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. :)

I don't know why I always wait for something big and exciting to happen before I blog. Cause that really doesn't happen too often which is why I don't write anything :) Just thought I would get some things off my mind.

First of all, I really can't wait to go on my trip with my Hubby! We are leaving on Friday for Missouri where we will drive to Nauvoo and stay for 3 days. I really can't wait to see the temple and go through a session. I am also excited to see all the other amazing historical sites there. My mom tells me the spirit is so incredibly strong in Nauvoo. So then on Monday morning we are going to head out back to Missouri hitting other sites along the way. I don't really have our route planned out yet but my dad is supposed to be helping me out with that :) Once we get back to Missouri we will be staying in our Timeshare Condo. I can't wait because it is right on the river bank where we can go fishing, swimming, and go for a dinner cruise! Hopefully we will get to that. We will be hanging out, relaxing, and TALKING a lot. I feel like Brandon and I don't get nearly as much time to talk about things like we used to. On a side note, my wonderful sister, Stephanie, is going to be keeping my kids for the week! She is so amazing, thank you so much Steph! We will be coming home late Saturday night on the 29th. I can't wait for this much needed break. I have been so stressed lately. My 4-Plex isn't going so well and that is a HUGE ordeal right now. Nothing worse than having a vacancy and still having to pay the mortgage that we really don't have extra money for. People are so irresponsible it drives me crazy! I don't know how people can live their lives like some of the people I have seen lately.

Another huge stress for me lately is of course being pregnant. Anyone who really knows me knows what a hard time I have with gaining weight. Not that it's hard for me to gain weight but that it's hard for me to accept it. I know I am going to gain weight being pregnant but I just gain so much! My first 2 pregnancies I gained almost 100 pounds and the last time I was pregnant I was bound and determined NOT to gain it all back. It's really hard to lose all that weight over and over! So I worked out like 4 hours every day, and dieted as much as I could. I even did the first half of my pregnancy without having any sugar what so ever! Occasionally I would have a little treat but I was very good about controlling what I ate. So much so that I just couldn't wait to have my baby just so I could have a break from counting calories. Well it all paid off of course. I "only" gained 43 pounds. Which is amazing for me especially after my first 2 pregnancies. Well I was really proud of myself of course but now that I am pregnant again, I feel like I need to be the same way. Well, it gave me total anxiety to even think of doing that again. That was a LONG 9 months. Needless to say, I only work out about 2 hours a day. And I definitely eat more than I did last time. Especially since Stephanie lives with me and cooks such irresistible food! I try not to feel so guilty about it all but it's just hard to know that it is actually possible for me to only gain 43 pounds. So yes, I'm always thinking about it. And always getting upset about it. I know everyone is different and everyone handles pregnancy differently but it's still hard to see those cute pregnant girls and not be envious, especially when I work so hard to be like that. I'm also really embarrased about the way I look. Always thinking about what other people are thinking about me.

Another reason why I am looking forward to this trip is to hopefully let go of some crankiness! I am so ornery when I'm pregnant. Probably because I am getting fatter and that bothers me so much. But my poor husband gets the brunt of it most of the time. Little dumb things that he does just get under my skin and make me so mad. He tries so hard but honestly I think it's a battle he can't win, at least for the next 5 months, haha! So I'm hoping that taking the kids and housework out of the picture will lighten my load and let me see how wonderful I know my husband is.

So hopefully I will be good and update everyone on how my trip went! I know I'm taking lots of pictures....

Evening Things Out

So yes, I'm weak. I couldn't last. A girl that works out at my gym found out what she was having last week and it's been killing me. So I scheduled my appointment....
I thought this was a pretty silly picture, like he was trying to get out or something :)

So it's a BOY!!

I'm so excited to even up the score, 2 boys and 2 girls. I can't wait to see what another boy will look and act like and to see how different they will be! We had decided on a name but now Brandon is bouncing around some other names so I guess we'll see....

Puppies!

Full House!

I really wanted to include pictures on this post. For those of you who haven't heard, my sister, her husband, and their 4 kids have moved in with us! Sammantha is 7, Parker will be 6 in another week, Aubrey is 4, and Haven is 2. And she will be adding #5 in the mix come October! It's pretty crazy, I know, but so far I think it's great! Stephanie is an amazing cook! It has always been my dream to have someone cook for me and I have to say, I couldn't be happier! She is supposed to do all the cooking while I do all the dishes. So far, only she has held up her end of the bargain. Hey, I can't help it if her husband likes to help out. :) I have a gi-normous table in my kitchen that actually fits all 11 of us around it! (6 chairs and 4 stools. Tegan in her high chair.) My girls are a little cramped in their bedroom but I just try to avoid going in there so I don't get overwhelmed, haha! Brigham has all his toys as well as Parker's toys in his room but it's still not too bad in there. Poor Stephanie has all her kids in one room. It's a pretty big room, though, so I think they will be ok for awhile. And we have boxes and boxes all over the place although Steph is doing a pretty good job at sorting through them all. The garage is full of bikes, bikes, and more bikes! We wanted to build some sort of shed but there really isn't room for it anywhere so I still don't know what we are going to do about that. And they brought their trampoline with them! It has been so much fun for the kids! I love it. I'll have to post some pictures as soon as we get everything figured out!

Summer Fun

Just some fun pics of my 'kids'. Brandon filled up a big bucket with water and they were filling up squirt guns and splash bombs! Jojo was pretty into it all. She couldn't stop squealing!
Brigham had fun in the beginning. I don't think he likes to be cold. He also didn't like it when they broke out the big buckets....

But he did like helping Daddy splash Jordan when she wasn't looking!
So then Jordan decided to get him back.... look at her face. She can't contain herself....
And off she goes to get Daddy....
She almost dropped it several times because she was laughing so hard!
And victory!

They were out there for like 2 hours just playing and eating otter pops. I love having a kid as a husband!

Herriman Beach

My sister, Michelle, found this really cool "beach" out in Herriman. I was debating on whether or not to blog about this because it really wasn't crowded at all which was kind of nice :). It was so perfect for the kids. They have a shallow part for the kids which is separated by a little cement wall from the deeper water. You can't really see it in the pictures because I guess it was a lot more full this time than the other times Michelle has gone. But the kids absolutely loved it!
Tegan especially loved the sand. She loves to put it on her legs and anyone else sitting around her. She's fascinated by it. Haha!
Here's me and the Weegers. this is out in the deeper part. Michelle brought a couple floaties (luckily, or I might have drowned!).
She also has a really big floatie that they call Hairy. Don't ask me why. There is absolutely no hair on this thing....
Michelle took the kids out in the deeper part for a ride.
Good thing that cast can be washed out! There was so much sand in there! We might have to go in for a new one. I don't know if we got it all out....

It took Brigham a little while but he finally felt brave enough to dive in and have fun! He did so good!
You can't really tell here but Tegan was shivering with her lips. She thought that was such a fun noise to make :)
When Tegan saw Hairy she got so excited! She wanted to go on it so bad so we put her on it but before we could even get out there, she was leaning so much that it tipped everyone over! That girl is never cautious about anything....
And here's my handsome Biggs.

That house you see back there is the closest one. You can hardly see anyone. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. I hope I can find it again! It was so much fun!