Nauvoo in pictures.

Here is a pictoral review of our trip to Nauvoo.
I noticed when I downloaded the photos that they are pretty craptastic. Really grainy, a lot of them, I think cause I was shooting indoors without the flash.
Oh well.
This was probably one of my favorite photos in the batch.
This is my dad, and Mikayla.
My parents had five girls...me, and my four sisters.
As a result of all of us girls, as a matter of survival on sunday mornings, my dad is no stranger to a hair-dryer or curling iron.
He's still got it.
Here is is getting Mikayla ready our first morning in Nauvoo.

We started out in the visitors center, and they suggested a Conestoga wagon ride around Old Nauvoo, to get a feel for where everything was located.
It was pretty cold that morning.
They provided everyone with quilts to snuggle up in.

Did I mention it was cold?

When the ride was finished, we were happy to go inside.
Our first stop was a Living Center, where they demonstrated a lot of the day-to-day tasks the early settlers in the area would have performed. They had a lot of hands-on things for the kids to try.
Here we learned how to card wool.
Now my boys are fully capable of making their own socks for the next winter scout camp-out.

Then, we learned how to make rag rugs on a loom.
In all of the homes we toured in Old Nauvoo, these rag rugs were on the floors. Colorful, yes? I liked them.

Then the kids learned how to make rope from strands of jute.
Later, we used those ropes to hog-tie them in the trunk of the van.
The irony of them making their own ropes...and they look so happy...

Then we watched this man...who was at least 107 years old, hammer out a horse-shoe right in front of us. Yep. Iron in the fire...red poker hot...my boys were completely fascinated.
Fire.
Danger.
Forging your own weapons!

The smoke from the forge made pretty sunbeams, and I also thought it was funny that they grew a butt-load of Aloe Vera in this particular house.
Second Degree burns anyone?

We got up early the next day and drove to the town of Carthage.
This is where Carthage jail still stands.
This jail was where Joseph Smith (the first prophet of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was martyred in 1844.
There are bullet holes still in the original door to the jail.
There is such a sad, reverent feeling in the jail.

This is Mikayla sitting in the very window that the prophet fell out of, after he was shot and killed.

Here is our token group shot, in the jail room. See the pretty rug?
I could totally make that. HA!

This photo is of the Smith family cemetery, where Joseph, and many of his family members are buried.

The rest of the photos are highlights from some of the houses we were able to go through in Old Nauvoo. They are original to the 1800's and the architecture was very cool. Thick walls, wide plank wooden floors, and antique furnishings that were true to that time period.

Here is a potty chair:

A hand pieced "crazy" quilt:

A spice tin, and other kitchen implements:

Oh, and one of my most favorite things...this rocking bench, that had a place to lay a baby, so mom can rock the baby, but have her hands free for the remote!
Okay...I think they actually had to knit or something.
It was still genious.
I didn't get a photo of it, but in one of the houses, they had a similar rocking bench with a butter churn on the bottom, so you could rock the baby, and churn butter!
Old fashioned multi-tasking!
And quite possible the precursory to driving AND talking on a cell-phone.

Here is Shianne in one of the nurseries of a fancier home.

We took another wagon ride that went further into town, and had beautiful views of the Mississippi river:

The poor draft horses that took us, really got a workout. It was muddy, and the pullin' was rough.

Look how sweaty these guys are!
It was like horse boot-camp for them.
I hope they got extra carrots, or whatever.

We were able to attend the Nauvoo temple while we were there too.
It was beautiful!

And that pretty much sums it up.
I am going to hurry and post this, because blogger is being weird, and it took half the afternoon to upload the freaking pictures...
Also spell check isn't working.