September Events

So here are our September Events since once again I'm behind in blogging.

Taking you back to Labor Day weekend. I had bought some groupon tickets to Adventure Oasis, which is a water park in Independence. We had plans to go with Michelle and Kendall and because our husbands work too much we couldn't get together until Labor Day weekend. Which of course was also the last weekend AO would be open for the season. Just our luck the whole weekend's high was going to only be about 70-something...not really swimming weather. Which is funny since tomorrow's high is like 80 and it's the end of September! Gotta love Missouri weather! So, we decided to brave the weather on the Saturday before Labor Day and it was rainy off and on all day too. We get there, literally take our shoes off, step in the freezing cold water and lightening strikes. So we had to get out of the water, wait 30 min without it striking again, but of course that didn't happen. So after using all of our $20 concession credit we decided to leave and come back to kill time while waiting for the sun to come out. We ventured to Dollar Tree and then headed back. We got out of the car, got everyone back into our suits (including the adults) and no lie, we step out of the car and it lightening's again! So we went to our fallback plan and wasted our money to Adventure Oasis, vowed to come back next year on a better weather day, and headed to the mall play place to use Kayley's credit for the free carousel ride from her birthday. Here are our pictures from the play place...I could never get Rex to look at my camera because he was just so excited to play on the toys!

Then the week after labor day we had quite the busy Saturday. These pictures are actually in the wrong order here as we went to the Parade first, then the soccer game, then the rodeo...but you get the idea!

So here are pictures from Audrey's soccer game! She did great!! She scored three goals in the game! We were impressed! Kayley has shown absolutely NO desire to play soccer, but you can see from the pictures below that she was having the time of her life playing on the sidelines with her sister and Lauren. She kept telling and showing us how she could score a goal just like Audrey did. Maybe next year I might get a soccer player on my hands...Cora for sure will want to play. And of course Rex and Ruby got some fun playing time in with each other!
So as mentioned before, the parade was first. It was the annual Grain Valley Fair Daze Parade. We've gone I think the past 4 years since we've been here and usually always sit in the same spot every year. This year we seemed to have gotten twice as much candy this year! And a very impressive Santa Claus was a quick draw to throw out three different small stuffed animals for the kids this year...they loved that! Rex was really cute snuggling with his!
And this was our second year going to the Jackson County Rodeo. This year Michelle and Kendall joined us and the kids had a blast. We actually stayed for the whole rodeo this year. Last year we only stayed for a little bit as Rex was younger and a little fussier as a baby. Not this year...he had a blast watching all the horses and bulls, etc. The kids had fun and we had some SUPER yummy kettle corn. Probably the best I've ever had in my opinion! I'm looking forward to next year's rodeo! It's definitely not as big as the Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo in Sikeston, but it's fun to do it with the kids!
And then two weeks ago Nick had a four day weekend with being off from work so we decided to try and take a quick fun visit to St. Louis, hit the temple, and then do something fun with the kids and get a hotel. We got a deal on a hotel on priceline the night before, checked out Kayley early from school on Friday so we could hit the road early and beat the Friday night traffic on the road and at the temple...only to find out that the temple was closed for cleaning! So we headed to the hotel, watched a movie with the kids in the room, took them swimming at the pool, went to get food to bring back to the room and have a party in the room (the kids, myself included) think that's a lot of fun. Then the next day we decided to go to Grant's Farm. We had not ever taken the kids there before and I think they had a lot of fun. We went through Ulysses S. Grant's home/tour and that was neat to see Kayley soak up that information and then headed to the farm to see the animals. It was cute because Kayley kept wanting me to take pictures of all the animals and we were on the tram so I had to act fast...good thing my camera is fast and has good zoom! Here are the pictures from the animals Kayley liked to see. We saw the elephants actually in the park and watched the elephant show. There is just something really neat watching the small trainer being able to tell that huge 15 ton elephant do things. It was neat! Kayley at first said she now loved elephants as soon as we walked up to their little habitat as they were really close and I think she loved seeing them. Then she said she thought she was allergic to the elephant when we went to the other side and all you could smell was the smell of the elephant and it's droppings! It was cute!
The goats...of course we all know goats eat anything! The kids liked the goats at first until they found out the same thing...including Rex. He was so willing to pet them at first and then they started eating his clothes and anything on him and he got a little skiddish. It was fun to see them interact with them though.
Then last week Kendall had a co-worker that has season passes to the Royals and being the end of the season she had a bunch of extra tickets. So we got to go to the game for free! The other great thing was it was on a Wednesday which is also the day during the week that most garage sales in Grain Valley are open. So I was able to get all the kids some Royal's type shirts. Kayley even changed out of her dress from school (she's been alternating two dresses almost every other day lately) and put on her royal's shirt very last minute! She wanted a picture of her at the game with the game in the background. The girls are both into having pictures by their bedside, I'm just not keeping up very well with printing them off. Oops! But the kids were really good and had a lot of fun.
The "Hall of Fame" letters I think were the biggest hit with the kids. Kayley was just posing left and right..."Mom take a picture of me here, and here, and here....." You get the idea...and she is also coming up with these posing faces. It's cute...but at least I can always count on her looking at the camera when I need to take a picture!
Kayley is doing awesome at school! They have this behavior chart and everyday you start on the color green and go up or down a color depending on your behavior for the day. She almost always goes up above the green everyday. She's reading!! And is so proud of herself! I knew when it would click, it would click! She would get so frustrated with me when I'd try to encourage or teach her so I never pushed it. I guess Mrs. Kirn is able to pull it out of her...now she loves being able to try to sound out words and is doing really well! I'm so proud of her!

