Nauvoo

One of the great things about living in Kansas is that we are so close to many church history sites. Last week we met up with Scott's oldest brother and his family in beautiful Nauvoo.

The Nauvoo Temple- Built as accurately to the original as possible. The out side is 98% accurate. It was beautiful but unfortunately closed for two weeks for cleaning. Darn the luck...I guess we will just have to go back one day Ü. I am pretty proud of my photog skills on this one.

A sun stone from the original temple.

Making thread from wool.

Leaning what life was like for the saints in Nauvoo. It made me feel like I have things fairly easy as a mom these days. This was one of the first demonstrations and notice how all the kids are sitting quietly and listening...I wish I could say that lasted.

Spinning rope.

The wagon ride was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was cold and rainy but we wrapped up in warm quilts and rode through the woods and over a stream as these beautiful horses pulled the wagon and a missionary told us stories about old Nauvoo.

Blacksmith making a horseshoe.

At this point Owen's attention span was maxed so we missed the boot shop and I let him do what he wanted for a little while. Look how happy he is.

Spencer and Asher are such cute little buddies. Every chance they got they would take off running into the nearest field chasing, tackling and playing football. Nice form son.

Mae and I in the upstairs room of the Red Brick Store.

We stayed in some great little log cabins which made the trip feel a little more authentic. Spencer thought the bunk beds were awesome and add some fun cousins and you've got kid heaven.

We sure loved spending a few days with these crazy kids.

Scrub down old school style. It was surprisingly comfortable, for me anyway. Scott may say otherwise.

We braved wind, rain, thunder and lightning in this little cabin.

The life of the early saints of the church is truly remarkable. They sacrificed so much because they knew the church was true and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. If that meant leaving their homes and comforts to serve a mission or cross the Mississippi in February to face the unknown west and suffering hardships that we will probably never understand they did it willingly. The last night as Scott was getting the boys ready for bed I walked the "trail of hope." It was foggy and I was alone but as I read the accounts of the pioneers and tried to imagine what they felt as they left this city that they loved I was in awe of the strength these saints possessed. I only hope that I endure my trials with as much faith as they did.

It was a wonderful vacation and I am so glad we got to spend it with the Nebraska Millers.

Carthage

Carthage Jail is the site where Joseph Smith spent his last days and died as a martyr. I feel so blessed to have had the chance to visit this place and feel the spirit there. Owen wasn't cooperating and was being too disruptive so I took him out during the tour. Later a sweet sister missionary noticed that I had not been able to finish and took me into those upstairs rooms and shared such a strong testimony of the Prophet Joseph and the miracles that took place that day.

"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fullness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum" (Doctrine and Covenants 135:3).

St. Louis

I wasn't really excited about going to St. Louis and wasn't expecting much but boy was I pleasantly surprised.

The beautiful St. Louis Temple. This is currently our temple until the Kansas City Temple is finished.

One of Scott's co-workers told us about Fitz an awesome restaurant in St. L. They brew their own root beer and cream soda that were to die for...the food was pretty great too. If you're wondering he ate the whole thing. Barf.

Like father like son.

The famous arch. It brought Owen to tears.
It's not an easy thing to photograph so I got creative.

The ride up to the top is really cool. The pods are the originals from the 60's. The boys did great although I am pretty sure Owen didn't breath the whole ride up and had a white knuckle grip on my leg but he never made a peep.

The view from the top. The pictures don't do it justice.

We were able to see the Cardinals game from up there. Scott and Spencer thought that was cool. I didn't get a good picture though.

The kids loved looking out the windows. Owen had impeccable timing and chose incredibly tight quarters to fill his diaper with a doosey. I can't believe Nate dared get so close. Sorry everyone.

We finished off the day with some killer BBQ St. Louis style. Nate had me laughing the whole time. I have never seen anyone so euphoric over good food. If you are ever in St. Louis Pappy's is a must.

What the Hail?

We knew there was going to be a storm tonight but definitely got more than we were expecting. About 9:00 we heard some hail and opened our front door to watch. It quickly turned from exciting to sickening when the hail turned into these bad boys.

It sounded like a war zone as golf ball size hail slammed against the roof, windows and cars. The hail was coming down so hard that it was setting off car alarms and even broke windows on a few of our neighbors homes. We knew immediately that there was damage being done to our lovely little Civic. Unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice. It looks like we let our boys just have a go at the car with hammers. It's covered in dents and paint chips

Minus 100 points for Kansas.

I feel sick.

Number 2 turns 2

We had a fun day as a family celebrating Owen's second birthday. On the way home from the Y we stopped and picked up some balloons. They were kind of a hit as you will notice in the following pictures.

On their birthdays we let the boys pick any cereal they want. Thanks for stepping in and helping out Spence so we didn't end up with peanut butter cereal (yuck)

The train obsession continues as we continue to facilitate it.
He's growing up too fast, and is usually going too fast for me to remember to just slow down and enjoy this cute little guy.

I love how he makes me laugh everyday with his expressive little face and funny antics.

He loves to wrestle and if you are on the floor you are fair game.

He loves to "wa" (draw) and will doodle as long as I keep the pages coming.

He loves trains of all kinds but especially Thomas.

He loves his brother and dad but is totally a mama's boy.

He loves giving kisses and does it often which I love and when he gets sad in the car he likes to hold my hand.

I love my little Owen Jack.

Snow Fun

Sorry, another playing in the snow post. A little repetitive yes but these moments needed to be documented.

The issue of Owen not wearing gloves still hasn't been resolved so the other day I dressed Spencer up nice and warm, considering it was about 25 degrees outside, and told him he could go play in the snow by himself since he had been asking all day long. Owen and I hung out in the living room where we could watch him out the window. I figured Spencer would last about half an hour and come in when he got cold. This pictures was taken after about 2 hours. He finally came in when it was getting dark and really cold. By the way, that night he ate his dinner like a champ and slept like a rock. Ahhh the benefits of good clean fun.

The next day Scott and Spencer spent the afternoon building this beauty. Spencer's dad is the coolest!

He looks so happy.

Snow Days

I was thinking we found a pretty good hiding place from the snow here in Kansas when we didn't see a single flurry they whole month of December but the snow finally found us in January. We have had some good snow and not very much school with all the snow days so here is what we have done for fun.

The first storm was only about 4-5 inches and I laughed a little when school was cancelled but we will take it. I think I owe the neighbor guy cookies or something because he was out there playing with the kids for a good 3 hours and I couldn't go out because I was in with Owen who had a cold.

Owen wanted to play so bad so this is what we came up with.

Spencer finally pulling his own weight a little around the house Ü.

Second storm and out helping dad shovel.
Owen refuses to wear his gloves. His poor hands were freezing and I tried but his will was stronger than mine on this one.
My little angel.
This was a good storm. Scott's boss let him leave early because the snow was getting pretty bad. He made it all the way home and then got stuck in our driveway. Poor little Civic.
It was too cold and windy to go out so we had a pretend snowball fight inside.

Thank you mother nature for the beautiful snow. It has been fun but we have all the pictures we need for this winter. We are ready for spring...Happy Groundhog Day!