Thanksgiving

We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year, which was a nice change since we've been away from home for the past three years. I enjoyed the stress of baking and cooking, even though it was tricky because I was also prepping for Michael's party the night before. We hosted the missionaries, Shirley Tonini, Wanda Olimski (whose husband was in the hospital), Tim Walton (our neighbor whose wife had passed away just a couple of weeks prior) as well. For my own memory, I'd like to record that I made Lion House rolls, mashed potatoes (too dry--add more milk next time!), a lighter version of Pioneer Woman's sweet potato souffle, sautéed green beans, slow-cooker turkey breast with gravy (super easy), a ham from Costco, pumpkin pie "cupcakes," an apple crisp pie, and a chocolate caramel pecan pie which was a lot of work and was quite rich but yummy.

I tried a new pie crust recipe from my fave recipe blog, Mel's Kitchen Cafe, which involved shredding frozen butter. It was time consuming, but the crust was delicious.

Wow kids, good thing you loaded up on vegetables. Next year I need to remind the kids to dress up.

 Filling our plates.

 The banner on the window says "Top of the Hill," which was from Michael's party the night before.

Dessert!

 Michael was kind enough to not request a separate dessert option for his birthday "cake."

Happy Thanksgiving and happy birthday!

 The day after Thanksgiving, we drove up to Baltimore and went to the National Aquarium with the Lansings. The dolphin show was a highlight, although Benjy seems to have enjoyed his daddy's tickles more.

 A giant Megalodon jaw. Yikes!

 The fascinating jellies.

 They even had a jellies touching tank, which was pretty cool. I am not super into ocean creatures, but  I did enjoy the dolphins and the boys especially liked the sharks. Clara wanted to go home basically the whole time, but she made it through. We went to Shake Shack afterwards and had fun hanging out with our friends. It was a good time.

Michael is 40!

It's hard to believe, but Michael is now forty years old. It honestly felt a little weird to realize that my husband is forty and that we've been married for sixteen years (I just had to do the math in my head, yikes). I really wanted to make the day special, and we discussed a lot of different ideas for celebrating.

In the end, we had a fun birthday party the night before Thanksgiving, and despite the holiday, a good crowd was able to come. I wish I had taken more pictures. We put a sticky note on the back of everyone as they came in with the name of a character/historical person from the early 80s. It was fun to guess and everyone enjoyed it. I was Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show, for example.


We enjoyed lots of Vito's Pizza (Michael's favorite) as well as cheesecake with homemade fudge, caramel, and raspberry toppings. A lot of people think Michael is a pretty cool guy. I happen to agree.

 For his actual birthday, the kids gave him a couple of ties and some dark chocolate.

 Playing "heavy heavy hangover."

I gave him a photo book of forty things that we love about him. I had his siblings and parents contribute, and it was a lot of work but also just made me fall in love with him even more. I went through nearly 8,000 photos--there were too many to choose from. So grateful to be married to this wonderful man.

Halloween 2018

Halloween was fun, although it occurred to me this year that this is the only holiday we celebrate that basically has no redeeming value.

 Superman was excited for the ward Halloween party.

A mad scientist!

 Rawr!

This kitty really likes to take selfies. Why is this?

We went to the pumpkin patch a couple of days before Halloween to get pumpkins only to find out that they were all gone! Apparently the harvest this year wasn't very good due to all the rain we've gotten. Fortunately, we had a couple from the boys' trips to the pumpkin patch on field trips.

 All lit up.

 Ready to go trick-or-treating!

I stayed home with our little pumpkin and gave out candy across the street with neighbor, Kate Zopp, which was fun. The boys stayed out a pretty good while--I can tell each year they're building up their trick-or-treating endurance, unfortunately.  They got a good haul! Clara came back early, but she was happy to watch funny videos on my bed until we all came in.

Mr. Bones was a fun purchase that I made and put in the bathroom, eagerly waiting for Michael to use the bathroom. He didn't go in until late that evening, and his reaction was awesome. Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go, right, Mr. Bones?

A trip to Palmyra and other stuff

We have had some neat church history experiences recently. First of all, the Church published the first volume of Saints, which I finished reading on our trip (Michael had already finished it). While it's a narrative and not an in-depth history, it's been really neat to read a cohesive story. I was continually overwhelmed by the sacrifice of the early Saints and kept asking myself, "Could I have sacrificed so much?" I remind myself that my sacrifices today are different than the ones they gave then.

Michael's parents drove up (after having arrived home the night before from Utah!) and accompanied us on the trip. They were very patient (especially in the car, which we were in a lot) and a big help.

 Our first stop was East Berlin, Pennsylvania to see Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Weiler. They continue to press on, and mercifully it was a nice day outside so the kids didn't overwhelm them too much in their small space.

Clara and her great-grandparents.

Great-Grandma Weiler with Benjy.

And with Great-Grandpa.

I have a Pinterest board of ideas of ways to travel with kids. Some ideas were less successful than others (the magnets on the cookie sheets lasted about two minutes). These Legos, however, were the most played with, although they did get thrown/lost on the ground quite a bit.

We arrived at the Airbnb we had rented late that evening, and this is the view of Seneca Lake from the driveway. Beautiful!

Most days were cloudy and cold, but the kids still enjoyed the dock by our house (even though it was super rickety and made me very nervous) and especially liked hunting for shells and rocks around the house.

