Nauvoo Day Three - 15th

On Monday we were able through hook ups, to be able to get a babysitter for all the kids and then be able to attend the temple all together. The feeling and Spirit that was with us that day was so peaceful and great! Just knowing that I was going to step foot in that beautiful House of the Lord was amazing to me and I was on the edge of tears just being on the front step let along walking inside the front door. It was gorgeous inside and so neat to see it with my own eyes. Most of the floors were wood and I had never noticed before the symbolism of coming in the temple in my Sunday, yet worldly clothes, and feeling that that didn't really belong. My high heals were very loud and I tried with every step to quiet the loud clomping that I was making. It wasn't until I had changed my clothes that the peace came, then I belonged.

To be in that sacred house and to think of everything that went along with it was amazing! Realizing that the saints build this long ago and to see how much work would have had to go in to it. To see the detail that was put in to it, what a sacrifice one had to have made. I tried to think "How did this curtain get here?" Was it sacrificed from a window they would have covered in their home or did they spend and take extra care to make it special. I really tried to just drink it all in and think in very specific terms. And then of course those feelings of how strong their testimonies had to have been to give and sacrifice and work SO HARD on this temple. They HAD to have known the gosple was true, and that they weren't just building a building they were building a temple where they were going to be able to receive such high blessings. I know that the saints did have that testimony because I felt it by just being there. It was truly so beautiful and I was in awe the whole time we were there I wanted to just stay forever.

Preston and I were lucky and we were able to be in one room all by ourselves and it was just an overpowering feeling. The beauty of the paintings and the work that went in to every detail in each room and to think of those saints that had done it all before was incredible! I will never forget the Spirit that was there. It made me want to be so much better than I am and that I have the Divine support to do so.

Attending the Nauvoo Temple was by FAR the best part about the trip. If you weren't planning on going to this beautiful place I hope you feel differently now! If you don't have a temple recommend yet get to a point where you can have it, and get here! If you have one... get here!

It makes me want to cry thinking of how hard the saints worked on completing this great temple knowing what special ordinances take place here and have to leave it all behind.

While we were in the temple we ran into a sealer that worked in the AZ Temple, Steve Stapley and his wife they are on a mission working in the Nauvoo Temple now. It was kind of a coincidence we ran into him a while ago in the AZ temple doing sealings and then to run into him there was fun. He is also related too so we had fun, he also was able to show us a few other rooms we wouldn't have been able to see so that was extra special. We took he and his wife out to lunch and we really had a good time with them!

We got to do some shopping for a bit and then we hit some more of the historical buildings, Preston and I were able to see the John Browning Guns, which was so interesting to me. Basically he and his dad invented a lot of guns way before their time and we still use them! Preston added this: I remember last time we where in Nauvoo and were doing the Browning residence portion of the tour that someone in the group responded to the comment that the Elder made that, “Obviously the Browning Family was inspired to produce these firearms ahead of their time.” The person asked the question something like, “Why would the Lord inspire someone to create firearms?” And the Elders answer was that the Browning’s developments were used by the United States Armed Forces to uphold and protect the very freedoms we value. So through the inspiration to one family (father and son) the Lord provided the most updated means to protect our country.

We then went to the tin house and the bakery.

That night Elder and Sister Randall were in another play and Bert was the main narrator and Garna played the piano, what talent they've got!

Nauvoo Day Two - 14th

Sunday was a very full day with church at 8 am (Nauvoo time) which was really like 6 am ours! We luckily had Elder and Sister Randall saving chairs for us because we made right at 8. They have a whole ward of just missionaries and let me tell you there were A LOT of them! It was neat to see a whole chapel full of black tags.

After the meeting we stopped by to take pictures in front of the Nauvoo Temple.

What a beautiful building.

Then we drove to Carthage, to see the Jail. I don't know if I heard stories and have just forgotten them or what but I understand the story now. The keeper of the jail was so nice and knew that Joseph was a good man. He didn't want any bullets to come through the windows of this room so he gave up his master bedroom for Joseph and the others that were with them.

Kya saw the chains on the floor and automatically thought a swing had broken. Also she for some reason she was telling stories about a lion. So most of her Joseph Smith stories have lions and swings in them too.

The master bedroom was awesome to be in you get that realization that so many great men were in that very room and Joseph that did SO much was killed right there.

The hole that killed Hyrum.

100 men came charging up these stairs.

While we sat in the room they played an audio of what it might have sounded like. We could hear the mob coming up the stairs and what the men did that were in the room. Kya was sitting on my lap the whole time SUPER concerned, you could tell she knew exactly what was going on and she was super sad when they said that Joseph fell out the window and died. She later repeated the story about 100 times the rest of the time, of course with the lions and swings though.

