A day in Nauvoo... Part 1

Monday morning we got up and dispite our plans to go to Nauvoo it was

pouring rain outside. The monsoon we were driving in on Sunday followed us.

Not so great when most of the stuff to do and see is outside.

Matt packed the van and spent most of the day soaked to the bone.

But we toughed it out and went anyway. Most of the time we spent there was in

in the rain, but by the end of our time there it has let up and it was back to being hot and now extremly humid. I loved it though. We all had a blast learning some church history and

pretending to be pioneers. For some reason my pictures are not in order. And I am to tired to fix them.

At the end we took the kids on a wagon ride. After we got to pet the horses.
Manning was exhausted. Lucky kid.

They had dress up clothes so we could play and get picures. I look like a

genuine pioneer. Don't I?

Manning got to try out a bassinet.

Mason's riding a horse

Didn't know you could ride sheep. But Mason and Carter did.

Mattix

Mason

My great grandpa used to make these . He called them yep sticks.

Alot of these toys made me think of him.

The senior Missionaries loved playing with the kids.

At the blacksmith shop they gave each of us a ring made form a horse shoe nail.

It rained and it rained.

Mattix loved the rain and jumping in the puddles.

In the visitors center it was not raining and we got to see statues like this one of

Joseph Smith seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

It was a very good day. We all enjoyed it for the most part. I am so tired and this baby finally

fell asleep. I will finish this hopefully tomorrow before we head to the lodge Friday. No service. Therefore no blogging

Hotel Fun

Shawn steam rolling the little ones.

You're such a cute little boy. Yes you are.. Yes you are.

Wrestling in the hotel. So I guess I shouldn't be to suprised that someone complained

below us and managment came to our room and warned us.

I think I prefer the boys in sleeping mode.

The only problem though was Matt and I were supposed to fit

somewhere in the bed. I quickly moved them to the floor.

A little driving and sight seeing.

Today is Sunday.... We drove from Sioux Falls to Nauvoo. 9 hours and a ton of potty breaks we made it to our destination.

Hi Mom!

We saw a sign on the side of the road that said American Gothic House.
Matt's nephew and I saw it in our car and kind of laughed about the name.
Well Chad called on the walkie talkie and wanted to stop. He knew something
apparently we didn't Remember the picture with the old Man with a pitch fork and an old lady
and they both have very grumpy faces. Well this is the house where that picture was taken and painted. It's a tourist stop now. Pretty cool huh?
This is Matt's brother Chad and his wife Jolene.

Our family trying to pose like the old folks just add a few kids.

We hit a monsoon I swear driving through Iowa. And I was driving.

This is a picture of a sign for Mason City.

We stopped at Dairy Queen to make our sandwiches in the parking lot.

We have 14 people in our caravan. At $1.89 a pop for plain hamburgers,

we passed and braved

the rain to make sandwiches.

I fed Manning. While Matt and Jolene made us lunch. The kids loved running around

in the rain.

If you ever find this chocolate milk in Utah please call me. I love it! It's sooo good.

I bought the older kids boondogle. It is more entertaining for the little kids.

And it made awesome pictures.

Manning liked it too.

Mason getting caught sticking it up his nose.

It's 12:30 a.m. I need to go to bed. Good night all!

Oh the places you will see.....

On the way to Mt. Rushmore we stopped at a place called Crazy Horse.

Can you see the face of Crazy horse?

This was a sign at Crazy horse I really liked it.

The boys didn't get what all the hype was about. They just enjoyed running around.

Our next stop was Mt. Rushmore. We got the boys ready for this

Before our trip. We showed them pictures and talked about who the faces

are. They were excited to go. It was pretty awesome.

Not sure who those other people. It was so busy. Probably because

it was the 4th of July weekend. But those people in the middle...

Yeah those are my peeps and me. :)

Woa what's that??

Some guy came by and gave all the kids a flag.

Manning was so fasinated by his. At least until he tried to poke

his eye out.

After Mt. Rushmore on our way to our hotel in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

We stopped at the Bad Lands. And took a few pictures. Once again the kids had

no clue what was going on. But enjoyed stretching their legs.

Let the fun begin!

Saturday Morning somewhere in Wyoming we stopped at a park and

ate breakfast and gave the kids a break.

Hi mom. This is a Cool park.

Manning got to swing.

Mattix wanted to too.

Than of course Mason came along.

Mom do we have to stop and eat? We were playing.

Ok 4 more bites.

Matt's brother Chad has a fancy camera. He lost his eye hole cover.

We all searched for like 20 min. Didn't help that the playground was covered in lose

recycled tired chips. Matt saved the day and found it.

Think you could of found it?

Hey there!

Ready.... Set...

JUMP!!!

Back on the road and bored. So I took a picture of my cute feet.

I painted my own toes and gave them pokadots.

Looking for something to do so I took a picture of Manning upside down

and without looking. He's cute from ever angle.

Mattix was bored too. So he practiced some sippy cup tricks.

Mason spilt some M&Ms. Just a little bored.

Yep still bored so I took some pics of myself.

This was the best. Like my new shades?

We stopped at a gas station and this was on the ground by the van.

A dead flat snake. Yum. Lunch.

Let's Go!

The van all packed and ready to go. We set off on our trip at midnight.

We kept the kids up thinking they'd fall asleep and there'd be no problem.
Yeah it didn't happen. We were past tired and so excited to be on our way.

After falling asleep sometime after midnight they all woke up around 4:00.

Mason needed to go potty we were in the middle of no where some where in Wyoming.

We couldn't find his shoes so we tried to get him to pee off the van.

It didn't work he ended up holding it until the next stop.
Manning slept through it all.

Gotta love the Wyoming scenery.

The bad thing about the sun coming up around 5:00 in the morning,

You can't lie to the kids and say it's still nighttime.

This mess is nothing Compared to what's to come.