Trip to Nauvoo

I really love living in the midwest. Among other great things, I love living close to a rich heritage of faith for our family. Many of our ancestors date their first beginnings as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to times in the midwest in the mid 1800s. Before they made their way west, they spent time in Illinois and Iowa. I especially love remembering the pioneers during July as we celebrate Pioneer Day on July 24th {the day the pioneers first arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1847}.

This year our family decided to travel to Carthage and Nauvoo, IL to celebrate the pioneers and check out the new pageant they put on each July. We had so much fun. I love traveling there and sharing the history with our children.

We headed first to Carthage, where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred for their religious beliefs. It was a great opportunity to share our testimony of the truthfulness of Joseph's divine mission as a prophet of God with our own children. They felt the spirit as we relived the last moments of his life.

The bullet hole in the door from the bullet which killed Hyrum right before Joseph was killed.

The top window where Joseph's body fell lifeless from the jail.

We then made our way to Nauvoo. We had fun in the garden behind the visitor's center, where Jack hammed it up posing with the Relief Society Statues of women.

Among other sites we visited, the pioneer pass times site is always a favorite with the kids.

After seeing a few sites, we headed up to the town to check into our hotel, get some dinner, and finish it off with a treat on the side of the road. These Hawaiian Shaved Ices weren't quite as good as the authentic thing, but they were pretty close. I especially enjoyed the peach raspberry covered in cream. Yummo!

Before the pageant began, we had SO MUCH FUN at the Country Fair, where the kids were able to play many more pioneer games and we learned a few dances in the mix. It was really great.

The girls tried their hand at the hand carts.

The boys played stick ball.

We learned a Scottish jig.

We raced.

Then we headed to our seats for the pageant.

It was a great production. I encourage anyone to see it if you can.

Then we headed to our room for the night. I loved the availability of this room with its four sets of bunk beds. So great for our family of 6 to fit in one room pretty economically.

The next morning we headed back to some sites, including our family favorite the Family Living Center where we got to learn some pioneer activities.

Our last stop of this trip was to take an ox and wagon ride and learn a little about the pioneers' journey west.

I am so grateful for the sacrifice our ancestors made to bring our family where we are today. Blessed, Honored Pioneers!

The Stopping Place

One of the great things about living in the midwest, and close to the center of our stake, is hosting various groups that make their way to and through Des Moines. Since we have been here, we have been able to open our home to three different youth conference groups of kids, a group of BYU dancers, a couple guys campaigning for Mitt Romney's presidential run, and most recently, some youth and a chaperone from the Utah Valley Children's Choir. It was a great opportunity to hear this amazing choir perform a concert on their choir tour. And they were a hoot to host as well--especially Gunther Snodgrass (love that name! He fit it so well!)

[p.s.--Kelly, if you ever pass this way, you might recognize Liz. She said she did Joy School with you years ago in MN. She now lives in Utah Valley. Small world, aye?]

A Few More Fourth Festivities (on the Fifth)

OK, so the great thing about July 4th falling on a Sunday is that you can turn Saturday AND Monday into holidays. So that's just what we did. Here is the rest of our weekend fun.

With chances of rain pretty high throughout the day, the S'mores we were going to make around the fire pit turned into the S'mores we made over the open flame on the burner of our grill. Maybe not quite the same feel, but they sure tasted yummy. And we got them in right before the downpour came. So all good there.

My favorite S'more includes perfectly melted marshmallows (found these patriotic beauties for this weekend) with Dove dark chocolate promises melting on top. Yum!

Josh woke to finally join us.

Then it was off to an I-Cubs baseball game. We were a little worried about the weather but thought we would give it a go. They were playing a double header from the rain out the night before. So when we arrived they were in the 4th inning of the first 7-inning game.

After a couple innings under gray skies (and Jack being as photogenic as always!),

and enjoying Icees and peanuts,

the clouds opened up and the rain began to pour! So they covered the field

and we headed for cover. After the rain stopped, we went back out for the game to resume. We waited and waited,

messed around a bit,

checked ourselves out in shades,

and then the 1st game finally resumed. We never did get our game in (hooray for rain out tickets which means we get two game nights for the price of one) but we saw some fun baseball, made it on the jumbotron thanks to Jack's dancing prowess, and got to end the weekend perfectly with

a great firework display up close and personal with patriotic music blaring in the background. It really was a great weekend!

[Can summer really be half over? Say it isn't so. Early morning seminary is getting too close for my comfort. :-)]

HaPpY bIrThDaY JoSh!

For three years running, Josh has celebrated his BiRthDaY at Scout Camp. So here are some highlights of the week he turned 14 years old!

The crew at the church before heading out!

Upon arrival, Josh promptly whacked his leg with an ax and gave his leaders a scare. Gotta love scout camp! It's no place for the squeamish!

The whole group pledging to serve missions!

Kris spent a couple days at camp. It was a good experience for them both.

One of Josh's merit badges was horsemanship. He placed 3rd overall for the camp and he was pretty excited.

How do you celebrate your birthday with a big group of scouts? You eat Ding Dongs for breakfast, of course.

When Josh arrived at home we turned our flag cake into a belated birthday cake.

And he finally got his breakfast in bed two days later. We woke him up at 9:00 a.m. with food and song. After eating, he crawled back in bed and slept until 2:00 p.m. I guess scout camp finally caught up to him. I hope he is feeling better now. We love you Josh! Happy Birthday!

Fourth Festivities (On the Third!)

Gotta Love July 4th!

Emmie welcomed the day with sidewalk art. She worked hard to get this flag just right. Too bad the rain took it away all too quickly.

Kris grillin' up a storm!

Yummy AND festive! Yay!

Our Flag Cake--decorated by Emmie this year!

Trash-talk croquet--Dad killed us all!

Fun at the parade

Sparklers in the front yard!

[Sunday turned out rainy. We enjoyed dinner with friends but mostly just had a quiet day. We're glad we enjoyed the festivities on Saturday.]

Family Traditions

I'm all about family traditions. I think they are a great way to cement a family. So here is one of our favorites--Matching Tees for the 4th of July. It used to only be my favorite tradition, with others in the family not so excited. But over the years, they have all gotten used to it and (don't let them fool you!) now they look forward to it with as much eagerness as I do.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!

I'm so glad we get to do fun things like this together.

Here is a little trip down memory lane for us.

[stay tuned for a later post detailing more holiday weekend festivities.]

{The beginning of it all--1998--lovin' the shades}

{1999--A Sunday, so I didn't spring for the Tees on year two. But we were patriotic!}

{2000--cute kids}

{2001--Livvy is just days old}

{2002--Grandma Tolman's house}

{2003--At the William's house}

{2004--Grandma Hiltbrand's house}

{2005--Burge's awesome backyard}

{2006--Grandma Hiltbrand's again}

{2007--This is one of my FAVORITES! We grabbed a random lady at the parade to take our family picture and she CUT OFF Kris's head--classic!}

{2008--at the parade--missing Josh who is at scout camp}

{2009--at the FREEZING COLD parade--the high that day was 63 degrees}

{2010--at the West Des Moines parade on Saturday, July 3, with about half our ward, in front of the stake center since we won't make it to the July 4th festivities on Sunday. Check out Jack licking Olivia. Who are these kids?}