This week we packed up once again and headed to our favorite summer getaway!  Palisades!!  This time we were joined by my whole family for the Elton Family Reunion.  Fun times multiplied!

Before we left, Ben helped Dad mow the lawn.  That boy is happiest when he is helping someone with work!

 

Kevin came down with us on Monday to help set up camp.  He left that evening as he and Savannah had to work thru Wednesday night.  My mom met us at the campground Monday afternoon.  My dad is trying to build the strength back up in his back and wasn't able to come!  We sure missed him but he sent his love through phone calls with mom and we're glad he was taking care of himself.  Monday was windy, windy and cold!  But Mom and I had fun visiting nonetheless!  It's a good thing that my kids are really good at reading in the tent!



 

 

Tuesday morning was pretty nice and so we did some swimming.  It started getting windy and cold again in the afternoon when my sister, Diane, and her family arrived.  After a huddled dinner, we tried to get warm around the fire -- until the rain started and put it out!  When my sister, Maggie, arrived with her family we were all huddled in our tents or cars.  We spent a very cold night!  But, it didn't snow as we heard later that it did in other parts of the state!  So, I'm counting us as lucky!

 

 

Wednesday dawned bright and clear, though still chilly.  That didn't stop the kids from swimming again.  With more cousins, it was all new once again!  More cousins arrived throughout the day as my brother, Pete, and his family arrived, my brother, Dave, arrived, and Amy and her family arrived!  The kids played in the water and in our canoe and on the paddle board that I rented.  That night we had a campfire (without rain or wind!), roasted s'mores, and told family stories!

 

 

Thursday was our very best day!  It was warmer and sunny and everybody was there!  Kevin and Savannah had even arrived late, late the night before.  Some of the guys went golfing that morning.  The kids played in the water and we talked and got caught up on each others' lives and that night we had another campfire with s'mores and shared stories of the kids' great-grandparents.  We even sang Great-Grandpa Elton's family reunion song, "The Highland Goat!"



Friday morning Pete and Diane and their families left and we missed them!  Kevin ran in the 5K that morning and won!  (There were five entrants!). He won us a day-long use of one of the park's paddleboats.  That was pretty fun!  The kids all played in the water again that day and the rest of us continued to visit.  That night we went into Manti (5 miles down the road) and saw the Mormon Miracle Pageant together!  The kids really liked it.  It was pretty neat to show it to so many of them!

 

Ben liked this in Manti, too!

Saturday morning the rest of us packed up and left!  It can be tiring to camp so long but it was great to see so many of my family and spend time with them.  I thought it was a great week!

 

Pete's Family

My Family

Amy's Family

Maggie's Family

Dave

Diane's Family

Grandma -- with a bunch of grandkids!

 



We sold these cute little bunnies this week!  The twins now have 30 more dollars than they used to.  It's a good thing they sold, too, because when we got back from Nauvoo we found out that we had a new batch!  We have four little ones now!  Forty more dollars?

Left to Right:  Daddy, 1st batch, 2 2nd batchers

This week was Art City Days!  We did do some normal things, though, like Ben collected this cup full of snails . . .

. . . and the little girls made $3.50 at their lemonade stand!  (Raising rabbits is a bit more of a money maker!)

Wednesday was opening night at the carnival when all rides are $1.  The older girls bowed out this year and Kevin teaches classes on Wednesday nights, so it was just me and the four youngest.  Since the new splash pad is right by the carnival, we arrived early for a picnic dinner and some fun in the water.  Then we got in the early lines and enjoyed some of the carnival rides!  It was pretty fun!

On this ride, Cali and Ben put their hands in the air for the whole ride!

Friday was the Art Fair for the little kids.  This year instead of chaperoning their younger siblings through the craft stations, Sarah and Megan were youth volunteers with the YCC and they manned a couple of stations!  What cool kids!  Cali, Chey, Beth, Ben, and I had great fun making pictures and kites and shaving cream creations and hats and sunglasses.  It was pretty fun, too!

