Nauvoo, IL

I can't believe it is already June.  I am a little behind. 

Back in April, we took 4 days and went to Nauvoo, IL.  I haven't been there since I was a little girl and David has never been.  Since we live so close (4.5 hours away) we thought we would take a little mini-trip.  It was so great to go back.  The boys loved it too.

When we arrived the first evening, pretty much everything had closed down for the day so we got dinner and wandered around.  The next day, we started off with a wagon ride that gave us a tour of Old Nauvoo.

 

Keeping warm...it was a chilly morning (although warmer than Wisconsin!).

It was so much warmer in Nauvoo over the next 2-3 days that Luke said, over and over, "Oh, it is so warm.  I want to stay here forever!"  It was a rough Winter.

 

This little boy doesn't do well without sleep.  He didn't get a nap the day before (except for a short cat nap in the car).  At the hotel, he was in a room with his 3 brothers and well, all he wanted to do was stand up, play, and laugh with his brothers from his pack 'n play and he didn't get as much sleep as needed.  Little turkey.  He was a bit of a mess the following day.  He cried off and on during the wagon tour. Since it was a 50 minute tour, the folks on the wagon were stuck with us and our crying babe. :(

 

 The pioneers made their own rope, and here at the Family Living Center the boys were able to make their own too.  The fiber for the rope comes from a plant.  Here Porter is turning the wheel that twists 6 separate strands of rope into 3 strands.

 

 Caden takes a turn.

Luke and these other 2 boys take turns on the other end.  They are now twisting the 3 rope strands into one...

 

...while Caden and Porter slowly move this paddle down the rope (to keep it tight) as it twists together. 

 

 Then Luke learned how to tie off the rope.

 

The final product they were able to take home. 

 

At the Blacksmith Shop, we watched one of the missionaries make a small horseshoe and explain how to shoe a horse. 

 

 Ryland finally conked out for a short nap.

 

 Instagram post.

  While at the Blacksmith Shop, we heard a story about a pioneer couple (which may or may not be true, so we were told) that used a horseshoe nail as an engagement ring.  We all got horseshoe nails shaped into a rings as well.

 

 Another instagram post.

We visited the Brickyard and heard how bricks were in high demand.  The Mormon pioneers thought they were going to settle permanently in Nauvoo and began making homes of brick.  Bricks couldn't be made fast enough...as soon as the bricks were cooled, they were being used on their homes.

 

Now it is the missionaries who make bricks and they are given out to each family that attends the Brickyard tour. 

 

My brother and sister-in-law knew one of the senior couple missionaries serving in Nauvoo and asked us to say hello to them, if we happened to run into them.  We asked at the visitors center which shop(s) they were working at, and we were directed to "The Bakery"  & "The Gunsmith".  We were able to talk with both brother and sister Maughan and they were so excited to hear from people from "home".

 

There were so many places to tour that we probably would not have stopped at the bakery or the gunsmith shops had we not wanted to deliver a little love from home to this couple.  We were so glad we did because the place both David and I felt the Spirit the strongest was in this gunsmith shop, of all places.  The story of faith of this family really touched us.

 

 The gunsmith shop (pictured above) was connected to the home of the owners of the shop.  The picture below is of their kitchen.  The missionary in pioneer clothing is Brother Maughan.

 

We attended a fun show, put on by the senior missionaries, called "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo".  I thought it was really cute. :) 

 

 

Breakfast at our hotel.

 

I think Caden would have made an adorable little pioneer, but by the look on his face, he does not agree. 

 

 

 The Nauvoo Temple.

 

 We were sad to learn that the temple was closed for cleaning while we were there, so we were not able to do a session.

 

 Luke and I in front of the temple.

 

 Directly across from the temple (where Luke and I are facing) is a sculpture of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on their horses. The plaque reads:

 

"On the morning of June 24, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum left their families, homes, and fellow saints for the last time.  Traveling on horseback they paused on this bluff.  Joseph looked admiringly at the unfinished temple and the city of Nauvoo and declared:

 

This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens;

little do they know the trials that await them.

 

Joseph and Hyrum then continued on to Carthage, Illinois, where they faced legal charges and eventual death at the hands of a mob."

 

I am so grateful to the Mormon pioneers who sacrificed so much, so many times over.  I am sure, as Joseph Smith was, that they were truly one of "the best people under the heavens."