Hill Cumorah Pageant

How cute are these cousins? 

For me the best part of the Hill Cumorah Pageant was mixing with the participants beforehand. Right before we met Joseph Smith, Ireland was whining and I said, "You're about to meet the prophet, lighten up!" and Reagan burst out laughing. For the most part, I think I'm pretty hilarious but I'm only truly assured I'm a riot when I'm around my own family members, who are a hoot themselves.

When we'd approach the actors and ask who they were, they'd get a gleam in their eye and start giving hints until one of the little ones guessed it. This one was present at the birth of Christ, and he came from afar, and he brought a gift... A WISE MAN!!!

This man's son was Nephi, and he found a ball of curious workmanship outside his tent one day... LEHI!

The pageant is pretty spectacular with a huge stage, pyrotechnics and waterfalls.

Personally, my favorite scenes are the one where Nephi builds a boat and the one with King Noah. We had just finished reading the Book of Mormon a few months ago to prepare Ireland for her baptism so the whole pageant was a beautiful recap.

Brent and I had warned the girls about the protesters on their bullhorns so they would be prepared. Afterwards, we could not find where we had parked and trying to find a Honda Pilot among a sea of Honda Pilots was nigh impossible. The panic button on my key chain wasn't yielding any clues so we had to wander around for a bit. The girls were growing tired of the insults being hurled at us when at long last we found the car! The only problem is Brent had taken off to find the car, so then we had to find Brent.

The older girls loved the pageant so much, they went the next night as well! IN THE RAIN!!! Good thing we had those Maid of the Mist ponchos!