NAUVOO

I was lucky enough to take a trip out to Nauvoo with Tyler's family right after Christmas. It was so beautiful there with the snow, and we learned a lot about the early Saints of our church and what they sacrificed. They built this beautiful city and then were forced to leave, in the middle of WINTER! It was freezing there! And this was not the first time they had to leave their homes. Many people up and left more than one home from persecution. Nauvoo is very well organized with tour guides at every site to tell you cool stories about the people who lived there and what their life was like. The best thing was knowing you were standing where some of our early church leaders stood.

The temple was gorgeous! I'm so glad it has been rebuilt so we can see its beauty today.

This is the cabin we stayed in.

Yup! All 9 of us. Chris is taking the picture.

We learned how to make rope! Here is Amanda hard at work. Other activities were bread making and learning how they used their woodstoves inside Brick Walls, and also weaving rugs.

Austin up in the loft. He thought it was pretty cool to be up so high

Up high again!

The night we were there we went to a performance put on by the senior missionary couples who serve at Nauvoo. It was awesome!! It was great to see all these people act and sing, even though I'm sure most have not had any training, which you could tell. But it was great to see some of the old men get into it! Austin was plum tuckered out.

Testing out the rope we made. Austin with Uncle Chandler.

We went on a "massive carriage" ride around the outskirts of Nauvoo and learned lots of fun history stories about the people who used to own land out there. There were a couple steep spots where the horses had to go through ice water and we thought we were going to crash! But all went well!

It was a great 2 days! We didn't get to see everything, so I'd be more than happy to go back again someday. Here is Austin driving us back home, one-handed! He's a natural.