Amazing Trip To The Buff

The only good thing about having siblings live in other states (or countries) is that you have an excuse to go on a vacation to visit them. This past week Casey and I trekked across the U.S. to Buffalo NY to see Stephanie, Travis, Collin and little Duff who is due to be born in February.

We flew in Wednesday at midnight. It was pouring rain and freezing cold. Stephanie picked us up and drove us to her very cute house and even had dinner waiting for us even after we told her not to! We ate and talked until 1:30 in the morning then figured we better get to bed because we had a full day ahead of us.

Our first day was spent in Palmyra. Two of her friends offered to watch Collin which meant we were able to squeeze in a temple session. Travis had school so he wasn't able to do anything until Saturday.
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We left her house and drove about an hour to Palmyra. I was kind of bummed because it was supposed to rain all day and be super cold. It rained on us the whole drive there but once we got closer to the temple it had stopped. During our session Stephanie and I figured out that this was the first session we had done together so that made it a little more special! Once we walked out of the temple the weather had totally cleared up and the rest of the afternoon was still cold but absolutely breathe taking.

Stephanie packed us a picnic lunch for us to eat. It was too cold so we ate in the car. We went to change clothes in the restrooms where Stephanie and I made a new friend whom we like to call the poo lady:)

We started with the Smith family log and frame home tours. We had a great sister missionary tour guide who shared stories about these pieces of church history. This is the log home where Joseph Smith was visited by Angel Moroni telling him about the Golden Plates.

The Smith family frame home. This home was built a few feet away from the log home. Joseph had many hiding places for the Golden Plates in this home.


The path leading into the Sacred Grove. I don't think we could have visited at a better time of year. The trees were unbelievable.


Next we drove up the road to the Hill Cumorah. Below us you can see where they would set up the pageant stage.

Our last stop was the E.B. Grandin building where the first 5,000 copies of the Book Of Mormon were published. Our tour guide was an Elder couple missionary, and boy did he like to talk! Haha, I think we got on extra 30 minutes of stories added to our tour. Casey was the lucky one who got to fold a page of the Book Of Mormon just like they use to.


As we were leaving our last historic stop it started to rain again. We really got lucky with great weather that day!
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Across the street from the Grandin building is Mark's Pizza that is a favorite with the locals. Casey and I have a motto while on vacation which is, eat big or go home. With that said we ordered the biggest size called "the sheet." It was gooooood.



Friday we went to Niagara Falls. Can I say BRRRR! We went the 2nd to last day before it closed for their winter season. As we were walking to the falls you could see the half frozen mist in the air and poor Collin would start to cry every time the bitter cold wind would blow. They stayed behind while Casey and I did the Maid Of the Mist.

After the Falls we picked up sub sandwiches from Wegmans (a grocery store we are not fortunate enough to have on the West coast) and ate lunch over at Travis' school. He gave us a tour of his classes and operatory where they have patients come in to have dental work done.

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We went back home so Collin could take a nap. Stephanie insisted that we take her car and see a movie. We obliged and ended up seeing Life As We Know It. It's a good movie, even Casey liked it!

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For dinner we went to the ever popular DUFF's for chicken wings. I saw this restaurant years ago on the Food Network channel way before they moved to Buffalo. I was super excited to finally go. Hence unborn babies nickname:)

Saturday we drove to Kirtland OH. We visited the Newel K Whitney store. There was a lot of history in this store that I did not know about. Upstairs is where Joseph received Revelation for the Word of Wisdom in the Revelation room and also where the School of the Prophets was held. We also walked to the Saw Mill and Ashery buildings.

I feel in love with this tree. If it stood a chance in AZ I would so have to have one!

All the different stories you hear about the Kirtland temple makes sense to me now. It was a huge building and I could see and feel the sacrifices and how much faith those saints had while building this temple. During the tour I was keeping Collin distracted with stickers to get him through the end.

We ended with the Isaac Morley Farm. This is where Emma birthed the twins that died then was able to adopt twins from the Murdock family when the wife died after giving birth. Joseph also received 13 revelations on this farm that are now in the Doctrine and Covenants.

We were itching for Mexican food before driving home so while we were looking around Collin fell asleep. They didn't want to wake him up so instead they hauled his whole car seat into the restaurant. He ended up joining us for dinner after all. I think he could smell the chips and salsa.

Our flight home was at 4pm Sunday which meant we got to go to church with them. Stephanie just received a new calling as gospel doctrine teacher so we lucked out that she was teaching that day. The room was packed with no extra chairs so people had to stand in the hallway. This in not a normal occurrence which shows what a great teacher she is. It was a wonderful lesson, she did a great job. We also got to meet all of there wonderful friends we hear so much about.

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After church we had enough time to eat dinner. She made a super yummy dish called Kung Pao Spaghetti. She got the recipe from her friend Tiffany who got it from the CPK cook book. We will be making it at home.

Before the airport we went to see her friend Rachel's house down the street then off to the airport.

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I hate goodbyes. It was hard to leave. We really had a great trip. It was nice that we were able to leave the boys with my mom knowing that they would be well taken care of so we could experience the amazing things we were able to do on this trip.

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My testimony was strengthened in many ways. I realized how much I love my sister and that I miss all of them too much. How wonderful it is to be apart of such an amazing church. To know that the places we visited are sacred and were a vital role so the church could be what it is today. To have walked the exact same places the prophet Joseph Smith walked many years ago. It was truly remarkable.

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Thank you again Stephanie, Travis, Collin and Duff. We enjoyed every moment!

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