Kirtland

The next morning the big kids went on a run together and it took quite a while to get all of us showered. Were sad to say goodbye to our place.  It had been so nice to all stay together and the old house had so many fun quirks- but we were off to Kirtland by way of Niagara...

Welcome to Canada guys!  Loved the falls but our phones didn't work, that with all the summer tourists and no parking spots made for a lot of confusion but we all made it back to the US safely - eventually.

We separated from the Pierce's because we were bound for a West Virginia detour - but our plans were foiled by a complete stand still on the highway.  It took so long that we figured we'd better just get dinner and go to bed - darn it.

Renting a car for 8 is always tricky.  We didn't want to spend the extra money for an extra large vehicle so we had one kid sitting on the floor quite often - don't tell.  Ironically, the Pierce's were given an 8 seater van so Kate rode with them most of the time.

That night we were in a different hotel than the Pierce's and we ended up getting to Kirtland before them.  We started with a tour of the Kirtland Temple.  Definitely a highlight.  I love the spirit of the building.  The sacrifice it took to build it and the amazing things that happened there.  We sang "The Spirit of God" and it felt amazing!  Loved sharing that with my kids.

We ate lunch with the Pierce's then they did the temple while we toured the town.  The senior missionaries led us on a great tour of the Whitney store and home, the ashery, and sawmill.  We had to get a pic of the sawmill for Grandpa.  The ashery was super interesting - I learned so much.

From there we took a bit of a drive to the Johnson Farm, another site I had never been to - so glad we made the extra trek.  The building was amazing.  Each room was painted such bright colors - colors that are original to the home from Joseph's era.  

And this crazy molding was hand painted to look like it had that grain in it - so cool.  But really the best part was learning about all the revelations received in this home- specifically section 76.  Amazing stuff.  This is also the home where Joseph was dragged from his bed, then tared and feathered.  Glad we got to be there.

Then being the crazy Easton's we are - we drove an extra 90 minutes to cross the border into West Virginia (The Pierce's had opted out for the hotel pool).  We crossed a cool bridge and Greg flipped the car around while Natali and I took pictures.  That was my 49th state (only South Carolina left).  Worst picture of me ever - but I'm leaving it for the sake of posterity.

We celebrated with ice cream and dinner at DQ then headed to the hotel.  90 minutes later we got to the hotel to find the pool was outside and it had been pouring rain all night so we didn't even miss the swimming.  Glad we went to West Virginia.  We said goodbye to the Pierce's.  Everyone was sad to say goodbye to Nora, especially Mack since they were really tight.  She even called him her "sister".  We got the kids in bed and arranged our airport shuttle for early the next morning.  We had a short layover in Minneapolis, but it was long enough for Greg to take all the kids out of the airport while I stayed with the luggage.  Another state crossed off their lists.  Call us crazy - but we really do love traveling together and seeing all the amazing things the world and nature have to show us.