LDS Church History Museum

We visited the LDS Church History Museum. It has a new hands on children's area that is beyond amazing for little ones!! Here are the 4 big cousins. They are sitting on a bunk in a look-alike boat that many of the saints may have taken across the Atlantic Ocean. They had a real handcart in the museum that the kids could try to pull. We have been talking a little bit about the pioneers during our family scripture study at night, and we have talked to the boys about the handcarts. So it was neat for them to see one and handle one. I related the story of my great grandfather, Josephus Bleak, and how he pulled his handcart in the snow and his toes got so frozen that he couldn't walk anymore. Then his family had to carry him in the cart and pull it themselves. It is a true pioneer story of our heritage, and it is exciting for the kids to see and touch pioneer things in this museum and begin to better understand all that the pioneers did for us.

Grandma has always been so interested in our family's pioneer heritage. It has given me my own excitement about our ancestors and relating the stories to my own children. The handcart has so much significance in our family, and I am so grateful for those pioneers, my ancestors, who had the faith, courage, and endurance to do what they did.

We got to see a life-size version of the Angel Moroni which stands on top of many of the temples around the world. The kids recognized it to be on top of the temples, and they were excited to be this close to the Angel Moroni.

They had a large area all about Book of Mormon prophets, including the famous Nephi of Old. Here is Cooper standing with Nephi. What a wonderful example he is to my children.

Cooper had a great time in the boat that Nephi built. He even got to help Nephi put some boards up on his boat! He got to fish over the boat and feel how it would be to ride a boat to the promised land, just as the Book of Mormon video shows. Cooper loves that video. I know he made the connection with the video story of the promised land and this boat here with Nephi.

There also was a replica of the golden plates for the kids to touch! How exciting! They were thin metal leaf pages, just like we always understand them to have been. Cooper was very excited to feel the engravings on the plates and turn each page of the future Book of Mormon.

Jaxton was able to use an old fashioned quill pen to recreate Egyptian hyroglyphics, to copy images similar to the ones on the golden plates. He thought that was very fun, to write the pictures and symbols of the old golden plates.

There was another area having to do with self reliance and food storage. They had chickens with eggs underneath. Nate's dad just recently got some baby chicks that will soon be old enough to start laying eggs. Jaxton is familiar with his other Grandpa's chickens, so this was a neat display for him to see.

Near the chicken coop, there is a garden where kids can "grow" their own vegetables, and then use them in a nearby kitchen to cook dinner for the missionaries. Cooper had a great time cooking dinner with Amanda and growing the food in the garden for dinner. Nate had a blast talking with the "missionaries" about the mission and their recent converts. :-)

Kaylee and Spencer just enjoyed being all around the hustle and bustle of children exploring. What a very fun and exciting place to learn and better understand gospel principles.