Beautiful Nauvoo

Day #1

Last Friday morning we left for our trip to Nauvoo, Illinois! We have been anticipating it for a while now and it was so fun to finally get going. Here are pictures of us in the car which is pretty much what we did the first day. (And a cute picture of Hunter before we left) The boys were ANGELS!!! Hyrum whined for maybe 2 minutes total and spent the first 4 HOURS reading books. Hunter whined for maybe 20-30 minutes the whole 7 hours we were on the road and spent a lot of time sleeping and watching Hyrum. We drove with our good friends Laura, Brian & Felix Hall and we ended up at Brian's Mom's house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was so nice of her to put us all up for the night!
We enjoyed a relaxing evening and morning together before setting off for Nauvoo.

I hadn't been to Nauvoo for probably 8 or 9 years (before the temple was built) and Jeremy hadn't been for almost 20 so we were very excited to see the place again!

Day #2

Saturday we arrived in Nauvoo around noon. We didn't have a lot of time, but it was just fun to be there. We visited the blacksmith, wainwright and tinsmith shops, the bakery, brick yard, Brigham Young's house, and the grave sites of Joseph, Emma & Hyrum Smith. We checked into our hotel room late that afternoon. It had a kitchen, living room and then two bedrooms and two bathrooms so there was plenty of room for all of us and we could actually make dinner both nights we were there. Jeremy stayed home with the 3 boys asleep (to study for his boards test) and Brian, Laura & I went to the variety show "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" I think it was called. It was put on by the elderly missionary couples. Laura and I have decided we just have to serve missions there one day, just so we can be in the show ;-)

Day #3

Sunday we were able to go to one of the wards in Nauvoo. I was so surprised that there are that many members around! It looked like there was a big Primary and Youth group. After church we all took naps and then went for a chilly walk to see the temple grounds. Wow!!! It is just gorgeous and breathtaking! After dinner Jeremy and I were able to go for a walk just the two of us and admire the town. The temple is even more gorgeous, if possible, at dusk when it's all lit up. I have decided that we have just got to move to Nauvoo or somewhere close by. I just fell in love with the place. (As a side note, I tend to change my mind about where we should live about 2.5 times a week)

Day #4Jeremy & I were able to do sealings in the temple first thing in the morning. My desire to live in the Nauvoo temple district increased by double. I love doing sealings because we actually get to be together the whole time and it was so awesome being in such a beautiful & historic temple! I can't imagine being a pioneer and having to leave this gorgeous place. How unbelievably hard that must have been!
Brian and Laura did sealings and then we were on our way for the 8 hour drive home! All 3 kids did relatively well considering the torture we put them through during our trip. Four days was a good amount of time with the kids, but it just seemed like such a teaser trip! I can't wait to go back and spend a whole week sometime soon, you know before we actually move there :)

Can anyone guess what Jeremy and Hunter's favorite activity together has been from day one??

Maybe it's because Hyrum likes to do things like this.....

So, I made up a little song a couple of nights ago. It goes, "I can't wait till boards are over" and you repeat the line as many times as you like and to any tune you may think is catchy.

My brilliant, handsome, dedicated, hard-working husband is about to take his last final of the semester (tomorrow) and then gets a 13 day break until spring term. Break? Oh, just kidding, 13 days of yikes-I'm-taking-boards-on-April-30th-and-have-lots-to-do-studying. He has studied a lot for it already but still feels like he has a long way to go.

For 2 years Jeremy has pretty much studied every night but Friday and Sunday. And I must admit I am kind of proud of myself for playing the "supportive" wife role this whole time! But last week something snapped and I realized how fun it will be when he doesn't have to study so much & how much I miss my husband in the evenings.

The rumor on the street is 3rd and 4th year you don't have to study so much so I am really excited about maybe having another evening or two! First thing on the list of fun activities together: reading Calvin & Hobbes. Can't wait....

Good luck babe, you'll do awesome!!!!

Handsome & Happy


Nothing clever, cute or witty to say, just some cute pictures of my boys!

Daddy bear time

Aren't they cute??

Thank you my Anonymous Peeps Friend!!!!"You're the BEST"!!! (~Nacho)

The Big 3-1
I am married to a man in his "30's". Doesn't seem quite possible, but I must say 40 is looking younger and younger to me :)
Happy Birthday Babe!!!
Friday we went out to eat at Red Robin and enjoyed a free meal and sundae. Jeremy has wanted to see "I am Legend" so I actually RENTED it from BLOCKBUSTER as a surprise that night. That may not seem like a big deal, but for us that is a huge deal. We hardly even go to the dollar theater anymore, we are the wait until it comes to the library type. As an example, we just watched the 3rd Pirates movie like 3 weeks ago, sad I know.
Anyway, today when Jeremy came home we had the house somewhat decorated and I made a chocolate/strawberry cake and Jeremy was good humored enough to wear the crown I made for him. We also enjoyed some delicious Chinese food-yum!
I just have to say what an amazing man I am married to! He is the most humble, "real", loving, calm, fun, hard-working, handsome person I know. He is the best Daddy in the world and the best husband a girl could want. He spends all the spare time he has with his family and I love him for it! I love life with him!

It seems like half the time when our boys are smiling or laughing or being cute in some way, by the time I get the camera, they have stopped laughing or smiling or doing whatever cute thing they are doing! Luckily, today I caught it :-)

Happy Easter
Despite the snow and cold weather we had a fun Easter weekend. Saturday we hid like 30 something plastic eggs in our basement, with candy and plastic dinosaurs in them, for Hyrum to find. He was very excited about it. We also decorated and dyed 14 hard boiled eggs, and now we just have to figure how we're going to eat 14 hardboiled eggs in the next few days.
Today (Sunday) we showed Hyrum about 12 pictures of Jesus from birth to resurrection and talked about His life and sang songs about Him. It took a little while but Hyrum paid attention pretty well and has talked about how Jesus' body was put in a cave and now he has his body back so hopefully some of it sank in a bit. Hunter, of course, played the part of the smiley, happy baby all weekend.
One sad note, when I went to the store Saturday I couldn't find peeps anywhere-you know those delicious sugar encrusted chicken and bunny shaped marshmallows?? Everyone thinks they're disgusting but somehow I like them. I had a friend in high school that liked them as well and we had a peep stuffing contest one time to see how many peeps we could fit in our mouths. The good ol' days, well, hopefully next year!