Road Trip to Nauvoo

In July we took another epic road trip for our family reunion. This time it wasnt quite so epic. We drove to Nauvoo.

Our first stop was at Ya Ya's house where we spent a Sunday at Pa's Spanish branch ward. Max was right at home in his pair of headphones.

 Then after church we went over to Mike's inlaws house to swim.

 He's such a good uncle.

 Tommy Loves the Swimming pool

Luke and Nolan were the best of friends.

The next day after a long day of driving we rolled into Nauvoo and met up with my family and all the cousins.

 We hit the ground running the next day and explored the family life center where they taught us how to make rope and all kinds of other cool stuff.

 Each house in the city had a set of missionaries there telling about the history of the house and how they lived.

There was a spot to where the kids could play like the pioneers did.

While were there we got to see both the Nauvoo Pageant and the British pageant.

 This was the blacksmith shop where we learned about how prairie diamonds were made using horseshoe nails.

 We each got to take one home as a souvenir.

The next day we drove over to Carthage to see the jail. We met up with Doug and had lunch at a nearby park.

This was Hannah and Jared's last big trip before heading out on their missions, Hannah to Japan and Jared to Chile.

A bullet hole in the door to the room Joseph was being held.

And the window he fell out of above Mer's head. This was a really special experience to be here.

Before the pageants each night there was  a "county fair" with all the fun pioneer activities.

Doug and I ran into an old college friend, Mitch Bishop.

We tried out the waffle and custard shop down town. It was so yummy we went back again before we left.

Learning about how they made things out of tin in the Tinsmith's shop.

And the printing press.

Trying treats at another ice cream shop.

Here's a peek into Brigham Young's house.

The last day we were there we had the opportunity to go through the temple with Jared and Hannah in preparation for their missions. My mom and dad and all my brothers and sisters and spouses were there together in the temple for the first and probably last time. So cool.

We squeezed in what we could see for the rest of the day. We still didn't get a chance to see everything.

We sure  had a lot of fun though.

And then it was time to say good bye and all go our separate ways. And back in the car for the long ride home.

This time we drove by the St. Louis temple

And back to YaYa and Pa's for the night. 

Fun times!!! So glad we did it!