NY Vacation Part 3 - Pageant!

On Friday, after lunch, we went to Palmyra! The kids had never been to the church sites there, so we thought we'd see some of the sites, have dinner with Lori and family, and go to pageant! I hadn't been to pageant for 3 years, and Chris hadn't been in 5. I LOVE pageant!

As expected, it was crazy crowded. I remembered why I usually avoided the sites during pageant time. We were going to go to the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was published, but there were crowds and long waits for a tour. After browsing in the book store, we decided to go to the Joseph Smith cabin, home and sacred grove. It was weird that they didn't have any kind of tours, but instead you just walked in and looked yourself. We enjoyed our walk and the beauty and peace you feel in the sacred grove. The kids had a good time too, and I hope to take them again to have real tours when they are a little older.

Smith family frame home

Sacred grove

Walking in the sacred grove

After our tours, we headed to the hill to meet up with Lori. They had to get us passes so that we could go into Zion's Camp where they were camping for the two weeks while serving as cast members of the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We had dinner with them at the Rotary Club tent, and then they had to go get into their costumes. We went to our seats and enjoyed the summer weather while waiting for pageant to start. It doesn't start until dusk (around 9:15) so we had some time to kill. We walked around looking for old friends, went to the visitor's center (where we could enjoy the a/c), and enjoyed our time together. Wendy and Dan and their family showed up after 8 so the cousins were especially happy to get together. We also enjoyed our traditional yummy salt potatoes. Yum!

The stage on the hill

Maddie ate some unpitted cherries. She gave me a little scare, but it seemed to be ok. I don't think she ate a pit. She sure is cute though!

Happy girl!

Amelia liked sitting on the picnic blanket, or so I thought. I thought she was happy picking at the grass and playing with the toys. Next thing I know, someone a few rows back is carrying her to me. She crawled under the chairs back a few rows! Crazy baby. Mommy fail moment!

With some cousins!

Amelia was quite sleepy!

Lori and most of her family came by to say hi while in their costumes. :)

Finally, the show was about to start. I was so excited! The only other time Claire saw it was when she was 2.5. She didn't remember seeing it, but I couldn't forget this picture. It's one of my favorites! I was excited for her, and Maddie who was now 2.5, to see it.

Claire and I watching the opening procession July 2011

Wearing the same jacket 3 years later. She's not nearly as expressive, but she has talked about how much she loved it and how she wants to go back there again. She wants to be in the cast and wear the costumes too someday. :)

It was so nice to see the pageant again. It's awesome for so many reasons - great free summertime family friendly entertainment, so many memories that flood back of watching and being in the pageant, great message and spiritual experience, and it's just plain entertaining too! If you haven't seen it before, GO!

Chris enjoyed experimenting with our camera. It's got an awesome zoom so he got some awesome shots. Yes, he followed the rules and didn't take any video or use any flash. It's hard to have perfectly clear pictures at that distance, light level, and zoom level. (It's hard to hold still enough!) Here are some of my favorites.

My niece in the opening procession. I think she's the one in the middle of the screen, middle person in the green and orange. I think. 

The majority of the cast members all on stage at the end of the opening procession. I think there are about 600-700 people there!

Tree of life dream

Lori was a harvest dancer in this scene (one of the most beautiful.) I think she is in the middle, top row fourth person from the right.

Cool fighting scene. I think it's Laman and Nephi.

My nephew was in this scene with Abinadi burning. I don't know if he is in this picture, but he did say he was close enough to the fire that he had to back up.

Wayne and my other niece were in the destruction scene right before Christ comes. I'm pretty sure neither are in this picture (this scene is really dark), but I LOVE this picture with the fire poofs and water sprays.

The best part of the pageant - when Christ descends. You can't really tell, but he is descending down from the sky here. 

A view further back after Jesus made it down and the people coming on stage to see Him.

Jesus with a little girl.

I just LOVE pageant. I look forward to following my family's footsteps in participating in the pageant as cast members when our kids are older. (You are much more likely to be accepted when your kids are more teenage.) My parents did it. My oldest brother did it with his family. And my oldest sister did it with her family. My turn will come! I feel like my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon started by being in the pageant. I always feel a little sad when I go to see pageant because I'm not in costume going on stage. And it's not just the performances I miss. I miss the cast teams, the devotionals, and all that goes with pageant. It's AWESOME!