The Hill Cumorah Pageant

We took a trip to Palmyra, NY yesterday to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Oddly enough, almost nothing went as planned (does this sound familiar to anyone else?). We had planned on making it a whole day outing and spending the whole day having fun together. We wanted to start out at the zoo in Buffalo, then head to Niagara Falls and end up at the pageant. It was the perfect plan (in my mind). It had fun for kids and parents alike! What could possibly go wrong? Well, first of all we didn't leave town at 8:00 yesterday morning like we had planned. Friday night David got a phone call saying that someone in our ward (church congregation) needed some help with some cabinets. He explained that we would be out of town and wouldn't be able to help, but I just kept getting this feeling that he needed to be there. We put new cabinets in our kitchen last year and I know how grateful we were for the help that we had. I think David must have been having the same feelings I was because he didn't complain at all when I told him I thought maybe we should postpone our trip for a few hours. There would always be another opportunity to go to Niagara Falls again. So he loaded up his tools and went to lend a hand in taking down cabinets. And from what I have heard it was a good thing that he did. He said his was the only drill that could handle the job. The guys were really struggling before he got there! Good job David! He got home later than he expected but then he showered and we finished packing the car and picked up a few groceries and got on the road.

We decided that because of time we would skip the zoo as well. Instead we would go spend a little extra time in Palmyra. Gracie has been SO excited about the Temple lately. She talks about it all the time. If she sees a picture of a big beautiful building she thinks it is a Temple. She sings the primary song, "I love to see the Temple" almost every day. She talks about her Aunt Mary and Uncle Jake getting married in the temple almost every day too. The last time we went to the temple she wanted to go knock on the door and see if someone would let her in. She LOVES the Temple. We decided instead of going to the Zoo we would go walk around the temple and take some pictures of the kids. So we had a new plan and we were excited for it! It takes about 3 hours to drive to Palmyra. We stopped once in Buffalo for a potty break and then kept going. Gracie took a little nap on the way (Sammy did NOT), and when she woke up she told me, "Mommy, I'n sick." She says this a lot! If she so much as coughs or sneezes she thinks she is sick, but the next moment she is off playing again. So I didn't really think much of this. Sammy meanwhile is totally ready to be OUT of the car!

We spent a little while in downtown Palmyra. We went to Latter-Day Harvest (a church book-store) and bought Sammy a little Samuel the Lamanite toy and Gracie a CTR ring and then drove over to the temple. I noticed while we were out that Gracie felt a little warm, but it was a warm, muggy day and again disregarded it (some mother I am huh?). At the Temple we got out of the car and started walking around. I attempted to get Gracie and Sammy to sit on the front steps together for a picture, and the next thing I new Gracie was throwing up all over the temple steps. People were trying to take pictures of the beautiful building behind us
and there right in the way was Gracie, me and Gracie's lunch (what a lovely mental picture huh). I yelled to David to go get the wet wipes and a bag as my hands were full of throwup and Gracie was sitting next to me crying (he was off chasing Sammy down at the moment) and we cleaned everything up the very best we could. So now we were sitting there wondering, what do we do? Do we take our kids home? Do we go to the pageant anyway? Sammy really decided for us. He was having no part of getting back in the car, thank you very much!! We found a place near some friends from the ward for our family to sit at the bottom of the Hill Cumorah. Gracie layed down on a blanket and took a nap (my daughter!!!! took a nap????).

Sammy ran around, and around, and around! David attempted to study some. I went and found us some dinner.

That was when it started raining! We all held a big blanket over our heads (which was pretty much soaked by the time the rain stopped) and waited for the rain to stop.
Gracie finally woke up and by the way she played with everyone, you would have thought she was never sick!!! She and Sammy had a blast! Gracie was SO incredibly friendly to everyone walking by, you would have thought she was best friends with them all. She went right up to one of the men in our ward and stuck her hand in his pocket and grabbed his key. Why? I have no idea. She walked up to a complete stranger and held her hand! She walked over to another stranger who had a little girl and wanted to follow her to her seat (most of the kids we knew there were boys and she has been wanting to play with durls (girls) lately. Sammy was almost as bad. He wanders off and takes absoltely no thought to where his parents or sister are. I am glad my kids are so friendly, but it scares me to death and I know they literally have to have a constant eye kept on them!!!!

At about 9:15 the pageant started. There were over 700 people in the cast.



One of the cast members told us earlier in the evening that this is the first year ever that they have had more of their cast members be from the east coast than the west (meaning Utah). It is so amazing to see how the church is growing out here! Gracie loved the program. She kept talking to us about who the characters were and pointing out the angels and Nephi and Moroni and baby Jesus and Mary. Sammy didn't like it so much. He would fall asleep and then something really loud would happen and he would start balling! I had to take him away from the crowd and lights and sounds to settle him back down. I felt bad walking in and out of our row so many times (Emily, I know I stepped on your foot more than once!), but I just had to keep coming back! I really really wanted to watch it!!! The special effects were amazing! There was fire and smoke and water shooting into the air! And it was all about the Book of Mormon!! And even though I only got to see about half of the program, something unexpected happened to me. My testimony that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world was increased. I had expected to go and be entertained and feel the Spirit, but somehow I gained so much more! I received a witness that everything in the Book of Mormon is really there to bring men unto Christ! I knew that already, but somehow the understanding of it was brought to a new level for me last night. It gave me a renewed desire to live the gospel to the fullest, to repent of my sins and to become more Christ-like. I want to be more forgiving, and try harder to do better and to share the good news that is the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around me. As I was sitting there at the pageant I was thinking about what a disaster the day had been (even though still fun), and found that I could not think of it as such. Even though nothing went according to plan it was still a beautiful day and a beautiful experience and I would do it all again even if I knew I would get the same results. In fact, I can't wait until next year's pageant!