Nauvoo

We have spent a lot of time the last few weeks seeing places that I have heard about my whole life. It has been a neat experience to be in places where the church has its roots. To walk in places where Joseph Smith walked. Being here opens my mind to a whole new understanding of the things that went on and the things those people has to sacrifice in order to build the church.

The last few days we spent in Nauvoo. It was pageant time, so it was a little crowded. I think I would have enjoyed it more during off season when it would be more peaceful. But then I would have missed the pageant! We arrived in Nauvoo on July 4th. First thing we did after getting settled was to go see the show Rendevous and I really hope I spelled that right. Thanks Marcia for getting us tickets because there weren't any left by the time we got there! So do you see any of your friends in this picture? Everyone knows Marcia here!
Next we went over the river into Iowa to watch them shoot fireworks over the Mississippi. That was fun to watch!

The next morning we were up early so we could get a wagon ride through town. I loved the senior missionaries as they gave us the low down on the town. Now we knew what places we wanted to hit up! Although we enjoyed walking around and looking so much, it wasn't until we were done that we realized that we hadn't taken many pictures! Oh well.

Later that night we went to the pageant. We lucked out and got really good seats. This pageant is incredible. I LOVED it. I understand why so many people want to come and watch it. Of course, I forgot my camera so I had to settle for phone pictures. They aren't the best, but they will do. I love this temple. It stands as a powerful testimony to the saints and all their sacrifices. I think they must have rejoiced to see this temple rise again after they had to leave it so many years ago. Such a strong spirit here. I am grateful to know that because of temples we can have our families forever! And we will see again those who we have lost.

This is my favorite statue. In fact, I had to buy a little one to have in my house. It is Joseph and Hyrum Smith standing together. They stood together in life and in death. Such amazing brothers. I hope my two boys can learn from their example to stand together and build each other up.

Now the sad part of our journey. This is Carthage Jail where Joseph and Hyrum were murdered by a mob in 1844. What a dark and sad place. The jailer here was actually kind to them and he let them stay in the bedroom most of the time.

This is the door that was kicked in by the mob. It is the original door. You can still see the bullet hole from the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith.

And this is the window that Joseph fell out of after he was shot. Two great men lost their lives here because they refused to deny the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were amazing men and my testimony of their purpose has grown just by being here in these places.

Lindsie asked me to get this picture. This is where Joseph, Emma and Hyrum Smith are buried in Nauvoo.

I miss Pennsylvania!!!!!!

We had such an amazing time in Pennsylvania with Dean's family. It was really hard to say goodbye. But all good things must end I guess. It was especially hard to leave my babies behind, but we decided before we left that we would fly the children home with Grandma and Dean and I would make the drive home alone. They were SO SO great on the 10 day drive out, we decided not to push our luck! So they get to spend a little more time in PA, then some time in Idaho and they will get home the day after we do! Lucky ducks!

So here are a few pics from our last day or so in PA. I WANT TO GO BACK!!! Here are my Civil War Soldiers. We went to so many historical places, particularly about the Civil War, so they were really into it. Uncle Dean's backyard is a forest, so what better place to play soldier? It was so funny to watch. They had a blast.


We found this fun park that looked like a giant wood fort. So many places to climb! We didn't have time to stay long, but they loved it.

Covered wooden bridge. Not many left back here, but we found this one. It creaks and groans a lot when you drive over it! YIKES!




Hunting for crawdads in Sherman Creek. The "creeks" out here are bigger than our rivers!









Lindsie caught one, then that was enough. They are kinda creapy little things!





Didn't take long for it to turn into a big water fight!






Aunt Helen made us "Thanksgiving dinner" complete with all the trimings! It was nummy!

Hi. I'm Dean. This is my cousin Dean. That's my uncle Dean. And this here is my son Dean. Yeah, it got confusing when anyone would call out "Hey Dean!!"
The whole fam. Man we miss you Uncle Dean, Aunt Helen and Deanie. We miss Grandma and the kids too! And we have only been gone 2 days!

Long Drive Home Day 1

Now comes the time to leave Pennsylvania. We have had a great time, but I guess it's time to head home.




First stop, Pittsburgh. Lots of bridges here in "Three Rivers."



This one is for all you Steelers Fans. Heinz Stadium! They had a concert going on when we were here so there was no where to pull over and park. Our pictures just had to be drive bys!

This one is for Rebecca. Do you recognize this city? This is where we spent last night: Columbus, OH.




We weren't here very long, but we did enjoy a firework show from our 10th floor hotel window!

Long Drive Home Day 2

Today we travelled from Ohio to Illinois, with a few detours along the way. First stop: Cincinatti.

We went across the Ohio River into Newport Kentucky where we road this riverboat. That was really fun. They served brunch and took us on a 2 hour ride up and down the river.

Anyone watch the Reds game today? You probably saw us on TV. The boat goes right past the field and they blow the horn. The captain said that is the TV crews cue to turn the camera on the boat. So we all cheered for the Reds on TV!

After the boat ride, we headed on to Indianapolis. I am starting to think I am on a cross country football stadium tour! Here is the stadium where the Indianapolis Colts play. We really like the Colts, too! Right across the street from the stadium is White River State Park. We hung around here for a little bit. While we were there we rented this surry. It sounded fun, but keep in mind it was 95 degrees outside and we had to peddle around the park! It was still fun, but man were we worn out. And now we are in Danville, IL for the night before heading on to Nauvoo tomorrow!

Another REALLY LONG post

Ok I am about a week behind again. We have been on the run again, but today I finally have a day to just chill (and do laundry of course!). So here is an update on everything we have done this week. And I apologize for any typos. My dear husband has been showing me all my typos. Apparently I blog when I am tired so . . . oh well. : )

Monday we went to Gettysburg. Dean and DJ are both really fascinated with the stories from the Cival War so they were especially excited to go there. We saw some neat stuff.

