Our Nauvoo Trip

So I was perusing the blogs of my children and I realized that it has been almost 2 (TWO) months since I last posted. That has been awhile. I guess one of the reasons why I've procrastinated the day of my repentance is our internet connection is so slow. It takes forever to upload pictures. But here goes the latest.

Back in July, I had to go to Casper to help with the Wyoming Coaches clinic. I also had to stay at home to host the 24th of July celebration in Cokeville at the same time. I really didn't know what to do. Briant Teichert suggested that I host the Celebration. So I did the coaches clinic and left Casper after the Honors banquet (I was selected assistant coach of the year in volleyball) at around 10:00 pm. Ellen and I got into Cokeville at 3:30 am, got up at 6:30 am to get a breakfast ready for the visiting general authorities at 8:00 am. Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Quinton Cook and their wives, along with the two bishoprics and their wives and the stake presidency and their wives were invited to my mom's house for the breakfast. It was great. The first picture is with Elder Perry.

The second picture is with Elder Cook. If it wasn't for the help of my counselors and their wives and my mom, I don't think it would have been a very big success.

After the breakfast, I had to ride a horse carrying the U. S. flag for the parade. For you who don't know, I do know how to ride a horse, I did grow up on a ranch. I just never rode a horse a lot. As a bishop, I had to lead the parade with the other bishop Todd Dayton. After the parade, I was conducting the program at the Church where Elder Cook spoke to the congregation. I was a rather nervous person. There were a ton of people. It was great to be in the presence of such great people. They are just like any other normal person. After the program, Elder Perry asked me if I was going to stay and eat or go home and sleep. I went home and crashed on the floor for a couple of hours. I was exhausted.

Now that that week was over, the next Monday, I took my family along with Briant Teichert and his family to Nauvoo. If you have never been, you really should go. We drove the whole way there and back, but it was worth it. I will only post a few pictures because between Brady, McKenzie and Ellen, we have a lot of pictures.

We went as far as Lincoln Nebraska the first day. We had stopped at Veedavo (sp?) for a picnic. That is when we discovered that Kandyce lost her wedding ring. Somehow, we don't know how or when, she had taken her ring off to lotion her hands and it just disappeared. We thought maybe it fell out of the truck when we took a potty break back three hours before. We called the rest area and they said they would look for it.

We left Lincoln and visited the tabernacle that was built in Omaha then hurried on in to Nauvoo. That night we went to the pageant. The next day we went to a session at the Nauvoo temple while the kids did baptisms for the dead. After that we went to Carthage Jail. Here are pictures of our two families.

You notice Violet in the background, she met up with us in Nauvoo. She and her hubby were living in Indiana and she met up with her family. She had lived in Nauvoo for a semester and she was our tour guide. Sorry that you couldn't see Tessa, forgot to make sure all were in the picture.

This next picture is just one taken of the family somewhere in Nauvoo. Not a bad looking family. It was great to have Kandyce come before she got married and also to have Brady home with us. We just wished Shari and her family and Greg and Breanne could have come with us.

Here we are at one of the sites in Nauvoo watching how they made rope. It was quite interesting.

The whole trip was just a great experience. Kennan got to see fireflies and catch them. What was also fun is that Stewart Petersen and his family were there (they flew) and also Loring and Laura Cammack were also there. We actually went through the temple with Stewart's family and we ran into the Cammack's at the Mansion House. This next picture is of us by the mighty Mississippi River. It was at the end of the Trail of Hope tour. It was held early in the morning, but it was worth getting up early.

The Teichert family posed for this one. As you can see, they are missing two. They couldn't get up early in the morning. We caught up with them later in the morning.

Of course, one of the reasons why we went to Nauvoo was to see the temple and to learn a little more about Church History. This is a shot of the temple looking back from the Mississippi. I couldn't get over how green everything was. The weather was very cooperative. It wasn't too hot and it definitely wasn't muggy. It was like the week was made for us.

Here are some of the crew just sitting in the shade of the temple at Winter Quarters. We were starting to look a little tired.

The last stop on the way home was at Chimney Rock Nebraska. I had never been there before and I have a little family history about the place. The Teicherts have never been there either and they wanted to see what it was all about. So this is what Chimney Rock looks like. It is different. It was a landmark for the Saints as they crossed the plains on their way to the Salt Lake valley.

My great great great grandmother died near Chimney Rock. Her name was Mary Murray Murdoch, also known as Wee Granny. She was in the Martin Handcart company. Just before she died she told her family "Tell John I died with my face towards Zion." The Murdoch family had a memorial created for her and here we are at that memorial.

The trip was so much fun. Going with the Teichert family brought back fond memories of camping trips when the kids were little. I am glad we went. We saw beautiful country, learned a little Church history, and most importantly created lasting memories. This is only a hundredth of the pictures that were taken. Hope you enjoyed some of them. I'll post some more pictures of what happened later after the Nauvoo trip.