Our First Visitors!

Nate's parents and Nate's sister's family, Amy, were here for a weekend a few weeks ago. They were our first visitor's besides the missionaries and a few friends from around here. They of course did not stay overnight at our little apartment, but we had a few meals here and spent some time playing games and things at our place. We had lots of fun and it sure was lively with 3 kids and 6 adults!
But I would say that the highlight of the weekend was visiting Kirtland. It was my first time there and I certainly learned a lot and felt the spirit of that important place in our church's history. I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because I forgot to bring extra batteries and mine were about done. We did stop by Walmart after lunch so we got some for our trip to the Kirtland Temple and the Johnson Farm, but for the old city buildings I was running low on power. I will just explain things as I post the pictures.

 The first stop was the Newel K. Whitney store. And please disregard the strollers, I'm not sure why some families thought that was the best place to leave them. The Smiths had actually lived here for a time in the upstairs and Joseph had received some revelations there, I believe. The store was much bigger than I had thought. There wasn't just the sale room, pictured below, but there was a room to the side for trading, rooms upstairs for Emma and Joseph as well as some rooms for storage. There was a pulley system to lift big barrels of flour and such things to a room where they would then divide them into smaller portions to be sold.

 The School of the Prophets is above and in the Whitney store. It was the first school for adults in America. They not only taught religion there, but they also taught grammar, geography, and some languages. This is where the Word of Wisdom was revealed. The men came in chewing and smoking and Emma and Joseph didn't think that was the best atmosphere to learn, so Joseph asked God and the Word of Wisdom revelation came.

 A room where Joseph and Emma slept in the Whitney store along with the only child of theirs that had lived up to that point.

 The kitchen that Emma cooked in and probably entertained for guests.

A parlor to entertain guests in.

 The saw mill. The wheel above is what powered the whole thing. However, it wasn't actually on the river so they had to divert it.

 The room in the saw mill where they probably built the things for the temple.

This is part of the mill. They made potash out of ashes and made big bucks! The Whitney's also owned this, and a whole intersection of the city. They were certainly rich! They donated the mill to the church and I'm sure that potash really helped out with the cause of the church.

 The Whitney home. It was close to the store. It was a large house for those days and had 2 kitchens. A summer kitchen off to the side and a winter kitchen. That way the house didn't heat up too much from cooking.

 The Kirtland Temple. This is owned by the Community of Christ so the tour was certainly different. It was all about the history, no testimony. Very much lacking in the spirit. But it was still interesting and I learned a lot. Like how they basically had another School of the Prophets on the top floor of the temple.

 It was raining when I took this last picture, so we were in a hurry to get back to the visitor's center.
The next trip was to the Johnson Farm. It was a pretty long drive away, but it was interesting as well.

 The Johnsons were also quite rich and they even had a pump inside their summer kitchen! Running water!

 The winter kitchen. The oven (wood thing) on the side is where they would bake their bread. On top they would put their night clothes so they would be warm when they went to bed. I thought this was a great idea! Since I'm almost always cold.

 They had very beautiful painting on their doors and floor boards. It was probably painted with feathers.

 The parlor in the Johnson Farm. I guess I didn't get a picture of where Joseph and Emma slept while living here. This is where the mob broke in and they tarred and feathered Joseph.

The boys

The next day was Sunday and the Kreischers went home. But Nate's parents stayed and came to church with us.
 On Monday we spent some time in Canton and went to the McKinley Museum. I thought it would be all about McKinley, but they just had one movie and the memorial where he was buried. The rest of it was a museum about the history of Canton and a dinosaur museum.

 The power of a vacuum. Hoover's headquarters are here.

 The McKinley memorial.

 The view from the memorial. The streets are supposed to be in the shape of a sword.

 McKinley and his wife's graves.

 It certainly was a fun to have them over and we had a great time! I can't wait to do it again! Or to have my parents come next year!