Oh!  I forgot to mention that we took Beth back to the doctor on Tuesday and after an x-ray confirmed that her bones were still in the right place, he put her in a cast -- a waterproof cast so she can swim and bathe and be a pretty normal kid again.  We are so happy that she is doing so well!

Saturday was the Art City Days Parade!!  Yay!  I love our small town parade!  Ben loved the cops on motorcycles and when the race car revved its engine and all the fire trucks.  I think the rest of my young'uns loved chasing after the candy!

During the day Grandpa came over and helped Kevin fix the tree house!  Grandma came over too.  Their gift to Kevin for Father's day was piles and piles of bark for the flower beds!  Grandma helped spread it all while Grandpa instructed on the tree house.  What great helpers they are!  And the little kids are so happy to be able to go in the tree house again!

The week ended with the incredible Art City Days fireworks!!  Practically in our backyard.  It was so fun.  We told Ben we were going to see the fireworks but I don't think he had any inkling what we were talking about.  When they started, he yelled to the rest of us, "Hey!  Look at the fire!" -- in case we were missing it!

Besides Art City Days, Sarah got more hours at Funfinity and is getting more used to the work.  She also tried to fit in tennis everyday.  She was a busy girl!

Megan started the city rec tennis classes and league that I had signed her up for.  She played morning and evening Monday thru Thursday!  She played a couple of matches Thursday evening, too.  She is getting great practice!

Mariah had one basketball practice but has kept herself busy with other projects.  She is doing the garden for personal progress and weeded the whole thing herself this week!

Savannah started her full-time BYU computer job this week!  They basically said, "Hi!  Glad you're here.  Now read this.  And this.  And this.". She did actually start working in some code Thursday.  She's finding the eight hour day a big adjustment!  But don't we all?

So, Monday morning, after a refreshing sleep in the Anderson home, and a yummy breakfast, we headed out to see the church history sites in Missouri.  We drove down to the Independence visitor center first (where Bethany lost her first tooth!) and then drove to Liberty Jail and then to Far West (which impressed us all with its feeling of peace and impressed Ben with its tree-climbing potential!). 

After another great dinner with the Anderson's, they took us to the farm of a neighbor where we got to see the baby pigs and goats and try our hand at goat milking!  It was pretty fun and what a beautiful area!  After that, the Andersons took us to Adam-ondi-ahman and we got to stand on the rock where Joseph Smith used to stand and preach.

The next morning we left Mike and Laura Anderson and their nice home and hospitality.  They were not only great to open their home to us, but they also were great to share stories of faith.  We love them!!  What great people!

We drove onward to Nauvoo then and arrived around 2 or 3.  We found out that our campground was literally right across the street from the historic Nauvoo streets!  How cool is that??  And there was practically no one there, so we got an awesome spot with just a small grove of trees separating us from the bathrooms with showers.  Happy days! 

We drove down to the visitor center and were just in time for the musical, "The Promise."  So. Fun!  It was full of young performers between 18-24 years old who audition in order to serve a 3 1/2 month mission performing in Nauvoo.  They were great!  When it was over, we found out that there was an outdoor variety show starting in a little over an hour.  We hurried back to our campground (because it was so close!), had dinner, and zoomed back.  In this show, the older missionaries performed with the young performers and we discovered, to our delight, that one of the older missionaries on the stage was Savannah and Megan's 2nd grade teacher!  Cool!

Then we discovered that the Living Legends performing group was there from BYU and would be performing next in the visitor's center since it had started to rain.  We hurried over there and they put up folding chairs for us in the front row!  They did dances from lots of different cultures and we all just loved it.

Unfortunately, the rain did not stop.  The rain did not stop for like ten hours!!  (It does not rain like that in the desert of Utah).  It also lighteninged and thundered all. night. long.  Our tent stayed dry.  I love our tent.  The little kids slept through all the noise and ruckus just fine, but for the rest of us, it was a long, restless night.

