Nauvoo!!!

This weekend we went to Nauvoo! It was so fun! Jeremy had never been before so he was REALLY excited about going. I went when I was in high school, but I was also excited to go again, especially with the kids! I called Heidi to tell her we were coming to see if they would want to come, and she said they were already planning on going that Saturday! Their temple is the Nauvoo temple, so they were planning on going to the temple that night, so they came earlier to play with us.

Jeremy took a half day off on Friday,so we were able to leave shortly after Eli got out of school on Friday and we drove straight to Carthage, Illinois to visit the Carthage Jail and Visitor's Center there. It was about a 4 hour drive, so we were able to have an hour there before it closed. It was really neat to be in the actual room where the prophet was killed and to feel the Spirit that was there. It was a nice start to our trip.

Joseph fell out of the 2nd story window there.

After Carthage, we grabbed some dinner and headed to Nauvoo for the show in the Cultural Hall put on by the senior missionary couples, "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo". Oh my goodness, they are so cute. I got teary several times thinking of my sweet grandparents who served there a decade ago. My Grandpa has since passed away, and it made me miss him even more. I was so impressed with all the work that goes into putting that on. They have to memorize sooo many wordy songs! It was a great production and I think the kids really enjoyed it. They sat quite wide-eyed through the whole thing. They aren't used to stage productions like that and they had all the people with small kids sit in the front row so we were right there!

That night we stayed in Keokuk, IA and then we headed back up to Nauvoo to spend all of Saturday there. We started off in the Visitor's Center and then went to the Family Living Center where we learned about bread-making, candle-making, barrel-making, pottery, and rope-making. The kids really enjoyed a lot of that, especially making our own rope.

After that we went to the Scovil Bakery where we got a free cookie (also a hit with the kids) and learned about what they did there. Then we met up with Heidi and Sam and ate our packed lunches outside. It was the most GORGEOUS day! Seriously, the weather could not have been anymore ideal. We love being able to see the church history sites in the off-season (as we did with Palmyra and Kirtland), because the weather is mild and the crowds are non-existent!

After lunch, we did some outdoor pioneer games! We were so glad we could do this. It's normally closed this time of year, but because there were several families there and the weather was beautiful, they opened it up for a few hours in the afternoon. We did all sorts of things and again the kids seemed to really enjoy it.

And so did the adults obviously!

Adorable pioneer children. Eli had no interest in participating in this. :)

After the games we went to the Browning Home and Gunsmith Shop, then the Brickyard, and then the Pendleton Log Home and School. After that, the kids were losing steam, so we went on a horse-drawn carriage ride around the countryside. They told us some stories about some of the people that lived there and it was really nice. Connor got a nice little nap during our bumpy ride.

After the carriage, we hit one last stop - the Webb Brothers' Blacksmith Shop. That was one of our favorites because they actually did blacksmith work instead of just talked about it. They gave us each a horseshoe nail ring and Sam even got a little tiny horseshoe (which he nicely gave to the kids, thanks Sam!) By then it was about 4:30 and everyone was pretty much done, so we went to the temple to take a few pictures and then drove to Fort Madison for dinner. It was a great trip! We'd love to go again and see everything else we didn't have time for, but we felt like we were able to do a lot. It really is a beautiful place!

Squinty eyes! It was super bright.