Nauvoo, and Family Pictures

This past July we had the opportunity to go visit Matt's parents, and little brother who live in Illinois. It was a big family reunion for us all because we haven't all been together for a few years. It was really exciting to go! It was good for the girls to see their other grandparents. Matt's parents live about 20 minutes from Nauvoo, so we got to go to Nauvoo! I have always wanted to go and visit Nauvoo. It was neat to see the Mississippi river. you drive right along it as you're driving to Nauvoo. It is a very wide river. I thought it was exciting!

While we were there we had a busy week of events. We got our family photo, and whole family photo. I'm glad we were able to do this, but it was such a pain in the butt because the kids were not cooperating at all. It's amazing that we got a shot with everyone looking at the camera looking happy. On our individual family photo it was all we could do to keep Madisynn awake. She kind of looks like she is out of it in the picture.

We were able to go to the Nauvoo temple. It was a very spiritual experience. The temple is so beautiful and unique. We had the opportunity to go up into the bell tower of temple because Matt's grandpa is in the temple presidency. Going up into the bell tower was an experience I will never forget. The view is spectacular!!! I wish that I could have brought my camera along just to be able to capture it.

We got to visit the Carthage jail. I wish I could remember more about it, but Madisynn wasn't behaving too well at the time we were in the jail cell, and the room where the martyrdom took place. I would have gone out of my mind if I was a prisoner there. The Jail cell was little, dark, and dreary. The stairs leading up to the bedroom are so steep, I was afraid I would misplace my footing and fall down the stairs. It was neat to be able to see it! We also got to see the rest of historic Nauvoo. We went to the blacksmith shop for a tour, and at the end of the tour they give you prairy rocks. I've always thought they were so neat, and now I have one of my own. For those of you who don't know what prairy rocks are they are neat looking nails bent into a ring shape. The pioneers used them for wedding rings.

The following pictures are of Carthage jail. I wish we would have gotten some better pictures =)

Matt's parents, and grandparents are into this place called the adventurezone. They wanted to take us all there and have a day of it. It was a lot of fun!!! We did the go carts, video games, toys, pizza, and the playzone. The playzone was really neat. They had an area for the little little kids to play in and an area for bigger kids. The playzone area for the big kids was pretty neat, we were able to climb throught it and go down the fun slide. It was quite the workout!!! It was fun to watch the kids go through it too.

The last thing we did on this trip was go to the Nauvoo paegent. It was a neat experience. We were up close, the girls were good, and I got to listen. I felt the spitit strong while we were there. I'm so glad we were able to go and visit Matt's family. I hope that we will be able to get there again. When we do, I want to visit all the church historic sites on the way there of course!!!