Friday, August 29, 2008

Our Palmyra Trip

We went on a weekend trip with Mom Santini, Mark, and the Egbers to Niagara Falls, Palmyra, and Corning New York. It was such a blast!


 Here we are in Niagara Falls!
You can go into these tunnels that come out behind the falls. It is amazing to be so close and see how hard the water comes crashing down. Quite frightening actually!










Lori (sister in law) and I in one of the tunnels. We both decided a movie needs to be made here in these tunnels. I'm thinking another Bourne movie needs to be made!!!














The ramp from the hotel to the falls was this tram thing. Mark is a little uncomfortable with heights as he communicates so well on his face. We asked him to make the face again so we could take a picture.














We had pictures taken on a green screen and then had them impose them onto a Niagara picture. Here is Landon and Lindsey pushing Carter and Presley into the falls.














I finally get my fireworks!














JD and I walking across the falls.















JD was nicknamed Moose when he was little.



















All of us out next to the falls.





































At the IMAX there were many a photo opp. There have been several dare devil attempts to go down the falls and live.






























We were able to go on a boat that took us into the falls. What a blast!














































We then went to Palmyra. Here we are at the Hill Cumorah Pageant at Hill Cumorah. Below is us with the Joseph Smith character.





























When you walk up to the top of the hill, this is the commemorative statue you find. We heard that the man who carved this statue had many different sketches and he was trying to figure out which one to pick. He prayed about it and one of the sketches began to be illuminated by light. He knew it was the one. So he took them all to the Brethren and they picked the very one he saw illuminated the night before.

























We had some trouble getting Mark up to the top so we had to take some pictures of the adventure!




























My favorite part of the whole trip was the Sacred Grove. When you walk in there, you feel such a strong overwhelming sense of peace. It feels like you've walked in the doors of the temple. The Grove does not have walls, but it was as if we walked into a room that had such an amazing feeling of peace and which left when you walked out of the Grove. I know that Heavenly Father and His Son appeared to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York. You can't help but have your soul touched there.













We went to all of the Church history sites, including the Book of Mormon Printing museum. Here is the original of the well known picture of Joseph Smith. Below is Mark driving a the Monster Rally Wheelchair. The wheels made it much easier to travel over all of the gravel. dirt, and mud while looking at the different sites.


















































































Palmyra is such a cute little town. I want to move there!

































Another highlight was the Peter Whitmer farm.






 Peter Whitmer's home














I had to take a picture of this. There's a visitor's center at the farm and in it are the original pieces of artwork that were featured in the first Ensign. This is depicting Joseph Smith preparing for the first meeting of the Church. Even back then, from the very first Sunday service, the men were setting up chairs. Not much has changed!












We went to Corning to the museum of glass and had a great time there. Here is a very impressed me next to some beautiful stain glass. As a stain glass hobbyist, I appreciate this piece of art!




































DNA made from glass.









Amazing stuff.































They had all of these exhibits for kids. This one was on how different kids of glass breaks.





















I was totally excited about the glass blowing. I absolutely am fascinated by glass blowing.















So I decided to blow some myself! I got to blow a glass Christmas ornament. It turned out amazingly thanks to the guys who helped me out.
















Thursday, August 28, 2008

Miscellaneous Summer Pics

This post is a bunch of pictures from this summer.



Here our nieces are competing in a local swim meet. They are pretty accomplished!

















Here is cute Samantha!














JD surprised me with tickets to the Lion King. Here is a sneak pic of the finale.



































The show was at the Kennedy Center. Here is a picture at the fountain.















We also went to an Orioles game. It was my first pro baseball game. We had a blast. It was a great game and the O's squeaked by with a victory!




Beautiful stadium!































































One of our last nights in DC, we went to the Melting Pot. What a fun place to eat! The next picture of me and the chocolate fondue. I was in love! Wow-wee!!!




























This is the 4th of July ward party. Here I'm sportin' a flag shirt. JD was insistent that I celebrated with a patriotic shirt.








That night the weather started looking bad, so we didn't get to go see fireworks. I was disappointed, so JD turned the TV on for me so I could see some fireworks. (next picture)



















We also went to the zoo- I love the zoo. Here are a couple of shots.
















































Here is where JD spent his days at the Capitol. It's a surprise that the country can continue running without him!

















JD headed into work.














This is where the hearings that JD worked on were held. Sitting is Senator Dorgan.























JD and I went to a rally to get some good picture opps. It was interesting to say the least!
















































One of the great things that we got to do during the summer was to go see our nieces and nephews' summer sporting events. Here is Madison and Erica.










I love this shot. It was Mom Santini's birthday. I love all of the grandkids around.






Tuesday, August 12, 2008

TV/Movie Sites in New York

When JD and I were in New York, we went on a tour to a bunch of locations where TV and movies were filmed. Can you guess what TV show/movie each picture is from?

ANDYou can see the arch when Will Smith walks out of the apartment he is living in. JD is standing in front of Will Smith's apartment.


This apartment is the apartment of Spider-man in Spider-man 2.


The Puck building is also in Will and Grace.

AND



AND






I LOVE the Cosby show. This was my favorite stop.



This apartment is just a couple apartments down from the Cosby apartment.

And finally....