Visiting Kirtland

Kirtland, Ohio is only about 5 hours from us, so ever since we moved to New York, we've been saying we were going to go... and we finally made it. I'm so glad we did, since it was so pretty and such a spiritual place! We went with some dear friends -- Andrea served her mission here in New York, as a site sister. She spent many months serving in our ward, Fayette. She went home about 1 1/2 years ago, and we've stayed good friends. She came back to visit New York, bringing with her husband (Deven) and her parents. It was our great privilege to go with them to Kirtland.

Newel K. Whitney store. He was the first bishop of the church. Opened his home and store to the Prophet Joseph. Such a neat man!

Inside the store

Upstairs in the store - this was the room that Joseph Smith used as his office.

Inside the store, in the room used for the School of the Prophets. Such an amazing feeling in here!!

Historic Kirtland - so pretty!

Johnson Inn, where missionaries would meet to begin their missions - persecution was bad enough that they had to meet in the dead of night in order to get out safely.

Loving the tour

The saw mill, owned by Bishop Whitney

Gorgeous scenery!

The ashery, also owned by Bishop Whitney. These were made here in the ashery, then sold to people who ground them up for windows, china, etc.

Cory, playing around in the ashery

More gorgeous scenery. The weather was perfect!

The Kirtland Temple (yes, now owned by the Community of Christ)

Kirtland Temple - we got to go on a tour through the inside, which was neat/weird. It was used as more of what we now call a tabernacle - for big meetings, etc. It also has classrooms on the 3rd floor, where Joseph Smith had an office, and where Hebrew classes were held.

Me and Andrea on the steps of the temple. She's one of my most favorite people. And no, we didn't purposefully coordinate outfits, but aren't we cute?

Kirtland Temple

We drove the 55 minutes out to Hiram, to see the John Johnson farm. Emma and Joseph also lived here for a while.

Joseph and Emma's bedroom - remembered particularly since it was out of this room that Joseph was dragged, to be tarred and feathered in a nearby field. The mobsters hoped to stop him from preaching the next morning, but when morning came, he was out on the front porch, preaching like normal.

In this room was where the 76th section of the D&C was received - God the Father and Christ appeared here, in vision.

The Johnson Farm

Isaac Morley farm - another place where Joseph and Emma lived.

Morley Farm - there was a cabin built up here, which is where the 4th General Conference of the church was held. It's also another known place that God the Father and Christ appeared.

The 6 of us.

Me and Cory, in the clearing of where the cabin stood.

One of the things that struck me most about Kirtland was how willing the saints were to open their homes to the prophet and his family. The spirit in Kirtland was undeniable. Given that we've lived the last 3 years where the church started, it was so neat to see where the saints went when they left New York. A trip to remember, definitely!

The rest of our weekend was relaxing. After conquering our mounds of laundry, we chilled. We ate at Five Guys (so yummy!), saw Star Trek (LOVED it!), had friends up from New Jersey for a nice Sunday afternoon visit, BBQ'd on Monday with other friends ... all-in-all, it was quite a nice mini-break! It's been so long since we had time to chill and just do whatever we wanted. I rather enjoyed it!!

GAH!

Look at this!!! Yea!!! Oh, I seriously can't wait...

The last hurdle...

Well, I have no pictures to post... but good news to share. In order to be a licensed chiropractor, one must take 4 National Board tests. Cory took Part 4 this weekend... which means HE'S DONE! It's a huge test, hands-on, costs over $1000... so yeah, it was a very big deal. He's worked so hard to get where he is, and I'm so proud of him! And soooo glad he's done!! He's only got a couple months left of class and clinic work... and then he graduates. His formal education will be complete. We're starting to see the proverbial 'light at the end of the tunnel' and it feels great! To celebrate, we're taking off on Thursday for Kirtland and we're going with some dear friends. I'm really looking forward to seeing the sights there, spending time with friends & Cory, and not having the stress of such a huge test hanging over us. Well done, Cory!!

Spring... finally

While it's been spring-like temperatures for a couple of weeks now, it's only been in the last week that the vegetation has finally begun to spring to life. Seriously, through the end of April, most of the trees were still bare. Now pretty much everything has come to life and it's beautiful. I love the haze of green I see everywhere I drive.

Everyone always says they love the fall colors... and I include myself in that category... but I also love the spring colors! Green, obviously, but purples and pinks, too.

Our yard - in the forefront is some kind of white lilac type tree (I think) and it smells divine - and in the back are trees that flower with gorgeous white blossoms, before they eventually turn into just leaves.

NYCC campus - no idea what kind of tree it is, but it's beautiful and colorful.

Another tree on campus - again, no idea what it is - but I like it!

A view from my co-worker's office, overlooking our beautiful campus.

And we finally got around to planting the herbs we got from the wine tour. We planted them on the side of our house - in limited space. We're not sure how they're going to do, but hey - at least we tried!

I LOVE SPRING!!! And I'm so happy it's finally here!