We were so lucky to spend Thanksgiving with some of our cousins in Nauvoo.  They came from Tennessee and we had a great time together.

Here are some of our crew.

Matt-Zach-Mason-Rylie-Emily-Derek

The boys wanted to pose for pictures while we waited for one of the exhibits to open.
Matt and Derek

Such a handsome boy.

Pioneer Pastimes was a building with several stations that showed how the pioneers made some of their essential items.  This is us watching the rope making.  Notice how we are the only people at the station?  This is how it was the whole weekend, we had every tour mostly to ourselves.  The missionary couples were excited to have people visiting and focused their presentation on our Jr. primary level. (With the exception of one gun enthusiast who needed the explicit attention of every person, regardless of age, in order to continue talking.)

Rylie was chosen to spin the wheel to wrap the rope.

The missionaries had great comparisons to the gospel in every exhibit.  We didn't just learn about rope making, pot throwing, bread baking, weaving and barrel building, but was also learned about how each of those can be compared and related to the gospel and it's teachings.

  Mason and Emily worked the paddle to keep the rope tight. 

Robyn and I were the rope cutters.    

 Learning about clay pot throwing.  They used clay from the riverbanks.

 On the carriage ride.  This is a great picture of the temple on the hill.  I can remember being in Nauvoo with my family as a little girl.  And having the temple actually there, just where the early Saints had built it was amazing.  It changed the spirit of the whole experience.

(The Latter Day Saint temple is the white one.)

Looking at these empty grass fields it is hard to believe how busy this town must have been in 1844 with nearly 12,000 people. 

It was cute how attached the driver was to the horses.  We heard the same joke more than once about the team not having a release date for their mission.  They also mentioned the horses names more than once.  It was a nice ride, I guess they do need a little acknowledgment.

Each citizen/member of the church was given a one acre plot to homestead.  This grassy area is left unmowed to show how large a one acre plot is. 

Crazy carriage riders.

Practicing being a pioneer.
Rylie

Mason

Zach

They would have made great pioneers!!

Blacksmith shop where we all received our praire diamond rings.

Herding our crew into Brigham's home.

I loved that bench the mom could sit and rock with her baby right by her or remove that brace part and have a whole bench to rock kiddos on.

A typical kitchen.  We learned the women could tell oven temperature with their arms.  If they could stick their arm in a count to a certain number before they had to pull it out from the heat it was ready for pies.  And a shorter counting time meant it was ready for bread and so on.

The cute sister missionaries at the printing press.

More printing press.

Caleb, Robyn, Jacob and I have all decided to go on missions at the same time and request Nauvoo.  They made it look so fun and we had a great time while visiting!