Philly!

Independence Hall

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Random statue along our way.

Philly has lots of cool fountains around the city.

Rocky!

We spent yesterday afternoon in Philadelphia.  It's about 2 1/2 hours away, so we invited our friends Neal and Katie to join us.  We started off seeing the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  It was pretty neat to be in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed.  I love living so close to all of this history.  After we stopped for some lunch, and of course, had to get a Philly cheesesteak!  They were yummy!  We then headed to Love park (where the love sign is) and the Rocky steps.  We walked a ton and had fun seeing downtown Philly.  We had beautiful weather, and it was a perfect fall day!  

Palmyra/Niagara Falls

Hill Cumorah

This is where the Hill Cumorah pageant takes place.

 Smith Family Home

This is the upstairs room where all of the boys slept.  

Looking at the Palmyra temple from the Sacred Grove

 Alvin's House

This tree was planted for Alvin, after he died.  

The Sacred Grove

Book of Mormon Publication Site

Martin Harris Home

The Observation Tower

At the top of the Observation Tower

We spent last weekend in Palmyra/Niagara Falls.  We took off Friday morning and drove to Palmyra first.  We had beautiful weather the first day that we were there.  Blue skies, sunny and warm.  We went to the Hill Cumorah visitor's center first and then headed over to the Smith Family home and the Sacred Grove.  The Smith home was tiny, with really low ceilings!  I don't know how they lived there with so many people.  Alvin's house was bigger and had more normal ceilings.  The Sacred Grove was beautiful.  It was a neat experience to be in such a sacred place and to reflect on how blessed we are to be members of Jesus Christ's church.  We were also able to go to the Book of Mormon Publication site where it was first published.  We went on a tour that goes through the whole process to make the Book of Mormon.  The spent the next morning at a session in the temple.  It is a small temple, but beautiful!

After the temple we drove to Niagara Falls.  It was rainy and cool, but still amazing to see!  We went on a boat ride, The Maid of the Mist, to get really close to all of the falls.  I wish it would have been as nice as the day before, but rain or shine, the falls are beautiful!  I'm so glad that we were able to go and see it!  We stopped at Hard Rock for some lunch/dinner and then headed back to our hotel to watch some football!  It was so much fun to spend a weekend away and to go somewhere new.  Now we are only 4 weeks away from Baby Teachout joining our family!  We are so excited!!