September Highlight - Nauvoo

I think there are about four people who will read this since I haven't blogged in ages and nobody checks my blog anymore. I'm going to try to do one post for each month (starting with September 2010) that shows a highlight of the month. Once I get caught up to the now, then maybe I can blog normally again. Who knows? Why haven't I been blogging? I suppose the main reasons are - not in the habit, time consuming, and the fact that my pictures are more difficult to access than they used to be - yeah, it takes like seven clicks now instead of three - and all the photos are on Greg's computer and he has to send them to my computer and for some reason that just sounds too hard to me.... (the ellipses are for you, Heidi!)

Greg, Kate, Sarah, and I went to Nauvoo in September. Greg's sister LaNae and her husband Blair came with us. We went to visit Greg's parents who were in month 5 of a 6 month mission they served in Nauvoo. It was so enjoyable to see them as missionaries! I am extremely glad we went. Nauvoo itself was fun - but I was really glad my other kids weren't with us. Nauvoo is a lot of historical houses and places that you tour and I could just imagine my little ones trying to touch everything they shouldn't and getting worn out and bored of seeing old houses. We took Kate along with us and even she got worn out at times. For the most part though, she was a great traveler.

The trip had two major highlights for me. The first was the first two hours we were in Nauvoo. We arrived in the nick of time for the play "Rendevous in Old Nauvoo" that was performed by a cast of senior missionaries. Greg's parents were in it and they got to sing a duet together for the show. Talk about amazing! It was incredible to see the spirit they had about them and the way they performed like they had been doing it forever. I would have never dreamed of seeing them perform like that back in their hometown - in their comfort zone. But there, on their mission for the Lord, they did it willingly and well. It was awesome. When the final curtain for the show closed, Greg and I looked at each other and said we could go back home right then, the trip had already been worth it.

The other major highlight for me was doing an endowment session at the Nauvoo temple. This actually surprised me that it was a highlight since I often struggle to stay awake and alert in the temple (don't tell, okay?). But that session we did in Nauvoo was very memorable and the spirit was very strong.

Those are my major highlights. I have two minor highlights as well. One was the place we stayed. It was an old historic home that is right by the historic shoe shop in Nauvoo. Greg's parents reserved it for us and it was a killer deal (thanks mom and dad!). The home was kept up but it wasn't a 5 star hotel or anything. The best part was the upstairs bathroom. It was the size of a kid's closet and I had to stoop over in the shower or my head would hit the ceiling. Ha! It made for some great memories. Kate said, "This is the kind of bathroom you would see on an email of crazy bathrooms!" It was fun - and we got just as clean in that dinky shower as we would have in a big one.

The other minor highlight was Sarah on the airplanes. Perhaps I should call it a lowlight. On the flight from Salt Lake to Denver, Sarah fussed most of the way - not too bad but still fussy. Right when we were landing she had a major blow out. I thought I could contain it but we couldn't get out of our seats because people were starting to stand up to get off the plane. So I laid Sarah on the seats and swiftly changed her diaper - c'mon, five kids and I'm a diaper changing pro, right? Miraculously her clothes stayed clean. Then I went to stand up and there was runny baby poo all over my pants! I looked at Kate and it was on her too - aack, it was all over the seat as well! When I had wrapped up the diaper I accidentally left a little hole that acted as a funnel and squeezed poop out all over us - including Sarah's clean outfit. Gross! We cleaned up as best we could, changed Sarah's clothes, got off the plane, and went to the next plane that would take us from Denver to St. Louis. That flight was horrible. Sarah cried about 80% of the flight. We tried everything: nursing, a bottle, treats, toys, soda, ice, cell phones...nothing worked. Toward the end of the flight I got out my baby Motrin and gave her some. Of course she was crying while I gave it to her and then she started to gag on the Motrin. Greg was holding her in the aisle trying to calm her and then she threw up all over Greg. Awesome. I had taken two extra outfits in my diaper bag and they both got used by the time we got to St. Louis. Going home we were spared the bodily fluids but she still cried the entire first flight. We did get a reprieve on that last flight - she was utterly worn out and slept the whole time.

All in all, I am so glad we went to Nauvoo. Seeing Alma narrate the carriage ride, having Joanie take us through the different houses, watching both of them share so much knowledge about the Nauvoo locations and early saints. I will never forget the strong spirit that was around Greg's parents as we got to experience them as missionaries. What a gift.