Mom's Visit/Nauvoo

When mom realized that I was flying back with the three kids alone, she bought a ticket to help me on the plane. I told her she would have to stay and join us for our trip to Nauvoo. Thursday night, we got a babysitter and went to Biaggi's for dinner followed by an impromtu comedy show in down town Minneapolis.

The Comedy Sportz show was so much fun! We ended up bringing Reagan because she had a runny nose, a cough, and was cranky in general. She did great at the club though and was actually referred to a number of times by the comedians (we sat on the front row). They were happy to pose with her after the show. Apparently, she didn't find them very funny then!



Friday morning we departed for Nauvoo. The kids actually did really well since we loaded them with DVD's, snacks, and new "travel" toys. We stopped at a park to eat and realized that we left the diaper bag at home. Luckily there was a Wal-mart in the middle of nowhere and a park!

RJ and Hunter are building a starwars lego plane after eating some subs.

Reagan and McKenna always love the swings.

Our hotel was in Fort Madison (about 13 miles from Nauvoo). Mom stayed at a different hotel because there were no more rooms available at the Super 8. We went to dinner and swam at Grandma's hotel pool Saturday night.

Saturday morning mom and I went to a session in the Nauvoo temple. I enjoyed seeing the beautiful paintings in the rooms, some original temple clothing worn by early members of the church and Joseph Smith's saber.

Statues of Joseph and Hyrum


RJ pretty much planned this vacation (as part of my Christmas date list). He found a cute show called "Plain Anna Amanda" which was a lot of fun for the kids (especially Hunter).

Here's Anna Amanda (apparently, the actors/actresses are full time missionaries) wishing she was something special and different.

One of my favorite stops was the Family Living Center. We got to see how the saints made candles, rugs, clothing, food, rope and barrels.

McKenna is learning about wool and how they used it.

Hunter got to make his own rope by spinning fibers together with this wheel.

Another stop I enjoyed was the blacksmith shop. They made rings out of horseshoe nails and everyone got one. I liked actually seeing them pound and bend the metal.

The mansion that Emma and Joseph lived in.

We went to dinner before the Pageant. McKenna hardly ate anything and was being a monster. I'm sure the waitress hated us but just to be sure, RJ let McKenna swallow a packet of splenda after eating a bowl of soup which she promply puked up on the carpet of the hotel/restraunt.

She was immediately better so we continued with our festivities. We found the perfect spot to sit for the Pageant then RJ and I took Hunter and McKenna to participate in some carnival-like activities. They got to play pioneer games/activities to earn a beads. Once they earned 10 beads, they recieved a giant "special" bead to add to their necklace. They had a lot of fun.

Race the teddy bear up the string by "milking" the ropes.

Stilt walking

The Pageant was good but I likely romantasized how the event would look (ie. Hunter and McKenna laying in their sleeping bags, falling asleep, Reagan napping and RJ and I cuddlig). Instead, I was off in the distance trying to discretely nurse Reagan to sleep while RJ wrestled with Hunter and McKenna only resting to take them to the bathroom.

Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting in Nauvoo which was crazy packed. The day went from bad to worse. McKenna and I had a knock down drag out that ended with a high speed, bare foot chase (on church grounds) followed by three spankings resulting in a blister and screaming child. From there we drove to Carthage and waited for a tour of the jail. We watched a video about Joseph Smith and were ready to head to the jail when an announcement was made, "Marlin K. Jensen is here and would like to tour the jail. There will be a 20 minute wait." Instead of being impressed, I was miffed. It was hotter than hot and we still had an 8 hour trip to make. The kids were starting to go crazy and I wanted to swear when I heard them say, "He is taking longer than expected, it will be another 20 minutes." Why couldn't he wait like the rest of us or simply join our tour? This was the attitude I had going into the jail which did not help prepare me for a spiritual experience. We packed into the kitchen area of the jail like sardines and I stood sweating as I bounced Reagan on my hip while the tour guide favored us with "extra information" to slow us down because of the back-up problem. Without further ado, here's the jail...

The actual door and bullet hole the mob shot through.

Chains in the dungeon room

Apparently, Willard Richards hid John Taylor under the straw beds in the dungeon after the attack. The weight helped stop the bleeding and ultimately saved his life.

The top window is the one that Joseph jumped out of.

Our trip home was an extension of the torture. Reagan screamed and I ended up nursing her while we drove (totally illegal), McKenna had to pee so bad that we pulled over and let her pee on the side of the road and we were welcomed back to Minnesota by torrential downpour and severe thunderstorms that made it impossible to even see. In the end, we survived and it was ultimately worth it.