Youth Trip 2008: Kirtland, Ohio

In July, I went with the youth on a trip. We went to Kirtland, Ohio to visit the church sites. On our first day, we arrived at the church at 8 am.. Of course we were late as was everyone else and we arrived per norm at Mormon standard time, 8:10 am. Me being ME... My gas tank was also empty! Around 9 ish we all loaded up and headed for the open road. Kirtland was a short 4 hour drive... I had the best group of kids in my car! I had the following kids: Stephanie Rampton, Sabrina Nucci, Benjamin Nucci, Jacob Watabe, Ben Bennington, and Cade Webster. I also got to share the ride with a sweet young sister in our ward by the name of LeeAnn McMann. If you counted right, that made 8 people in a car that seats 7. One of the lucky kids got to ride on Ben Bennington's duffel bag. The kids had a good time on the ride there... They played guitar hero and watched a movie, I think Transformers?


When we arrived in the Cleveland area, we first visited a light house. For some reason there was some signifigance of Mormon history there, but i really wasn't paying attention.... so we climbed the lighthouse and toured the museum. The only thing that I remember about the museum was that it was known for having a ghost cat and they had a GROSS skeleton of the cat there! After the museum, we had the best part of the trip! We went to Lake Erie for five hours. The reason it was the best was because I laid out a blanket in the sand and read for the whole time... I am obsessed with the Twilight saga.... Book 3: Eclipse. It was great! Back to the trip....We had dinner at the beach and then a devotional. It was lovely! Then, we went and got our room assignments. We were in 111 at a SUPER motel 8. Good Fun.



Again, I was blessed with a wonderful group of girls in my room! I had the following girls: Stephanie Rapmton, Sabrina Nucci, Daniela Barriga, and Aimee Webster. What a great group of young women! That night Sabrina gave everyone in the room a pedicure and a manicure if they wished. The girls all stayed up late, but I stayed up all night trying to finish the book. I am truly obsessed with the saga....



In the morning the girls and I went to get breakfast and it was not that great! But off we went to the Kirtland Temple. Being inside the temple was great but not the most spiritual situation. You can tell that the building in now nothing but a building... VERY SAD! We spent some time on the grounds and it was lovely. After that we went to a park nearby and I finally finished ECLIPSE! By the way, I am still obsessed with the book! :) But the kids played and we had lunch and a great devotional by the bishop! Finally we left for the church sites at Kirtland; the visitors center, homesteads, and all of the wonderful thing that are there. Our kids were very tired. After we left the visitors center we headed for the Issac Morley farm. It was nice also... then we headed for some ice cream and everyone got a cone. I got a chocolate cone.... Surprise, surprise! Then, finally, we were back to our room, taking a much needed nap. Then we had dinner, which was Cici's Pizza and we went to a pageant called "This is Kirtland." The funniest thing was, Emma Smith was played by a person who lived in our ward in Arlington, named Natalie Sanford. What a small world! We met in the foyer after the pageant and we hugged and jumped up and down. It was so nice to see someone from my old ward; a friendly face is always nice to see. That night we all went to bed and crashed! We even overslept the next morning.




The last day we got up and headed for the John Johnson farm. It was my favorite place on the whole trip. It is the house where the most revelation took place and also the place where Joseph was drug out and tarred and feathered. The feeling that was present at the farm is scarred in my mind forever. We had a testimony meeting and then we were off. Back to the big city of Cincinnati! The kids were great and I could not have asked for a better time or group of kids!