Brigham Young's Nauvoo Home

These are photos of Brigham Young's Home in Nauvoo. For those who don't know, he was the 2nd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is responsible for leading the Saints to the Salt Lake Valley.

I just loved this chair...called the Busy Mom's Rocker...what ever happened to these??? I would have so loved to have had this with all my babies! Rock 'em to sleep, when they fall asleep just lay them down right beside you, safely tucked away behind that little bar and then continue on with what you need to do, rocking all the while keeping that little one snoozin' with you so close by. Perfect invention, just wish it would have stuck around a little longer!

Just outside the home was their well, LOVED this photo of my little girlie!

And here's the whole crowd just outside the Brigham Young Home...hammin' it up!

George C. Riser Boot Shop

This was such a fun place...very interesting how they made shoes. And what a labor of love! The time it took to make a pair of shoes amazed me!

This elder was so great with the kids...fun & patient and full of awesome stories! One funny moment we had was when he quizzed us all on which shoe was the left and which was the right??? Hmmmm....well, there was no right or left. They switched back and forth each day to help them wear evenly. So glad I have a left and a right, even slippers wear and it just isn't right to wear the left on the right or vice-versa.

Nauvoo Memories...

I will be adding in the next few days, as time allows, the remainder of our pictures and experiences in Nauvoo. There was so much to do and so little time to blog about it all, but it is so important to me to have this as a "journal" of our life here, that I will continue it until I have it all recorded, one place at a time. :)

The Calvin Pendleton Home and School rang home to me...can anyone guess why???

Well, this family lived in one part of their home and the back part of the home was turned into a school. Calvin Pendleton was a doctor, but did not charge for his services, to make a living for his family, he taught penmanship to adults. He was a remarkable man and his service was very touching to me.

Back in the "School Room" part of the home, we were "taught" by this lovely missionary. Love the spelling here...sure would have been easier to teach spelling if you just went with how it really sounds! It was all worth a chuckle or two. She shared a pile of words that were commonly used to teach spelling...their way of "spelling" was hysterical! Potatoes was Bertatoes, the kids laughed pretty good at that one. I especially love City uv Josef ~ priceless! All children could feel so successful if we still sounded each word out and then said "Yep, that looks good!"

The chalkboards were a hit...did a close up of Bryce just so you could see how crazy this child is...just makes me laugh!

Time to say Good-bye

Leaving Nauvoo…

We left late yesterday evening, Tuesday, September 28th…I can’t fully describe the feelings with justice to how very hard it was to leave this place that became “home” to our family for the past few weeks. It was so much more than a physical house for us…emotionally and spiritually it felt like home. So welcoming, so sweet, so real, so simple ~ so peaceful…yes, even with 16 people in one little home, it was Peaceful…not peacefully quiet, a sense of peace that your heart feels even when your ears may be ringing with noise from little people all around you. Peace that your spirit feels and welcomes and appreciates. Peace that allows you to “feel” all of the essential emotions that sometimes lie dormant inside of us, just waiting for a safe place to come alive again.

We've spent 2 ½ weeks in this beautiful city and I still didn’t feel I could leave it…the Spirit that is present in the streets, in the homes, in the buildings, in the sweet people, and in the Temple are simply a treasure! I believe my favorite experience while here happened on a daily basis…each place we visited testimonies were shared with my children, stories that brought tears to the eyes of the storyteller as well as to all listening will forever be remembered, each detail is immaterial, but each feeling will hold precious memories that I hope will carry our children through a lifetime of trials and that they’ll be able to pull from their memory bank to strengthen them in times of need! I have been strengthened by the examples of the women that I’ve learned about while being here. When I think of what they endured, I don’t know that I could have survived the hardships and trials that they struggled through. I guess because I am a mother and a wife, I can more closely relate to them and to the heartache they felt as they lost their children and their husbands, as they labored so diligently and faithfully to do all that was at their hand.

As we drove away from "our home in Nauvoo" Danielle played the songs that we had come to know and love that were sung to us many nights in the Rendezvous of Old Nauvoo Production. This only added to the intensity I felt as we drove away. The tears were a rollin' and I just had to swallow it up and be grateful to be heading back to my real home with my dear hubby and kiddos....it's so good to be together again! How we missed our sweet Daddy.

Brick Yard

This place has something for everyone to enjoy...

One of our stops was the Brick Yard. They explained how the bricks were made and "cooked" and the very end we walked away with a brick of our own to take home for a souvenir.

And it was a great place to "Ham It Up" for a moment or two!!!

Who will make it to the front of the pack???

In just a little over 12 hours, I will be jumping into my husbands arms!!!

That is if I can fight my way to the front of the pack of kids racing toward him at the same time I will be :)

So the question is...should I be the nice momma and let all my kids who so desperately want to see their Dad lay their hands on him first??? OR, should I be the selfish wife, forgetting I'm supposed to be the nice momma, and try not to knock too many of them over as I push and shove my way to the front of the pack???



Just wondering what you would do if you were in my shoes in just a few short hours??? Gotta be heading out of here in just a few hours, it'll take us almost as much time to drive to meet him as it will for him to fly all the way from Boise. CRAZY! But it will be a fun ride cause everyone will be filled with anticipation and excitement.
We're planning to spend the day playing around in St. Louis....what an adventure this past few weeks has been for all of us. I'm really quite sad to see it all coming to an end, but I am so happy to be heading back home as a family with our Dad with us again.

Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo

The Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo Show put on by the couple missionaries was a hit for our kids! We've seen the show twice and they NEED their Dad to see it again when he returns...which by the way is tomorrow!!!! Hooray we are missing our Daddy so much...we've never been apart like this before and I've had some very homesick and Daddy-sick kids for the past few days. So, we visited last night and he's coming Saturday now. Cannot wait to see that adorable man of mine!!!!!!!