our nauvoo trip

Back in June, my parents came out here for a visit.  It is always so much fun to have them here.  The kids absolutely love it!  The tail end of their trip, we all drove down to Nauvoo, IL to spend a few days having fun and enjoying the sights.

This was the first time I'd been to Nauvoo (except the time I went when I was two years old), and it was exactly how I pictured it would be.  It is a beautiful place to feel the Spirit, and reflect on the sacrifices of so many.  It's hard to put into words, but every time I walked into the visitor's center, I felt so close to tears, for no specific reason.  It was lovely being there with my family, and I hope that my boys felt touched while we were there like I was.  

Matthew 19:14, "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

We went on an awesome wagon ride behind some huge horses and learned about a lot of the buildings and sights in the area.

The above picture makes me laugh.  My dad didn't come on the wagon ride with us, but went photographing instead.  I got a picture of him taking a picture of us, with the beautiful Nauvoo temple behind him up on the hill!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was spending time with my kids.  The past few months have been crazy with building a house and selling one, and all that goes with that (on top of the craziness that simply comes with having four kids, including an infant.) So, we haven't had much time to just be together this summer, but this trip was just what we needed to be able to do that!

One of my favorite places we visited was this dance hall.  It was easy for me to imagine the early members of the church gathered here to have dances and socialize.  This is the original floor that my two little ones are crawling on, and I loved thinking about some of the people who walked on this very floor.  It was a precious moment.

Kade and Ky helped make a rope.  It doesn't look like it in this picture, but they thought it was pretty cool!

What is it about little boys and throwing rocks in the water?

One of the best stops was walking around the temple.  It is even more gorgeous in person than it is in photos, and the history behind it makes it so special!

Oh, how my heart loves this statue!  (oh, and the cute boys in front of it too!)

The morning we spent touring Carthage Jail was powerful.  The rain was coming down pretty heavy, and while that stopped us from spending a lot of time walking around outside, it added something special to the feeling that was there.  There is such a powerful, sad, yet somehow beautiful spirit there.  I loved watching the twins while we were there, because I think they got it.

Brothers

Krew's favorite part of Nauvoo was the rental house we stayed in.  My parents had a bedroom, and the six of us all slept in the large loft bedroom all together,  Krew loved that.  From the looks of this picture, he also loved to sleep in Kade's bed with him, even though he had his own bed a few inches away.  This picture was taken after I had already moved him back to his bed twice that night!