For Thanksgiving we went to Cleveland, Ohio to visit Austin's brother and sister-in-law (Marshal and Angie). We had a great time and enjoyed hanging out with them. On Black Friday Angie and I did some shopping (well mostly I shopped and Angie was my advisor on various household colors and decor). But I do have to mention that Marshal and Austin got some screaming deals on ammo!
Anyways, after the shopping we went to Kirtland, Ohio to do a little Church history tour.
We went to the Kirtland Temple which is now owned by the RLDS or Community of Christ Church. It is a beautiful building but didn't seem to have quite the same spirit that dedicated temples have. I am pretty sure most everyone in our group was LDS especially when at the end one of the ladies and her family asked if we could sing "The Spirit of God" while we were sitting at the pews. The spirit was stronger at that point because we all know that praising God through singing can bring the spirit faster than most anything else!
We also visited the "downtown" area which included the Newel K. Whitney store, his home, and the ash refinery (which was Austin and Marshal's favorite part).
This is the head stone that the church put up at some point in the cemetery right next to the temple. Historians are pretty sure that these people were all buried in this graveyard, they just did not have head stones. Pretty neat, John Johnson and Thankful Pratt (Parley P. Pratt's wife) were buried next to this head stone as well. I looked at the directory for all the burial spots and there were three Cox's buried here as well so they may be ancestors of mine!
This is us in the John Johnson Farm house. This is the home were Joseph Smith was staying when he was taken in the middle of the night by the mob and tarred and feathered. It was my favorite to see out of all the places we toured. There is a very special spirit in this home.
