The Rest of Nauvoo

We had a great time in Nauvoo, as always. The Smith's are in the process of remodeling their house. They've put in beautiful wood floor, repainted, and redone both bathrooms. So, I was a bit nervous about visiting with our four kids, who have a knack of ruining anything nice. Luckily, nothing terrible happened to cause the Smiths to banish us from ever visiting again. We just enjoyed each other's company, and since all the furniture was still moved out from the floors being redone, the kids LOVED all the extra space to run and play! Joe felt it his duty to teach the kids how to spray whipped cream into their mouths. They thought it was pretty groovy!

I found Ella and Grant, laying in a bed they had made for themselves on the living room floor, trying to get bites of yogurt out of an empty yogurt container and cackling to themselves.

 I had to snap a picture of sweet little Ella in her new dress that Jennifer got for her. I think it is just the cutest thing EVER (well, Ella in the dress is the cutest thing ever)!!

 No visit is complete, if Landon doesn't spend most of the time we're there wearing this bat costume Jennifer made 25 years ago for Cooper. It is going to be a SAD day when we go to visit and the bat costume is too small for Landon. He really, truely LOVES that thing!!

 This picture proves that my kids take after me. Even though there is a perfectly good bed in this room, they all slept in the floor, in the doorway, and I'm pretty sure it's because, like me, they're nosey and didn't want to miss out on what the adults were doing down stairs, so they laid there to better be able to hear everything that was gong on. Nosey kids!

 Ella really loved Buddy. He was such a good sport too. The night I took this picture, Ella was really wanting to love on him so he knew if he laid down, she'd smother him, so he just kept trotting around the table, with her following behind. Every time we come back from Nauvoo I think 'We need a dog like Buddy!' I just wish there was a way to guarantee that a dog we'd get would really be like Buddy!

 The day we left, Steven took the kids to Pioneer Past times (one of their favorite places to visit, besides the Fudge Factory). While there, they saw the current Nauvoo Temple President, Spencer Condy. The kids (and Steven) arm wrestled him and enjoyed talking with him. He is a very neat man!

 The kids enjoyed playing with all the pioneer things they have.

Thanks for having us Joe and Jennifer, it was great to see Eli before he goes on his mission (and I'm SUPER mad that I didn't get a single picture of Eli, who was such a good sport and always had at least one of my kids on his back, if not sometimes two or three hanging off of him. I'm pretty sure the only reason he survived being smothered to death by Harward children is because Ella seemed to be terrified of him, much to his dismay. Give her a couple years, Eli. When you get home from Nicaragua she'll think you're the best thing ever, just like the rest of us!).