Christmas in Nauvoo

 
The city has a big program for Christmas - more strategies to get people here to spend money. All of the activities occured while we were working in the temple except the Bed and Breakfast tour. We went to five beautiful places and were given a taste of food. We enjoyed the log cabins. They are real log cabins, some of which were here originally and some of which have been imported. Each cabin has a history of who lived there. They are cosy and Wayne loves them. We were given chili. We enjoyed the Nauvoo Grand Bed and Breakfast where this picture was taken. It is a Victorian house and beautifully decorated. We went with the Carpenters and Sister Watkins. Our favorite was the Willard Richards Home which is on it's original site. It is beautifully done and Sister Richards gravesite is by the highway. When you come, we know where to keep you.

Snow

 
 
 
We were very excited when it snowed. It was very cold, but Wayne was out in it. We loved the birds that visited our bird feeder. The deer come in at night and knock it around while they are rooting at the tree. The bird seed ends up on the ground. There are cardinals in this picture. We were excited to see them since this was our first sighting. Who would have thought I would turn out to be a bird-watcher! I must be getting old!

Christmas Tree - Visitor's Center

 
 
The Site Missionaries got up on the balcony and sang a song "Light Up the Tree" and waved flashlights covered with celephane paper. It was very pretty. When they finished, a child flipped the switch to turn the lights on. It was fun and a great end to our Thanksgiving day.

Fall colors

 
 
Fall colors in Nauvoo. There isn't enough camera to capture it all!

Thanksgiving - November 2011

 
 
 
Lauren and Eric drove down to spend Thanksgiving with us. We toured as much as we could - We took a wagon ride which gives you an overview of all of Nauvoo. We went back to the Webb Blacksmith Shop and the Browning Gun Shop. We drove to the old Nauvoo Cemetary (all the sites were closed and it wasn't dinner time yet) and then we had dinner at the Stake Center with the Site Missionaries. Great dinner - served quickly.

 
Eric came home and we all went to lunch. It was a great Mexican Restaurant.

Lauren and Eric

 
 
 
We drove to Des Moines (about 3+ hours from Nauvoo) to see Lauren and Eric and their home. It was a lovely day and they have a nice home.

Incredible Blessing

My mother grew up with nine girls. They stayed in touch with each other until they died. When my mother died, Florence wrote to me and said that from then on, I was to call her "Aunt Florence" and I was to send her a Christmas card every year so that she could keep track of our family. I have done that. In September I received a letter from Aunt Florence. She said she is 92 and doing some cleaning up that she should have done years ago. Her husband was a wonderful artist and she had a picture of my great-grandmother. Would I like to have it? Yes, I wanted it and when I got home this last week, it was waiting for me. This is the painting and the photograph is of her on the far left. I was thrilled that she thought of me and remembered that the picture was of my great-grandmother. Had she died and her children cleaned out her house, they would not have known who she was. This is a Nauvoo miracle.

Family Visit - Day 8-9

 
 
We flew to Little Rock and spent the night. The next morning we toured the Arkansas State House Museum. It was interesting and we enjoyed it. We picked up Anna and Monica a noon and went out to lunch. We spent the afternoon visiting until Scott got home at 3:30. Anna has a kitten. Scott was working in the yard when the kitten began to rub against his leg. He didn't know who it belonged to, so he took it inside. Anna calls it White Boots. The kitten is about the best toy Anna has. She runs with a cat toy and the cat jumps on it. Monica fixed us a wonderful dinner and we had a really nice visit.

Family Visit - Day 7

 
 
 
Sunday, November 6 - It is my birthday. We went to church with Janet's family and then returned home to a delicious pot roast, mashed potatoes, brocolli, applie pie and cherry pie dinner. Amy and Jonathan were there and Dallin attended the family ward insteac of his young adult ward. We had a wonderful time together. Amy played for us. She does really well although, the piano is really on its last leg. She has to pound to make the keys go down. I gave Amy the beach place mats that I made and she was happy with them. We had to leave at 6 in order to make a 9:30 flight out of Ontario to go home again. We stayed home overnight and then Wayne had a doctor's appointment first thing the next morning.

Day 6 continued

 
 
 
We went shopping. Wayne and I were tired of lugging the overnight bags and Bryce needed new shirts. We found exactly what we wanted - They had handles and wheels. Bryce found what he wanted and Jenna found a feather on a barrette for her hair. When we got home, Karen made us potato soup. It was wonderful. We never did get to visit with Greg, because he was working late.

