Palmyra

These pictures were taken just a week ago--and yet it seems like years.

The primary destination of our trip was Palmyra, New York--an opportunity to visit the earliest sites in our church's history.

Joseph Smith's family home

The guide said three brothers would have slept in this bed . . . my boys would need a serious lesson on getting along in order to make that work.

The girls' room with my girl

We took the boys to the temple (in the background) earlier that morning--last time for the foreseeable future.

The Sacred Grove was still mostly dormant, but water ran everywhere as the winter snows melted and saturated the soil.

She picked this flower before she realized she wasn't supposed to. Not picking flowers for little girls is like not using sticks as swords for little boys.

We flattened this little crocus and taped it in a journal when we got home to preserve it forever.

Micah enjoyed some solitude in the grove--with very few people there, that was easy to do.

There were a few signs of spring pushing through the crackly brown carpet of leaves

These two tried to determine how old the tree was when chopped down.

Of course we would never deface one of the trees, but the kids did write their names in the dirt.

It was so beautiful there, even if it was still mostly dormant.

Next stop was the Hill Cumorah

These three took advantage of the clear steep hillside (and the fact that our AirBnB had a washer) to grass stain and muddy up their clothes. It was a beautiful cloudy day.

Final Church history stop for the day was the Grandin Press, where the Book of Mormon was first published.

By this point, they were all DONE with the sightseeing thing, but Dad insisted that we drive up to this random lighthouse on Sodu Bay.

Ironically, we all had a great time there--mostly because it's a summer vacation spot--and not a soul in sight.

Hyrum and Micah tried to get the perfect Insta shot . . .

And I tried to get a pic of all three of them along the pier, but Eve was too terrified to sit alongside them.

Micah, on the other hand, did dips between the pilings.

More Insta shots of Micah

For some reason, Eve tried to hide from me . . .

Hyrum's Insta pose. They both insisted on wearing their hoods--look more gangsta? Look more Tumblr? I don't know.

This was as close as Eve would get to the edge.

That long route to the lighthouse and walking along the pier as Brad flew his drone were some of the best moments of the entire trip.