Youth Conference 2016: Palmyra

How fun it was for the boys to turn fourteen the year that our stake organized a youth conference up to Palmyra for four days! As nervous as I get sending my kids off for a few days, I was excited for them and knew they were in good hands. They stayed in cabins and were able to see Hill Cummorah, the Palmyra Temple, the Sacred Grove, Smith Farm among other places! The leaders requested that the kids not bring cell phones on the trip as a way to keep them from becoming distracted but encouraged them to bring cameras. Well, what happens when you send a bunch of teenagers on a trip with cameras? Apparently they come back with a ton of selfies... In amongst all the selfies I was able to attempt to piece together their trip which began with me dropping them off at the church bright and early and them jumping on buses for the twelve hour trip to upstate NY!



They had separated the kids into groups. Although Ty and Spencer were in a different group than Connor and Mylo, they still got to hang out plenty together!



Photo op with their assigned groups in front of the Palmyra Temple!



Before the kids left for the conference each parent was asked to prepare a letter to their child that would be handed to them during their time in the Sacred Grove. In the letter we were asked to share anything we wanted so Jack and I focused our letters on all the things we admired about our boys and our love for them. I loved that when I was searching through all Ty's photos he had thought to take one of his opened envelope.



Here are some random photos I was able to grab from both of their cameras!





Of course the majority of the photos that came back were along these lines... haha!




I loved that Ty asked this sweet old lady to have his photo taken with her after he bought some of her home made chocolates. I did not love that Ty didn't think to save a piece for me...haha!



Apparently half the excitement from the trip occurred on the bus ride home when a work truck sped past one of the buses ripping off it's side view mirror. When the bus driver could see that the driver of the work truck had no intention of pulling over to apologize or take care of it, the bus driver radioed to the other buses in the group and they apparently trapped the work truck in until they could get a hold of the highway patrol... hahaha!



No doubt the boys had a great time but the highlight of the trip for me had to be at pick up, and hearing about what a great time they had and how their love of the gospel grew. Many thanks to all the wonderful leaders who made this event possible!