Nauvoo

Brothers

The resting place of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma

On this porch Emma and Joseph kissed goodbye-for the last time

Autumn touching the nail prints in Jesus' feet

Doesn't Jaxon look like he is having the time of his life!?!

Looking through the bullet whole into the room where Joseph and Hyrum were killed




Our family in front of the window Jospeh fell out of after he was shot


The Nauvoo Temple

The church museum in Independence
Sorry it has taken me so long to post this trip--
We left last Sunday to head to Nauvoo. We left at 4:30 am and arrived at 5 pm. Uncle Mike and Aunt Nancy drove 3ish hours and met us there so we could hang out for a little while. We had a great time catching up with them but wish the visit could have been longer. We have really missed Uncle Mike!!
As far as the sights go--we saw them all. Brandon and I of course LOVED them and couldn't come home with photos of Joseph and Emma to place in our home. We hear all about them but when you feel their spirit it really makes it so much more real. Emma's husband was murdered and she was left a widow with 5 children AND she had lost 6 children of her own. I mean this sweet woman went through SO much and she was so supportive of Emma. If only we could have half the faith and courage as her. What amazing people. Autumn really liked seeing everything, but Jaxon--I don't think that was his idea of a vacation.....He is only 4. BUT he DID like to see hte gunsmith store where they made guns. But that didn't last long enough. He was such a trooper though! We drove to Carthage and toured the jail there--amazing! When they have restored some of these buildings, some of the floorboards were original and it's an incredible feeling knowing that Jospeh had walked there--literally. We saw the temple but we did not make it to a session. It was beautiful. And on Wednesday we headed home. Brandon asked me to type Liberty and Independence on the GPS and we were only 80 miles away. It was in the right direction, just a little off course so we decided we would go there too. Fun to be a little spontaneous. Liberty was amazing! The tour there is a must! Autumn loved that one and asked so many questions. Very memorable. And at Independence we went to the church museum and we also visited the Church of Christ and the RLDS (now called Community of Christ) temple. When we ewre in these places it made me realize how much OUR church is true and ONLY ours! We actually spoke to an Apostle of the Church of Christ--not my idea of an apostle,. There was no spirit with him like you can feel with ours. And at the Community of Christ museum there were 2 Apostles that were women. Wow, crazy! So overall, it was just an awesome experience. Reaffirmed my own testimony on our church and in Joseph and the Book of Mormon. And I am so grateful that Jpseph was never denied the truth but was on the Lord's side. With 3 words, he could have ended ALL his persecution--It's not true--but HE couldn't deny it and never did! It's so true! Everything he said and all that he went through! I cant wait to meet Emma someday! She is an amazing woman! They were amazing people!
PS-our trip home--we left at 4 am and did not get home until 10:30 pm!!! That counts the 4 hours we were visiting the other sites--but MAN what a LONG day that was!