Kolby's first day as a Buckaroo

Does he look excited? I must be getting old cause it just doesn't seem that long ago that I was sending my kids to first day's of school at Kanab Elementary.

This is the Grandin Press in Palmyra where the first printing of the Book of Mormon was done.

Each letter of the book had to be hand set. I can't even imagine how teadious that would be.
Then it was inked and pressed on the paper. The pages were hung to dry.
Then folded and sewed together. They were cut to size and then bound in sheep leather. They said it took about 18 months to finish the first printing. There were 5,000 printed.

Hill Cumorah

This is the top of the Hill Cumorah. There are about 6000 chairs. People begin to come and reserve seats in the afternoon. While they are waiting the cast goes around and talks to the audience. That is what made me want to go to on a mission. It was great to ask people what they knew about the church and if they wanted to have missionaries come to their homes. The cast now is made up of families so it was fun to talk to them and they handed out referral cards and pass along cards.
This is a statue at the top of the hill of the Angel Moroni. It was a tough climb up the hill.
The hill was covered with trees. I wondered how he found a rock on that hill. We saw pictures of the hill in the 1800s though and it was bald, no trees at all.
This was my favorite part of the pagent... when the Savior returns and blesses the children. When I was there I was one of the wicked people who burned Abinadi. I always wonder if my heart would be soft enough to hear and obey. I've been very blessed to have the gospel in my life.

Sacred Grove

It was a hot, muggy day when we went to the Sacred Grove. Once we got in the trees though there was a slight breeze and it was 10 degrees cooler. It was such a beautiful day. There is such a calm, reverent feeling there.
The sun shows through occasionally to let the light shine through. You can picture in your mind a pillar of light desending on a young man, searching for truth. It's such a simple story, someone asking for greater light and knowledge and the Lord giving it. It happened to me 30 years ago.
Thiry years ago while I was at the Hill Cumorah Pagent, we listened to the Missionary disscusions. They asked us, as if we were investigators, if we had ever prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. One of the girls there said she hadn't and it made me realize I had never asked specifically to know if he was a prophet. Later that day we had a chance to go to the Sacred Grove. We each got to go our own way to pray and ponder what happened there. I knelt down and asked for myself if Joseph Smith was a prophet, if the Book of Mormon was true and if God had appeared to him. Immediately my heart was filled with the assurance that it was all true. When I think about it now, it is as fresh in my memory as it was then. I know Joseph Smith asked and recieved answers because I did too! It is a Sacred Place.

Smith's Frame home

Alvin started this frame home because he wanted his parents to have a nice place to live as they got older. He died before it was finished so Hyrum and his brothers finished it.
This sister was from Italy and had such a good spirit about her. She shared her testimony of how happy and loving the Smith family was. Lucy (Joseph's mother) used alot of herbs so her sons built an herb rack above the kitchen table for her to dry her herbs. They also built a nice rock sink for her.
This was the hearth that Joseph hid the plates under. He was so obedient to the promptings of the spirit. Many times he had impressions to move the plates.
This is the coopers shed. It was where they made wooden containers to collect maple, store food ect. Joseph hid the plates under the floor boards once but he recieved a prompting that a mob would come and he should move them. He immediatly moved them and that night a mob came and pulled up all the floor boards. Had he not listened to the prompting, they would have been found.
This is the fence by the apple orchard where he fell on his way back to his house to tell his Mom about what Moroni told him. Moroni appeared to him again here.

Palmyra

Palmyra Temple We didn't go in because you have to bring your own clothes. The windows are stained glass depicting the Sacred Grove. You can look out the windows and see the Sacred Grove.
This is the log cabin that Joseph Smith's family lived in. 9 people lived in this house.
This is a family Bible opene to James. It impressed me how prepared the whole family was to accept and support Joseph. They were a close, loving family that worked together well.
This is the living room/kitchen area of the log cabin.
This is the bedroom upstairs in the log cabin where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph. There would have been 5 brothers in two beds but no one but Joseph saw and heard him.

Martin Harris mortgaged this home and his farm for $3000 to print the Book of Mormon.

New York Trip 2008

Randy and I and his brother Roger and Carol Ann went on a trip to the New York and Kirtland church history sites. It was an amazingly fun trip. Roger and Carol Ann are alot of fun to be around and we learn new card games everytime. I had been in the Cumorah Pagent when I was 20 but Randy had never been to any of these sites before. It was interesting to me to see it 30 years later and see all the changes the church has made and but more interesting was seeing it from the eyes of an adult. It really made me appreciate the sacrifices that those early saints made.

RCBrown

Remembering...
Life can not all be absorbed at once, so we remember
and learn
and grow