First Day of School

The kids started school the end of August and were both very excited. Mayson is in her Pre-K year and Kaleb is in 2nd Grade. They are both doing great and we are really proud of them.

Nauvoo

Nauvoo was by far the highlight of the trip for Larry and I. The kids would disagree, as they think Niagra Falls is one of the best places ever, but the spirit in Nauvoo was so strong. We started out with a wagon ride that toured through old Nauvoo, and took us out to inspiration point where Joseph made the comment about "being taken as a lamb to the slaughter." It overlooks the Mississippi and was an interesting, fun ride for everyone. You can see the kids were excited to see the horses, and Rhyan had fun riding in the wagon. It was quite bumpy though, and she insisted she wanted to stand up. It was great fun trying to keep her from falling over the whole time.

After our wagon ride we drove out to Carthage to see the jail. It is definitely a place to visit, but it is very sad to think about what happened here, and that you are truly standing where the prophet died. When Joseph and Hyrum were shot, they were in the upstairs room, the window is the one above our heads. When the mob started shooting throught the door, Joseph went for the window to attempt an escape, was shot from the window, shot again from behind in the room and fell through the window to the ground by this well we are standing at. Its sad to think that you are truly standing where he was at when he died. Below you see a picture of us in the Dungeon Cell. This is where they were held for a short time when they were first brought here, but were not left there long because it was extremely hot due to being upstairs and a lack of ventilation, and was primarily used for the worst of criminals. As the jailer realized that these prisoners did not fit that, they were moved into the jailers bedroom to stay, which is where they were later killed.

As you can see, this is the door to the room they were in. The door still holds the mark of the bullets that went through to where Joseph, Hyrum and the two other men were. As you sit in this room and listen to the story of how the events unfolded, there is definitely a very solemn feeling. As much as we have heard of these events all our lives, it is different when you are actually sitting where it happened. Below is the statue of Joseph and Hyrum that sits in front of the visitors center at the jail.
There are many plaques on the grounds that have different quotes from and about the prophet. You can definitely feel the spirit here.

This is the mansion house, where Joseph and Emma lived and entertained for a portion of their time in Nauvoo, and where the bodies were brought and laid for the wake after they were martyred in Carthage. Below you see a picture of the graves for Joseph, Emma and Hyrum. The bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were originally buried in hidden graves for fear that the mobs would try to desecrate them. This is actually where their bodies are buried now though, for they were dug up from their previous site during some restoration efforts by the Community of Christ Church which owns the area. The bodies were then identified and reburied here in these marked graves. They also have Joseph's mother and father here, as well as other members of the family.

This area is called the crossing, and is where the saints crossed the Mississippi in February when they were driven out of Nauvoo. It is really neat to walk all the way down the hill, and read all of the signs that have journal entries on them from these early saints that were driven out. Reading their words really helps you to connect with what they must have been feeling when they reached the river and knew that they were leaving everything behind.

The temple in Nauvoo is absolutely beautiful!! It sits up on the hill overlooking the Mississippi River, and you can actually see it sitting there from the other side of the river in Iowa. It is an amazing temple with the wonderful spirit that you feel in Nauvoo. We got to watch the Nauvoo Pageant our last night there, and it was great. It gave such a sense of what these early saints must have felt and gone through. Below is a picture of the statue of Joseph and Hyrum that sit out in front of the temple. The other key thing about the temple in Nauvoo is the way the angel Moroni faces. He does not face east the way he does on the other temples, but faces west to watch over the saints as they traveled to the Salt Lake Valley. President Hinkley has commented on the temples being bookends, where Joseph's temple in the east faces Brigham's temple in the west. If anyone ever gets a chance, this is definitely somewhere to see.

Niagra Falls

This is a picture of us on the steps to the walk that runs along the falls. We were all excited for the fun day ahead....but the kids jsut couldn't wait. They were just dying to go on the boat and see the butterflies. Below you can see the falls behind us. They are so beautiful!

This is the kids getting ready to ride on The Maid of the Mist. That is the boat that takes you out in the middle of the horseshoe part of the falls. You get a little wet but it's a lot of fun. Below is a picture of us in the aerocar that goes out over the whirlpool where the Niagra River makes a 90º turn and the water swirls. You can look down onto it from up above, and can sometimes see the holes in the water where it is being sucked down by the movement.

This is when we got to the butterfly conservatory. The kids love it because there are thousands of butterflies, and they will land on you and fly all over around you. They all think it is just amazing, and as you can see, Larry was quite enjoying himself as well!

