Nauvoo Family Reunion Last Day

(last day of the reunion that is)

On Thursday morning everybody who was going to see Carthage Jail had a rendezvous in the parking lot before heading out. On our way GM and I decided to stop at the temple one last time for some pictures.

In Carthage we had the tour with everybody,

posed for a group picture, had lunch and talked and played with cousins for a bit.

*Thanks Julie for the pics!!

After Carthage GM and I had a hankering for Ice Cream, it might have been due to the fact that there was a DQ just across the street. We couldn't help but stop.

With our treats in hand it was time to hit the road and head to Chicago for part 2 of our vacation. It was another long drive back, but thankfully this time it was not in the middle of the night. We stopped at a rest stop about halfway there...some of us were ready for more than a pit stop.

After playing for a while we saw a familiar car stop. It was Uncle Gary and Aunt Tina!! What are the odds?!?! :) They gave us directions to their house but once again we let Tiggy lead us astray and we took the long way. :P

That evening we spent with Uncle Gary, Aunt Tina, Amy and her kids, and Jason. It was a fun relaxing evening and we actually got time to spend talking, reminiscing and getting to know each other better. :P

Nauvoo Day 2

On Wednesday morning Uncle Gary had a tour guide arranged to tell us some great stories and history of Nauvoo and the people who first lived there. The kids colored and played a bit while the adults all listened to the stories. After that some people went to see the Joseph Smith movie but we decided to go explore Nauvoo. The kids had gone on a carriage ride with Ruth the day before and seen some things they wanted to go back and check out.

First stop was the Jonathan Browning Gunsmith home/shop

The kids' choice? Nope. (Can you tell by BR's expression?) :)

However, it was an obvious must see for GM. ;)

Checkin' out the guns

MC and her Daddy pretending to make a rifle barrel

After the Gunsmith we went to a few more little homes (We got to see a few of the homes with and PAWS and her honey). Then, at last, we made it to the place that the kids were dying to see: The Nauvoo children's game workshop. They had all sorts of games and toys that were used by the children of Nauvoo.

The bear climb

The Stilts

The Top/Spinny Things

Some we got and some not so much,
but almost all took some figurin'. :P

As we were finishing at the Pioneer games we realized lunch had started so we ran to meet everyone for lunch but found they'd already eaten and were listening to the tour guide agian so we listened and ate and then went to the old Nauvoo Burial Grounds with everybody.
It was a very beautiful, hallowed place.

While we were there our tour guide happened to meet a lady who's a decendant of King Follate and writing a book of his history. It was about to be published so he asked her to tell us some of his stories. Then we listened to other stories by the tour guide. It was a very touching experience and GM and I left with an even greater reverence for the sacrifices of the early saints.

We all split up after this and my little family went to the Community of Christ side of Nauvoo to see the Prophet's burial site and the old brick store. It was very interesting to go to their side of things. We didn't stick around to hear any of their thoughts or testimonies though. :P

GM then took the kids swimming at the hotel while I browsed the shops in town.

We ate dinner at the park with everyone and then our kids asked to have permission to go hang out with Steve and MM's gang. We didn't want to mooch baby-sitting out of them but they assured us it was ok so we got a free date night out of it. Woohoo. :)

We went to the shops for some souveneirs, got ice cream and took pics of the temple at sunset.

Park City Weekend Getaway

My older sister and her husband invited us to go to a weekend getaway in Park City the last weekend of July and it was simply FANTASTIC!!! GM and I had so much fun we've decided we need to get ourselves a fancy schmancy condo with it's own hot tub on the balcony! (Simple pleasures!) :)

The first night we wandered around downtown Park City enjoying the atmosphere and looking for a place to eat. We couldn't decide on just one restaurant so we decided to restaurant hop. We ate an appetizer at a Mexican place, I think it was called Tia Rosa's (but it slips my mind). The appetizer was SUPER and it was tempting to stay and have more of their yummy food but we decided to stick with our original plan. So we moved on to a bistro place where GM and I shared a Miso trout with yummy mashed potatoes on the side and some delicious green beans.

GM had to check out the cool Ferrari! :)


At the bistro we chose because of it's menu as well as atmosphere




Then we were pretty full so we decided to fore go a sit-down restaurant for dessert (the bistro had great bread with exceptionally good oil and balsamic vinegar) but we really wanted some fudge from their local fudge shop so we headed over to see what they had. It turned out that the girls were the only ones really craving fudge so GM and my BIL headed into the bookstore that was connected to the fudge shop. We got some fudge to-go and then perused the bookstore. After a while, since our husbands were very engrossed in their selections, my sis and I sat down to talk about our dreams and aspirations. One of which turns out to be that we'd both REALLY LOVE to have a book/antique store (two of my favorite things). So we started dreaming together and talking about all the details that would make it so great.

