Ohio

For Christmas my Mom got my sister and I tickets to go on vacation with her.  We went to Berlin, Ohio, which is one of the largest Amish settlements in the US.  My Mom had been there before and loved it.  Being there was truly serene as the landscape is beautiful and the lifestyle is simple.  Coming home after a week in a lot slower paced environment really makes me want to step back and simplify life.  It was six days (and nights!) of just the three of us and we had a blast.  So many great memories were made on this once in a life time trip!

Headed out!!!

Airport selfie.

When my Mom visited Berlin before she had met the Yoder family and we were planning on visiting them again while we were there.  My Mom asked them what they would want from Arizona and they told her a cactus.  So, Mom bought a baby saguaro and I got to babysit it while we traveled across the country.  Hombre the cactus and I got to be best buds.  

Our visit with the Yoder family was so nice.  It is amazing how many similarities there are between our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Amish.  Many similarities stem from the belief that we should be "in the world, but not of the world".  Auctions are a huge thing in the Amish community.  They hold benefit auctions when a member of their community is in need of financial assistance.  Because they don't hold health insurance they help each other out if one has medical expenses.  One of the Yoder sons, Elmer, had gone to school to become an auctioneer and we got to go to an auction he was holding.  It was quite the experience!  The Yoder family couldn't believe that we don't hold auctions all the time and wanted to know how we got rid of all our stuff without auctions!  They also couldn't believe rattlesnakes were real.  I wish they weren't real!

Beautiful homes and landscape everywhere!

Traffic jam in Amish country!

My Mom is in love with the clip-clop of the horses hooves on the asphalt. 

Plowing the fields.

Largest Christmas store in Ohio.

They have these "bulk food" stores everywhere.  Basically, they repackage food into smaller bags and close them with a twistie tie.  The food is really cheap and we brought lots of yummy stuff home!  In all the bulk food stores they have samples out everywhere for you to try.  I'm not sure how they get past health codes with it, but grocery shopping would certainly be lots more fun here if there were samples every few steps!  

Pie fillings I brought home to make filled doughnuts!

All kinds of sprinkles.

Largest cuokoo clock in the work in Sugarcreek.

Fabric store parking.

I think the general consensus was that Amish meals are nothing to shout about (fried chicken, mashed potatoes, noodles, bread with peanut butter spread), but there were bakeries everywhere and the baked goods were divine!  Our hotel got doughnuts from a local bakery every morning that were SO yummy!

Heine Cheese Factory.  A million kinds of cheese and fudge-all available to sample!

We drove by this softball game and thought it was kind of funny to see the younger men and boys playing, the women on one side and the older men on the other side watching.

We went on an Amish farm tour (an Amish man converted to Mennonite and then opened the tourist site) where we got to see inside an Old Order Amish home, a more modern Amish home, a barn, school, and go on a buggy ride.  I really enjoyed the tour a lot.  In one of the homes there were two girls running a bakery with the most delicious smelling baked goods that they sold.  We got a huge plate of cinnamon rolls for only $2!  One of the girls, Leah, had just finished her lifelong dream of writing a cookbook, which we just had to get.

Mom's gorgeous prize from Amish country.  The lady she bought it from was in her 60s (at least) and she said her mother made this quilt.

Lots of fun stores to visit-both in people's homes who made homemade goods and more commercialized stores.

Hats and coats outside the auction.  I have no idea how anyone ever finds theirs when they all look the same!

Our last night we hopped over to Kirtland and saw the temple there and all the church history sites.  I love Kirtland and was excited to go back (I hadn't been since we went on field trip with Semester at Nauvoo).

The Kirtland Temple is a special place to me.  The Spirit is super strong there and you know that it is a holy place.  At the end of the tour we sang "The Spirit of God" and Mom led the music.  She got to stand on the stands at the front of the room where Joseph Smith and other church leaders would've sat during the dedication.  As we sang about the visions and blessings of old returning, angels coming to visit the Earth and singing with the armies of Heaven the Spirit was so strong.  I could easily imagine the dedication taking place and see the events unfolding just as they would've on that sacred day.  I know that Christ's church is once again on the Earth.  I have received many confirmations throughout my life that it is true and I am so grateful that one of those times was with my Mom and sister in the Kirtland Temple.  It is an experience that I will never forget. 

We took a quick trip to see Lake Erie, but it was too cold to stay for much more than a couple minutes.

The John Johnson home, where Joseph Smith was taken during the night and tared and feathered.  Many revelations were received here, one of which was D&C 76.  This is one of my absolute favorite church history sites.

Our last quest was to find a covered bridge for Nana to see.  After following an Amish woman's directions (this road goes this way, that road goes that way, etc.) for a while we finally found a utility man who sent us in the right direction and we found it!

Maren got too many treasures and then we had to fit them all in.  Hehe.

Our amazing week wouldn't have happened without some amazing family members that were willing to help with the kids.  Thank you Mammy, Grandad and Uncle Jake for helping out with the kids while Dustin worked.