Ohio…
We spent our Memorial Day weekend with our friends, the Heatons, in Cleveland. Stacey and I were roommates in college and we’ve been able to stay in touch over the years. Justin is starting his fourth year in dental school, so we knew we had to get there sooner than later. They live just minutes from several church history sites in Hiram and Kirtland. So not only did we get to spend some quality time with friends, they served as awesome tour guides!!
Both Steve and I were dreading the drive. Live so far from family, we usually fly wherever we go. We’ve taken very few road trips since we’ve had kids, and they’ve been under the five hour mark. So the thought of a 7-8 hour drive made me nervous. But thanks to a dual DVD system, more food than you would ever comfortably eat in any setting and a leapster, we made it and it wasn’t so bad.
Here are a few of our highlights:
Steve and Justin golfing early Saturday morning
John Johnson home in Hiram – In which Stacey and Justin watched our kids out on the lawn so we could enjoy the tour.
Great food (Stacey is an excellent cook!)
Endless nights of a card game they taught us called ripple. Quite addicting.
The festival we happened upon in Chagrin Falls
Kids feeding the ducks.
Convincing Hunter the carousel was a good idea, and then prying his hands off to get him off!
Sulfur Springs – a beautiful area with a stream that the kids were able to play in.
Kirtland Temple – Steve and I switched off tours so we could fully enjoy our experience.
Kirtland visitors area – including the Newel K Whitney store, John Johnson Inn, Whitney home and other little points of interest. (Once again a big kudos to Stacey and Justin for taking our children so we could really enjoy the experience!)
Eating a crockpot pork roast in Kirtland that Stacey secretly stashed earlier at her ward building and let cook all afternoon while they were at church. Sneaky, sneaky!
Haircuts for the boys. Stacey was the one who originally taught me to cut Steve’s hair 7 years ago, she then taught me some great tips for cutting Hunter’s hair.
Staying up way too late for how early our kids get out of bed!!
We had so much fun. The church history sites were great. It’s not quite as large as Nauvoo, but still definitely worth the drive. The Kirtland temple was really cool. You get to walk through both the first and second level on a guided tour. Its hard to believe it is 150+ years old, yet still holds such a special spirit. I really enjoy the historical aspect of the church, and even more interested because Steve and I will be teaching Doctrine and Covenants in the fall to the seminary students.
Stacey and Justin were such great hosts and we loved our time with them. It’s amazing how you can make friends with someone, not see them for a couple years, get back together, and it’s as if nothing has changed. We reminisced about the good old days when we lived in Rexburg together and the crazy things we did. The second night we were there, we were up pretty late talking and our husbands had fallen asleep on the floor. I decided it was late, I was tired and it was time for bed, to which Stacey said, “We can’t go to bed yet, we don’t have that much time to talk.” We stayed up for another hour and a half. We’re lucky we both married people that also get along so well. Hopefully one day we’ll live a little closer!
