Heather's Day

On Friday morning my sister Heather and my cousin Sarah went thought the temple. It was a very special day. When ever I participate in gospel ordinances and it just makes me feel good -- I think to myself, "I did something today that really matters in eternity. YEAH!" At lunch Spencer stuffed his cheeks with grapes and went around talking to everyone to make sure they got to see it. Quite entertaining.
That afternoon we took pictures of Karina for her birthday. It was a blast.

Old Nauvoo

Thursday dawned cloudy and cool. The bed and breakfast where we were staying let us bring food to make all our meals except for breakfast which was provided, and boy was it a feast every morning. On Friday we had French Toast that soaked overnight and was laid on a pan covered in a butter and brown sugar mixture; it was more like dessert.

As drove down to the Nauvoo Visitor Center and it started sprinkling. On our way we passed a wagon pulled by a team of horses and Jessie wouldn't rest until we had riding on that on our list of things to do. It ended up being first on our list. Here we are waiting to board the wagon. Our ride was a 35 minute tour around Nauvoo. It sprinkled the whole ride and by the time we got off the kids were all chilly despite the blankets they were using to keep warm on the ride. I couldn't believe it was the end of July in Missouri and my kids were freezing.

Next we took a walk down main street and since the bakery was full of people we kept walking and came to Pioneer Past Times. The kids thought it was great. Jessie was so excited when she asked to ride the wooden horse and they said jump on.
Spencer thought the sheep was more his size and wanted Ken to climb on with him.

Conrad and Mark had races getting a little bear to the top of the ropes.
They also had two little play house cabins. They had the best kid toys in them -- little chalk boards and chalk with little chairs to sit on, dress up clothes, kitchen utensils for pretending, stilts, and a pretend fireplace with little wood logs to go in it.

Spencer and Abbie wrote their names on the little chalk boards.
Abbie had to do hers fancy!
Laura, Rachel, and Becca kept themselves busy trying to crack the code on the board game there. If you want to get the inside scoop ask Becca something about choosing the right, having ups and downs and eating lots of ice cream.
Jessie and Mark really wanted to walk on the stilts. It was quite a bit more difficult then they thought.

Another game they had at Pioneer Past Times was rolling a hoop. Ken and Heather ended up being our rolling pros (I didn't actually try it because I was running the camera). Mark stuck with it until he could do it too.
Heather and Ken had a race, but the hoops are very hard to steer and Heather almost ran Ken over.
Conrad loved the hat he found in the dress up box and found some pails to go milking.
Then we toured the Tinsmith were all sorts of pans, lanterns, bowls, cups and were made. By then the kids were starving and so we walked back to the cars stopping by the bakery to sample the gingerbread cookies.

After lunch we came back and learned about brick making, printing and went to the school house for a little lesson.

One story I remember from the printing office was that when President Young asked the saints to leave the printer was not able to sell and so he cleaned all his equipment and put it all away in the proper places and just closed his shop and left everything already for someone else just to come in and begin their own business. Wow! I wondered could I leave everything of mine for someone else and chose to follow the prophet?

Our last place to visit was the black smith and wheel wright shop. The kids loved getting their Prairie Diamond ring and watching the senior missionary make a mini-horseshoe.

We walked down Parley Street after that and it was a sweet experience. The oxen ride at the end of the street was already closed by that time and so the kids just climbed up in the wagon. Poor Abbie was very tired at this point and not having the oxen there was more than she could bear. She cried almost all the way back to the car.
At breakfast that morning Spencer noticed the fancy cloth napkins and thought they would make a great Superman Cape. Ken tied it around his neck and he wore it all day long.
This is our family by the gunsmiths home. Abbie had a little tickle to help her find her smile.
That night after dinner which my mom's sister's family joined us for, we all went down to the pageant. Afterwards Mark and Jessie really wanted to get a picture of the guys who played Joseph Smith and Hyrum (who were also actually brothers.) It was a great day.

Eastward to Nauvoo

When we got to the house where we were stay we unpacked and started on dinner for all the hungry kids. They played a tunnel tag while they waited for dinner. Spencer was the hardest to crawl under. Speaking of Spencer with in 10 minutes he had almost given himself a black eye. First he got hit with the frisbee right under his eye and then during the prayer on dinner he tipped off the back step and smacked right above the same eye. I'm sure glad we had ice handy.
After dinner we took a walk down Malholland Street to the temple and it was beautiful!
Little Karina fell asleep.
The flowers at the temple were gorgeous! Ken laughed and said that who ever looks through pictures of our trip will think that there is a botanical garden in Nauvoo.
The statue in the front of the temple (which my dad's brother actually got to truck out here from SLC) is quite moving. There is just such a beautiful spirit here.