She sure was serious about it!

This statue is the very reason that Baden's middle name is Hyrum. In short, the last time Preston and Jace were here Jace told Preston that he felt the same about Preston as Hyrum did about Joseph. That has always stuck with him, so Hyrum has a special meaning and Baden is lucky to have such a great name!

Then it was back to Nauvoo for the Community of Christ tour.

This is where Emma stayed the rest of her life in this house.

This is what her house looked out on, right on the Mississippi River.

Emma, Joseph and Hyrum Smith's graves.

Then we went out to see some land right in Nauvoo that Preston's great, great Grandpa owned! We don't think that he built this barn but we think he had before.

Nauvoo Day - 13th

We spent the next few days in Nauvoo, IL which was more than I can even explain. So much of it was FEELING the Spirit that was there, which took place so often trying to get it all down is impossible, but I'll try. Before going on this trip I didn't know what an impact actually SEEING would have. It was really good for me. Not living outside Mesa, AZ I don't think my brain could really fully wrap around what the saints really had to go through. For example what hard work it would have been to drain a SWAMP, to clear their land, to build a home and so on, and then to have to turn around and leave it all! I knew of some of the stories, and was told of the hardships, but I didn't really understand until I saw.

First we were able to go on the Carriage Ride, it made it extra special that Elder Randall was our 'teamster' and Sister Randall was on it too. This ride took us through the land and Elder Randall narrated the whole time telling us where things happened and stories of the early members and of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

We stopped in places along the way to sing and to feel the Spirit that was present.

The kids enjoyed the horses.

Over by the visitor center there is a Women's Garden I loved the bronze statues they had it really depicted great moments of being a woman. This one is my favorite!

Kya decided to dance with the little girl walking, again started singing Sleeping Beauty. She stayed up there they whole time dancing with her. Then she would kiss her and then dance some more! She is a sweet girl!

Baden's teeth are coming in and he was chewing on everything, even Bink.

I didn't take pictures at every stop but we went to see how bricks were made, to the blacksmith shop, and then to the printing press. I was amazed at all of it what it took to make a wagon wheel, how long it took to make a brick, and the time it took to print something! WOW, they were sure hard workers back then!

This was at the printing press.

Each letter had to be set by hand, and each letter was so tiny! AMAZING!

That night we went to the Sunset on the Mississippi, which was a fun play that all the missionaries performed in. It was a lot of fun, it showed off a lot of different talents. They had these missionaries dance'n and jump'n and sing'n! I was amazed with all of the couples, most are not their young selves anymore and I'm sure most of them didn't know they were going to be performing or even want to perform on a stage but there they were. All of them smiling and doing SUCH a great job. They all had such a great spirit, and they all work so hard! They were pulling 10-12 hour days maybe more. What a great testimony of the church!

After the play they had the BYU Ballroom Dancers perform, they were very entertaining and fun to see. Kya really loved them too she was oooing and awing with every new dress they had on for each dance. She really loves dancing!

Died Laughing

Last night it was around dinner time, Kya was sitting by me. She turns to me with her head cocked to the side, "Mom, I want dinner?" (no, it is not really a question but that's how she speaks when her heads cocked to the side.)

I say, "Okay..."

"I want... hhhh (big gasp) a Krabby Patty!" totally serious, and totally excited!

I laughed so hard!

Travel Day "TWO" - 12th

After spending the night at Jace and Karis' house, our plan was to get off and going to Nauvoo. Although you know how that goes 'planning' and actually 'going' are two different things. So to our travel group we had Preston and I and our 2 munchkins, Press's mom Roberta, we added Preston's brother Jace his six month pregnant with twins wife Karis, and their 2 year old munchkin, Cole also known as "Coco". So delays were to be expected, we set off later than planned which landed us around lunch time. So before we set off officially we grabbed some Wendy's. Right as Karis and I were unloading kids from the van we heard this loud siren. I was confused because we don't have loud sirens in Arizona warning us that it's too hot outside. So I was a little alarmed, when Karis looked up at me with wide eyes and said, "I think that is the tornado warning." She then informed me that she hadn't ever heard it before either. I was so glad (wink wink) to share that first with them! Jace walked in from the rain and said, "Welcome to NW Arkansas!" The warning was telling everyone to abandon their cars and get inside! It was a little funny sitting there in Wendy's eating our food and watching the sky get darker and darker, and the wind blowing harder and harder. Then about 30 minutes later the wind stopped and everything was back to normal, well it was still raining but no damage done. And we were off! The tornado did touch down in the town that we drove through next but we didn't see anything. It gave us a little excitement for the beginning of the trip. We drove pretty much all the way through Missouri that day.

