Nauvoo: "City Beautiful"

My dad came in town to visit for the first time since we have been out here in Milwaukee. We decided to take a road trip to Nauvoo (it being only 5 hours away and all). Cody has never been, and I remember very little from when I went as a child. I really appreciated it so much more this time, than when I was younger. I had a great time learning about how much the Pioneers went through and how much work went into EVERYTHING they did. Of course the highlight was getting to see the Temple and go through a session. BEAUTIFUL by-the-way! Anyways, here are some pictures.

Nauvoo Temple! So gorgeous, inside and out!

I'm already emotional, but seeing carthage was sad. The bullet hole I am pointing at was the shot that hit Hyrum Smith.

In front of Joseph and Emma's "Mansion House". It was called the Mansion House because they built onto their house a very large, hotel style wing with lots of rooms, because they always took in so many visitors and there was never enough room. How unselfish of them.

Men and Guns, what more do I need to say.

Old Fashioned Rootbeer, always a treat! I felt like a real mountain girl in that hat, and isn't Cody looking cool?

Can you imagine having to walk outside your house 20 feet in the freezing weather to have to go the bathroom, in the middle of the night?

Courting candle. We decided we will have one of those in our house when our kids are at the age of dating. How it works; When the candle melts down to the top of the metal, the date has to go home. If we don't like the kid, we can twist the candle down lower so he has less time to stick around. Brillliant!

Learning how to make yarn. Shearing the lambs, brushing it, spindling it, rolling it, dying it, weaving with it. The missionary couple who taught us about it, wanted to try making a rug from beginning to end like the pioneers. It took them 800 hours! For one rug!

Following the Trail of Tears to the point where they crossed the Mississippi River. They either crossed on a barge like this one or walked across, because it was the only year the river ever froze over.

Just a bungh of hicks!

i know I already have a picture like this one, but come on, you have to laugh at my Dad. He looked so funny in those glasses and that hat!

Learning how they made rope. Apparently I couldn't spin fast enough, my hands started to burn.


We learned how to make and tailor shoes, sculpt, hack and bake bricks, make yarn and sew clothes, weave rugs, oven bake bread, boil animal fat and dip candles, sculpt gun barrels, pound horseshoes and make prairie diamonds. We learned how to use the printing press, shape tin into pails, buckets and lanterns. I learned the true meaning of a dingbat and the phrase "can you hack it?" We learned most of all how much work was put into everything the pioneers did. Not only were they driven out of their homes multiples times, battered, criticized, taunted, and mocked, but they were able to keep their testimony's strong and still push forward with faith in God, with songs in their hearts, and smiles on their faces. Definitely people I can learn from.