Palmyra-General Conference!

One night I cut Elden's hair and Shanna helped fix it. She is almost done with her tests for her cosmetology license!

For the first part of General Conference we went up to Palmyra with Bryleigh Geary. We wanted to leave really early in the morning but our Chevy was acting a bit weird. So we scrapped going to Niagra Falls and instead went to Winchester to rent a minivan. We then headed up to New York state to the Peter Whitmer Farm for our first official stop. 

After our tour we went to Palmyra!  It's the first part of April and looks like winter still. So in Joseph Smith's history when he says it was early in the spring when he prayed in the woods near his house, it might have looked like this. 

Sacred Grove. 

Bryleigh stayed and read her patriarchal blessing while some went back to the Chevy. 

Next stop baptisms at the temple. We were walk-ins and had to wait about 45 minutes.  So we read scriptures and headed back in. I was surprised when they said that most people don't come back. 

The infamous Chill & Grill!!! We enjoyed a yummy dinner and ice cream. We saw people from the temple there too haha. 

Our rental!

Walmart run before we went to the house rental. These were funny.

We checked into the rental and got our stuff inside. I was telling everyone that the house was fine, but wasn't anything special. Kind of a "grandma" type house....no offense to grandmas! Anyway, we walked inside and it smelled so stale! Ha. I went back to Walmart and got air freshners. The rental van smelled really weird too. Almost like a nursing home. We hung out a little that night and the kids watched some of Frozen 2 I think. 

The next morning we had eggs and bacon for breakfast.  The weather wasn't super great, which I expected and I had umbrellas and ponchos for my family. First up was the Hill Cumorah. 

The people we saw at the temple last night took our picture for us!

Next up the Grandin Print Shop! 

I forgot or didn't know that the Book of Mormon was advertised in the local newspaper. 

I wanted to go to the Smith homes and Sacred Grove again before general conference but we ran out of time. Thankfully the rental house was only about 15 minutes away. We stopped at Dollar General, Dunkin Donuts and yep, Chill & Grill. 

Sleepy kids....

Frank!  I mean, Chatham!

During the second session we went to the Smith homes and the Sacred Grove. 

Beehives!

Some cute fox kits!

Before the last session we did a THIRD trip to the Grill & Chill. My kids talked us in to it. Haha. 

We then walked around these cute homes on the pier in Canandaigua. 

Pizza for dinner during the last Saturday session! 

Fun infographic. 

We left early morning Sunday. We picked up our Chevy that we left at a church parking lot, then returned the rental van. We dropped Bryleigh at her dorm then headed back for the first Sunday session! So exciting to see the Prophet speak the last session. Yay!  And another temple announced in Virginia--Norfolk. WOW! 

We played a really long game of Rummikub. 

Spring seemed to come while we were in New York! So pretty here. 

Clark was able to spend time with family that weekend. There was a big get-together at Roger's Sunday night. I love it!  Clark was also able to go to a couple sessions at the conference center! 

We loved General Conference!  What a great weekend. I started ordering some new camping gear. The new tents arrived!!

Haha a picture from Elder Robertson. He is loving serving with Elder Richeson. 

I am gathering some things for the Passover meal, the Seder meal, for Easter. It was fun getting these crackers from Walmart. I bought some special and specific Passover plates too. 

Our last senior night!  Shanna's senior night for spring track. 

It was fun seeing Katelyn that night too!

Lots of laughs at home!

We loved seeing Elden throw shot put and discus that night!!!

Pole vault and hurdles for Shanna.

Temple morning!

Got rid of some things...though it's a weekly occurrence for me to declutter things here and there. 

Elden sporting his new rain jacket!  He's loving his OneWheel too. 

Lee and I went to Torchy's Tacos. Fun place, but I didn't like their chips. 

More jacket pics!

Elden making Sunday nachos. 

Haley made some vanilla/lavender/honey ice cream!

We invited the youth to come over for a general conference recap. It's so fun hearing what the youth liked from conference. Dessert time!

Horse and buggies out!

Lee took Elden and Haley on a ride at Blue Ridge School. Elden tried out his OneWheel on the trails. 

At Halloween these people put out the skeleton and dog. It's been funny seeing the new outfits the skeleton and dog get. Pilgrims at Thanksgiving, Santa at Christmas, and basketball gear at Final Four time. Now Easter Bunny themed. 

We were able to see Liam and Brennon play soccer one night against East Rock. We sat by David, Lee and Shar. 

It's Easter week!  One night we made oil lamps. I didn't do everything I wanted that week, but it was a better honor of the Easter season thus far. 

The young women president, Lydia Liskey, told me that she volunteered to do the Easter ward get-together. I offered to do the Easter eggs. I decided to donate all our Easter eggs. I bought almost 300 more.  LOTS of eggs for all the kids!  It took awhile, but got it all done. Thankfully Lee helped me one night and then Elden did 10 eggs for me, ha ha.