Thanksgiving 2010!!!!!

Since I never got around to posting photos from last Thanksgiving (I can't believe a year has raced by!), we aren't doing much this Thanksgiving, and there are a lot of lovely ones with Briana...may I now present: Thanksgiving 2010!

It started with a few days of Sisterfest at Briana and Candice's house in Salt Lake City.

First off, we walked around Sugarhouse and ate at Omar's Raw Foods

Then we picked up Bri's car at the shop and followed her home:

The next day we also ate at Omar's Raw Foods :)
All 3 of us had bought Living Social Coupons!

Sara came up from Provo to visit

Adam got a sister-in-law backrub

while Bri and I made mac and cheese with Ian's friend Ivy (check out that beautiful black clay baking dish!! Briana always ad the coolest kitchen supplies - actually, the coolest everything.)

It snowed the whole night and we had a 1 am snow fight.

This captures what I love about Bri: up at 1 am baking a complicated treat with organic powdered sugar while wearing a silly hat.

I miss these beautiful Wasatch Front mountains

Here's Adam in front of his Freshman year dorm: Budge Hall

Some YouTube videos and a little sibling preening at Ian's dorm room...

Adam and I ate at the Red Iguana with Zina, Davey, and Pack!!

Whew, that was all pre-Thanksgiving...for real Thanksgiving, we spent the night with family friends, the Hollaways, in Huntsville, north of Salt Lake.

We made delicious food, hiked to a natural outdoor hot spring, ate pie, and then sat in the hot tub! There are even some legendary photos of us (including my mom!) running in the snow in our swimsuits. They're on facebook :)

Then, we played Apples to Apples, massaged each other's backs and had a yoga competition. Nothing like some good ole' family fun!

Here's Adam with the snow blower on the day after Thanksgiving.

A little snow slack-lining

Back at Bri's house, we made gnocci with our cousin Bridgette.

And Briana asked me to help her start knitting some socks (which I recently finished and gave to Thomas)

Serious work!

The holiday lights at Temple Square!

Additionally, I found a street named Tess!!!!!

And saw good friends Vanessa

and Analiesa

*Not many pictures of my parents, but they were there!

**This was also the Thanksgiving when I was secretly pregnant! My family didn't suspect anything, or at least they didn't say so, but Corrie knew! I felt okay, but was tired at night and would get instantly motion sick the moment I sat in a car. I also had a panic attack in Ian's Ford 'Exploder' as we attempted to drive down the steep, snowy, freaky hill of the Avenues to get free bread for Thanksgiving. Absolute terror. We never did make it down the hill.

Oh, I love this Thanksgiving! It was the best. So many memories :)

I guess this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for last Thanksgiving. The one where we were all together being crazy at Briana's house.

Palmyra, NY

While Adam and I were in New York for Thanksgiving we spent one of the days in Palmyra, NY visiting the Church History sites.

It was an interesting day and quite amazing to see the area and some specific sites where the everlasting gospel :) was restored and the LDS church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) was organized.
The first site you come to, driving from the south, is the Hill Cumorah.

This is the hill where Joseph Smith was instructed he would find engraved plates. He translated these plates and printed them as the Book of Mormon. Part of the hill now has grass to accommodate the Hill Cumorah Pagent, or theatrical re-enactment that takes place every summer.
Turning from the main road, you pass the Palmyra Temple that was built in 1999. Right across the street from the temple is the Smith Family farm. There is a visitor's center and the sister missionaries are happy to give tours of the replica of the log house Joseph Smith grew up in and of the restored house the family later built.
Here is a replica of the log house, where the Smith Family lived when they first moved from Vermont:

Both houses are furnished and decorated as they might have been with antique quilts, furniture and pottery from the era (1830's).
Mater Bedroom of log house:

upstairs of log house:

Birth room and pantry of larger house:

I thoroughly enjoyed walking through these houses and felt the reality of the events that happened there almost 200 years earlier. It is amazing to think that a young man asked for answers to religious questions through prayer and, with the support of his family, brought those answers to others.

The Smith Family's land was forested, like most of New York. What we call the Sacred Grove is really Joseph Smith's backyard, or a quiet, peaceful place near his house.

This is where Joseph Smith first prayed and received an answer from God in person. Although we revere this particular location, it reminds us that our own spiritual experiences will happen close to home as part of our daily life.
I was happy to find the Sacred Grove to be rich with fungi:

We then drove 2 or 3 miles into the town of Palmyra which used to be a bustling trade town because it was right on the Eerie Canal. Things have slowed considerably now that canal transport is out of fashion :)
Palmyra also used to be a bustling religious center. There is an intersection in town where each of the 4 corners has a different church. Members of the same family were often part of different churches. The area frequently hosted traveling preachers and the summer was filled with outdoor religious "revivals" from different faiths. This is why a young (14 year old) Joseph Smith wondered which church to follow. His family was religious and read from the Bible, so he knew the scripture from James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." He had faith that he could learn for himself which church to join. This faith helped him understand when he received the unexpected answer that non of the churches were correct and that he should not join any of them.
In Palmyra is E.B. Grandin's original book store and print shop where Joseph Smith had 1,000 copies of the Book of Mormon printed. The three story building has been restored and offers a great tour.
The top floor was for printing because it had the best lighting:

(here are some original ink splashes!)

The second floor was for book binding:


and the bottom floor was the storefront:

After seeing the sites/sights Adam's parents met us for a session at the Palmyra Temple. It was great day.
*side note*
On the way to Palmyra we ate Philly Cheese Steaks in Geneva, NY and then ate these giant Reuben sandwiches in Palmyra.

YUM!

Thanksgiving!

We had a great trip to Ithaca for Thanksgiving :)
Here are some photo highlights:
(we got a little snow the day after Thanksgiving)

Adam's brother, Shay, and his beautiful family live south of Ithaca in Corning. They recently moved from China and bought a fabulous house on a hill above the town. We stayed with them for two nights.
Here's Elijah! He just turned one and is about to walk all over. I can see something of Adam in him...maybe the blues eyes?

Here is their new house:

and the two brothers :)

They have a great, wooded property with lots of grass and a large outdoor porch and screened porch. You really feel at home in nature at their house.

We drove north to Palmyra, NY to visit the Church History sites. It was my fist time seeing the Hill Cumorah, the Smith Family farm, the Sacred Grove, the town of Palmyra, and the site of the first printing of the Book of Mormon. It was a great day exploring with Adam. I had so many photos that they will be in another, future post.
Adam's sister Marissa and her family came from Chicago. It was great to get to know her and her husband better and their three smart girls.

The girls and I went on lots of mushroom hunting walks in Sapsucker woods (the woods Adam grew up in!). We didn't find fresh mushrooms, of course, since it was so cold, but there were many hardy, fibrous, shelf fungi to enjoy.


Fomes fomentarius:



Phlebia:

I was very excited to see the blue form of Trametes versicolor...it's good for dying and doesn't grow on the West Coast.

And here is a mysterious fungus: (in the forest it looked good for dying, but I can't figure out what it is....I'll report dye results)

On Thanksgiving, we had a delicious Thanksgiving Feast!

And on our last Sunday, little Jude Alexander Barlow was blessed at church:



The girls :)

So many fun memories with family...

Thanks for a GREAT trip!