Salt Lake and the Maloufs

Today, we were going to go to Salt Lake to go to the Lion House for lunch and to the Salt Lake temple for a session. Both were closed. So instead...

We took pictures outside the temple

And ate at the garden room!

We also saw the Joseph Smith film at the JSMB. I highly recommend it!

Tonight we met up with Jordan and Bethany at Cafe Rio. I missed them and i missed the Rio Salad! We had a great time!

I got lots of good advice from both of them... I sure am going to miss these two!

Besties since third grade!


Bye you guys... Love you :)

All Good Things Must Come To An End...

Nauvoo is filled with lots of memorable moments-- and this post is dedicated to all these moments that didn't quite fit into the other posts. 

All over were statues of memorable historic moments. They were all beautiful and very powerful. This was the statue across the street from the temple. It's Joseph and Hyrum Smith on a horse when he was riding off to Carthage Jail. There was a definite reverence surrounding this statue. 

After we saw High Hopes and River Boats, we walked out into the courtyard next to the Visitor's Center. Nauvoo's Brass Band was out there playing all sorts of great tunes! 

This cute little family was listening to the band as well, and they were dancing up a storm. It was so darling!

The Reorganized Latter-Day Saints are in possession of all the Smith's property. Things weren't as well kept as the church's property. But these are the graves of Joseph Smith Senior and his wife Lucy.

These are the graves of Hyrum, Joseph, and Emma Smith. 

Lance, being the Harry Potter nerd that he is, loved Granger Street!

After church Sunday, we changed into our road clothes and these were some flowers by the bathroom we changed in. They were absolutely huge!

We had to get a sunstone picture... This was after church too!

On the way home, we went through Bethany, Mo... Of course, we had to take a picture! I love that our trip came full circle-- we saw the Bethany road sign on I-75 driving up to Nauvoo, and we drove through Bethany the city on our way home from Nauvoo. It's just because we love her so much, we planned our trip around her! :)

The trip was amazing, and so was the ride home! We pulled into Bethany's house to drop her off at about 1:00 in the morning. We hugged and said our goodbyes, and we all agreed it was a wonderful and uplifting trip for all of us! 

Charity Never Failith

Sunday morning, Bethany, Lance, and I visited the Relief society gardens. Of course, we took a lot of pictures! 

This one is one of my very favorites!

This one too! 

There are so many beautiful statues here. And, they all have scriptures to accompany them. 

Now, we have pictures where we recreated the statues...
"Dating"

"Helen Keller"

"Molestations"

Shopping in Downtown Nauvoo

Downtown Nauvoo sure was a hopping place... There were a few antique stores, a cute little pharmacy, a grocery store, and no more than four places to eat at. There were a couple fabric shops. At one of them, I bought a couple embroidery patterns and a Nauvoo plate for my mama, and at the other I bought a Nauvoo glass ornament.

In true small town form, there were several t-shirts... This one was my favorite!

This was Nauvoo cafe. Bethany, Lance, and I ate here before the pageant. It was alright. This is where Lance found cinnamon apple jam. I think he fell in love! 

This was Bethany's favorite find... The Jello Cook Book. 
Does it get anymore mormon than that?!

The Mighty Mississippi

At 2,320 miles, the Mississippi River is the second longest river in the US
159 years after the saints were forced across the Mississippi as they were fleeing their beloved 'City Beautiful', the Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution of regret for the forced expulsion of the Mormons from their state. Can you believe that? It wasn't 'till April 1, 2004 that an apology was made. Stunning.

The late summer weather resulted in these lovely purple flowers growing out of the banks of the river. 

There was this beagle running around up and down the river. She was so cute... Until she dug a diaper out of the trash can. Haha, this seemed to be one of her favorite spots. Perched, on the picnic table. Beagles are such funny little dogs!

Bethany told us she always wanted to get out and look at a historical marker as we passed several of them on our way up to Illinois. So we got out of the car, read the informative sign, and took a picture next to the Historical Marker sign. She was so happy! 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Keokuk, Iowa. Here we are next to the welcome sign!


After we saw the Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo show, we went down to the shore of the Mississippi river to watch the sunset. It was stunning.

Kisses are always good, but they're just a little more romantic as the sun is setting behind you!
I sure do love this boy! :)