Nauvoo

Warning: Blog entry is about a family trip. Super long. May be boring to read.

The date on this blog entry is July 26th. It is actually September 22nd. This is the beauty of blogger. I can be way behind on my blog and future generations will have no idea. Finishing this blog entry has been a major pain in the behind. It has become like a giant pooper in the toilet that is my blog. Yeah, I just compared my blog to a toilet. I have six kids, what can I say. This entry has clogged up everything. I am so happy that I have broken it all up and am ready to flush. Wheee!! With my, Janie's and Mystery's pictures to choose from it was hard to go small. Blogging has replaced my scrapbooking so bear with me as I document our trip.
Let me start my travel log by just saying that if you are ever going to travel across the country and you are 35-36 weeks pregnant and you have five kids and you don't want to go crazy....take a motor home. Best money we ever spent.

A few months ago my brother Adam called with with a crazy cockamamie plan to go to Nauvoo as a family. They live in Milwaukee and were planning to go whether we came or not. Needless to say my brother is very persuasive. He also managed to wrangle my parents and my sister. This was the first time we've gone on a trip all together that doesn't include Park City.

We left at 4 a.m. on Friday morning (July 17th) and headed for Winter Quarters, Nebraska. This was the stop for the first leg of our trip and we really wanted to make it early enough to go to the visitors center. We put the kids to bed in the motor home the night before so we wouldn't have to wake them up in the morning. They didn't stay asleep long as the excitement got the best of them. I got them up and dressed and buckled up and we had breakfast. We did all of this without having to stop. Having a bathroom on board is priceless when you are pregnant and have five kids. It saved us hours of extra travel time. I never saw the inside of a public restroom. So nice. We met up with my parents and caravanned for most of the trip. My mother-in-law put together a huge care package for us with books, markers, toys and treats. We colored, watched movies on my laptop and played. It was the best road trip ever.
Despite our ease of travel it still took us much longer than expected to arrive at Winter Quarters. By the time we arrived it was after 10:00 p.m. and everything was closed up. This didn't stop us from taking photos and wandering around the grounds. This is the only time I have ever seen bats flying around the Angel Moroni. The temple is right next to a pioneer cemetery which was very cool to check out.
The next day we headed out bright and early for Nauvoo. We made it there in the afternoon where Adam and Danielle were waiting for us. I was planning on Nauvoo being hot and humid. When we arrived it was cold enough we had to wear jackets. Little tender mercy for the giant pregnant woman. After we bundled up we headed "down town" and did a little sightseeing before heading over to the Nauvoo Pageant.
Scott had a very strong desire to take pictures of the kids in front of corn. Here is what we ended up with. Not too bad.



Before the pageant they have a pre-show that was more fun for the kids than the actual show. They have all sorts of pioneer games and activities. We watched a puppet show, learned how to dance, walked on stilts, played tug-o-war, made pioneer crafts, and had a potato sack race. We then headed over to the pageant. They did an amazing job of telling the story of the saints in Nauvoo.
The next morning we headed out to church. Everyone in Nauvoo had the same idea. I have never seen so many people pouring into a sacrament meeting. They were literally coming in by the busloads. With the pageant going on there was a multitude of Mormons that all decided to go to church at the same time. It was really amazing to attend Sacrament meeting in this historic town.

After church we headed to the visitors center. In the lobby there was an amazing group of statues on display. It was a traveling arrangement and we were lucky enough to catch of glimpse of it. The woman who sculpted them has no formal training and one day just decided to take up sculpting. They are all sculptures of different times in the Saviors life. Quite remarkable.

They also show the movie "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration". It is the same movie that they show at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had never taken the kids to see it and thought Nauvoo would be the perfect opportunity. We thought it would especially fitting to see before we went to Carthage Jail.

Outside of the visitors center is the Monument to Women memorial garden. Dedicated to women of the past, present, and future, this beautiful garden displays 13 life-size statues of women, each depicting a different role women play in the home and in society.

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon then to head over to Carthage Jail. We have heard from many people that being there can be a profoundly spiritual experience. I can see how this might be true if you don't have 10 kids with you. Despite the fact that we had all of these distractions there was still a very strong spirit there.
The next morning we headed back over to Nauvoo. We stopped first at Pioneer Past Times. Here the kids dressed up like pioneers and played games pioneer children played. I am considering buying Jaden a hoop and a stick to push around the backyard. I also think I'll pick up a wheel barrow to give the kids rides in. I am not sure why I spend money on toys at all. I am thinking that living in a simpler time would not be so bad.

We had to practically drag the kids away from here but we made it up to them by taking them on a wagon tour of Nauvoo. It was a wonderful way to see Nauvoo without having to drag the kids from place to place. It is amazing to me all of the missionaries they have serving there. Everything we did was free and staffed with missionaries both young and old. They put on plays, gave tours of the buildings, ran the pioneer games, and staffed the visitors center. They have to have an entire sacrament meeting just for all the missionaries they have serving there.

We then went and saw one of the many plays they have there called "Just Plain Anna Amanda". It was a great way for the kids to learn about Nauvoo through the eyes of a child.
After we had a quick lunch Scott, Hayley, Faith, Mystery and my Dad headed over to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. The font in this temple is the biggest font of all the temples in the church. When the original temple was built they would sometimes do two baptisms at a time.

