Oh, How Lovely Was The Morning

"Bees were humming, sweet birds singing,

Music ringing through the grove."

(Joseph Smith's childhood home in Palmyra New York)

One beautiful autumn day in September 2015,  church was canceled.

We think the heater kicked on for the first time since last winter and maybe burned some dust or something, but whatever the reason it resulted in the fire station being called and the building getting checked over by the local fire department. The building got the A-Ok to return into, however at that point the ward leadership had already canceled church for the day. 

It ended up being a huge blessing because we had a whole entire day on our hands and nothing planned with it. None of the Stryker boys had ever been to the Sacred Grove in Palmyra so we decided that would be the perfect Sunday activity, especially on a fall day in New York.

I love the picture below! 

Just me and my two sweet boys hand-in-hand, walking into the Sacred Grove. It wasn't like this huge spiritual experience where the boys knew they were walking on hallowed grounds. But instead it was a simple peaceful feeling, that maybe only Ace and I felt. The boys ran around happily in the autumn sunlight. There was no bickering, no pestering and very few other people were around. We saw a few sister missionaries, and one couple from Australia while we were there. But other than that, my sweet family and I could just enjoy the time together in a beautiful place, on a beautiful day were we could explain some really incredible things to our boys about the incredible gospel that we live each and every day.

Silly faces of course and good thing Ace remembered to wear his name tag.

Right in the sun but you can see the tip of the Palmyra temple poking through the trees.

We found ourselves on the way home too! So that was just an added bonus.

Lions, and Tigers, and Camping with 7 Littles; Oh my

Before school got too crazy and the weather got too cold we decided to take a camping trip with the Hogges, Kuhres and Currans. With the 4 families together we had 7 little ones all under the age of 4. It was crazy but it sure was fun! It was Reid's first time camping in a tent and he did so great. 

We camped at Watkins Glen State Park and then the following morning we enjoyed exploring the beautiful gorges and falls. Laura and Jen were both quite pregnant but somehow didn't seem to notice as they hiked and chased kids around all day. I was so grateful the Kuhres had this great idea and invited us all along.

The kids were such troopers. They walked a ton and had great attitudes about it. They had a hard time staying to the trail and were often lured to the creek and surrounding puddles. Reid slipped into the creek after getting too close, and ended up spending the rest of the day exploring the highly popular trails of Watkins Glen in just his diaper and sandals. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind at all. 

These two were made just perfectly for me. They are so fun and so easy going (for the most part. Reid still will give you an ear full when he feels his needs aren't being met). They probably wouldn't survive in our family other wise.