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Which is normally about 8 1/2 hour drive but with the kids it was closer to about 10 hours. So we did pretty good I think. The kids did surprisingly well, thank goodness for portable DVD players!

These two are funny, I know that putting 2 two year olds together is always interesting and you never know what is going to happen. These two were either having TONS of fun together or NOT!

Kya singing Sleeping Beauty theme song again, and dancing with Dolly! But this time it's in a Taco Bell.

One of our side of the road stops to change diapers and stretch!

This is the best picture depicting their relationship!

Kya's mad and Cole has no clue, looking at her like "what is your problem"!

Best buds again!

We got to Nauvoo late, but Preston's Uncle Bert, and Aunt Garna were just cheery as ever and received us with open arms and warm hearts! This was some of the reason for the trip Elder and Sister Randall (Bert and Garna) are on a mission in Nauvoo. Garna had food for us and they were willing to stay up to chat for a while that night even though it was late, and their mornings are early! Garna and I went into the kitchen and made some salsa. Which gave me the treat of having Garna all to myself for a while. They are the warmest people, I don't feel at all that they are from the other side of the family, I really do feel like I've known them my whole life!

After chatting for a while we went to the Nauvoo Family Inn to sleep.

Travel Day - 11th

We are officially back from our trip and it was a GREAT one! We were gone a while so I'm not going to even try to do the whole trip in one blog post so some of you may have to go backwards unless you just keep up with me. I will start at the beginning, we left on Thursday the 11th which was our travel day, with two kids (and a forgotten stroller for the airport) things went better than I thought! Troy was the one that drove us to the airport, he helped us get everything loaded up and ready to go, things went surprisingly smooth, and we were off around 7:15. Well that was until we got to the airport and right as Troy drove off Preston asked for my ID... I reach into my bag where my wallet is ALWAYS, but not today! I was frantic and frustrated and on the verge of tears because I had made sure that my temple recommend and ID were there together so I had neither! It was already to late to have Troy drive all the way back home and come all the way back! I was SO mad at myself, cuz I had asked Preston about 3 times if he was for sure that he had his recommend and ID, and here I was without them!! They told me that I would have to go through extra security to get on the plane and all that jazz. We get all the way through the whindy line and ended up getting the least friendly person at those podiums, and Preston's mom, Roberta had her ID and got right through, Preston got his out and she past him too. Then we had to explain my situation to her and waited my fate. She SIGHED got her walkie out gave a big long, "code green five-niner sixty two Q" which is probably code for "we have an idiot that knows she should have an ID and didn't bring it!" She turns back to me and says, "You don't have ANY form of ID, not a SS card, or ANYTHING?" Then I searched my bag for anything that would help me, and to my surprise I pull out my OTHER wallet that holds my checkbook, where I found my SS card and my drivers license from when I was 16! I can't tell you how ELATED I was and I started to just laugh with relief! I was in! And I was ok! The lady rolled her eyes and shook her head at me got her walkie back out and canceled her last "idiot call." We just had Troy mail my recommend to Nauvoo, and everything was ok!

Our whole family on a plane!

Kya was so excited for her first plane ride!

We sat on the taxi way waiting for our turn to take off for a while which was fun because we got to see a lot of planes land, and take off.

Even Baden woke up for the action!

The plane ride was a little long for a two year old but Kya did surprisingly well. My parents got her a Dora backpack with books, coloring books, and toys. This one was amazing! You just put water in the paintbrush and paint different pages and the best part is you can do it again and again! It was awesome and Kya LOVES the Backyardigans!

When we got to the baggage claim, Kya was being so fun! She was dancing with Dolly and singing, "I know you I walked with you once upon a dream..." She would twirl and swing Dolly it was so cute!

We flew in to Tulsa Oklahoma, rented a car and then drove the 2 and a half hours to Bentonville Arkansas, where Preston's brother Jace lives. We went to visit them and go to Nauvoo so we did a double whammy!

This was my view in the car.

These are just random pictures while we were driving I've never seen such GREEN before!

I do have to apologize to Jace and Karis, and to my friend Meghan, my picture of Arkansas in my head was way different than this. And I always felt bad that these people that I loved had to live in Arkansas but after being there I take it all back. It is BEAUTIFUL and not as Arkansas-y as I thought it would be! So sorry guys you don't have it bad at all and I don't worry about you guys becoming hicks anymore!