We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow and ice. One of our van doors was entirely crusted shut with ice, and didn't start working again until the last day of our trip. But! The snow was fluffy and beautiful and, thankfully had stopped by the time we were ready to make our way over to the Joseph Smith family farm. After breakfast and swimming, we pulled a total midwestern family hack. We didn't have our snow boots and there was no way that we were going to survive this day of sightseeing with wet tennis shoes, so we all put ice bucket liner bags over our socks and into our shoes. It seemed a little silly but it totally worked and we were all happier because of it!
The Joseph Smith family farm visitor's center was beautiful!
Again, we had the site to ourselves, and wow, it was incredible.
We started in the original log cabin where Joseph Smith lived when he was a 14-year-old boy.
It was a tight squeeze but clearly a happy home.
The missionaries pointed out that while we don't know the exactly location of the First Vision or where exactly the golden plates were buried in the Hill Cumorah, we do know that this room was the exact place and "air space" where Moroni visited Joseph Smith. That was a beautiful thought.
We also visited the bigger Smith family home
where Joseph would have hidden the plates under the floorboards,
and the barn where he hid the plates up in the rafters.
We could see the temple!
I know that Heavenly Father cares about the tiniest details of our lives. While we knew that we weren't going to get a full green "bees were humming, sweet birds singing" springtime view the Sacred Grove, I really wasn't sure that a forest full of brown and tan sticks and grass (the standard winter look) was going to leave the same impression. What we experienced this morning with the freshly fallen snow was so much more beautiful than that!
We spent a good bit of time in the grove, talking quietly and thinking about how the events of this place have changed the world and changed our lives, and we sang a slightly irreverent winter version of "O How Lovely Was the Morning" that included lyrics like "noses running, feet were freezing, deer were crossing through the grove". It was a sweet experience that I don't think any of us will ever forget.
The kids found this little ladybug in the visitors center- they wanted to keep him in our car but I assured them that he needed to stay with the missionaries.
We stopped into the temple for a quick minute. It was beautiful outside and inside, with a perfect view of the Sacred Grove.
Next on our way, and to to warm up, we visited the Grandin Print Shop, where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed.
Again, we had the full attention of the missionaries, and we had a fascinating walk through the process of printing the first Book of Mormon, and we were all very happy to be warm again!
The artifacts and artwork throughout the shop were incredible!
We would have loved to stay there longer, but we had one more stop to make- the Hill Cumorah!
We were cold and getting a bit tired, but our feet were still dry and we came all this way- there was no way we were going to miss out on the opportunity to climb to the top of this incredible hill!
The kids have all heard the tales of the missionaries who tore their pants sledding on this hill!
It was a beautiful little hike, and apparently we took the long way up. Emma tried turning over a few stones along the way to see if she could find where the plates had been buried.
Eventually we made it to the top.
It was really, really windy!
But really, really beautiful. What an incredible place!
Once we wrapped up there we had six hours in the car between us and Grandma and Grandpa!
This was probably the hardest leg of the entire trip. Lots of blowing and accumulating snow eventually forced us to get out of the car and wander around Target for an unwanted hour, but once we got back in the car the roads were much clearer and, eventually, we made it to the main attraction of our entire trip- Grandma and Grandpa!
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