We were lucky (blessed!) that the rain stopped before we got up that morning.  It was still cloudy, but the rain had also made it much cooler and we were glad.  We went for an 8:30 wagon ride through Old Nauvoo first thing.  We had to wait a little bit for it so we enjoyed the statues out back of the vistitors center.

and then we went up to the temple.  Kevin and the four older girls went in to do baptisms and  I and the four young'uns went to the Laundromat (and souvenir shop browsing between loads).  What a great experience for the older kids!  What a meaningful place!

After lunch in the park, we went to go tour the old shops and homes of Nauvoo.  These were amazing because they are staffed by the older missionaries who talked to all of us and asked where we were from and if we were having a good time and then told us all about pioneer life.  We learned about brick making, blacksmithing, tinsmithing, gun making, candle making, rope making, weaving, newspaper printing, school teaching, and also about just living in regular homes of the day, too!  In every place they also related what they were teaching to a gospel truth.  It was really neat. 

That night after dinner the girls wanted to go back to see the end of the variety show again since they had been reenacting the last skit and wanted to see it again.  After that we headed over to Parley Street to see the Trail of Hope.  Parley Street leads down to the Mississippi River and it is where the pioneers lined up their wagons to wait to cross the river when they were forced out of Nauvoo.  The missionaries set up torches along the street and in quiet groups we walked from torch to torch.  At each torch was a performer or duo of performers who were the voices for journal entries about the exodus from Nauvoo.  It was a neat experience!

We slept much better the next night, thank you, (ah, sweet silence!).  Kevin and I woke up early and went to the temple to do a session.  What a beautiful temple!  I'm so glad we got to do that!  When we got back we could hear the kids laughing and playing in the tent.  My heart just swelled inside of me!  What great kids we have! 

We had tickets for another show that morning!  This one was geared for the little kids!  Kevin took the chance to go over to the records building and get some research on his ancestors.  The rest of us loved the show!  It was the only thing Ben sat through completely the whole time we were there!

This is when they were helping the puppets sing "Do As I'm Doing!" 

After the play and schmoozing with the performers for awhile, Kevin still wasn't quite done at the records office so we wandered over to Pioneer Pastimes.  There we got to dress up like pioneers and play pioneer games and then the Nauvoo Brass Band came by and insisted that the kids march in their parade!

Then we went on an oxen ride!

After a picnic lunch by the Mississippi, we saw the Joseph Smith sites: the Red Brick Store, the Mansion House, and the Log Home.  It was really neat!  I could just imagine him standing in his parlor welcoming the visitors who came to Nauvoo.  Joseph and Hyrum and Emma are buried there, too, so we saw the graves as well.

After seeing where he lived, we went to see where he died.  We drove down to Carthage.  What a sad place that is but what a strong spirit there is to help us feel the good of his sacrifice!

That night (after going to see the variety show and the girls' favorite skit for the third night in a row!) we saw one more show!  This one was in the cultural hall and put on by the older missionaries.  They did great and it was tons of fun.  Afterwards, we even saw some fireflies in the field across from the cultural hall!  . . . . Perfect, right?

We packed up the next morning and after a drive down Parley Street, we too said goodbye to Nauvoo and our beloved temple!

By lunchtime we were in Corydon, IA where there's a small museum that shelters the violin that belonged to my many-greats grandpa which he brought with him into the Civil War.  We had to stop to see it!

By dinnertime we were in Omaha and we stopped at Winter Quarters!  These people had built so many cities by then, it's small wonder that they whipped another one up before winter hit.  It's still impressive, though!  We enjoyed the spirit in this place, too.  How can you not be impressed by people who endured so much and never gave up?  And where would we be if they had?  We are so blessed by their sacrifices!

Look close.  Ben is putting his all into pushing that handcart!

Whew!  So that was the end of the sight seeing and then we just had to drive the rest of the way home!  We drove until 1:30 that night (morning?) and stayed in a hotel we found in Sidney, NE.  We were up in time for the free continental breakfast and made it back to our home in the Rocky Mountains by dinner time.  The kids traveled great but boy we were all happy to be out of the car!  It was sure worth it, though!  We had a great trip and made so many fabulous memories!  It was definitely a success.