Better Late Than Never

I'm about 2 weeks late in posting about this, but that's because we had to wait until our pictures were developed (our digital camera ran out of batteries, but luckily we had a film camera with us). Anyway, a couple weeks ago our family went to the Nauvoo pageant with our stake, and we stayed overnight at the local campground. Quite the experience, let me tell you. We got there on Friday night just in time for the pre-pageant activities. The cast of the show put together activities and games for families to do while they wait for the pageant to start. I apologize ahead of time for the horrible pictures. I haven't used a film camera in so long, and most of these were taken in the evening. Hopefully you'll get the gist of the experience.


This is Will playing some games that were common for children of the Nauvoo period to play. No idea what any of the games were called.


I wish you could see this picture better, but Will is standing in front of a small replica of some buildings that were found in Nauvoo back in the 1840s, including the temple.

Bill also got into some of the activities along with Will. Here he is participating in stilts-walking. (Thanks to some friends from our ward who took this picture, you can actually see what's going on)


After we had some fun with the activities, it was time for the pageant. It started raining almost as soon as the pageant started and lasted for about 15-20 minutes, but that didn't deter us from having a great time. It's a wonderful pageant with some fun songs and a great message. Even Will managed to sit quietly through the whole thing, and looked like he was enjoying it. When the pageant was finished we got to meet a few of the cast members (the guy who played Elijah(?) Fordham actually pushed me across the grass for a little bit), then we headed off to our campsite for a good night sleep. . .

Too bad that good night sleep never happened! It was such a crazy night. Will and I slept in the car while Bill slept in the tent by himself. We thought Will would have no problem sleeping in the car all night, because he did that on our last camping trip. Boy were we wrong! He woke up around 2 in the morning throwing a small tantrum, and would not calm down for me. So I woke up Bill and we both attempted to calm him down. It finally worked, but was very short-lived. He woke up again at about 3, and by that time I was feeling a little edgy, so I told Bill I wanted him to drive us into town and get a motel. Not one of my best moments, I'll tell you that. Bill drove us around town for about half an hour, trying to calm both Will and I down while attempting to stay awake. Again, short-lived victory. Will woke up a final time around 4:00, and Bill finally decided that he would take Will into the tent with him. Needless to say, none of us got much sleep for the rest of the night. Bill got about another half hour of sleep around 6:00 while Will and I hung out in the car, then we decided to head home. Before we left Nauvoo, though, we did a little sight-seeing, and this time we got some decent pictures.


I believe this the Mansion House, which was Joseph and Emma's home for a couple of years.


This was the Red Brick Store, owned and run by Joseph and his family. The upstairs was used for several important Church meetings, including the organization of the Relief Society and the School of the Prophets


These are the headstones of Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's parents


This is where Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma Smith are buried

And, of course, what trip to Nauvoo would be complete without a picture of the beautiful Nauvoo Temple


But our trip didn't end there. We decided that we would go home by way of Carthage, Illinois, so we could see the jail where the Prophet and his brother were killed. I didn't actually get to go inside, because this particular place isn't very wheelchair-friendly, so I hung out in the car while Bill and Will went on a quick tour. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to me, our computer has decided to be lame and not let me upload any of the pictures they took. So I will try again later, and update the post as soon as I get the pictures to work.

Needless to say, it was a very memorable weekend, and I am really glad that we live so close to some amazing Church history sites. There's a great spirit there, and it's definitely an experience worth repeating (minus the bad camping experience - maybe we'll save up a little extra money next time and stay in a motel :-)).