EnterTrainment Junction

On Monday, we went to EnterTrainment Junction to celebrate Blake's birthday.

They have the world's largest model train display. It was huge. Dylan really enjoyed the trains.

They also had an area that was just for kids.

Grandpa got a shirt for Dylan so they could match.

Blake got to ride on a train.

Then we got to play with some train tables.

There was a train that you could shovel coal in.

And a play area.

The Birthday Boy had fun. 

The next day we returned home...yes, the day that American Airlines had a computer system outage. What?! It was terrible. The kids weren't feeling good, their bodies were confused as to what time it was, and well, they were tired since it took about 18 hours to get home. We ended up going home on a different airline and flying into LAX, which is much farther away from our house. We get on the freeway and 20 minutes into our drive home, the freeway is closed...of course. That was just how the day went. But we made it and are happy to be back.

Happy Birthday Blake

Blake turned 4 on Sunday. Both the kids were sick and after Blake nearly hacking up a lung at church, we left. We had some yummy ice cream cake.

Everyone enjoyed it.

Dylan was not only sick, but also teething. Somehow me managed to eat some cake.

He opened a present from mom and dad.

A lego dump truck! Happy Birthday Blake!

Tractor

Later on Saturday, we went over to Jake's house to feed the fish in his pond and ride his tractor.
















Grandpa got the tractor fired up.

Dylan went out for a spin with Grandpa.

Dylan enjoyed the ride. Blake did not want to go on the tractor.

Dylan thought he was a big boy and could drive it by himself.

He is just the right size for the tractor, right?

Blake finally got on the tractor.

Blake found his new love!

Park

The next day, Saturday, we went to the park.

Even though it was cold, the kids needed to get out and play.

After the park, we went over to play with Evan...my parents' neighbors' kid. They had a blast and Blake loved playing with Evan's legos and riding his little car. 

Columbus

The next day, we drove the 4 1/2 hours from Kirtland to Oxford. Along the way, we made a few stops and took zero pictures to prove it, but this is what we did:
-Visit with Chris and Jen Walker and their two boys, Michael and Zach. Chris is a law professor at Ohio State, but wasn't teaching that day. The boys all loved playing together and we enjoyed catching up with them.
-Visited with the Mission President and his wife. President and Sister Nilsen are great. There were some great things we discussed, but my favorite was seeing and holding one of the first published copies of The Book of Mormon (they say 500 are still around). It was in great condition.
-Visited the Mission Office.
-Went out to dinner and got another movie to keep the kids content for the rest of the drive.

Kirtland Sites

After the Johnson Farm, we went and took naps, then went back to Kirtland and did the rest of the sites. This is the Johnson Inn. This was the first MTC, first patriarchal blessings given here, a printing press was here and also people slept here.

Whitney Home. The Whitney family opened up their home to the Smith's and would frequently have others over for dinner.

The boys enjoyed the water powered sawmill.

And Blake got to "help" in the ashery where they produced potash. The profit was used to fund the Church and went to helping to build the Kirtland Temple and print scriptures.

Here is the ashery and sawmill along the river.

We also visited the Whitney Store. Many wonderful things happened there. Probably the coolest are the Word of Wisdom and another visitation from Christ. 

Here is the family outside. The Whitney family, along with the Johnson family and many others, sure sacrificed a lot to help out the Smiths and the Church.

John Johnson Farm

The next day we drove out to the John Johnson Farm, where Joseph Smith and his family stayed for awhile and where some really neat things happened..and also, not so neat like him being tarred and feathered. A lot of revelations were received here as well. Sections 1, 65-69, 71, 73, 74, 76-81, 99 and 133 from the D&C were received here.

We took the family picture right where Joseph Smith would lead some meetings.

Blake took a picture of one of the missionaries who took us on the tour.

The Farm has about 100 acres and the house itself is a good size. Sister Johnson liked very vibrant colors so it was fun to see how she decorated compared to other houses that we saw on our trip.

The kids needed to get some energy out after the tour.

It was a chilly, but great to be able to see.

Cemetery

We then headed over to the cemetery, which is in between the temple and...

Joseph Smith Sr.'s house.

The Smith twins are buried there.

Parley P. Pratt's wife is buried there...and many more.

Quarry

Next we took a little hike to the quarry where they got some of the stone to build the temple with.

You can still see the holes where they drilled the stone out.

That just looks heavy. They sure went through a lot to get that temple built.

Kirtland Temple

We recently got back from a week long trip to Ohio where my parents are finishing up their mission. We flew into Cleveland and the next day we went to the Kirtland Temple.

We got to go on the tour. First you see a video and then you get to walk over to the temple and go inside.

It was very interesting to see the temple where there is so much history behind. The doors are huge! They are almost 10 feet tall and weigh 300 pounds.

Welcome to cold Ohio.