Columbus and Kirtland

Now that we are done with Christmas and New Year's and having people visiting and all the craziness that goes along with all of that, I can sit down and blog about the trip we took just before Christmas.

Skyline of part of Columbus

Jason and I (Anna stayed home) went to Columbus, OH for 6 days for two job interviews, to drop in on some other firms and to check out the city. We were able to stay with a family from our church that Jason met through the Linked In website. The husband also helped arrange one of Jason's interviews. They turned out to be so nice (it could have gone either way). They have 10 kids but only 4 are still at home. The parents helped us know about places to go to see what Columbus has to offer and we played games with the kids. We even got to sleep in a water bed.

Front of one of the firms we visited

Jason had two interviews the first day and then the second day we just dropped in on a few other firms. I went with him to the interviews and hung out in the lobby then followed them on their tours of the office. It was interesting to see how much I could tell about the places from just sitting in their lobby. Both of the interviews went really well. The general consensus was that if they had work, they would hire him. Jason likes and dislikes things about each one so he doesn't know which one he would prefer.

Open Space in Arena District

Archway saved from the old train station now in the Arena District

Once we got those interviews out of the way, we could play. We spent a bit of time driving/walking around the city. We drove around the university and the downtown and walked around where the arenas are and a neighborhood called the German Village. There we had lunch at a really good deli and the best book store ever. It's called The Book Loft and is the length of a whole block with 32 smaller rooms just packed with books. It feels like they have no more than two or three copies of each book. Each room has different music playing and is a different category. They also have movies and posters and cards. An awesome place to get lost.

Street in German Village (note the brick road)

We were also able to spend our Friday evening there at their science museum. The family we stayed with let us use their membership and the museum was open until 9 that night. We played with the space room, the human body area, the physics toys and rode the unicycle over the lobby. So fun!

Snow (through a screen because it is cold outside)

On Saturday we woke up to a couple of inches of white fluffy snow on the ground. So naturally we decided to drive for three hours up to Kirtland. The roads were all plowed and it wasn't icy so we had a beautiful trip. Neither of us had ever been to Kirtland before and it was a great time to be there.

The visitors center had a nativity display with lots of different styles and sizes. They even had a separate building for the international ones and had them from all over the world.

Whitney Store in Kirtland

After watching a video about the LDS church in Kirtland, we took a tour with a couple of cute sister missionaries. They took us to the N.K. Whitney store where we saw where Joseph Smith lived with his family while they were there. We also saw the room where several of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were written down along with the room that was used for the School of the Prophets. The Spirit was so strong in that room, it was amazing. I can totally see why that was where President Monson wanted to go when he visited the area for a short trip. We also visited the Whitney home and the Johnson Inn that was rebuilt and turned into a multi-media area.

Kirtland Temple

After lunch we went over the the Kirtland Temple. It is owned by the Community of Christ (previously the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and we were able to take a tour. Again we were the only people on the tour and the man who did the tour was nicely chatty. After he learned that Jason was in Architecture, he took us up to the bell tower and we got to look out over the roof line. We also got to go up to the pulpits and see where Joseph Smith sat during the dedication and where Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph and Oliver Cowdrey. Sadly, while it was cool to be up there, the Spirit was not strong like in the School of the Prophets room. Even so, it was so neat to be able to visit those places and feel the Spirit that is still there.

Anna did great for Kristen. I guess it was a little bit crazy the first couple of days while Kristen learned just how closely Anna needs to be watched (there was rice on the family room floor for days) but then things went smoothly. After that, Anna just blended in with the family. Kristen said that Anna wouldn't get sad if they talked about us, just happy that we would be coming home. Once Anna said that when I got home, I would give her hugs (which I did once I got home). Amazingly, she stopped using her binkie while we were away. The first night when Kristen was putting her to bed, she couldn't find it and told Anna that she would just have to go to sleep without it. She did with no problem and didn't ask for it after that. I still don't know where it is. Sadly, after we got back, we had retaliation for a couple of days. It was horrible and I couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with me as a mother (and wished I could find that binkie) but then things calmed down and my sweet Anna was back.

We had a great trip and I can see being happy in Columbus.