We left early Friday (March 12th) morning. We flew in the Kansas City. We first went to Liberty Jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith was held prisoner for a time. It was my brother Justin's 19th Birthday. The lovely Ashton gave me a great restaurant recommendation since she grew up in the area. We had a great dinner at M&S and I would recommend it to anyone! When we got there we had a little time to spare so we did some shopping..I would like to know why there is a Tiffany & Co in Kansas City but not in SLC...lets change this...I need a little blue box! While we were driving around we saw these HUGE badminton shuttlecocks we had to stop and take a picture.
So we were just taking pictures minding our own business when all of the sudden we heard a loud booming voice "Please do not climb on the Statues..If you continue to climb security will be called" What..the? Really? We weren't even climbing on them just standing by them and getting pictures( my brothers are in the pics above) so in risk of being arrested we headed to dinner and out of the rain.
Over the next few days we worked and we saw Liberty Jail where the prophet Joseph Smith was held.
We then went to Independence and learned more about the pioneers crossing the plains they had this cute little area for kids to play and me and my brothers decided to play "Oregon(Mormon) Trail" luckily no Oxen died :-)
and on to Far West where a temple will one day be built(there's just a monument now) and Adam-Ondi-Ahman
We finally got to Nauvoo! Nauvoo is Hebrew for "city beautiful" is a small city right on the Mississippi River. The Mormon pioneers gathered and lived their until they left for the Salt Lake Valley in Feb of 1846. Many of my ancestors lived here and 6 years ago I spent a semester here living and learning all about it. It is one of my most treasured adventures, I have many fond memories there and I hadn't been back since I left 6 years ago so I was so excited to return. One of my favorite spots is the Nauvoo Temple. I mentioned earlier that my ancestors lived here, many of them helped build the the temple and made great sacrifices to finish it before they were driven out. The one that is there now was re-built in 2002 using the original plans and is as close to historically accurate as it can be (including furnishings).
The first few days we went around to some of the sites there are 22 historical homes & shops you can visit and tour. Here are some of my favorites.
Jonathan Browning Gun Shop (yes thee Browning guns originated here)
The Mansion house where Joseph Smith and his family lived.
The Heber C. Kimball home..by far the most elegant and fanciest house in Nauvoo.
The Seventies Hall
Luck Mack Smith Home (Prophet Joseph Smith's Mother) This is by far my favorite house..in fact I would move right in if I could. I just love it. She was a petite lady 4'10" (like me) and was so sweet.
Parlor/Kitchen/Dining Area
Look at this China..I am in love..seriously I have thought about this china probably every day since I left Nauvoo and spent countless hours trying to find it..I wanted to get the maker and pattern while I was there but they wouldn't take it out of the cabinet to let me look :-( Anyways I took about 25 pictures of it alone and I will track it down and it will be mine one day!!!
The room where he was jailed and killed. He was shot and fell to his death through this window.
The Door still even has the bullet hole.
Tues me and my family went to the Temple..it was fabulous and so beautiful inside.
A view of the temple from the flats
A statue of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum riding to Carthage.
(I just think this one is cool)
One of the best parts of the trip besides being able to be in Nauvoo and go to the temple was seeing two of my favorite people. When I lived in Nauvoo there was 9 of us girls who became the best of friends we have stayed in touch through the years. One of them actually met and married someone from Nauvoo and another lives in Omaha with her husband.
My good Nauvoo friend Becki..I love this crazy girl!
My friend Jen..she met me at 10:30 when we got to our hotel in Omaha and we ended up staying up talking till 2:30..I love when you have good friends and you can have not seen them for years and then you get together and pick up right where you left off.
In Omaha we saw a few other little church pioneer sites and then we headed home!
Me & my cute family