Cora is excelling a lot in her speech class. You still have to remind her if she says a word incorrectly, like "Tora" for "Cora" (the t sound instead of saying the k sound) and other sounds. Her teacher is great and she really loves her. She has class with another little girl and enjoys being with her too. She is doing well with learning her letters too. We do a little bit of schoolwork at home and she loves that time. She knows how to spell her name out loud and is learning how to write some of the letters.

Rex is running around everywhere! On Kayley's birthday he decided to walk around without holding onto things and from then he has just built his confidence more and more. His favorite word is "do" for dog and says it every morning when he gets up and every night before he goes to bed and all the time in between. He can say "hulp" for help and of course Dada is his tried and true buddy still! He's growing so fast and I can't believe he's already almost 15 months old!

Kayley's birthday and more

So I was doing so good at blogging things on time and then life just happens and you get behind again. So here's a catch up post on the last couple of weeks. As some of you know August is our mega-month. Three birthdays, our anniversary, and now the start of school! So needless to say that explains why I'm just now posting about Kayley's birthday and other events from August.

Kayley had a very fun birthday. She had to go to school that day, but that's going to probably be the story of her life from now on with her birthday being on August 19th. She picked out her birthday outfit (just an outfit she had never worn before so it was a new one), she woke up and like Cora, I let her chose one present to open before school. She picked the one I didn't think she'd pick, the smallest one. But she was a bit more patient than Cora was for waiting to open her presents. Then I took her to school. Later in the day Cora, Rex and I were able to take treats to her school for her birthday. Then I went ahead and checked her out for the rest of the day because we were down to one car that day and Nick had taken the van to work and let's face it, it was blasted hot walking to and from school, so by the time I left from snack and got home we would have to turn around in 10 minutes to go back and pick her up for the day, so I just checked her out and saved us that extra time in the heat. Then the plan was to go eat out somewhere fun that night with her, but plans had changed with us being down to one car and we were going to go look at a truck we had found on craigslist in Topeka, KS. Before that however, Sarah and the girls came over for Audrey to drop off something for Kayley for her birthday and we had them join us to open her presents and eat cake and ice cream. Kayley was excited to have her cousins over for her actual birthday. Then we headed to Topeka to look at the truck, which we ended up buying the next day. But we ended up having a fun road trip for her birthday and they got to watch one of her new movies she got for her birthday in the car. I think she had a great birthday overall. She is so grown-up now it's hard to believe we have a 6 year old now. