Nauvoo/4th of July

This past week, David had a few days off of school, so we took the opportunity to visit Nauvoo with some good friends, the Harwards. It was fun to hang out with them, and it made the 5 hour drive there and back go by really quickly. We had a great time! (Besides all the mosquito/bug bites.)

Isn't the temple beautiful? I can't imagine how hard it would be to leave such an amazing building after sacrificing so much to construct it.

We also visited Carthage Jail (about 30 miles away). It is always so interesting to hear the church history stories when you are actually AT the places where the history took place. It makes it feel like you are hearing everything for the first time. I love Joseph Smith.

I love the restored sections of Nauvoo. It is so fun to walk through the streets and visit the shops where couple missionaries are dressed to the times and give you tours of the buildings. I would have to say that the Scovil Bakery is one of my favorites (because they give you a little gingersnap cookie). I also love the Family History Center, because they show you how to make ropes, yarn, candles, barrels, tapestries, and all sorts of other good stuff (and they also give you ropes and candles and bread). Maybe I just like free stuff.

Here is David at his favorite place: the Browning Gunshop.

This is the Smith Family graveyard, where Emma, Joseph and Hyrum Smith are buried, along with Joseph & Hyrum's parents and a few other family members. In the background is one of their homes.

This is the Red Brick Store, also one of my favorite places to visit. Maybe because I always think of the McBride store from the Work and the Glory books when I visit, with all the barrels of food and candy and other paraphernalia from the time period. Is that cheesy?

In the upper room of the Red Brick Store is the place where they had the School of the Prophets, the organization of the Relief Society, the first of the endowment sessions, and where Joseph Smith III was confirmed President of the RLDS church (I think).

Hello to the Mighty Mississippi.

And finally, we LOVED the Pioneer Pastimes. The great thing about going to Nauvoo when we did is the weather was great (80s, where the week before was in the 90s) and we missed the huge crowd coming to the Nauvoo Pageant (which starts this upcoming week). We got personalized tours, didn't die of heat exhaustion, and got to monopolize the games at Pioneer Pastimes.

The Harward's kids had a blast there, getting dressed up in pioneer clothes, riding on sheep/horse dummies, playing "school" and "house" and just being able to run around instead of having to sit still during tours. It was almost more fun just watching them run around!

Here is David and Chris Harward playing "Graces." They were getting pretty good.

Anyway, it was just really neat to be able to visit Nauvoo and think about the lives of the early Mormons. It is even more awesome when we consider that we live in Omaha, very close to Council Bluffs/Kanesville, where the Mormons lived for a longer period of time than when they were in Nauvoo.

Happy Fourth of July!!

Sorry our 4th of July pictures are a little scary, haha. For the 4th, we had just gotten back from our Nauvoo trip, and Dave was still a little sick (he has been sick for 3 weeks now), so we took it easy that day. That evening, we went to a few barbeques, lit off small firecrackers with a bunch of neighbors, then watched the city fireworks in Council Bluffs from our backyards. It turned out to be a pretty rainy/cloudy day, actually, which is why I am wearing a coat in these pictures. I was freezing.

My favorite firecracker growing up was the sparkler:

We want to express our appreciation for our founding fathers, our veterans, our men and women currently serving for our country, and all patriotic Americans everywhere. God bless America!