Going back to Nauvoo instead of going back to School

Here is a bit of the Fall in Winter. I never posted anything about going back to Nauvoo in September or October 2010 because our life was super busy right before and after it happened and I wanted to include pictures of the trip and I didn't have a computer to download them onto. SOOOO I am going to GO back in time and re-create a little of our latest and most amazing family trip......(after that I hope to re-create some of the other things we did last spring, summer, and fall as a family...so stay tuned!)

EVER need a BREAK from life as you know it??? I highly suggest going to Nauvoo, Illinois! The fact that we took this break right as school was starting for the rest of the world, just made it that much sweeter!

Living in Old Nauvoo is like living in a park. 300 acres of mowed grass, beautiful trees, and pots of flowers lining the streets...and then there's the Temple.... But we'll get to that in a while....

Driving to Nauvoo, ILL  is just the best anticipatory trip you'll ever take, especially if you're in a van with 10 people and a dog! Our good friends, the Lytle family decided to take the trip with us and it was a joy to spend that time together. The dad's drove us all out, then flew home. Stacey and I stayed in Nauvoo for 2 1/2 weeks and then the dad's flew back out to drive us back to Idaho. The Lytles left and went home via Mt. Rushmore and we stayed a few more days and went home via TEXAS.. you  know the short way home...:)

The first place we stopped as an official Tour-Group, was the Visitor's Center in Omaha Nebraska. The sweet missionary sisters got us all decked out for the tour. It was a great introduction to our journey. It was a bit of backwards history because the saints that stayed in Omaha  were coming from Nauvoo and headed out west...we were coming from the west, headed to Nauvoo!

Levi & I try our Hand....

The boys in their hats & vests

Listening to a message about the Temple

Will reading history...

A beautiful tribute to the Saints who suffered and died here...

It was named Winter Quarters and many many people passed through this area. There was a sweet feeling here. A quiet feeling. I think a lot of families felt a great burden still upon their shoulders as they stayed or passed through this place. Today a beautiful Temple stands across the street from the Visitor's Center and next to a Pioneer Cemetery. Testifying that life is only a piece of our existence, and that Heaven isn't very far away.