Ohio

Ohio is one of my favorite words. I love that it is three syllables but only four letters. It kind of makes me think about making even something small feel important. I suppose it is fitting because that is what we did about two weeks ago. We made a small summer vacation feel like a big deal. We went to visit my dad for his birthday but we also took some side trips to make the most of our trip.

Kirtland, Ohio

After Joseph Smith translated the golden plates to give us the Book of Mormon, he received a revelation to “go to the Ohio”. The place he, along with his family and the early members, were directed was Kirtland, Ohio. This was an important place for the early members or saints as we call them. They added to their numbers and built a temple even though they were incredibly poor. This was to be the first stop on the long road of persecution that finally ended in Utah. Visiting their restored homes, stores and the temple was inspiring. It was evident that they did not only leave behind those physical items but a great legacy of faith. They were required to endure many hardships but went forward with faith in spite of, and perhaps because of, them.

AJP at the Ashery once owned by the Whitney family.

BLP at the Kirtland Temple.

Our family at the Johnson home outside of Kirtland.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

When we were planning our trip, the kids kept asking if they were going to add another state to their list of previously visited states. We told them no at first but then I had a crazy idea to visit Ann Arbor. JTP’s brother had lived there for a long time and we had never been able to visit him which had really disappointed me. Additionally, we occasionally order things from Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor. We mapped it out and realized that going to Ann Arbor would be only a two hour detour. We decided to go. I guess you could say we went two hours for lunch since we really didn’t do anything else there. It was really fun all the same.

BLP and AJP at Zingerman's after lunch.

Northwest Ohio

We arrived Friday afternoon at my dad’s house. We spent a really low key evening with him and my step mom. We went to the play ground near their house, played basketball and chatted. On Saturday, we went to lunch and bowling. When we were trying to find an open bowling alley (really that should not be hard but it was), we heard this message, “We’re closed for all of July and the first few weeks in August. If you have an emergency, please call . . .” We couldn’t stop laughing. Really, what would qualify as a “bowling emergency”? We then ate dinner and had cake and ice cream to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We finished the night off with a quick photo shoot. We left early the next morning so we could go to church outside of Kirtland at the Johnson Farm. It was a great visit!

Our family with my dad, my step-mom, half brother and his family