Cedar Point!

 Cedar point has the most roller coasters in one park out of any theme park in the world. And boy did it not disappoint! It was so much better to be there with cousins too! Joe and Heathers kids are close to my kids ages too so they all had cousins to ride the rides with. 

Heather took her younger two and my younger two on some smaller rides and the rest of us did the wild rides. Rides that almost made me pass out and went like 93 MPH. I'm not kidding. Thank goodness for motion sickness patches. 

Brett was scared to death of the fast roller coasters. We had him pick one he would do and it was the gatekeeper. Which was an awesome ride- my dang sunglasses flew off and heather almost caught them in the air. He was so freaked out to almost tears but liked the ride after it was over. We were all happy he did it! 

They went on the water ride so much we paid for them to get in the dryer. The were soaked! 

I love this picture. It shows almost our whole group!

Matthew and Easton and such good buddies. 

My fav ride was Steel Vengeance. It was insane! So fast and weaving in and out of what looked like an old steel structure. It went up to 74 MPH

This was the ride Bryan was really wanting to go on since his mission. Everyone was always talking about it and he couldn't go as a missionary. We did it first thing and it was absolutely insane. It goes up for what feels like forever and then goes straight down. This is the one that almost gets to 100 mph. Hannah was my roller coaster riding buddy. We had a funny saying about making bad decisions all day. 

What an awesome day. Not only did cedar point have amazing roller coasters (18 of them) but it was nice and clean. They had little kids rides and adult rides too. Being there with our cousins was the best part. My kids loved this as part of our trip. They drove home after the park and we drove part way to the airport so we could get up early the next day to get home. It was the best way to end out trip! And a highlight for my kids for sure. 

Temple Dedication Sunday

We went back and forth on what to do on the Sunday we were there. Our good friends Dan and Roni (Bryan worked with Dan on his mission) told us there was a temple rededication of the Columbus temple. It was going to be broadcast to the Kirtland stake center. I was going to go to an outdoor church meeting outside the Kirtland temple but Dan since he is in the bishopric got all of us tickets into the dedication. 

The Kirtland stake center is .6 of a mile from the Kirtland temple and even closer to the Newel K Whitney store. Bryan had a lot of good memories at this church. They met for meetings and zone conferences all the time here. 

When our church dedicates a temple you have to be over 8 years old to attend. You treat the inside of the church building like a temple and are reverent. It's broadcast from that temple to a screen in the chapel at the church you're at but you sing etc too when the everyone is asked. 

This was one of the coolest experiences of my life because we are steps away from where the early church leaders walked. The first temple in our times was dedicated a half mile from where we were sitting and here we were singing the same song they wrote for that meeting. I was wondering if the people who lived were understood how cool this all was! I know around here I don't think much about our mountains because I see them everyday but when someone comes from out of town they are amazed by them. I wonder if that is how the feel about being around the Kirtland temple all the time. Amazing. 

Dan and a few of the boys outside the church. My older boys were there too but already went to the car by this point. 

Bryan did run into a few people who remembered him from his mission there which was cool. We tried to visit a few more people but weren't home. 

Of course we went back to the temple to walk around. It was closed but it felt like a good place to hang around. 

Bryan knew Rebecca and Kane Thornton while serving as a missionary. They actually baptized Kane but they have since stopped going to church as far as I know. We met them in town to say hello and spend some time with them. Glad we did. I've known Becca through social media and was happy to finally meet her in person. 

That afternoon we left for Dan and Toni's house to eat lunch. Bryan has a lot of people he loves from Ohio but this family is one of his favorites for sure. I loved meeting their daughter and grandkids! I've met Dan and Roni once before when they came to Utah. 

Dan told my kids what a good missionary their dad was. It was good for my kids to hear about Bryan's mission. Especially Tyson who would leave a little over a year from this on his own mission. 

We headed past Cleveland to meet Joe and Heather in Sandusky Ohio because we were going to cedar point the next day. it was only about a 4 hr drive for them to meet us and they have been wanting to go anyway. It made it really fun to see cousins on our trip! 

 

John Johnson Farm- Amish Country

Our second day in Ohio we went to the Kirtland temple in the morning then headed south to Amish country. We ate at a place called Mary yoders that Bryan has talked about for years. I actually really admire the amish people. Anyone that debated to their religion who are so peaceful are people I can support. We saw a lot of homes with their clothes on clothes lines and people out with a hours working in the fields. 

I loved this spot sign for all the horse and buggies. 

I wanted to go to an authentic Amish store but were told to go here and it was just a second hand store. Honestly the kids loved it so it worked out. Ty found some old country CDs and he was so happy about it. Stockton thought this grinch was the best thing ever. 

I really wanted to go see the John Johnson farm in Hiram Ohio. It's sad it isn't even a farm anymore. When Bryan were there on his mission it was a working church farm with orchards and strawberry patches. 

I've been really into reading about my family history for the last few years. I found a man who was buried in Millville from Hiram, Ohio. George Pitkin and his wife Amanda were living there in 1830. George was the sheriff in town. When Joseph moved there George was baptized by Joseph. He was good friends with the prophet. 

The night Joseph was assaulted, tarred and feathered George was there that night to help him peal the tar off his body. It all happened in this home. I felt so close to George while I was there. I felt like he was there with us. It was really cool to be in the room they said was Josephs office because I just knew George had been there many times. And now his 5th great grandchildren were sitting there because of him. 

These are what the doors looked like when the Johnsons lived there. 

Joseph and Emmas room. yes this is what the floors looked like then. 

Josephs office where many revelations were given. 

The day after Joseph was tarred and feathered he stood on these same steps and preached to a group of people (including some of the people who attacked him the night before) about forgiveness. I know many will roll their eyes about Joseph Smith but I can't get over the fact that he never wavered in his testimony of what he knew. Even after he had no money, few followers at this time and was almost killed. And soon after this he lost another child, his 4th child to die. 

When Joseph would preach people would gather in this grassy area to listen. They made a little covering for people to sit under. I'm sure George and Amanda would come to listen to the prophet here. 

This side door is where friends of the prophet would come into get to the office. 

So this guy used to be a member of the church and left because Joseph spelled his name wrong on something. he said no prophet of God could spell someones name wrong. He even lead mobs who attacked the prophet. Then lo and behold he had part of his headstone a word spelled wrong. It was disciple. It's closer to the John Johnson farm so we had to go see it.  

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My kids tease me that I'm 80 years old but I don't care. I love going to cemeteries and find my family there. I feel really close to my family when I honor them. I knew George Pitkins parents and sisters were buried in Hiram in a really old cemetery and I wanted to find it. There are a ton of cemeteries in this area I'm not sure if a lot of old towns are like that or not. This one was hard to find. Really small and super old. A lot of the graves were from people who fought in the American revolution. 

We found Paul and Abigail Pitkins grave! They are my 5th great grandparents. I wish I had nicer things to put on their grave but I did have a couple little flowers I picked. We also cleaned off some of the bird poop off it. This cemetery didn't look like many people visit it. The graves were too old. we were only like a week after Memorial Day and It didn't look like anyone had put stuff on them. It was a honor to go there. 

A covered train bridge! 
 

Newell K Whitney Store

 Thinking that everything would be closed we thought we would drive over to the Newel K Whitney to the church visitor center. We were walking around a little bit and the senior missionaries came up to us and let us know they were still open for tours! We were the only ones there and it was so amazing. There were a few little homes, the store, sawmill and visitors center. 

Back when Bryan was a missionary around 2000 he actually helped dig up the foundation to the old saw mill. It was really cool for him to see it done. The senior couple loved to hear Bryan's stories about it. In fact they were living in the same apartment Bryan did when he served there. 

The best part of the tour for me was the actual Newell K Whitney store. Joseph and Emma actually lived in it for awhile. And the school of the prophets is in the upstairs. Almost all of the building is original. 

Our family in the tiny room where the school of the prophets was. A room where many revelations were given and Jesus and God appeared. It's such a small little room! Being there was amazing. 

Revelations on the priesthood happened in this room 

Original floors 

Joseph and Emmas kitchen 

The store 

Bryans old apartment from his mission.

I loved it here so much. Especially being there alone.