Here you can see a good example with both Mayson and I of the butterflies not being afraid to land on you. Mayson was pretty excited and kept trying her best to get the butterflies to stay on her and not fly away.

As you can see, Rhyan was in awe of all the beautiful colored butterflies that were flying all around her. The picture below is probably our favorite of all of our trip pictures, because the look on her face is just priceless. You can't duplicate that kind of pure excitement and amazement at such a simple creature as a butterfly. Kids are so much fun to have in places like this, because they remind you how amazing all of these things are, and how fun it is to get excited about them!

Palmyra and the Hill Cumorah Pageant

This was the beginning of our vacation, and the beginning of a week and a half fast food binge. Here we are a McDonalds starting our day off right with a nice healthy breakfast. I have to say, this is not the place to go for breakfast!! At least that is my opinion. There were a few people in our group that strongly disagree with me on that.
Rhyan was quite happy with the hash browns she was eating. Then again, for the most part, she doesn't care what it is as long as it is food!




We had to make a stop at the print shop where the Book of Mormon was first printed. It was really interesting to hear about how they made the books way back then, and how long it took them to do it. The kids liked to see the printing presses, and there were a couple of first edition Book of Mormons as well as some of the manuscript pages(facsimiles) for the adults to appreciate.





As you can see, Rhyan has not yet gained an appreciation of such things, and she was giving us the "are we done yet" look for a good portion of the tour. She behaved really well though so we can't complain.
Next we were off to the Sacred Grove. It was definitely a calm and peaceful feeling there, but my kids kepts askeing as we were walking down the paths through the woods, "When are we going to see the secret grove? Where is it? Are we almost there?" Mayson in particular had a hard time understanding that it was not necessarily a specific destination we were looking for. It was really neat to think that we were really where it all started. We also got to see the original Smith family log home and the Smith family plank home while there. Its just hard to beleive with all that we have heard about Joseph Smith, that we were standing there, where he grew up and did all the amazing things we believe.
Here is the Palmyra Temple from the road driving to the Sacred Grove. It is a beautiful temple, and is made even prettier by the setting it is in.











Here is the Angel Moroni monument that stands atop the Hill Cumorah. We hiked up to the top of the hill and there are a lot of plaques to read and the beautiful monument. It is beautiful looking down the hill and realizing what took place there. It is also interesting to think about the distance it truly is from the Smith home, and though it doesn't seem so bad in a car, what Joseph really had to do to get the plates.




Here we were at the pageant, which is done on the Hill Cumorah. There is a big stage that is set up, and stage is truly an understatement, that goes a couple of stories up the hill. It was quite the production, and the kids loved the part where Nephi's family built the boat, and were quite interested/concerned when Abinadi was burnt at the stake by King Noah. It was well done and a good evening for all.
Here is Rhyan's on her birthday, eating a fitting birthday breakfast of Dunkin' Donuts while we were still in Palmyra. She is such a sweet girl, and we are so thankful she is part of our family!!

This was our last stop in Palmyra. This was the Whitmer home on the Whitmer Farm. Joseph Smith lived here with the Whitmers, and it was around this table in their front room that the church was officially organized and became a church. In the visitor center they have here, they have a series of beautiful, original paintings depicting the Smith family and the different events surrounding the beginnings of the church. I really enjoyed getting to see them. Some very important things happened in this area, and it was a lot of fun to go and see it all.

Rhyan's 1st Birthday

We decided to do cupcakes for Rhyan so that she could destroy hers and not have to touch anyone elses. As soon as I brought these out and sat them on the table, somehow she knew it was something she wanted.









As you can see, she was not happy about having to wait while we sang happy birthday to her. She was standing here crying because she wanted a cupcake and we were taking too long to give her one!










As soon as she got her cupcake she put it two fisted right in her mouth. She was all excited and ate the whole thing. She also got and ice cream sandwich that she did pretty good on.




"Oh, I think I ate too much!" When Mayson got up to do something, Rhyan promptly ate her food too. This is what you get when you make a little piggy of yourself with cake and ice cream. Hey, she enjoyed herself though!







Rhyan still hasn't figured out the true joy of getting to open presents, but she's working on it. She knew there were things coming out of those presents that she wanted to play with.









And, if she couldn't open them herself, no problem. She has a brother and sister who are more than happy to assist her!

Rhyan Gets More Independent

Rhyan has suddenly become a much more independent little girl. She has started walking and likes to explore. She found that there are these little chairs in our house that are just the right size for her, and boy was she excited. She loves to sit on the little couch. She climbs on and makes sure you are looking, then she climbs off so she can climb back on again! She is so cute!!!