I Heart Nauvoo

Recently, we had two members of our branch go through the temple for the first time. They wanted all of the members of the branch to be there, so our fam made a trek up to Nauvoo to go support them. It's really exciting when stuff like this happens because our branch is so small and poorly attended. I remember how shocked I was our first Sunday in Illinois because about 15 people showed up to church. I spent 3 hrs trying to hold back my tears because our branch was so small and there were no other young couples to be friends with. Kaitlin and Camie were also the only kids in primary. Quite a change from Utah, for sure.

Anyway, we couldn't both attend the session since we haven't found any babysitter we trust, especially for 7+ hours, so Rob attended while the kids and I wandered downtown Nauvoo. We went to all of the little shops, looked for souveniers and tried to soak in all things LDS since we don't get to experience it all around us anymore.

Here's a pic of Kait and Cam in the darling little pioneer bonnets I bought them. They thought I was a loser for buying them, but I didn't really care and I made them wear them for my own personal enjoyment.




Here's a gorgeous pic of the Nauvoo Temple. There's really nothing like a clear autumn day to help you take an awesome picture.




Here's a close up of a sunstone, which I LOVE!!! I think that they are so beautiful. I bought a heavy marble carving of one to put somewhere in my house. It's still in it's box right now because I have not bought any furniture yet to put it on. Curse-ed backwoods Illinois....

Finally, here are my sweet little munchkins in front of a fabulous backdrop.

I honestly can't get enough of Nauvoo!!

I love yardwork?

I am so-o-o-o-o not used to doing yardwork. We have spent 10 years living in apartments, condos and townhomes and as a result, we have been spoiled. In times past, we have waved to the passing workmen as they've mowed our lawn and pruned our bushes. We've asked them to spray for bugs and to remove the bird's nests and beehives in our eaves. In all, we have hardly had to lift a finger to care for our green surroundings. Awesomeness, I know....

Anyway, our time for laziness has come to an end now that we have our own property to care for.

I spent an hour on Tuesday sweeping up leaves on my deck and on the back portion of my driveway. It was a lot of work, and I didn't get very far.


It's sad that this is what I still have waiting for me in my front yard.

This is what I have waiting for me in my backyard.

Oh yeah, and here are the kids destroying all of my hard work.

To top it off, these are some of the leaves I am going to have to take care of in the future.

I've got five more trees full of leaves in the front yard and seven in the back. All just waiting to fall and torture me with endless work. Now I'm wondering why I even bothered in the first place...