Joseph Smith Memorial

So clear back in October, we had the priveledge of going to the Joseph Smith Memorial in Sharon, VT.  It has been on my bucket list for awhile, so when someone from the ward was organizing a camping trip to camp Joseph next door, we just had to join.  It wasn't the most convenient weekend for us.  Joseph's good friend and neighbor Max was having his bar mitzvah that weekend and we had promised we would be there.  It started in the morning so silly me thought it would be over by noon and we could be on our way to Vermont and set up camp before dinner.  In actuality, the bar Mitzvah lasted until 5:00 pm.  We pulled the kids out at about 3:00 because we had to get on the road.  The bar mitzvah was so much fun!  I've never been to one before so it was a great cultural experience and I was proud to say that Joey and John were great dancers.  They loved playing the games the dj set up and helped lift the chair in the traditional chair dance.  I was surprized they could lift so much weight.  It was pretty awesome. 

 

On to the trip.  We drove to Sharon and got to camp when it was dark and freezing.  We loaded our stuff into a handcart and dropped it off into two cabins: one for the boys and one for the girls.  It was unseasonably cold and we all wore our coats and gloves and hats to make sure we were warm enough.  In order to stay warm kate and I slept in the same bed and Michelle and Samantha shared a bed as well.  Unfortunately, Michelle and Samantha were on the top bunk and Michelle fell off in the middle of the night.  Luckily she wasn't hurt and went back to sleep easily.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the morning.  Because we were so far away from the closest ward (it was their stake conference) we decided to just have our own sacrament meeting and went to enjoy the sites.  The guides were really interesting and we were able to look around and learn a lot.  Unfortunately it was raining so we didn't get to take the golf cart tour around the entire site, but got to see the monument and a couple of new church movies.  Even though it was a little rushed am really glad we were able to go up there and see this church history site.  There was definately a lot to see and the camp site was great!