Nauvoo

Last week we went with our neighbors to Nauvoo. They have a daughter and son both Lydia and Colton's age. We shared a three bedroom hotel room and let the girls have a sleepover. We all had a good time. I've posted some pictures to highlight. This is an example of one of the buildings. It is actually the Browning gunsmith shop, where Browning guns got their beginning. This was one of the nicest houses in Nauvoo. The Brownings had 12 children. One infant they buried in the backyard, and the other 11 they took to Far West where they lived in a one room cabin for 5 years because the prophet had asked them to stay and help people there. That's some faith.
Sorry it's crooked. We were waiting to see the blacksmith shop and just goofing around. Lydia learned to play duck duck goose and now whenever I sit on the floor, she walks around me, patting my head saying, "duck, duck, duck"
Colton and Isaac also waiting for the blacksmith shop.
The blacksmith shop: one of our favorite buildings. We watched them make a horse shoe and they gave Lydia one of those "prairie diamond" rings. She was elated! Mike and Lydia are in front of a real wagon. They were only 11 ft long by 3 ft wide. Can you imagine packing everything in that much space?
Monument of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in front of the Nauvoo temple.
Group picture in front of said monument. Not too great of a picture, but you get to see everyone.
Lydia and Elsie (BFF) sitting on the temple steps. (In case you don't know, like you Dad, BFF stands for Best Friends Forever. )
Lydia and Elsie with what is supposed to be a sheep. They had just made the rope that is in Elsie's hand, and then they were given the doll that is in Lydia's arm as an attempt by the elderly missionaries to keep them quiet.
An oxen ride. Those were some big boys!
Making rope. You would spin this wheel to tighten the rope and spin the strands together.
In the bakery. I can't imagine being a baker using these hot ovens- which were considered nice for the time. I guess I shouldn't complain about the labors of cooking dinner.
Like all good family vacations, some of us were exhausted.
And of course, the temple. The woodwork and spiral staircase are gorgeous. It cost $1 million dollars to build- the first time. Imagine the labor and love that went into that building and then to have to leave it.
Our last stop was Carthage. We didn't get many pictures because, lets just say our kids weren't being reverent by this time. This was probably the most spiritual place we visited though. I'm glad we took the time to go there. Praise to the man who was the instrument in ushering in this last dispensation.

Unihibited

Lydia had her cast on for 3 weeks, but she didn't let it slow her down at all. She got it off Friday and was a happy girl. She kept bending her elbow in amazement. "It' moves!" her face seemed to say. Before I go into what we have done over the last three weeks, it should be noted that the cast in these pictures is not the same one she started with. Lydia had her short arm cast on for not even 48 hours and she managed to pull it off. (She was quite proud she got it off, I might add) We immediately went back into the office and they put a long arm cast on- past her elbow so she couldn't pull it off. A little cumbersome, but she was a little champ. So- here is what we have done. We grilled in the backyard. A favorite family activity.
Colton attacked Lydia's spaghetti-o's as soon as she left them unattended.


There was a father/son campout, but mike didn't want to take Colton. Go figure- he was set back by the fact that he can't nurse him. Well, we brought the campout to the boys, but it was Lydia who had the most fun with it. We set up the tent in the living room, Colton had to sleep in his lonely crib while we all watched Marley and Me. Lydia ended up falling alseep on the ground, between our air mattress and the zipper door. Aparently the air mattress leaked, but I had no idea until my much larger sleeping partner abandoned us around 4:00 AM for a much softer mattress upstairs. Mike was a good sport.