Never a Better Time to see NAUVOO

One of the biggest blessings of living in Iowa City has been living 90 miles from Nauvoo, Illinois. We've made frequent trips and have loved going to the beautiful temple and enjoying the historic sites. We made our last trip to Nauvoo on Monday. It's nice to visit Nauvoo in the off season when the town is not quite so busy or packed with summer visitors. We had beautiful weather and loved our super relaxing trip. Here are some highlights:

Here we are with the oxen team. We rode in the three foot wide wagon that resembled the same wagons taken west. The oxen are named "Gabe" and "Gary." They are giant beasts! It was amazing how slow they walk. We had just driven 90 miles in less than 90 minutes. I can't comprehend how long and slow and hard the pioneers' journey was!

At the Pioneer Pastimes exhibit there are lots of old toys and games that the pioneers played for the kids to try. We had fun playing with wooden sticks, blocks, and dress up. The kids really liked sitting on the sheep and the horse.There are lots of other exhibits like the Bakery, the Blacksmith, and the Brickyard where they demonstrate how things were made and used in the 1840's. There is even a demonstration on how to make rope. Here you see Thor and Gabe spinning the wheel that is twisting the threads. Lorili and I helped at the other end with the braiding of the rope. Halfway through Lorili started yelling, I looked over and saw that one of her long locks of hair had gotten caught up in the thread and was getting braided into the rope. She wasn't too upset about it and made for a good laugh! Oh that hair!

We got to keep the chunk of rope that we made. We put it to good use:

We also stopped by the beautiful Womens Garden. It is a beautiful garden full of flowers and statues depicting the different attributes of women.
Gabe ran up to this statue yelling "mommy mommy." I'm not sure what he meant...is it because he thinks it looks like me, or is it because she has a book in her hand? (I have been reading an 18th century 600 page novel).

The kids passed out in the car on the way home and had a really hard time waking up! They were worn out!

We love Nauvoo. It has truly strengthened our testimonies of the Restoration of the Gospel, our Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. We are thankful to have been so close to such a sacred and important part of our Mormon heritage. We will always look back with fond memories and will look forward to a return visit. We encourage all of you to visit this wonderful city and partake of all it has to offer. You will not regret it!