Nauvoo, Carthage, Lincoln Library, Tom Sawyer Caves and Yellowstone

                                                       Emma, Joseph, and Hyrum Smiths' graves.

 This picture makes me go Ahhhhh---so being generous I included it for you in case seeing babies sleeping comfy on a man's shoulder makes you go ahhhhhh too---your welcome.

When we got to the house (at 3 am) Sierra was super excited to see the spiral stairs, apparently spiral stairs have always been a dream of hers.  I love it when dreams come true for my kiddos, no matter how little the dream.

                The sunset from our balcony at the rental house---wish we could have seen all of them!

Getting ready for the BYU ballroom dancers.

                 Jackson is telling them how the ballroom dancers are recruiting him....the don't believe.

Kristi is super excited to see some quality dancing.

The boys in their "guesthouse" (converted shed but it was comfy!).

The girls all piled on the big girls bed---because the big girls had a t.v. with the Disney channel!

The  "Nauvoo House".  The window on the left is the room where Emma Smith died.

                 In front of a statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage jail-where they were killed.

In the visitors center at Carthage Jail.

Getting ready to go in the jail.

 Carter looking out the window that Joseph Smith fell out of, after being shot several times.  I was impressed with how reverent all our kids were during that tour.

                                      Sierra looking out the same window--it really touched Sierra.

When the Church bought Carthage jail they cleaned up this door and discovered that someone had puttied up the bullet holes and painted the door-so they just restored it and this is these are the first bullet holes that entered the room through that very door.      

 Onto to Springfield, Illinois to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential library and museum.  Excepting Hadley, the girls were freaked out by the Lincoln family wax figures.  They all have clipboards because the Museum has a seek and find game for kids to do in there.

                                 Look the White House!  I told you we drove a LLOONNGG way!

 The girls were especially impressed by the dresses of Mary Todd Lincoln---they weren't bought in a store-can you imagine!!

Museum sleuths.

                                                                   Jenks Family

                                     Noftle Family--(I have a talent for riveting captions to my photos)

In front of Lincoln's tomb--which closed for the night minutes before we got there---it was like Chevy Chase in the first Vacation movie when they got to Wally World and it was closed---except Michael didn't take anyone hostage (if he did it didn't work out because we didn't get in the tomb).

I love this door.

The marker showing where Lincoln was originally buried before the tomb was built (and rebuilt).

Next up, Hannibal, Missouri and the Tom Sawyer caves.

The tour guide, was funny, and the stories they tell are cute and full of humor---except for one.  The girls can't seem to recover from that one "scaryish" story.  They were so sure something was going to "get them" in the caves.

Carter and I were just fine and dandy.

                         Zoe made sure Michael had her in protective custody the entire time!

                                         I love, love, love the looks on Sierra and Hadley's faces.

                                            Seila is so brave, so amazing.....

Hadley explaining how she was so freaked out!

        The tour stopped at Buffalo Bill Cody's Ranch ..... I liked it, Michael liked it, Heather liked it, everyone else was getting toured out by this point in the trip--day 7 I think.

First photo op at Yellowstone.  I admit to being Paparazzi "ish" on this vacation.

All 10 of them were still with us---we kept trying to lose one or two of them but they kept following us, state after state after state.

Hanging over a huge drop off--good parenting right there.

  We even let Sierra pet a Buffalo, you never do that with the first child, but by kid number 3---they can run with scissors.

 Don't let these two faces fool you--by Yellowstone they had turned into complete teenagers--if it didn't text them they were oblivious to it (scenery, animals, parents).

                            The Jenks family with the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone in the background.

                                       I call this next series "Baby goes crazy in car seat"

             She looks happy--it's just that she found she can exit through the sunroof and no one can stop her.

Kids in front of ..... something.

                                                       Another one of those Ahhhhh photos.

Oh looky, another one!

These two cars are the real heroes.

                                        Old faithful in the background--Jenks in the foreground.

                                                    Same old faithful, different family.

                                                                   Tired kiddos.

                                                             The Old Faithful Lodge.

Zoe took this photo--don't tell her but the mouse never moved one millimeter from that position in the hotel window all night, it's not looking good for the little guy.

 Last meal of the trip---next stop, HOME!!

How do you relax after a big fundraiser?

