My Parents, Alyssa and Cassidy Visit!

On the 5th of July my parents and two younger sisters came to visit! It was a BLAST. They stayed with us so it was just a big sleepover. When they arrived, the kiddos were playing with the neighbor's fun sand toys. Jackson and Kaitlyn were so excited, they could hardly contain themselves.
We spent some fun times swimming at the pool and had a BBQ one night.

Alyssa and Madison were best buds.

They took Jackson one day into the city to see the sites, while I stayed home with the two girls for naptime. I think Jackson was a bit spoiled.

He got to write his name with a pen by dipping it into ink. My poor mom sacrificed her white pants for this fun activity. Thanks mom. :)

We all piled into our van to drive to Palmyra, NY to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and see all the historic sites there. Poor Kevin had to stay behind for another day and met us there.We saw the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was first published.

That night we ate at Chill and Grill where you can get tons of ice cream for pretty cheap. Yum.

We visited the Whitmer farm.

Here is the view from the top of the Hill Cumorah during pageant time. When we were in the pageant, we helped set up all those chairs!

Sitting in the shade at the top of the hill. We were so hot after walking up that thing!

Jackson was so excited to meet a Nephite and Joseph Smith. Although, I think he is pretty confused because he thought these people had died a long time ago!

We saw some fun friends like Jessica who was companions with Tiffany one year.

I believe this is a wicked priest of King Noah's. He scared Kaitlyn so much that she couldn't even scream. She just stared at him with this horrified look and my mom was worried she was going to faint because she wouldn't take a breathe!

Here is Alisha's (my brother Josh's cute wife) family all dressed up. It was so much fun to see them.

Finally Kevin made it!

My little cuties, totally spoiled by their grandparents. Jackson wears this sweatshirt even when its super humid and hot outside!

Its hard to see behind us, but thats the Palmyra Temple above Cassidy's head on the trail inbetween the two home Joseph Smith and his family lived in there.

We went for a walk in the Sacred Grove and one of the missionaries told us about these two special trees. This one is called Adversity Tree. It was broken off the top, then grew a branch off the side which joined with a limb from the bottom and grew to be 40 ft. tall and strong. It overcame adversity against all odds. The expert who named these trees said he had never seen anything like this before!

This one is called the Character Tree because it follows the light. It becomes unique in its twists and turns as it continually grows towards the light source. Just like we create our unique character as we look towards the light of Jesus Christ.

We just had to go out to the berry patch to have some wonderful strawberry shortcake with berries and ice cream!

More cast members- Laman has the big hat and he is one of Alisha's brothers.

Cassidy and Jackson with King Noah.

The most wonderful scene is when Christ apears to the people in America. I'm so grateful we have to Book of Mormon that records this amazing history that has changed so many lives, including my own.

Saying goodbye was hard, but we were glad to know we would be seeing them soon when we return for school.

Alyssa is such a fun person to be around. I loved spending this time with her. She was so helpful with my kids and even got up early to stay with our kids while Kevin and I went to the temple.

We can't wait to see you all in two weeks!