Abbie was enjoying the flowers as much as I was.
Heather, my sister, with Conrad and Karina. Her husband was going to come up with my Dad a day later, but had to stay and work instead, bummer.
The sunset lit the temple up and before we knew it it was very late and my kids were tired.
This is my mom with all her girls.

Climbing on Monday

The boys had a great time Monday afternoon playing baseball in the front yard in the shade. Everybody got to take a turn hitting and Mark and Conrad took turns catching while Ken pitched to them. We also watched The Incredibles and Laura gave Ken and I haircuts. Heather and I spent a large part of the afternoon figuring out what to put on Karina's birthday cake. For FHE we went to the Bass Pro shop to look around at all their cool stuff. Ken stayed home with Spencer because he picked up this horrible cough and fever.

This is the huge fish tank with a 115 lb. catfish that was as big as Abbie (but weighs three times with she weighs). Karina chillin' in the cart.
The highlight of the evening was that everyone got a try to climb the 42 foot rock wall they have in the store. If you make it to the top you can ring a bell hanging up there.

Conrad was the first to go and zipped up quite quickly, but didn't quite make it to the top.
Here's Mark going for it. He had a lot of fun.
Jessie was a little nervous, but I think she had fun. We're going to have to work on those biceps so she can get up a little higher next time.
Little Abbie was too small to fit into the harness so she and Aunt Heather played checkers on the table on the second floor.
Rachel having a go at the wall.
Laura was the first one to make it to the top and ding the bell. She also paused to smile for a picture.
Then it was the mommy's turns. The kids were as excited to watch us go and they were to go. Heather made it to the top and leap for the bell and was left dangling for second before she slid back down the cord.

I ended up going last. Man, I'm glad I trimmed my nails a day or two before. I almost slipped once but found a different foot hold. Not wanting to dangle from the bell like Heather I climbed a little higher before reaching and that worked great. Then I just jumped back and slid down. When I got to the bottom I wasn't sure my legs felt like jello (but don't tell my kids that!).
This is our Abbie chipmunk.
They had an awesome salt water aquarium in the restaurant. The fish were so neat.
Since Abbie didn't get to climb, she got to help tie a fly for her to take home. She wanted it to look like a ladybug which didn't quite happen, but she was happy with it anyways.

Where the Fire Bug went

This is a Ken-post, and I just couldn't resist this one.

When I was a kid, everyone knew I had a fascination with fire. Scout campouts were glorious times because there would be fire! I still get teased about it at family events. Now however, the pyromania has gone away. I learned this week where it went - to my son. Mark has it as bad as his father ever did!

On Wednesday I told Mark I wanted to help Grandpa Woodward burn some branches that were piled up and needing to be burned. Mark's eyes lit up and he eagerly volunteered to help. He spent the entire afternoon outside tending the fire, and burned every scrap of wood that needed to be incinerated. When he was done, all that remained were some campfire-sized logs that I told him not to get rid of. If I had told him the trees needed to go to, he would have found a way to add them to the conflagration.

I have a great family! Have a wonderful day!

The Long Drive

I'm not sure how these pictures showed up after the others, but this is the drive out to Missouri. Spencer was so excited to wear the sunglasses Megan gave him before we left. He lost them in his car seat a couple of times and we almost had a few sad moments, but other than that Spencer did a super job on the drive. YEAH for Spencer! When we got to Wyoming we had to stop at the Little America Hotel to get ice cream because it's a family tradition. And it was ice cream. What's better than ice cream at 10 in the morning -- not much!

The Start of Vacation

On our way out we spent the night with Ken's good friend whose name also happens to be Mark. We had a super time. Pancakes for breakfast, baseball in the backyard, a game of home made horseshoes, and wild bunny in the bushes. Abbie had a blast picking all the seeds off the flowers.

When we finally got to Missouri Karina was very excited to share her Cheerios with Spencer.
Becca, Abbie and Mark played a game of hide and seek. It took them a while to find Becca hiding in the hallway closet.