Day in Nauvoo

Sorry about the big post, but we had a great time and I wanted to share. I also can't figure out how to get my paragraphs to show--it puts them all together. So, if anyone can help, that would be great. I was finally able to get Keith to take a day off from work. Lately, he has been working so hard at work, that when he comes home and all the kids are in bed, he sits down to his computer and starts working some more. Things at work are really crazy right now, even though he hired two guys to work under him it seems like he has more work than before. Getting the tractors ready for the customer shows takes its toll on him and the family. I am really glad he was able to take the day off. We went to Nauvoo for the day and also to see the pageant that night. Even though we have been to Nauvoo more than a few times, it still is really fun to go around and see all the different things there are to see. And since you can't squeeze everything into one day, we don't see everything there is to see every time we go down. This time we went to the Pioneer Past Times where the kids were able to dress up as pioneers, play in the school and the log house, and play with all sorts of pioneer games. I think the bear racing was the family favorite. The kids loved trying to beat Keith and me. We also went to the blacksmith shop, the gunsmith shop, the print shop, to John Taylor's home, and on the wagon ride that takes you out north of town and you get to hear lots of great stories about the people who lived on those one acre plots. Meagan thought the wagon ride was really boring and fell asleep. The pageant was really nice. I liked it much more than the old pageant they had. During the pageant, they talk about Joseph Smith, building up Nauvoo and the temple. On the stage they built a temple bit by bit--a frame out of big logs and material attached to it for the actual temple. At the very end, they drop the temple they just made, and you see the real temple sitting up on the hill all lit up. It was such good pageant. (Just a fun side note--- Every night when the pageant is running, all the temple lights are turned off so it is dark behind the stage. At the end of the show, there is a spot light that lights up the temple. The temple still has to be cleaned so the workers wear little head lights as they clean. Anyway, I thought that was kind of a fun thing to share.) Here are some pictures of our fun day.

Jason, Jessie, and Logan racing their bears.

Brenna sitting happily in her stroller. She is such a great baby!! Look how cute that hat is on her! Oh, and that smile! She is so adorable, if I do say so myself!!

Kaden showing me his horse as he grunts trying to make a sound that is something to what a horse would say.

Our little Meagan all dressed up in her pioneer clothes ready to do some cooking.

Jessie getting into the action trying to iron a dress.

Logan and Jason doing a bit of thinking, trying to win.

Keith, Kaden and Brenna playing with the blocks. Kaden wasn't having much fun just sitting here in the stroller, so after he was done with the blocks we let him out.

Kaden trying his hand with the bear racing. What a cutie!!

The girls on a couple of sheep.

Kaden eating.

Keith trying to beat Jason at the bear racing. Keith figured out that instead of alternating your hands up and down to get the bear to go up and win, all you had to do was to pull your hands apart as fast as you could and your bear would zip up to the top and you would win.

The boys all together. Logan wasn't very happy that he couldn't be on the horse with Jason and Kaden, but there wasn't enough room. So I took a picture of him alone and he smiled for this one.

Meagan and her bear.

When we went to the print shop, we got to see the old printer and all the really, really small type they used. I can't believe that someone put all those little things together to form words so they could print them. I looked at the letters up close, and on some of them I couldn't make out what the letter was. All I have to say is wow!

"Let's head West!!"--maybe some of our family will let us crash at their house.

Jessie and Jason in the gunsmith shop. They are standing next to a machine gun that they still used today.

Looking out over the Mississippi. This used to be the North landing where all the boats would load and unload their cargo and passengers. Then if they were going South, they would go down the river and their cargo was put on wagons and they would pick it up at the South landing. This is because the river wasn't deep enough and the boats couldn't get around the bend when they were fully loaded.

The family with the horses that took us on our wagon ride.

This picture was taken just across the street from the Nauvoo Temple.

The fam in front of the temple just before the sun was setting.

Nauvoo Temple

Pictures of the cast from the pageant. We had such a great time. The kids were so great even though it was really late and they had had a really long day. I am so grateful for the early Saints. They had to endure so many things that I don't know if I could of handled them. When we left the blacksmith shop earlier that day, Jessie said something to the effect of, "So, it wasn't really that hard to live here, was it Mom?" I just looked at her and thought where did you get that from? Were we hearing the same things? We had just gone through all these different buildings and in each one of them, they told a story about how different life was then. And to me , I couldn't do without my modern conveninces. --Hello, indoor plumbing is all I have to say. But I guess it is all in your perspective. Jessie saw Nauvoo as a wonderful place to be.

Kaden didn't quite make it through the whole pageant.