The Hill Cumorah

After visiting the Sacred Grove we ventured over to the Hill Cumorah and climbed to the top where we saw the statue of Mormon and also a very large cat that was sunning himself on the marble bench. Emma and Jacob wanted, of course, to take this cat home fearing it was lost and had no home. I assured them that judging from it's very well fed belly that the cat would be fine.
The weather was beautiful and it was fun to climb up and see the view. The Hill Cumorah is not very close to the Smith's Farm, so it had to be quite a hike for Joseph to get there and back.

Visiting Palmyra

Emma, Jacob, Paul and I were able to visit the Sacred Grove this Spring Break and were grateful for the opportunity to see where the Restoration took place. Here are some photos we took of the area. If you look very close you can see the Temple trough the trees, this was taken in the grove itself. As you can see the leaves were not on the trees yet, but things were beginning to bloom. It was very peaceful and there were plenty of benches placed throughout the grove to allow you to just think, even the kids enjoyed just being still for a while. Because of the time of year there were not a lot of visitors to the grove, we had one other guy there and we never saw him once we entered the grove.


We also had a chance to go through the Smith's log home and also the larger home they built later, where the records were translated and hidden from the mobs from time to time. The small home that you see is a very accurate reconstruction of the home where Joseph was living at the time of the first vision, also where the angle Moroni came to visit him. The original log home was destroyed long ago but the footings and root cellar were still there, the Church built it as accurately as they could. The larger home is the original structure. The whole thing was awsome!!

This is our Family.

Mama Mac aka Monica (me) is 36 and a stay at home mom who loves her husband and her quite gorgeous 5 children. Monica enjoys being home, her favorite hobbies include quilting, reading and being creative with her home (when time permits).

Mac Daddy is Paul, he is also 36 (he's still 4 months older than me :)) and works very hard at work so that when he's home with us he doesn't have to be interrupted with anything to do with work. Paul works at MacArthur, Heder and Metler, a law firm which he founded more than 8 years ago. He has been blessed to have been joined by 5 wonderful partners and a great and very capable staff. (Angie is our life saver)

Emma, our oldest at a very wise 9 years of age. As you can see she is very beautiful and full of love and life. Emma is a very good student and is in love with the Spiderwick series, she has read all the books once and in the process of reading them again. She rules this house of all boys with somewhat of a patient hand, she is our little princess and we are so proud of her and who she is becoming.

Jacob is the next in line at age 6, he is extremely creative and smart. He loves to build things, usually out of things that he finds on the walk home from the school bus (much to his mothers disgust that he's picking dirty things up and bringing them home). Jake is interested in baseball this year and is getting very good at it.

Ammon, our 3rd at 3 and is very energetic and very smart. He keeps us on our toes and is a great little friend to anyone who will play with him. Dinosaurs are his favorite toy, movie, book and subject to talk about. He can name most of the dinosaurs and will talk at length about what each of them likes to eat.

Isaiah, our sweet little 2 years old, may look sweet and talk sweet but he knows how to push his older brother Ammon's buttons and he enjoys it immensely. I don't think Isaiah realizes that Ammon is a lot bigger than he is (thank goodness Ammon hasn't realized it too). But for all of Isaiah's teasing he loves being with his brothers and sister more than anything and he is our cuddle kid, always good for a big hug and kisses.

Max is the last in line at age 6 months and he is sooooo sweet that none of us can keep our hands off him, or our lips for that matter. Max is not doing much right now except looking especially cute and lovably. Max is have a little medical problem right now and we hope to have him fixed up soon. But he is healthy and happy.

Well that's us and I'll try to keep this updated as much as possible, especially with photos.

See ya'll

Monica