Nauvoo

Our two best friends Dustin and Nikki invited us to go to Nauvoo with them. We get along very well together so it sounded like a great idea. What an amazing place to be. The weather wasn't the greatest but we had so much fun anyways. This is the four of us standing next to the Mississippi River.

Jim is always insisting when we go out of town that we eat at places that we don't have in Utah. This place is just down the street from Hotel Nauvoo where we stayed and it was my favorite. We had soup and sandwich and boy was it yummy. The bread, the cookies it was all so so good.

Now those of you who know Jim. Of course we could not pass up the opportunity to go see the gunsmith shop in Old Nauvoo. Seeing all of the old guns and how things were made back them is very exciting for him. I'll have to admit it was cool.

Now I told you the weather wasn't the greatest and I am such a wimp when it comes to being cold, so as you can see I am bundled up. The missionaries that are working in Nauvoo make all these blankets during the slow seasons and boy I tell you I was so glad for them. We took a ride in a wagon around Nauvoo, we heard stories, learned so much from the elders that were giving us the ride. It was beautiful.

The missionaries there in Nauvoo put on these plays at night for all of the visitors. It was so cute. They were hillarious. If you ever decide to go to Nauvoo make sure you attend one of these.

The Brick Mason shop was the last place we stopped on our way out of Nauvoo. It was pretty neet to learn how they made all of those red bricks. We learned alot of lingo from the missionaries on terms that they used back then that we now use as slang. For instance it was a lot of work to make bricks. They would have to turn the bricks quite often and there were tons of them lined up to be turned while they were drying. They called this hacking. They would say to the workers if you can't hack it I will find someone who can. Isn't that funny. I know I have said that a time or two. "What ya can't hack it". I know I am a dork.

For those of you who don't know Jim's family. Jim's mom is Catholic, So we found it kind of humerous to see side by side a LDS Temple and a Catholic Cathedral. This picture was taken for Jim's mom. The Cathedral was beautiful, but so was the Temple.

Beautiful!! When you are driving down the road to go into Nauvoo the road curves, and as you come around the curve all you can see is the big beautiful white Temple. Such an amazing feeling it brought tears to my eyes just being there.

I really don't love this picture of myself. But I loved this statue. It was in the Relief Society Garden, and the title on it is "Preparing Her Son" I found it fitting for me since that is what I am trying to do with my boys. We shall see if the outcome is good here in the next few years.

We were able to experience a ride with the Ox. How those people were able to handle that kind of a trek amazes me. The ox they have there are very friendly. And well I guess you could say I was the one that was tested on whether or not I would give this big fella a hug. Don't ever say Jill won't do something because I just might have to "attempt" to prove you wrong. This fella was very cute but sure needed to brush his teeth.

On to Hannibal Missouri. If you love Tom Sawyer you will love Hannibal. Tom Sawyer is based off of this town. The cave, the characters and all the adventures. We took a riverboat ride while we were in Hannibal that was really fun. And like I said before we had to eat at places that were not in Utah so we ate at Mark Twain's Restaurant. We took a walk down the main street of Hannibal and walked through the shops, some of which were 150 years old. (The smell told you how old they were too.)
The Gateway Arch in St Louis Missouri. That is really high don't you think. What a cool place. We only had a couple of hours here, and wished we would have had more. Underneath the arch are 2 shops and a museum as well as the ride that takes you to the top of the arch.

As the sun was setting we were landing back home. Sad that the we were done. But grateful for the opportunity we had to go. Thanks Dustin and Nikki, We Love you guys.