Nauvoo

Nauvoo was one of the highlights of our trip. It was so amazing!!! It was so neat to be able to tour around and learn more about our church's history and the Spirit there is so strong! The Nauvoo temple is stunning and the Nauvoo pageant was going on when we were there too. They have done an amazing job with recreating Nauvoo of how it was when the pioneers were there. We learned a ton and had lots of fun!

There was an area for the kids but I think the adults enjoyed it just as much :) It had a lot of the games the pioneers used to play and they were so fun!

They had this fun wooden bear races and Vince loved it. He got the hang of it pretty quick!

We went over to the Nauvoo temple to walk around the grounds and just admire the beauty. The boys loved it too and kept talking about it. The Nauvoo temple is one of my favorites and so beautiful inside and out. Three of Ryans siblings were married in this temple so it's extra special to our family!

We were in Nauvoo 2 days and on the second we headed over to Carthage to see the house where Joseph Smith we martyred. I have been to Nauvoo and Carthage one of time before and got to go on the Carthage Jail tour and it was just as powerful the second time as the first. It was horrible how Joseph Smith died but he died for the cause of defending and standing for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some people think we worship Joseph Smith but that isn't true. We worship our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We love and honor Joseph Smith in him being the prophet who restored the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter days. I'm so grateful that he translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God. I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ and it is only through Him that salvation comes!

Vince, Will and Jake enjoying their smores

The Nauvoo pageant was awesome. It's a big play about the beginnings of Nauvoo and the different stories told. I loved how the temple was in the background the entire time!

Long Drive

When we orignally were planning on meeting up in Wisconsin for the family reunion we had no doubt that we were going to drive. First off, because it's way cheaper and secondly, I think the drive out there is half the fun and an adventure! I had a few people give my weird looks when I told them we were driving out to Wisconsin, especially with Vince being 3 1/2 and Jake wasnt even 2 yet! I have to admit I was a little nervous on how the boys would do, but in all honesty they did pretty good. They generally do well in the car in the first place but driving 12 hours a day is a different story. We broke the trip up and made plenty of stops. There were points where Jake was crying and wanting to get out but we had to keep going and push through. We brought lots of toys and had snacks on hand and a ipad with movies on it. I actually had gotten a free little DVD player for the trip and we were excited and brought all these different movies. Well about 2 hours into the trip I got it out and I found out why it was free. It didnt work. We did have 2 movies on our ipad: Fox and the Hound and Cars. I can tell you I pretty much have Cars memorized now but how many times we replayed it! It also helped because we camped. We usually got into our campsite late around 8 or so, then got to bed at 10 because it was the middle of summer and still light out til then.  Then we were up at 6:30 or 7 when the sun woke us up. This then led to them taking naps in the car. Those were the points of no return when it came to stops. We made sure we were full on gas and just drove! You better have just emptied your bladder because we werent stopping for nothing when they were asleep! haha. We always tried to stop at parks when we would stop for our lunches so they could get some energy out. They did awesome! I was really proud of them.

After traveling for 4 days we made it to Nauvoo, IL! Nauvoo isnt exactly on the way to Wisconsin but we wanted to stop there to see the wonderful LDS historic sites and we got to meet up with Ryan's sister and her family!

Wisconsin Family Reunion- Day 1- Rexburg

This past July we went on, let's say a life changing road trip, out to Wisconsin. Ryan is one of 9 and 7 of the siblings and his parents were able to meet up and have a family reunion. We had a great time and made a lot of good and not so good memories. (I'll further explain in a later post).

We love road trips and knew we wanted to make the most out of this one by driving our new van out and making a lot of fun stops along the way! It was over 4300 miles round trip and we went through 12 different states!!

We packed our new van to the max and headed out bright eyed and bushy tailed Friday, July 8th.

We decided to go up 410 over through Mt Rainier and into Yakima to switch it up and had to get out and stop in the snow!

It was a long 14 hours to get to Rexburg with all the stops we had to make but we made it into Rigby around 9pm and set up camp. It was funny camping in Rigby since we lived in Rexburg for so long and never thought we'd camp only 10 min away.

This picture brings back some good memories that my good friends Tami and Megan would only understand!

The next day we packed up and drove 10 more min to Rexburg. It was still morning so we reminisced driving around. Ryan and I have SO MANY good memories of being in Rexburg. I absolutely loved every minute of my college days at BYU-Idaho and then after meeting Ryan and then getting married and moving back we got to be there 2 more years. Rexburg will always have a special place in our hearts! I hope our boys will go there when they go off to college!

We tried to stop and see Josh, Ryans old boss who he worked for when he was a mechanic. But unfortunately he wasnt there. Ryan learned a lot working for Steve and Josh. I remember riding my bike out to see him a lot when I got off working as a nurse doing home health! 

We met up with my cousin Makenzie who's going to school there and she showed us around campus. Things have changed and I couldnt believe all the new high rise apartments around!! It reminded me a lot of Provo but there's so many students there now they need the space. It was kind of sad, they had torn down the dorm I roomed in with my best friends our first semester.

We of coarse had to stop up at the Rexburg Temple! It's so beautiful and Ryan and I were so blessed to be able to go to the temple so much while we were there. It truly is a beacon on the hill for all to see. I'm so grateful for temples and that our family is sealed for time and all eternity!!

After touring around it was close to lunch and we stopped at Broulims and then over to the BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT EVER!!

This place is truly amazing! It's a hold in the wall Mexican Restaurant but Ryan and my, hands down, favorite. Carne Asada burrito with a large horchata. 

So Good!

That was actually also our first official date too, so lots of good memories there.