Amazing Ohio Trip: Day 3, April 26, 2013

 

 Friday morning we took the two hour drive to Kirtland.  I was simply amazed that driving two hours east, the landscape would change drastically.  When we drove into Kirtland, I was absolutely charmed.  I had no idea how beautiful and picturesque this community is.  Vibrant green grass, dense clusters of trees, and even a river running through it.  I could easily imagine living there. 

Our Church has a visitors center, and we stopped and had a fun tour that started out with a beautifully done movie from the perspective of Ann Whitney.  Although I had studied up a little on our church history in Ohio, I hadn't learned much about the Whitney family, but this movie (and the tour) gave me admiration for the faithful Whitney family.  The sister missionaries took us on a tour to the Newel K. Whitney store and the Whitney home. 

Seeing the old store and the old home, made it easier to imagine what had happened in Ohio.  To see this beautiful community, oh, I wanted to live there!

 

 

 I was thrilled the kids enjoyed the tour as well, seeing as one of the children had lost screen time for the entire weekend, and we had a rocky start on the way here.  But the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I did as well.  Seeing the ovens and the simpleness of the homes, brought so much gratitude to my heart for all the wonderful inventions that make my life as a mother and homemaker so much easier!

 In front of the Whitney Home.

 In front of the Johnson Inn.

 We headed over to the Kirtland temple afterwards and had a tour.  I had forgotten that our Church does not own this beautiful temple, so it was a little surreal to see that another church claims the same founding prophet and apostles as their own.  Still, the people were warm and kind, and we got a wonderful tour of the temple. It doesn't seem to be used as a temple, but is rather a historical monument.  It was fascinating to see and to imagine the early church members meeting there, and the joy they felt when the temple was completed.  The sacrifices they made when building the temple is so inspiring. It makes me want to be better and not take for granted their sacrifices and the abundance of temples we have today.

We finished our day with dinner at the Fun Buffet, an Asian buffet with Sushi and a hibachi grill.  So fun.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed the buffet, especially since they had a lot of American fare as well, and about ten different desserts to choose from.  I love watching my kids at buffets, it's so adorable how excited they are. 

We settled into our hotel room and my parents took the kids swimming.  I was so grateful my parents still had some energy left, since I just crashed on the bed. (My springtime allergies had kind of wiped me out!) It was wonderful to have back-up!