THE BAKER BUNCH: Weekend 7

I've always wanted to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant so I was really excited when I realized we'd be here in NJ during the pageant. We drove to Rochester, NY Friday night and stayed in a really cheap hotel! It really wasn't bad but Caleb went in first and when he came out to get us he told me we may have to go somewhere else. He was pretty sure when I walked in and smelled our room I wouldn't be able to handle it! When we got in there I told him it reminded me of the buildings at SVU so it didn't bother me. Plus I grew up staying at the cheapest of cheap hotels so I'm used to it. :) But it was sweet how willing he was to go somewhere else!

Saturday we visited the Peter Whitmer farm, Hill Cumorah (monument and visitor's center), Smith family homes, Sacred Grove, and the Book of Mormon publication site.

Smith family log home

I didn't get a picture but we ate dinner at this cute little place in Palmyra called Grill and Chill. The kids were both asleep so we left them in the car sleeping and had a little dinner date! :) It was awesome. Don't worry we were sitting outside, about 20 feet from the van.

Their spicy waffle fries were as good as she makes them look.

We arrived at the Pageant a couple hours before it started so we played frisbee, talked with cast members, and visited with three other BYU MBA families who were also there! The Cooks, Holbrooks, and Averys.
Oh, and ate cookies. After he'd had too many Samuel poked his tummy out and said, "Look, my tummy is FULL of cookies!" A few seconds later he points to the large man sitting RIGHT behind us and shouts, "WOW! Did he eat a TON of cookies??" I tried to distract him with a question and he said, "No Mommy look (pointing), his belly is HUGE!" I didn't know what to do. Thankfully Caleb muttered "GRAB HIM!" before he could say anything else. Poor man, I hope he wasn't too hurt or offended. I didn't think I could make it any better by talking to him, so I didn't.

Eliza was so hilarious with the program. For about 15 minutes she was pretending to read it and acting so interested in it. She'd sit down and read it, stand up and walk around like she was telling people about it, then sit down again, etc. Funny girl! People often comment within a couple minutes of meeting Eliza on what a strong personality she has! That's our Liza Lu.

Caleb really has the touch when it comes to getting Eliza to fall asleep in his arms. Honestly she doesn't do it for me, but she does for him. It's always been that way. Whenever she needs to go to sleep when we're not at home he takes her and works his magic. She fell asleep just in time for the pageant to start which allowed us to really enjoy the pageant! I was SO grateful it worked out that way.

The pageant was really great. Sam loved it and was engaged the whole time, probably mostly due to all the scenes with swords, fighting, smoke, and fire. It was pretty similar to the Manti Pageant from what I remember. We decided it's a family goal of ours to participate in one of the church pageants. Here are a few of my favorite scenes: