Day 3: Saturday June 19th, 2010

Saturday morning mom took Katie to the temple do Baptisms for the first time. It was a beautiful morning with almost no sign of the storm the night before. It was easy to see why the Saints loved Nauvoo so much. It was breath taking in the morning with a beautiful sun rise and it's rays glimmering on the Mississippi.

Elizabeth and I took a horse drawn buggy ride around the county portion of Nauvoo, we stopped at a meadow with a river running through it, the sun shining softly through the trees (reminded me of the Sacred Grove) and our tour guide had us sing the "Spirit of God" it was a pretty cool experience.

Afterwards we went on an oxen ride which was pretty cool.

Then we went on a tour of the Joseph Smith homes. We also went to the grave yard where many members of the Smith family were buried. This is the headstone of Joseph, Emma and Hyrum. After Joseph death Emma had to continual rebury they bodies because of mobs coming to look for them to desecrate them. Good to know they now have a resting place now.

Joseph's original home was the wood one. The addition was made by his son who was the founder of the Community of Christ Church.

This is the room where the Relief Society was organized. Hard to believe one of the worlds largest women's groups was started here.

We left Nauvoo around Noon and headed south to Independence Missouri. After a 5 hour drive we came to the Independence visitors center which we all really loved. We had a great sister missionary show us around and give us some insight into what the saints life was like in Clay county Missouri. Its hard to believe all the persecution these poor people faced. They are an inspiration to me and my small sacrifices and obstacles.

Second Christus statue of the trip. I love this one the most because it is suppose to represent the Second Coming. I love the background of it. How bright and beautiful the sky is. I hope it will be this great and glorious for me when he comes and not dark and dreadful.

Across the street from the visitors center is the Community of Christ temple. We were late getting there so we missed the tour. It would have been interesting though.

From there we drove 25 min north to Liberty jail where Joseph and a few others were held with out just cause for about 6 months. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. The spirit was so incredibly strong here.

This is a replica of what the jail would have been like. Dark, small, cold and miserable.

At one point in the tour they sat us down and turned off the lights so that the only light was that coming from the candle at Joseph's desk. The you heard him say...

"O GOD, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?

How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?"

Then you heard this powerful voice coming from above you and you really felt the voice of the Lord say...

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee;... Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever."

It was a great experience and fun to share it with my sisters and mom. That night we had some excitement. We got kicked out of our dirty hotel for complaining about how gross it was (which we were REALLY HAPPY about.) So we figured we would just go somewhere else. There was a Hampton we liked close to the freeway. Well they were booked. So we decided to drive an hour north away from Kansas city and stay they night there. So when we got to St Joseph we went to a hotel and found out that all the hotels in the area were booked. Apparently the College Baseball world series was going on in Omaha NE and all the rooms with in HOURS of there were booked. Mean while another WICKED storm was about to hit and we didn't have a room to stay and weren't sure we would, not to mention it was 11:30 at night. Then that hotel got a call that the hotel down the street just had a cancellation and that they had an open room. We jumped on it and went to the hotel. Just as we got into the hotel the storm hit and it was even worse than the night before. It was just another tender mercy to us that the Lord was watching over us. If that room hadn't opened up we would have been driving in an awful storm with no where to stay. How blessed we were.

Day 2: Friday June 18th, 2010

We all woke up super early so we could see as much of Nauvoo as possible. We started our day with a carriage ride around old Nauvoo which gave us a feel for the place and what we wanted to do. It was so peaceful riding around in the cool breeze of the morning and the peaceful stillness that was there before lots of people arrived.

We all really enjoyed the ride.

This is an original stone from the Nauvoo temple.

We spent a while at the Family Living Center. They had 11 stations were you could learn about life as the pioneers lead it (baking, making clothes, poetry, music, rug making ect.) At this station we all worked together to make a piece of rope. It was actually a lot of work.

The finished project!

We really enjoyed the blacksmith shop were they showed us how to make a horse shoe. It is so impressive how much time they had to spend making every single part. They were such amazingly hard workers and their average daily wage was $1!!!! Can you believe it?

They had a fun play station with dress up clothes and pioneer games. Katie and Liz really enjoyed themselves here.

We went to the post office, bank, bakery, school house, Gun Shop and a ton of other places I was to tired to document (that day it was 95 degrees and humid. We were so hot and sticky.) This is a yoke the young boys would fill with water and take up to the men working on the temple. Liz is so tiny she had to stand on her tip toes.

The brickyard is one of my favorite places because they give you a cool nauvoo brick. They show you how they would make brick, what they would do with it and how much it would cost to buy enough bricks to make houses.

When the saints were forced to move west the Prophet Joseph Smith's mother was to old to travel with them (although she really wanted to) so she stayed in Nauvoo in this house till she passed away. It was such a cute little house.

We also stopped at Brigham Young's house. It was pretty nice. They even had some of the original china plates pieced back together on the table.

They had a store like the Newl K. Whitney Store in Kirkland. It was neat to think of what "grocery" shopping would have been like for them. Just stop one place and your done!

When we went to the cobbler (shoemaker) they showed us how they would have made a pair of shoes. It just amazed me how much time and effort it would take. I'm so glad I can get any pair of shoes I want when I want them and I have 1,000's of styles to chose from not 4 :)

That night my mom and I did a session at the Nauvoo temple. It was sooo beautiful inside. I loved the set up of the temple as well. I can stay alert better when we move more often which we did in this temple verse the Manhattan temple where we just change rooms twice. It was neat to be there with my mom in such a special place.

