The Big Apple

  Wes and I got home a week ago from a trip to New York sans kids!  A huge shout out to our parents for watching our kids for us!!  They had so much fun with their grandparents they hardly missed us. 
  This was the first trip that was more than a one-nighter that Wes and I had gotten away from all of our kids for over 5 years!  It was nice to be able to have a break from cooking dinner, cleaning up messes, and not having to jump to 3 kids' needs constantly, although I missed the kids and was so ready to see them by the time we got home!
  Even though we had a great time, this was not a restful and relaxing trip by any means.  Wes had never been to New York before and wanted to pack in as much as possible in the week we had, which is understandable.  But waking up at 7:00 am New York time (which is really 4:00 am our time) is not relaxing.  However, it was worth it and we had a great time.  I tried to take as many pictures as possible so we could remember what we saw and did.  I'd been to New York 11 years ago but there's so much to see there that there were some things I missed on that trip, like Central Park pictured above and below.

When I went to New York with my family it was just a few months before 9/11 happened.  So there were some obvious differences there now.  It was crazy how much security has been heightened all over the city.  Most of the big tourist places we went to you had to go through metal detectors and there were way more police officers all over the city than I ever remembered seeing before. 

 

 

One of the towers that's being rebuilt now.

You can't tell by the picture below but the memorial built to remember the victims of 9/11 was very impressive.  The huge square waterfalls were made in the footprints of the two towers that went down and the victims names were engraved in around the sides of both of them.  They were amazing!

After spending 3 busy days in New York City we made the 6 hour drive up to Palmyra, New York to visit the history sites of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I'd seen some of the sites before, but had missed out on a few. 

We went to church at this beautiful chapel in Fayette. 

Right next to the chapel is a small log home made to represent the David Whitmer home where the church was organized in 1830.

  My favorite part was going to where The Book of Mormon was printed.  The sister missionaries there showed us step by step the tedious process of printing the book.  The hand of God was definitely evident in all of the events that occured to bring forth this marvelous book.  For those of you who have never read The Book of Mormon, I encourage you to.  I am touched as I read it each day at the parallels between events that happened hundreds of years ago and how they apply to my life and give me faith to move forward even when times are tough.  It is a gift from God!

Wes and I inside of Joseph Smith's home.

The Sacred Grove

We also got to visit the Palmyra temple.  The stained glass windows pictured the Sacred Grove and were beautiful!

After seeing the sights in Palmyra we jumped in the car again and headed to Niagra Falls. 

 

 

  We took a boat that showed us all 3 of the breath taking falls.  You can only see 2 of the falls from the U.S. border.

 This was both of our birthday presents to each other and Happy Anniversary trip to us, which all fall within a few months of each other.  And speaking of birthdays, I was a negligent wife and did a post on the kids birthdays, but never posted anything about Wes's birthday.  Shame on me.  Wes is a great husband and I'm so glad that we had a week to spend together and focus on each other.  Thanks for planning a fabulous trip, honey, and here's to many more years together!