Monday Dan and I went walking. I got our van tires rotated. Desi came to play. McKenna had a bit of a hard afternoon, so we snuggled. After dinner we started packing for our Nauvoo trip.
Tuesday I ran 2 miles. My VA friend Becca Nicholes and her family came to visit. Tyler and Spencer loved playing with Alice! I worked on my personal history story. McKenna went to Lia's to play. After lunch when we were at the church for the class, Sis. Olney had just told a story about falling and breaking her arm, when Bethany came in to the classroom crying, looking pale, and cradling her right arm. I looked at it and it didn't look right to me. She could wiggle her wrist, fingers, and elbow without crying hard, but when I touched her forearm, she would freak out! I made a quick decision to take her to instacare since we were leaving the next day for Nauvoo. I called Dan and he met us there so I could leave and take Alice home for a nap. Sure enough, it was a bowing fracture! Poor girl! The only story I got out of the other kids who were also at the class running around the gym with her was that she just tripped and fell and caught herself. She must have fallen hard! They put her in a splint and sling and sent her home and we gave her some Ibuprofen. She was a trooper and hardly complained about the pain once it was immobilized.
Wednesday Dan and I went walking. McKenna and Ben went to rehearsal. We worked on finishing packing and cleaning. They got dropped off back home at 11:30 and we headed to the airport! On the way, found out our flight was delayed. We ate at Costa Vida on the airport grounds then decided to check in and head the gate to wait. The cousins were so excited to see each other and played lots of games. I got teary a couple times sitting there listening to the cheers of family members as they welcomed their missionaries home!
Fun times on the Airplane!
It was a smaller plane, and of the 45 seats in coach, the Webster family took up 39 of those seats! The Hydes were also on our flight going to visit their daughter Sydney who was serving in Nauvoo.
Riding shuttles and renting large vans was kind of a circus, but lots of fun togetherness. We shared a van with the Stewarts.
Anna and Bethany seemed to cling to Aunt Laurie a lot during this trip. It was pretty cute!
Next up was a wagon ride around town. We loved meeting the horses beforehand.
We then went back to the house for lunch and naps for babies. Then all the grown ups went to the temple to perform sealings for some ancestors. After we were done, President/Uncle Rich Irion gave us a tour of the spire/bell tower, then we chatted in his office for a few minutes! What an amazing experience. There were tons of dead bugs in the bell tower! And we loved learning about the speakers that play sounds of birds of prey every 5 minutes or so to keep smaller bird away from nesting on the temple or in the spire. When we returned to the house where the kids were being babysat by Emma and Reed, there were a few minor injuries and illnesses of cousins, but thankfully not our children. :)
Then we watched the Nauvoo Pageant and heard wonderful stories of sacrifice and conversion and the saints great determination to build the Nauvoo Temple! After the show, there was a cute boy from the cast who approached us and paid for our kids to each get a snack from the concession stand. So kind!
Friday we got ready for family pictures! Thankfully it was mostly overcast so it wasn't too hot.
After pictures we changed into our matching shirts and toured some more places around town like the blacksmith where we got our "prairie diamond" rings, and the brickyard.
We had a picnic lunch by the red brick store and loved our view of the Mississippi River!
After that, we walked around the Smith Family cemetery. Then we headed to the Lands and Records building to look for properties of our ancestors. Next, we had a tour of Carthage Jail. Bethany and Alice fell asleep in the car and Grandpa was nice enough to stay with them in the car while we toured the jail. It made things a lot easier and more reverent.
I loved the spirit I felt in Carthage. I had Anna on my lap most of the time and she was focused and listened well. The Sister missionary giving the tour bore strong testimony of Joseph Smith and really invited the Spirit.
Afterwards we enjoyed some ice cream bars on the lawn!
Then we drove around and Brian and I were able to find one property each of our ancestors. Mine was supposedly the property of William G. Thompson which had a lovely view of the temple.
We went home for dinner, then went to the show "Sunset on the Mississippi." There was a children's parade beforehand.
During the show, if the kids were bored, there was a large open field they could run around in. Ben and some of the other boy cousins built a little shelter out of sticks. They show was all singing and dancing and delightful.
After that, we went to the British Pageant. We had much closer seats this time so it held the kids' attention better. This one was more stories about sacrifice and conversion but from the perspective of the British saints. Dave and Laurie knew one of the lead girls in it, so that was fun to talk to her afterwards. I asked her about the BUGS! It seriously looked like it was "raining" there were so many bugs. They mostly stayed up high where the stage spot lights were, but the actress said they definitely get in your hair and even mouth while you're up on stage.