After the temple we met up with my sisters to watch the BYU Young Ambassadors preform. They were PHONEMAIL!!

Unfortunately, as they started their selection of pieces from "Wicked" you could tell a HUGE storm was coming. I mentioned it had been hot all day, well then we felt a massive cold front move in. Mom and I just looked at each other knowing this was now the perfect conditions for a tornado. We ran to the car as he storm moved closer... just as the performer was about to hit the high note in Defying Gravity a huge crake of thunder hit and that was our sign to get out of there. My mom hates driving in storms especially when she's not 100% were she is going. Our hotel was about 20 minutes away. 85% of the way was a small road with the Mississippi River on one side and a huge muddy cliff on the other. So we were really hoping to get to the hotel before the storm. We said a quick prayer and sang hymns all the way back to the hotel. It was really pretty too. Mom and I sang alto and the girls sang soprano. No to mention since we are family and have similar genetics our voices are similar and blend perfectly. The minute we opened our door to our hotel room a MASSIVE storm hit. A sweet tender mercy to an incredibly spiritual day.

Day 1: Thursday June 17th, 2010

Today we started our adventure. We left my grandparents house at about 7:30am. My mom was a little nervous about starting the trip.

Grandma and Grandpa got up early to see us off.

About to start the journey to Nauvoo.

After about 8 hours of driving we arrived in Carthage, IL.

Joseph Smith was Martyred in Carthage jail on June 27th, 1844.

The mob stormed up these stairs and began trying to break the door down. This is the original door with the two bullet holes in them. They are the bullets that killed Hyrum Smith (Joseph's brother)

Once Hyrum was shot Joseph ran to the window crying "My Dear brother Hyrum." He was hit by two bullets in the back and two in the front that came from the window. He fell through the window and cealed his testimony with his blood.

A view from the outside of the jail. The top window is the one the picture above was taken in.

My sisters and I in front of the Brothers.

We all had a really great experience in Carthage. The spirit there was so special. As we drove the 30 min to Nauvoo we listened and sang a long to some of the greatest songs of the restoration (The Spirit of God, Praise to the Man, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief) and a new song for the youth 'Be Strong'. Music and lyrics can be so powerful and it brought the perfect spirit to be with us as we entered Nauvoo.

We got there around 6pm so we didn't have much time to see things. We looked around the visitors center and got a map to plan out the next day. We also watched a musical put on by the Young Performing Missionaries called "High Hopes and River Boats." It was really cute, it was a great introduction to the "City of Joseph, City Beautiful."

Cape Cod the Rainathone!

While studying for the CFA Mike studied every Saturday Starting in Jan (he took 3 off for vacation and family to visit) then starting in April it was all day Saturday so I didn't see him at all. After spending so many Saturdays apart we decided to do something fun the first Saturday after the CFA. Since Cape Cod have some of the best beaches in the country we thought that would be fun. Typically you will find the beaches of Cape Cod looking something like this...

We however found them looking like this....

Luckily some of our friends joined us...

We stayed at a great hotel with a pool, gym, stream room and Sauna. Since it was so cold and yucky outside we took advantage of the amenities!

For dinner we all jumped at the chance to eat at Olive Garden (since the closest ones are 55 min away)

Do you like how Mike snuck into this family photo...

I just love this guy!

The whole Gang

Lindsey's cute pregnant belly with baby Tucker inside ;)

Since Mike and I had to take off so early in the morning so I could catch my flight we all had breakfast at a dinner close to the tip of the Cape.

Mike and I with sweet Baby Kerrigan (who's not really a baby anyone..)

A final glance at the cold, misty, rainy cape cod.

You know even though the weather was hardly ideal it was so great to just be away from it all with friends. We all had fun just spending time relaxing together and enjoying our friendships. We are going to fell a pretty big hole in our little group when the Stokes move in 2 weeks :(

"I Made the Yankee Hat More Famouse then a Yankee Can"

The Friday after the CFA was over we decided we needed to have some fun. We went with some of our really good friends to a Yankees Game at their new Stadium. It was so awesome being at the game. I've been to plenty of Cleveland Indians games, but lets face it -- they Yankees are so much cooler. (Obviously I am not a die hard baseball fan because I also own a Boston Red Socks hat and can't wait to get to a game at Fenway Park. In the baseball world I know being a fan of both teams would never be permitted!)

Ben & Cynda Johnson, Mike and I, Lindsey and Jared Stokes
They wore the same shirt...
The Yankee's Ball Pin

Prepping the field

In front of the field

The Ladies

The Men

I love these guys!

Johnson's

Stokes

Mike and I sporting our Yankee's Hate

The Yankee's Played the Huston Astro's and Won

"Good Game"

There is a direct train from the stadium to our train station in Stamford. To pass the time we perfected our "Vogue" faces.

Well some of us did... :)

It was such a great evening. We really enjoyed eating over priced food, watching the a great game, laughing, and enjoying time with good friends... We should really do this more often! I do have to admit one of my favorite parts of the night was when they played "Empire State of Mind." I love that song and to be at a Yankees Game in NYC while its playing... I felt like I was living my dream!