Mike and Heather: Kansas City here we come...

I was born just outside of Kansas City, MO and lived there until I was 5 so when Michael found out he had to go there for work I decided to tag along. It was the most fun I've had on a work trip with Michael because 1) we actually got to hang out, 2) we got to see some church history stuff, 3) I met a new friend and hung out with her and her twin girls while Michael was working, and 4) we hung out with some fun people.

So Tuesday was the most boring day of all. I literally hung out at the hotel all day. At night we went to Fiorella's Flap Jack BBQ with some of Michael's colleagues. Michael and I don't really eat meat so I got a spinach salad and he got veggie kabobs. They were both tasty. This is where I met Lacey, Sam's wife. They have twin girls who are a few months older than Lorelai.

Wednesday we all piled into cars and went to Adam-ondi-Ahman. This is the place where the prophet Joseph Smith said Adam and Eve were sent to when they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. That's pretty awesome! The area was enormous and beautiful!

This was the overlook of the valley.

Same overlook.

This is called Tower Hill/Spring Hill.

Once we were done here, we went to Far West. The pioneers encountered so much persecution that they were not in Missouri for very long. They were going to build a temple here but only were able to lay 4 cornerstones and then had to leave Far West.

Inside the fence contains the 4 cornerstones, which would be the whole site of the temple.

This is one cornerstone.

This is a monument with information about the unfinished temple.

Here is another cornerstone (we only took pics of 2).

And here's a picture of how big the temple would have been.

From here we headed to Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman White, Parley P. Pratt and George Robinson were imprisoned there for about 5 months. I honestly don't know how they survived that long. They were there during the coldest recorded winter of all time, they ate moldy food everyday, they were in a tiny basement, the ceiling was only 6 feet high so most of them could not stand upright, and they had a tiny window to look outside.

This is a great picture of the unescapable thick rock and wood walls. The only way into the jail basement was through a hole in the floor. An inmate and his family lived upstairs, unable to get out unless someone opened the front door for them.

This shows how small the 2 rooms were.

Lorelai did so well on the trip. It took us 111/2 hours to get there because we had to stop to feed her and change her, but only took 7 hours to get home. She was passed out! She is super excited to be home.