me angry that people were so horrible to Joseph and all the saints back then. I just don't understand why. When I think someone believes something crazy, dumb, totally wrong, or even insane, I just simply disagree and leave it at that. I don't know why they would tar and feather, beat, imprison, and murder just because they didn't believe what was being said. I really just can't comprehend how horrible these people were! Seriously they weren't human! It makes me sick and infuriates me! Another emotion it makes me feel is despicable. I feel like I am nothing compared to those who were there from the beginning and from the pioneers. There is no way my faith could be tested that much and come out better for it. There is a part in the movie where Emma asks Joseph if he ever asks himself if God is asking too much of them, and he says he doesn't allow himself to. I wonder how that can even be? He and Emma went through so much! I can't imagine losing Zoey after she'd only been alive for a couple hours! And then having several more of my children die. That would be enough for me to break! But then to have my husband be torn from our home and beated, tared, feathered, imprisoned, wrongly accused for so many things, and then eventually killed! Emma is just an incredible person. There is a part in the movie that shows Emma and Joseph letting a bunch of kids who had traveled there from far away and had lost their mom, sleep in their bed. Their sleeping on the floor and Joseph turns to Emma and says that God wants them to build a temple and they just laugh about how long it has taken them to build a house for these kids and their father, let alone how long it would take to build a house for God. They were such amazing people. I wish I could be such a person! But I know I was born at this time because I have different strengths, which in no way compares to theirs. I'm just glad that God didn't set me up for failure. Cause had he sent me then, I just know I would have failed! Ah! I have so much respect and love for those who sacrificed so much so that I could enjoy the benefits of being a member of Christ's church in this day and age! I love them so much and look forward to meeting them and showing my gratitude for them in the next life! I take for granted The Book Of Mormon and need to be more appreciative and grateful for it. A lot of people gave their lives so that I could read that book today! What a blessing.

I'm glad we went to these sights. Although it was difficult to have an extremely spiritual experience with all the kids running around, I sure gained a much higher amount of appreciation for everything that took place so that I could enjoy the blessings and have the knowledge that I do now!!!

It was really a great and memorable day!