A very quick trip to Palmyra NY to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant

A couple of months ago our good friends the Buhl's invited us to meet them in Palmyra to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Well, they are such a good time and Cohen has never been to Palmyra so it was totally a win in our book!

We left on Thursday morning (stopping at Animal Adventure Park on the way) and arrived at Palmyra around 3:30pm. We first went to the Sacred Grove and the Smith Family Farm. About three minutes into the Sacred Grove Cohen decided it would be fun to play in all the mud puddles left over by the rain storm that passed through a few hours earlier. While I'm ok with Cohen splashing in mud puddles when we are on our way home and I can throw him in the bath, I wasn't too excited when on our trip and washing machines are not readily available. Well, after I told him not to play in the puddles he did one last jump which resulted in him tripping and face planting into a big puddle.  Please note all the mud on his "digger" shirt. One of the sister missionaries said she didn't even notice because she thought it was part of the shirt :)

We went to the visitor center for a quick look around. I mean quick cause Cohen was going crazy after riding in the car for so long, so we didn't stay long.

We then headed over to the Pageant to make sure we got seats (since the ground was so muddy and wet). Well, we got there VERY early and really had a large selection of seats to choose from. While we waited for our friends to arrive, Cohen and I made the trip to the top of the Hill Cumorah. We also spent some time talking to the cast members. Cohen LOVED it because so many people came up and wanted to talk to him and he in turn chatted their ears off. He also spent some quality time kicking a ball around with anyone who would join him. He convinced this poor woman into playing with him for a sold 20 minutes!

We really enjoyed the pageant and liked being so close to the stage. Last time we went we sat in the very back, which is totally ok, but we couldn't believe how much of the details that we missed. They use so much water/mist to help them tell the story and we really got the full effects being so close (we were third row center). Cohen was not that excited about the pageant to tell you the truth. It was late and he was tired. His favorite parts were when Nephi built the boat and Abinadi.

Palmyra Trip: Hill Cumorah Pageant

We headed over to wait for the Hill Cumorah Pageant to start after our visit to the Temple.  While we were waiting some of the cast came around and visited with us. Lehi walked up and had the kids guess who he was. I think Gandalf and Dumbledore were among some of the guesses. I guess we didn't tell the kids that it was a story about the Book of Mormon. We will prepare more next time. I had the girls pose with Lehi and some random boys that were walking around with him. (Nephites?).

It was really a wonderful show. I just couldn't believe how many people they had in the production.

It looked like it was going to rain the whole time, but there was patch of clear sky just above the stage and the audience. About 5min after the show was over it started to pour! Someones prayers were answered. :)

Palmyra Youth Trip: Cooling Off In Seneca Lake

We took the youth up to Palmyra, New York to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant, the Sacred Grove, Palmyra Temple, and the Peter Whitmer Farm. I've been looking forward to this trip for quite some time and let me just say it was truly a wonderful trip. I'm going to be posting about our trip over the next few days.

I missed the first day of the trip, which consisted mostly of driving, settling in to the cabins at Seneca Lake Camp, a rousing game of ultimate frisbee, and a devotional. I hear the devotional was very good, so I'm a little upset I missed it. I showed up late that evening (I had to work).

The next day we got up and had a little breakfast and then headed straight down to the lake. We had a great time cooling off (it was in the high 90's for most our a trip) and boating. We really have the best youth! They're just so much fun.