Here are a few pictures of the Hyrum Smith Farmhouse we stayed in. This is the kids bunk room and the game room which I believe was the the original house. Everything else has been added on later.
We left with the Stewarts around 9:40am and headed to the airport. On the first flight, I sat by Bethany who fell asleep. We had a layover in Minnesota where we ate dinner. Our plane finally had movies on our last flight home which everyone was very happy about. We were home, unpacked a little, and asleep by midnight!
We love Ms. Shelby as their director!
Ben also took these pictures.
After dinner I got a hair trim, Dan had church meetings, and McKenna went to a movie night at the Lewis's.
Wednesday Dan and I went walking. McKenna and Ben went to rehearsal. We worked on finishing packing and cleaning. They got dropped off back home at 11:30 and we headed to the airport! On the way, found out our flight was delayed. We ate at Costa Vida on the airport grounds then decided to check in and head the gate to wait. The cousins were so excited to see each other and played lots of games. I got teary a couple times sitting there listening to the cheers of family members as they welcomed their missionaries home!
That night once we arrived in Nauvoo, we got everyone settled and in bed by 12:30am. A little after 2am, cute Whitney came in our room letting me know she had thrown up. Unfortunately, her parents were sleeping at another location, so we had to call and wake them up to come get her.
Thursday we had a slower morning while the 12 and up kids and their parents went to do baptisms for the dead. We left at 11 and started touring some of the buildings in the town. First stop was the cultural hall, the bakery, then the Family Living Center which had different stations (bread making, candle making, weaving, thread making out of wool, rope making, and barrel making).
Next up was a wagon ride around town. We loved meeting the horses beforehand.
The clip-clop and vibrations of the wagon ride were pretty soothing for some I guess. That's what a late night will do to ya as well.
We had taco salad for dinner and then stopped by Dan's parents' apartment. Then went to the Fair and pioneer games they have before the Pageant. Aunt Gloria called them pioneer games on steroids. They had a ladder game with a doll, puppet show, handcarts, braiding fabric, cloth dolls, stilts, sticks with rings... and much more! Those are just the ones we did. We brought these bonnets for our girls to wear too.
During the show, if the kids were bored, there was a large open field they could run around in. Ben and some of the other boy cousins built a little shelter out of sticks. They show was all singing and dancing and delightful.
Here's Grandma and Grandpa singing at the end of the British Pageant with all the other missionaries.
And Alice, Hazel, and Charlie "playing" at the airport. :)
Videos from Nauvoo.
It was a whirlwind trip but we are so thankful we could see Dan's parents in action in the temple and see and feel the wonderful spirit of Nauvoo and that period in Church History.
Sunday was Heather Mills' homecoming at church. In Primary we taught songs about missionary work and sharing the Gospel. A few of us napped that afternoon and Ben and McKenna practiced Mary Poppins. After dinner, we drove Dan back to the airport for a work conference in California that next week. The kids all showered as well.
Monday I ran three miles with Amy. I took our van in to get new brakes. McKenna and Ben went to rehearsal. During the morning, I showered, Anna read, and we played Spot It. We rode a shuttle back to the dealership to pick up the van. We were late picking up the kids from rehearsal. I picked up groceries and then put curlers in McKenna's hair. She had a play date with Sophia Madrid. Later that evening, we went to Backstage for some promotional pictures to be take for Mary Poppins. They turned out so cute!
I took Alice with me to a dance company parent meeting at the Farmington Pool while McKenna babysat at home. I folded laundry while on my family conference call that night.
Tuesday Ben took these pictures of Alice sleeping.
After dropping the kids off at rehearsal, we witnessed a rollover car crash because someone ran a red light. It was terrifying to see men pull this girl out of her car! We ran some errands to Lara and Laurie's. Henry and Desi came over to play and I cleaned the basement a bit. After lunch, we went to the church for the Personal History Story class. These two looked so cute sitting together.
Ben played at Taggart's later. We had a quite afternoon and evening. While Dan was in California for work, he decided to buy himself a half day ticket to DISNEYLAND to check out the new Star Wars Land! He said it was awesome and he stayed as long as he could and shut the park down at midnight! He did other things/ride besides Star Wars Land.
Wednesday while McKenna and Ben were at rehearsal, we went to Primary's to finally get Bethany's arm cast. She was so brave and chose purple, of course!
Then we went to the $1 movie "Wonder Park." I did some yard work after that and then we had lunch. Amy Hamblin came over to plan some Primary stuff. After dinner, McKenna babysat while I went to book club at Laura Lewis's to talk about the book The Wednesday Wars. It was a funny book about Jr. High in the 70s. Dan came home that night from his California work trip! We talked and looked at all his pictures.
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