While they were off in the temple we headed to the "Family Living Center." Here we saw more missionaries showing us how the pioneers used to make bread, candles, bricks, rugs, rope, barrels and yarn. The rugs they make there they use in the various houses in Nauvoo.


During the night I was awoken to a huge crash of thunder. This was followed by rain which pounded on the motor home. Once again it was reaffirmed to me that renting the motor home was money well spent.

The next morning everyone but me, Danielle, Gabe, Caleb and Elizabeth headed out for a handcart trek. We thought it was only going to be a mile and that they'd be back by 10. It turns out it was a three mile hike over muddy, rocky hills, in the pouring rain. They didn't get back until after noon. Hayley hurt her lip in he beginning and somehow this made her legs useless. She spent the trek in the handcart. When they all returned they were muddy, soaked, and cold. Isabella may have been near hypothermia. He lips were purple for quite a while. We put all the clothes in a garbage bag and showered everyone to warm them up and clean them off. Did I mention how nice it was to have a motor home? This was not the kids most fun activity. In fact, they hated it. Maybe one day they'll look back and appreciate what the pioneers went through.

The next morning a few of us headed over to the temple to do a session. It was amazing. The rooms are beautiful and the spirit even more so. The baby was so excited I had several contractions in the terrestrial room. Much to the relief of both me and the temple workers the excitement did not lead to a birth.

Caleb, Elizabeth, and Gabe had way too much fun together. They were always getting into something or other.

Once we were done there we packed up and headed out of town. Before we left we dropped by the temple for a photo op.

The next stop on our journey was Adam-Ondi-Ahman. We arrived there in the early afternoon and gathered together to have a lesson by Scott, Hayley and Jaden. There is one place there where the prophet Joseph Smith revealed that Adam offered up sacrifice after being cast out of the Garden. This is also a place where he said that a Nephite altar was built. There were stones around that he said were remnants of these altars. The kids had a great time climbing on them.




After we left here we traveled to Independence. We set up camp, ate dinner and went to bed. One thing I never had trouble doing was sleeping.

The next morning we were up again and off to see Independence. The Church has a great visitors center there. The missionaries took us through an awesome presentation on families. After this we let the kids play in the pioneer room they have for the kids. They loved playing in the mini covered wagon. Even Janie and Ryan couldn't help themselves.

Right across the street from the visitors center the Community of Christ (the reorganized church) has their "Temple". It reminded me of a giant cork screw. When Danielle was on her mission there they used to call it the "tin man's hat". It was interesting to see how far they have come from the truth. I felt bad for our tour guide. We were very curious about their faith and she may have felt intimidated by us. She was very accommodating and pleasant. Down in their basement they have a small museum with lots of church artifacts. We then went next door to the Church of Christ temple lot. This is where Joseph Smith marked the ground for a temple to be built. The man who ran their "visitors center" was not quite as hospitable as the other tour guide. In fact, he was a bit hostile. I think he may spend a lot of his time battling it out with Mormon tourists. When we were done here we went back to the Visitors Center. Walking back through the doors was like coming home. The Spirit was tangible. It was interesting that two churches that came from the same root could be so different now. It was obvious to me which one had the truth. I am so grateful to belong to the Lord's church.

You can't go camping without having a camp fire. Once we found some wood we lit the fire and made some s'mores.

Jaden let Gabe sleep with him and it was so cute how they cuddled up together.

The next day we went to visit Liberty Jail. The jail has been restored and is housed in a visitors center. This is where Danielle served her mission. Being in a place where the Prophet Joseph suffered so much and received such wonderful revelation brought a very sweet spirit.

We also visited the temple site at Far West. My dad, Faith, Mystery, and Jonathan gave us a lesson.

It was the hottest day so far on our trip and to cool off we stopped off for some frozen custard. Back east custard shops are the way to go. It was pretty good.

Our campsite was near a lake so we spent the last few hours of our afternoon swimming. The water was super warm and being in it felt super good on my prego belly. The kids loved playing in the sand. Janie and Ryan brought a raft we blew up and paddled around in. I could have spent the whole day here.

Our last night together we celebrated Ryan's birthday. It was sad to think that our trip was almost to an end.

It was a beautiful night and my parents decided to leave the fly off the top of their tent. When I was woken up by a huge crash of thunder I hurried and looked outside to see if they had put the fly on their tent. It turns out they had just barely got it on before a huge storm hit us. In fact my mom was still outside the tent when it hit. Have I mentioned how grateful I am that we got a motor home? The winds were blowing so bad it blew my parents tent right over. The only reason Adam's tent didn't blow over is because they were standing up bracing the sides of it. One of Janie and Ryan's poles broke and water poured into their tent. I wish I had had the sense to grab my video camera. It was an amazing storm. Several tents in the campground blew down. One family had to get out of their tent and hold their boat down to keep it from lifting off it's trailer. While they were holding it down their whole tent blew away. After worst of the storm was over Janie and Ryan came into our motor home. Faith and Mystery went to sleep in Janie's car. Jonathan slept in my parents car. My parents made a make shift shelter with what was left of their tent and their blow up mattresses. We didn't leave as early as we had hoped but managed to clean up the next morning and head out on our way.

We traveled all day and made it to Laramie, Wyoming where we spent the night at a KOA. Coming home was not nearly as fun as going. We still managed to have a good trip and made it home safe, sound, and completely tuckered out.