Nauvoo

So we left for Nauvoo early Friday morning on August 21. My sister Stephanie got up at 5AM to drive us to the airport. We had a stop in Phoenix, Arizona for an hour then headed off to Kansas City, Missouri. We arrived at about 1:30PM and went to pick up our rental car when we headed off to Nauvoo. It took us about 5 hours to get there. I was already not feeling too great from the 3 hour plane ride and all that driving was really hard on me. When I'm pregnant I really get car sick. Apparently plane rides do the same thing :( Well, we finally arrived in Nauvoo at 8PM Friday night and after checking into our hotel, we went out for a walk to take some pictures of the temple at night. That's my favorite time to look at temples, I love to see the lights!

(My pictures are all over the place, I hate how blogger does the pictures!)

So then we went back to our hotel for the night where I had one of the worst nights sleep in a long time. I got the cheapest hotel in town which had a double bed. I about fell off so many times! Not only that but it's a little hard and I can't sleep on my stomach anymore so I have to keep rotating sides because my hips start to hurt.

Well the next morning we got up about 7:30, got ready for the temple, and headed downstairs to eat some breakfast. We had some Belgian waffles which were really good but they also had some hard boiled eggs which I love. But they were cold so I decided to put them in the microwave. After putting them in there I noticed a sign on the door that said "do not put eggs in the microwave, they will explode" I thought, well I have a paper towel on them so it shouldn't make a mess. Well sure enough, 5 seconds later it explodes all over the place! Haha, I was so embarrassed! It's a small-town kind of place. Not very busy. And the girl cleaning the place was right there. Needless to say, we left shortly after that....

So then we went to the temple which was amazing! I loved it, and I love knowing that not everyone who comes to see Nauvoo gets to see and experience this wonderful part of it. I felt so privileged to be there. After doing the session, we asked if we could do baptisms for the dead. They said yes and Brandon and I were able to do baptisms for the first time since we were teenagers! It was such and awesome experience! Brandon got to baptize me which was his first time. Pretty awesome!

After getting some lunch we headed to Old Nauvoo to see the sites. We went to the Joseph Smith Historic Sites first which is owned by the Reformed church. They took us on a tour of the Nauvoo house, the Homestead, the Mansion House, the Smith Family Cemetery, and the Red Brick Store. It was really cool to see where the prophet lived and gave sermons and such. And even to see where he is buried. After the tour, Brandon made the comment that he wished a member of our church had given the tour. I didn't see why because I thought the man was very informative and stuff but then we went to a site owned by the LDS church. It was the brickyard. They have elder missionaries at all the sites who tell you a story about the people who ran the shops back in the day and tell you a little bit about how they did things. And I just have to say how extremely different an experience it was to be in that little room with a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The spirit was there. He didn't even say anything about the gospel. He was talking about bricks! But it felt completely different than the tour we just went on. I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost! I know it manifests the truth and I know I am a member of the true church of the Lord.

So the rest of our time Saturday was spent looking at those little sites and then at 7 we went to a play that the LDS missionaries put on every night for people. It was great! I laughed and even cried. I was amazed that I was even feeling the spirit in a play!

The next morning we headed off to Carthage to see the jail and the visitors center they have there. It was amazing to see the jail and to walk into the actual place where the prophet spent his last hours!

After Carthage we went back to Nauvoo and continues visiting the many sites the church owns. We got a few souvenirs and lots of interesting information. I was a little car sick from the drive to and from Carthage so I was already not feeling great. And then we were walking around for like 6 hours. By 6 o'clock when all the sites closed, I had such a massive headache! We went back to the hotel where I popped a couple tylenol and lied down for a quick nap to try and sleep off the headache. It really doesn't help that we were living off junk food all day. We didn't make it to the grocery store before they closed yesterday so all we had to eat were the snacks and stuff we bought for our car and plane ride.

Well, I do feel better now. I decided to blog about the first half of our trip now so it's not so overwhelming when I get home. There is still a lot we have planned. Tomorrow we will be leaving Nauvoo and heading to Adam-ondi-ahmann, Haun's Mill, Far West, and Liberty. Then on to our timeshare condo where we will be till next Saturday. So more pictures and stories to come!
Window Joseph jumped out of

Door leading to the room Joseph was martyred in. It's a little fuzzy but you can see the bullet holes
The stairs leading up to the room
The living room in Carthage jail
This bug is really really loud! They are all over out here!
Just a picture of our drive. It is so beautiful out here!
The mansion house
the Nauvoo house
The grave site of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith
Statue of Joseph and Hyrum as they are leaving Nauvoo for the last time and heading to Carthage jail
Me and Brandon after our temple session


Some of my favorite pictures of the temple. :)