Beautiful Nauvoo

This year for Memorial Day weekend we drove to Nauvoo to explore that beautiful city.  We had great weather and we even had wonderful friends (the Fortners) to spend time with!

Ethan and Rick are making rope in the Family Living Center.  Rick was trying really hard to remember his Boy Scout skills.  Might need to put him back in scouts for a refresher!

This was taken in the back of the Browning house with the temple in the background.  The flowers that were planted all around were gorgeous.

We earned our brick at the brickyard!

This ended up being one of my favorite places.  We went to the Old Nauvoo Cemetery and were the only ones there.  It was so gorgeous and peaceful that I kept telling Rick that is where I want to be buried.

Ethan had fun running through the tombstones.  It was sad at how many were very young children.

Ethan and I in front of the memorial in the cemetery.

Our little family in front of the Nauvoo temple.  I loved this temple.  So pretty!

Ethan is going through a "daddy" phase and just loves to mimic Rick.  This is the Joseph and Hyrum Smith Memorial across the street from the temple.

These two are just pictures of Ethan that I love near the memorial and temple grounds.  We let him run around to get out some of his energy and he loved it.  I love the look of joy on his face!

Ethan and Rick wearing matching rings from the blacksmith's shop.

This was special.  In the Seventies Hall they have binders listing those who had been in the Quorums of the Seventies and when I was flipping through I found my great-great-great grandpa!  I hadn't known he had been a Seventy so it was kind of fun!  (ignore the wild woman hair, it was windy that day!)

Not to be outdone, Rick found his ancestor in the binders as well!

We went down by the Mississippi River to see where the pioneers crossed and let Ethan throw rocks in.  I couldn't imagine having to cross  that river!

We took the tour of the Joseph Smith Historic Sites and I really enjoyed seeing where the prophet lived and worked.  Here is our family by the graves of Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma.

This is my beautiful friend Jenalee Fortner!  I was so glad they were able to be in Nauvoo with us!

On our way home we stopped in Carthage to tour the jail.  This is the window that Joseph was shot through.  While this was more somber, it was not sad since we know he was able to complete the work he needed to do here on earth!

We were able to see and do so much more but I decided this was already picture overload.  My favorites were a wagon ride through Historic Nauvoo, seeing the beautiful Nauvoo Temple, and the Old Nauvoo Cemetery.  Rick liked the wagon ride, the Temple and the Blacksmith shop.  We ended up staying at the Motel Nauvoo which was perfect for us.  The price was good, and it was nice to be in town so when our baby was melting down and needed a nap it was easy to go back to the room and put him down without having to travel far.  A big plus was that his pack-n-play fit inside the bathroom so he was not in our room with us.  It was such a great trip and I can't wait until we get to go to Palmyra later this summer!