Kirtland

Our last stop was Kirtland, Ohio! 

This was our third time in Kirtland, so Iva and I hung out while Derrick and his mom went through the tour.  She read me the signs, we threw rocks in the creek, made funny faces, and Iva watered the plastic flowers in the visitor's center!  Pretty good day, in her eyes!

The last tour we went on of the temple was only so-so, but this one was really good!  The tour guide was very informative, and pointed out some things from the Doctrine and Covenants that I didn't know before!  It was a good day.  

Our last stop was the Johnson home, which is my favorite site in Kirtland!  Iva slept during most of the tour...

And woke up VERY unhappy at the last room!  She was quite mad at us! 

She calmed down eventually!  She couldn't be too upset, since she made out like a champion and got treats from all the missionaries!  Including this entire bag of animal crackers!  She seriously got a treat from every site we stopped at!  She is spoiled rotten!

niagara

We stayed a night in Canada and saw Niagara Falls!  It was so beautiful.  We were a little nervous driving in, because we drove into a blizzard (some Spring break!), but when we woke up, it was nice and sunny!  Freezing, but at least the sun was out!  We walked around the falls, and went on a little tour called "behind the falls."  A lot of it was frozen over, but it was still really pretty!  

This is looking out from behind the falls, and kind of underneath. 

The bridge connecting America to Canada.  

Iva was insistant that we "pet the moose!"  She waved goodbye to it when we left.  

We went on a ferris wheel above the falls.  It was really cool!  Derrick's mom wasn't happy that I wanted to do this, but she was a good sport!

Palmyra

Not the traditional, green tree picture you'd expect from a SPRING BREAK trip, but I'll take it!

We got lucky and Derrick's mom came to visit us over Derrick's Spring break!  It was so much fun to have her here.  We even made a little trip up to northern New York to see Palmyra and check out the sites from our Mormon heritage!  (I loved trying to explain to people who aren't LDS that we were going to New York, but not New York City, to Palmyra.  I ended up just telling people we were going to Niagara Falls, which we also did on our trip!)  I have been to Palmyra before, but it was Derrick and his mom's first time.  My grandma grew up in Palmyra.  I have ancestors that are from Ireland and were converted to the church.  My grandma's dad ended up in Kentucky, but moved to Palmyra and worked for the church.  He wanted to farm more like he did in Ireland, so he started keeping up the grounds at the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra.  So, we went to visit the gravesite's of my great-granparents as well as my grandma.

At the Joseph Smith frame house.

My goofy girl in the Sacred Grove

The Palmyra Temple 

I love her face in this picture.  She is saying "Oh no" ha

Helping Grandma fold the Book of Mormon pages

I was such a fun day!  A FREEZING day, but fun!  We got to see the Joseph Smith log cabin, frame house, and Sacred Grove.  We also saw the temple, the Hill Cumorah, and the Whitmer farm.  Iva was fairly good most of the day and even during driving.  It was neat to learn more about our church and how it was organized!