Nauvoo

We arrived in Nauvoo on Saturday night and woke up to SNOW on Sunday morning.

 

After church we took a drive around town to look at a few sights.

 

The snow really made the trees beautiful

 

Then we stopped at the Visitor's Center for a little while.  We saw this picture of some of my ancestors.  Orson Spencer is my Great Great Grandpa and Daniel Spencer is his father.

 



Mt. Pisgah

Mt. Pisgah was the first white settlement in Union County Iowa.  It was a settlement the saints made on their way to Winters Quarters.  

This plaque tells a lot more about Mt. Pisgah

Kanesville Tabernacle

The Kanesville Tabernacle is where Brigham Young was sustained as the 2nd President of the church.  The original building was built in 2 weeks but it only lasted for about 2 years.  The city of Kanesville rebuilt this tabernacle on the same plot of land and donated it to the church. The fireplace that we are standing in front of took up an entire wall in the original tabernacle but was about half of the wall in this replica.

 

 

The kids learned to make rope while we were there and each of the boys got a chance to help out.

 

This was a really cool old organ they had there.

Winter Quarters Temple

Winter Quarters Vistors Center

Our first historic stop was at Winter Quarters Visitor's Center were the kids got to dress up like pioneers.  Then they learned about the pioneers who had stayed at Winter Quarters.  Some of the hardships that they had to face and were about to face.   

 

 They got to see what kinds of things they could put in their wagons traveling west.

They got to pull a handcart.

They got to sleep in bunks like many of the pioneers who traveled by boat to America. 

 

At the end we were able to see a replica of the Salt Lake Temple that they were able to build once they completed their trek west.

 

This is a statue in the cemetary at Winter Quarters.  I'm not sure if you can tell but it is a husband and wife who have just buried their baby.  There are around 300 graves in the cemetary and over half of them are children. 

Vacation

We just got back from our 9 day spring break vacation.  We chose to go and see church historic sites for our vacation this year.  It was perfect timing to because that is what we are studying in Sunday School.  We left on Thursday night the 21st and drove throught the night to get to Omaha, NE.  While we were driving across Omaha we came across some VERY icy roads and this was our speed on the freeway.

 

Even though we were going this slow there were still cars sliding off all the time so we decided to stop. We stopped at a Sand Hill Crane bird refuge and looked at a bunch of birds some buffalo and ate some breakfast. When we got back on the road an hour later it was much better and we were able to drive on to Omaha safely.
On our vacation we drove 2,944 miles.  We were very ready to be out of the car when we got home last night.  My kids told me yesterday that they will never complain again about a drive to Pocatello or Logan.  Ha Ha - lets hope so!

Our New Flooring!!!!!!

So I should have taken pictures before we moved all of the furniture back in but I didn't so here they are.

 New carpet in the living room

 Laminate in the entryway and dining room

 Fiber floor in the Kitchen

It feels like we have a brand new house!  We are loving the look and feel of all of our new flooring.  Yesterday I dropped a pot on my new kitchen floor and put a cut in it but I am told that fiber flooring is amazing and will heal itself.  Lets hope so.

Arrow of Light

Tonight Dalton earned his Arrow of Light. He is turning 11 later this week and will be going in to Boy Scouts.  CRAZY!  I can't believe he is getting that old.  He is really excited to start going to scouts without his Mom. 

 Sister Brogan his webelos leader awarding him his last activity pins

 Brother Grose explaining to them the markings on their arrows.

 Devon and Dalton, they have been best buds since they were 3.

Take Your Hat Off

Each year the 3rd grade glass at our school performs a program called Take Your Hat Off.  It is a patriotic program were they learn songs about our country and perform them.  Each of the kids also has a speaking part.  Ethan's part was byBenjamin Franklin "If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without God's notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid" The kids learn the preamble to the constituition and lots of other parts to the constitution.  They also learn about the different branches of the goverment and military.It was great to see allof their hard work!

Sleeping Griffin

Griffin is at that stage were he falls asleep in funny positions.  This is him falling asleep watching Cars 2, his new favorite movie.  You will also notice that he has his Cars cars on his belly.

New flooring

This next week we are going to be getting new flooring in our house so yesterday was demo day.  Ethan was our designated photgrapher.

 Alex at work

 Griffin playing in the nasty carpet roll

 Dalton hard at work

 This pictures is kind of blurry but it is a great depiction of what Anika and Fenton did all day

Next week I will post pics of the finished flooring. YEAH!

Walk of Fame

This last week Ethan got to walk in the walk of fame.  He earned 100 AR points.  He has always enjoyed reading but has had a hard time finding books that he enjoys.  Recently he discovered the Percy Jackson series and has read all 5 books in the past 2 months. Good Job Ethan! 

 

 Dalton the Bear. He is in every walk of fame as the bear and has earned 500 AR points.

 

 Ethan

Apparently it was a pretty intense walk because Ethan lost a shoe.