The fundraiser was wonderful, so to celebrate our hard work and sleepless nights we packed our car, our 5 kids, and ourselves and headed down the road with the Jenks family. A quick honk goodbye to a certain "special someone" on Dodson road and we were on our way!! We went to Missoula, Montana the first night and got there a little after midnight. When Heather went to check us into the hotel she came out laughing because our first hotel clerk on the first night of our trip was Phil Sprague who used to live in Royal City. Then the next morning we discovered the Spaldings from Royal City were in that hotel too---for such a small town we seem to be always bumping into people from Royal when we leave town!

Getting their tweezers and buckets of gravel--I mean jewels!

                             Kristi is all smiles~despite the fact we took her out in sub-zero weather!

Learning to search for Sapphires. 

We took the kids to Sapphire mountain the next morning and everyone found some "little Sapphires" Kai hit the biggest "rock" of the day---but Justin is claiming he saw it first, look for them on an upcoming episode of Peoples Court (is it still on the air?). Then we mixed children all up between the two cars and headed out for a pleasant 14 hours of driving with 10 kids and 2 men (Heather and I are fully willing to commit ourselves to any mental instatution that well take our medical insurance).

The hall of flags....all states and Districts represented.

                                          The Noftle family---still liking each other, pretty much.

The Jenks family---Hadley is valiantly hiding her disappointment!

The second night we stayed in Rapid City, South Dakota so that Mt. Rushmore would be within reach the next morning. It was another late night....I am seeing a theme here! The morning comes even after the shortest nights and Mt. Rushmore welcomed most of us---Hadley was disappointed at how "small" it was. Michael kept trying to convince her it wasn't small but he never had her completely sold! After Rushmore we drove, and drove, and drove to get to Nauvoo, Illinois where a rental house was awaiting us. Let's just say we hit Nauvoo at 1:30 am and found our Rental House at 3:00 am and finally fell into bed at 3:30 am. It is possible that I deleted the directions off Michael's phone. Possible---not for sure---its also possible no other i-phone apps could find the house address---also possible the rental company wouldn't answer there after hours phone line---also possible I woke my Mom and Holly up in the middle of the night to drive to me house, get on my computer and find us directions....but how can you assign blame in such a complicated situation? When we finally fell into bed after getting the kids settled I asked Michael if he thought Justin and Heather would hate us forever, his reply? "I hate us forever--night"! Comforting. I thought we would be slowing down once we hit the pioneer pace of Nauvoo, but since we had been assured we could see everything in two days that is all we planned, plus being the ambitious "watch us go" type group we also through in an adult temple session and youth baptism session. We never got back to our rental before 10:30 pm either night and we didn't see every dwelling that was open to the public. We did catch all the plays and musicals, including the BYU ballroom dance team that was visiting Nauvoo--they were a hit with all of us.

 

Wagon riders...and future models.  Typical training of future models is to see how steady their smiles are when being photographed on a wagon ride---in case you didn't know.

    The bakery--inside the Sister Missionary asked where we were from, one of the kids told her--she said "Do you know Lisa Christensen?"  Ummm yes please, we answered---"Her Dad is my husbands cousin"...ahhh home, it's never too far away!

Rope makers, finally- Michael can quit working 16 hour days and let these guys support the family.  What a relief.

More aspiring models on a wagon ride.

Waiting for "Just plain Anna Amanda" to start.

Teenagers are very happy to wait for "Anna Amanda"  especially if it means they get to stop walking a sit down for a bit! 

Sammi was insisting they all look serious--she swears pioneers did not smile in pictures--Kai and Kale are now awaiting their day in court.  (Carter is close to being charged we are looking for more evidence to really claim that his "goofy face" is actually a "smirky grin")

    They HAD to smile--you see the laundry tub is empty---how often can a woman claim the laundry is ALL done?

                              ZOE!!  Go fetch some water from the creek, barefoot, uphill, both ways.

 Sierra, the pioneer, is sporting rimless glasses, quite common in the 1800's (made popular by Pioneer Sarah Palin I believe).  Hadley, the pioneer, is sporting a baby made popular by Seila and Sammi's photo.

Way to tend the sheep, Kai.  You take your work seriously.  Way to photo bomb Sierra, you are quite the sneek.

Stick pulling---two manly men, playing a manly game---soon after this picture was taken Carter went flying with a not so manly squeal.

The upstairs in the Red Brick Store.

The Nauvoo temple---and the Jenks' family---and the dirt in Kale's eye.

                  The Nauvoo temple, and the random lady walking through our picture, oh and us.

To Be Continued.....(you've been warned!)