Summer Fun

This summer has flown by. I can't believe Luke is starting his orientation for school TOMORROW! I don't know what I'll be doing with myself all day until the baby gets here, but let's not dwell on that just yet. Right now I want to talk about some of the cool activities we have been able to do this summer. We live in a cool place that is close to a lot of church history. We've been to Nauvoo twice, Adam-Ondi-Ahmen, some Amish country, and Carthage. There were a few more places we could have gone like Liberty jail and Hans Mill, but we didn't get to it. All of these places are a minimum of an hour and a half away and up to three hours away. Driving so far really takes it out of me. I wonder if being 7 1/2 months pregnant has anything to do with that? Anyway, here are just a few pictures of our summer trips. I say just a few because I'm really bad at documenting with pictures. I'm trying to improve...

CARTHAGE JAIL

Luke and I standing in front of a statue of Joseph and Hyrum. The visitors center is behind us to the right and the Jail is behind us to the left

This is the room where the martyrdom took place

Nauvoo

In Nauvoo there is a cool family history center that allows you to type in the name of any ancestor who lived there to find their genealogy records as well as any plots of land they owned and lived on.

This is where Luke's ancestor Fredrick G. Williams Lived. The mississippi River is right behind it. F.G. Williams was the prophets physician, and the last physician in Luke's family until now.

These plots were owned by my ancestor, Philemon C. Merrill. I'm blown away by how green and beautiful the land is around here. Definitely not a desert in any way.

The Pageant

This is us with Ben & Lauralee at the Nauvoo pageant pre-show activities. There were TONS of activities for kids and adults to participate in before the pageant started. This nice lady dressed in period clothing was nice enough to take a picture with us.

Luke is enjoying one of the many activities, pole walking. It's harder than it looks.

The Nauvoo pageant was really good. This is the closing scene when they light up the temple in the background.

Adam-Ondi-Ahmen

Adam-Ondi-Ahmen was very beautiful and very peaceful. There really is not much there besides a few plaques set up in various places relating church history anecdotes about that particular spot. Here are a few pictures...

Luke and me on Spring Hill

This is where Joseph Smith pointed out an old Nephite alter that had been constructed; the spot is called Tower Hill.

View of the Adam-Ondi-Ahmen Valley; Luke says it feels like an amphitheater when you're there.

So those are all the good pictures I have of our summer fun. I didn't snap any shots of Amish country. Partly because the Amish ask for people not to take pictures of them and partly because I forgot. I will say that we bought some delicious pumpkin bread from a Mennonite bakery, and some delicious cheese from an Amish creamery.