After dinner in town we grabbed some groceries so we could cook ourselves a fabulous breakfast in the morning in the condo and then we all went out to the hot tub on the back patio. We just couldn't get over how cool it was to have our own hot tub! :)

The next morning we used the lovely kitchen to cook some yummy omelets (but we were all quite perplexed that this nice "fully stocked" kitchen had such a glaring lack of any knives let alone nice knives like the four of us are used to. We got over it, thanks to my always prepared husband who happened to have two great knives we could use). :)

We spent most of the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine, playing in the pool and talking about the power of positive thinking. We enjoy having good discussions with like minded people.



The pool had a slide that was really meant for smaller people than GM and my BIL but they loved it despite the cramped conditions and crazy way it spewed them out the end :)




After the pool we met up with my youngest sister and her hubbie. We all went to dinner at a place called "Bandits" that does great ribs and such (most of us got the ribs, that's how we know). :)


For our evening entertainment we headed over to Kamas to see what being a true red-neck was all about. We went to a "Demolition Derby". It was a new experience for GM and me, and it was pretty entertaining, but I'm not sure I could ever convince GM to go back up on those tiny, overcrowded bleachers....he felt quite claustrophobic up there. It started to rain just as we got there so GM grabbed a big denim quilt that we keep in our car and some of us huddled under it while watching the derby. In the end my sisters and I were so cold that we had the quilt wrapped clear down over our heads like a little tent and we couldn't see a thing. GM convinced the other guys that we should leave after that. :)

While waiting for the derby to start we hid behind a random car seeking shelter from the rain




My sis her husband and her BIL (whom we met up with there) watching the derby


Thanks to the rain there was a beautiful backdrop to the derby


I took several videos of the derby because I knew that BR would just LOVE to watch them (BTW: I was right) :)

I'll spare you the rest, unlike BR, I doubt you'd dig soaking in every second of every video. ;)

We spent the rest of the evening watching movies in the condo...after some shuffling about, it ended up being the three girls in one bedroom watching "A League of Their Own" and the three boys out in the living room watching an old Die Hard movie. In the morning our little sis and her husband left to go fishing and the rest of us went to get brunch and then headed home. It was such a perfect, fun, relaxing vacation!! Thanks A&A for letting us tag along!

Family Night 28 July 2008

For family night we decided to try our hands at kayaking again. This time we went a little more prepared: We brought towels (to sit on in the car), we wore swimsuits, GM didn't wear any of his "gear" that can rust or get in the way :P, and all who didn't wear sandals last time did this time. We also brought workout gloves in hopes we wouldn't get blisters this time (GM and I). It worked for GM, for me I got a tiny blister anyway and my hands turned orange from the orange dye in my leather work-out gloves. :P "No vale la pena!"











After kayaking we went to a nearby park for the kids to play for a while. Then we went to the pool for a quick swim and then returned home for family night treat.

Happy 4th of July Camping Trip: The last day

On our last morning, we had a simple breakfast, a leisurely clean-up and pack-up the following morning, but we were by no means ready to head home...well most of us that is (GM is usually ready to head home from trips a bit sooner than the rest of us, he's more of a home-body). The majority prevailed and we went out for one more adventure.









After some debate about what our last adventure would be, we went looking for one last hike. We wanted a cool, shady one. And we wanted one that stayed near water again. We found the perfect one. It followed along a small river and some of its tributaries however pretty soon it wanted to lead us up and away from the water but we wanted none of that; especially MC and I who both had on shoes that were optimal for getting wet. MC started meandering out into a tributary and with BR close behind hopping from rock to rock. (He had on pants and hiking shoes.)




GM preferred to stay on the trail most of the time, with a few little adventurings out among the wetlands. Pretty soon we made it over to the main part of the river. MC and BR wanted to experience sitting down in the river (since I'd been regaling them with stories of my days as a camp counselor and how we'd take our girls "bum-sliding" in the river).









However, after getting into the river, they didn't want to get out. We hiked back along the shallow tributary for a while, but it eventually dumped itself into the river at which point we had to make a decision. I could hardly resist BR and MC's enthusiasm for the adventure of traversing the river and soon we were making our way through the mossy rocks. We went under branches, around boulders, and through eddies for quite a ways with GM following along the trail. At one point we crossed to the other side, got out and forged a path through the forest until we found another place we could re-enter the river and finish our journey. We finally exited just before the trail ended at the parking lot, with BR and MC declaring it the “funnest hike ever!!”





(GM just shook his head and laughed at us...holding up a blanket for us to have a little privacy while we stripped out of our soggy clothes).

At last, all dry and happy, we grabbed some snacks from the back of the car and relinquished our vacation.