Nauvoo

Jesse's family (ironically minus Jesse) went to Nauvoo, Illinois for a few days. For those of you who have no idea what, or why, we'd go there I'll explain. The early members of the LDS (Mormon) church were forced out of Missouri and settled on the Illinois border on the Mississippi River. They founded the town of Nauvoo and stayed there for 6 years before they were again forced to leave. They left everything they had in Nauvoo and headed west with most of them ending up in the Salt Lake valley of Utah. This vacation gave us a look at what life was like for the pioneers and everything they went through. Like always I took A LOT of pictures so I've only included the best and/or the ones I thought would give you a good look at what Nauvoo is like.

Rosalee and Gavin taking a bath together. They're 11 1/2 months apart in age.

Our family got to make some rope in one of the pioneer demonstrations

An old printing press

My father in law holding the water buckets and yoke

While in Nauvoo we were able to go to the temple

The senior missionaries put on a musical every night about life in Old Nauvoo. This couple was HILARIOUS!

While everyone was getting ready for bed Kaylee went and put on Rosalee's floaty

Nauvoo is right on the banks of the Mississippi River

Rosalee fell asleep on the ride but Jenny did her best to hold her in front of the horses

Lindsey with Gavin petting the draft horses

This statue depicts Joseph and Hyrum marching to the jail

In the Carthage jail

This is the room Joseph Smith and his brother were murdered by a mob in. The window is where after being shot 3 times Joseph fell out of.

The grave sight of Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, and his brother Hyrum

This is the room where the Relief Society (women's' organization) was formed

Hudson eating his raccoon skin hat

Jesse's dad bought all of the girls bonnets and the boys either stove pipe hats or those newspaper boy caps.

Jenny with the homemade root beer at Joseph's red brick store

The blacksmith who makes the horseshoes, shoes for the oxen, and the prairie diamonds. The pioneers couldn't afford wedding rings so they'd have the blacksmith take horseshoe nails and bend them into rings. I got one for Jesse and one for me for free.

This is Brigham Young's above ground root cellar

It was a nice night so we decided to go out and take some pictures during the sunset.

The statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith depicting their last ride as they were taken to Carthage where they ended up being murdered.

Rosalee playing with the flowers outside the temple

Outside the temple

The Mississippi River at sunset

The temple at sunrise

The Browning rifles (and other firearms) were invented by a man who lived in Nauvoo

The brickyard where all the bricks for the town were made. We got a small brick with Nauvoo stamped into it to take home.

Rosalee giving a lesson at the Hall of the Seventy

The family! Rosalee was excited to get so close to the oxen

Tia with the oxen

We were able to go on an oxen ride

Pioneer ladies