The next morning, Mom and Dad Weiler graciously watched the kids while Michael and I went to the Palmyra temple. We were hoping that Clara would come with us, but she had a yucky cold and was not wanting to participate. I hope next time she will. For my part, however, it was neat having Michael baptize me--I haven't participated in proxy baptisms since college.

After we returned from the temple, we headed to Rochester to visit the Strong Museum, aka the National Museum of Play. We had enjoyed going there five years ago when we visited the Merkleys, and Clara was excited to go again.

The whole gang.

The Count is one of Clara's very favorites.

Riding the train.

 Hard to believe that five years ago, this was Robbie riding the same train.

Kids come in every height. ;-)

Amazing muscle power from Super Henry to save Michael from the side of a building!

We went to dinner at a yummy crepe restaurant in Pittsford (near Rochester) and then stopped for some delicious, fresh ice cream from the Pittsford Farm Dairy. 

On Sunday, we got to attend church in the Fayette ward and visit the Peter Whitmer farm and visitor's center there. Clara and I experienced a tender mercy there. Normally when we go to new church buildings, Clara gets upset and does NOT like it. (At the Outer Banks, she sat down and cried in the hall). I told her I would go to class with her, which relieved her. When we got into the gym to sit down in a big circle of youth, I asked a girl if she could move her seat back to make room for us. "This seat's open," she told and me and Clara. I encouraged Clara to sit there and I sat behind her. "I won't bite," the girl said, which made Clara smile. She asked Clara her name, and Clara told her and said, "What's yours?" Her name was Alex, and she continued to talk a little bit with Clara throughout the class and helped her feel comfortable enough to go to Young Women's with her, without me. That was so special to me that in Relief Society, I asked whose daughter she was so I could thank her mother. I told her mom that Clara had autism and was nervous with new experiences like this, to which her mom responded, "Alex has autism, too!" I was amazed and felt the Spirit say to me, "You are known." I have never met another girl with autism, and when I spoke with the mom after the meeting, she told me that Alex hadn't wanted to go to church that morning. Her mom had encouraged her, reminding her that we never want to do anything that prevents us from receiving blessings, to which Alex agreed and then said she felt a prompting she should come to church that day. I felt so much gratitude to the Lord. Clara probably doesn't appreciate what a sweet and tender mercy that was, but I hope she will some day.

We saw a neat David Whitmer video and then got to visit the restored Peter Whitmer farmhouse where the Church was organized in 1830. 

 Here we are in front of the fireplace where the Church was organized.

And this was the field that was miraculously plowed, enabling David Whitmer to get Joseph and Oliver sooner to his parents' home so they could finish the translation of the book of Mormon.

After lunch at home, we traveled back up to Palmyra to visit the Joseph Smith homestead and the Sacred Grove.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa in front of the Smith's second home (the one Alvin built and then the Smiths unfortunately lost).

Walking into the Sacred Grove.

Clara and me (and Benjy!) in the Sacred Grove.

How she and Robbie have grown since we were in the Sacred Grove five years ago.

 On Monday, we packed up and then visited the Hill Cumorah. I stayed in the car nursing Benjy, but I didn't mind. Then we headed down to Binghamton via Watkins Glen to spend a night before leaving on Tuesday.

Watkins Glen was beautiful. There are eighteen waterfalls--so amazing. We didn't climb to see all of them, though, since we were on a time crunch to get to the hotel in time to make dinner.

Grandma was a trooper with her knees and the stairs.

Robbie wanted to keep going, poor guy.

And Benjy was just along for the ride. He was such a good traveler!

On Tuesday, we headed home via Harmony, where the Colesville branch met. Here is the home of Joseph Knight Sr., who never fell away from the Church. I think this house was the favorite. It is neat because the Colesville saints were all faithful, and the house is still the original house (not the outside shingles, but the inside).

Michael and his parents in the room where the branch met.

Then we traveled to the Priesthood Restoration site, and the family got to see the newly reconstructed Hale home and Joseph and Emma's first home there, along with baby Alvin's grave. (I had to drive back to the hotel because we'd forgotten all of our jackets in the closet! Mercifully it was only half an hour away--so glad Grandpa remembered before we'd gone too far.)

Where Joseph and Oliver sat in Joseph and Emma's first home.

The trip was pretty exhausting for me with still nursing in the night and the kids all getting colds (myself included), and I wasn't my best self. However, it was memorable, and I am glad we have these opportunities to travel. (Without Michael's "travel bug," we would probably be staying around the Valley until the youngest was three years old.) I know the fatigue and the laundry will fade away and the memories of the sights and sites will stay with us.

The thought that struck me while we were up there is that I don't need to see the Sacred Grove, or those historical sites--although they are cool--to receive a testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, just like I don't need to see Jerusalem to gain a testimony of the Savior. I am grateful for the small, quiet experiences that I've had where the Spirit has touched my heart, confirming in my mind that Joseph Smith did indeed see the Father and the Son (I especially remember a time in our Harford St apartment standing by the kitchen table when the Holy Ghost touched my heart about Joseph Smith), that the Book of Mormon is true (as a Laurel I received my first testimony), that we are led by a living prophet (I felt that witness during the April General Conference when he was sustained as our new prophet), and that Jesus is the Christ (I have felt that witness as I have needed to repent and have been forgiven). So when I have doubts or questions, I am thankful that I have these experiences and memories, as well as others, to rely on, giving myself permission to not know it all. I recognize that these truly are the latter days, when men's hearts can fail them and even the very elect can be deceived. I hope and pray I might be faithful to the end.