Family Visit - Day 6

 
We flew from Las Vegas to Ontario - checked into a motel in Corona and then went to Karen's. We were all hungry so we went out to lunch. We tried Panera since none of us had ever been there. Jenna wanted a cookie but her mother said she had to eat her sandwich first. After awhile, I asked Jenna if I could borrow her sandwich. I took a big bite. No wonder she didn't want it. I passed it to Wayne and he took a big bite. It was almost gone. Jenna giggled. Wayne and Jenna went to the bakery counter and bought chocolate chip cookies.

Family Visit - Day 5

We flew to Las Vegas and went to Brent's where he had soup and sandwiches ready for us. Carly is really growing up. She made me a chocolate cake for my birthday (complete with sprinkles). Nathan is adorable and into everything. Rebecca came after work and we had dinner together. Brent made calzone. Betty Ann didn't get home until 8:30 because she is working late. We caught up on all the news, including their dog. I didn't get a picture of him. He is a beautiful chocolate lab. He's huge. He knocked me off balance once and nearly knocked Wayne down when he jumped on him. I think he is as tall as Wayne is. He's still a puppy at 8 months. We had a great time.

Family Visit - Day 3

We had breakfast with Rosemary Langford at Mimi's Cafe in Pleasanton. She couldn't come to the dinner because she is doing shift work now. She got a job with 911 as a call receiver and dispatcher. She seems to like it and the shift work hasn't seemed to phase her. We had a great visit.

We had dinner at Mark and Tracy's. David and Rebecca came and Amanda was there. We had a nice evening. Tracy fixed lasagna. I forgot to bring the camera, so I have no pictures of this visit.

Family Visit - Day 2

We flew from Salt Lake in rain and snow to Oakland. We went straight to the DMV to get our car registration renewal. It needed a smog check this year and you can't get one in Illinois, or Missouri, or Iowa. It took an hour because we didn't have an appointment, but we got it done. Then we went to the shoe repair shop and left both of my pairs of shoes. Went home to get more shoes. Wayne looked for the water leak, but couldn't find anything. We went out to dinner and then to Verizon where I got a texting service. Home looked beautiful and sleeping in our own bed was wonderful!!

Family Visit - Day 1

The temple closed for two weeks for maintenance. We woke up at 2 am Monday to drive to St. Louis and catch a flight to Salt Lake City. We drove from Salt Lake to Provo to visit grandson Ryan and his wife, Maggie. They have rented a cute little house in a nice neighborhood. We took them out to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. It was a lot of fun. They have a dog, Brutus who thinks he is cuter than cute and loves to sit in your lap, all 60 pounds of him. Ryan and Maggie seem very happy. They know where they are and where they are going. We're proud of them.

Washington Square

 
 
This is Washington Park in Old Town Quincy. The group are from left: Burt Wasson, Sandy & Wynn Farnsworth, Brother Gentry, Justine & Blaine Seamons, Chris Wasson, Wayne, Lynn & Susan Cottrell, Bill and Margo Schultz. We enjoyed our visit. One thing I did not get a picture of was of the old prison walls. They were stone and massive. When the prison was no longer used, the walls remained and they built a football field inside. It was plenty big enough to house the field and bleachers. We went back through the beautiful streets where the old houses have been restored. See earlier entries on this blog. We found out that it was the first planned community in the United States. Houses had to be set back from the street. The street had to be divided with a median strip, and colors were regulated.

Thanks to Quincy

 
This is the marker that was installed in a beautiful park dedicated to the Coast Guard. It says thanks to the City of Quincy for their kindness and compassion in taking in the Mormons who had been driven from Missouri and were destitute. Many families took in entire families and kept them for the winter, feeding and clothing them. The Latter-day Saints moved to Missouri to build homes and farm. Because they began to outnumber the old settlers, the old settlers wanted to drive them out. The Saints applied to the governor for aid in not being molested, but the old settlers burned homes, assaulted people and at Haun's Mill, murdered 17 men and boys. The Governor wasn't any help. He thought the Mormons ought to be exterminated. He issued an order stating that the Mormons were to leave the state or be exterminated. The Saints lost their homes, their farms, everything they had and fled across the state to Illinois. When the restored Nauvoo Temple was dedicated, President Gordon B. Hinckley, brought the Mormon Tablernacle Choir to give a concert in this park. The entire city turned out. At that time, he handed the Mayor of Quincy a check to help with whatever Quincy had need of.

George Rogers Clark

 
We didn't realize that George Rogers Clark was from Quincy until we were taken to this park. The statue and park were created during the depression. It was a WPA project. I knew George Rogers Clark was the Clark of Lewis and Clark and I knew George Rogers Clark was the hero of the War of 1812 by capturing Fort Vincennes. What I didn't know was that he did it all before he was 25 years old.