This is a row of cannons that would have been lined up on the Southern side during the battles. The field off to the left is where they marched in Pickett's Charge.
This is the top of Little Round Top. This is where the Union soldiers were stationed waiting for the Southern soliders to attack. The Union had the clear advantage here. They had big boulders to hide behind and they were at the top of a hill, so they had high ground. Hard to picture this quite field as a major battle ground where many lives were lost to preserve the Union.

When the battle ended, you can imagine all the dead laying out in that field. I didn't know this, but they took them all and buried them in this cemetary. These little stones go on forever, and most of them are unknown soldiers. The dedication of this cemetary is where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. I had a picture of the site of the address, but I don't know which camera it is on!

Yum. . .

On Tuesday, we went to the Hershey Chocolate Factory. Or as Lindsie called it, chocolate Heaven! They have a little ride you go on that takes you through the steps to making their chocolate. Of course, the ride ends and you step off into a giant gift shop and chocolate store! We took this pic on the way out. Notice all the bags we are carrying? Holy cow have a few souveniers! : ) This one was taken on the ride. See all those yummy chocolate bars moving by?

They also have a 3D movie, similar to the one they have in Disneyland. Don't they look cool in their 3D glasses? That is Jarod's "cool" face, not his mad face. Hehe

Washington D.C.

Hope you like looking at pictures, cuz this post has a LOT of them.

Yesterday we took a trip out to Washington D.C. It's about 2 hours from where we are staying. Let me just start by saying that you could easily spend 3 days or more checking out DC, and we tried to cram it all into an 8.5 hour trip. It was a LOT of walking and just kind of looking and moving on, but we saw as much as we could.

We started out at Arlington National Cemetary. That place is so huge! We spent almost 2 hours there and didn't even see everything. This picture is JFK gravesite and the eternal flame. You have to look really close to see the flame coming out of the circle at the top. It doesn't show up on camera very well. Jackie is also buried here, as well as two children that were lost as babies. Did you know they lost a 2 day old son just 2 months before JFK was killed? So sad.

I think this was the coolest part of the whole day. This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is guarded 24 hours a day. And the guard is very precise. It was cool just to watch him march back and forth. He does this whole thing with his gun every time he turns around to march the other way. In this picture the gun is balanced on his hand. I had to go sit in the shade after about 5 minutes. This guy does this for a full hour in full dress uniform. He has my ultimate respect.
The best part is the changing of the guard. They do this every hour. Everyone has to stand and be SILENT while they change the guard. They go through this whole ceremony that is very precise and all three of their movements are perfectly timed. I was kicking myself for not having a video camera. You can't see how cool it is in still pictures. The officer in front is their commander. The soldiers in back are the guard going off duty and the new guard. Both are balancing their guns on their hands.

The commander escorts one soldier away while the other begins his march. Each step they make is perfectly in time with each other.

The retired guard walking away followed by his commander. It was so cool. It gave me chills. If you ever go to DC, this is the one thing you have to make sure and see.

Moving on. After Arlington, we rode the DC Metro over to the Smithsonian Museum(s). There are actually many museums that make up the Smithsonian. This is where we started having to just cruise through. We didn't get to see half of what we wanted to. We started out at the Aero Space Museum. Lots of fun things for the kids here.

And look who found water on the way to the next museum! My kids are water magnets. This fountain is one they let you get into. Well, at least you can get your feet into it. Nice way to cool off on a hot afternoon. Kids just wanted to spend the rest of the day here. But, alas, it was off to to another museum!

This is the Natural History Museum. This would be where we lost Jarod. That kid just wanted to see everything and he wasn't about to make sure he stayed with us. If he saw something he liked, he took off! Well one of those times I couldn't find him. Anywhere. And these museums have so many twists and turns! I was really starting to panic! A few minutes later, Jarod comes walking out of the bathroom! I don't think I saw another thing in any museum except the back of Jarod's head cuz everytime I looked up he disappeared and I wasn't going to let him out of my site again!

Keep walking buddy! We only have about 3.5 hours to go!!

This is the Museum of American History. I think it might be the biggest with four floors of displays. I expected to see a lot of stuff you might find in history books, but it is so much more. History of movies, cars, toys, etc. Just stuff that makes America what it is. Unfortunately for us, they close at 5:30 (which we didn't know) and we didn't even go in until 4:50. Needless to say, we didn't see much of this one. Too bad, too, cuz it looked really fun. Maybe we should have started here, but then we wouldn't have seen anything else!

Madame, Mr and Mr President!

And then Jarod discovered the Legos! You should have seen his face when he came around that corner. I wish I had my camera ready! This is a hands on display. Too bad for Jarod they had already shut it down. But then we might have NEVER made it out of there!

Boy were we getting beat by this time and we hadn't even seen any of the monuments yet! YIKES! But we moved along. Here we are in front of the Washington Memorial. Let me just say it is really hard to get a good picture of this one because it is so TALL! I had a really good picture posted, but I accidentally deleted it and stupid blogger doesn't have an undo button. If I upload it again, it will put it up at the top and I will have to move it and . . . .well, let's just say it's a pain. If you want to see the really cool picture, come to my house in about two week! : )

This is the new WWII Memorial. Dean went in and took these pictures while the rest of us sat on a bench in the shade. Hey, we could see it good enough from the outside! : )

Vietnam Memorial.

Here we are having a popsicle in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Man I don't think a popsicle ever tasted so good (or cost so much!!).

The Potomic River

Crossing the Potomic to get back to our car at Arlington. That last stretch of walking was a long one, but we made it!

Hey! Where did everyone go?!?! See that lonely little van in the back? We were the only ones left! I guess everyone else bugged out already!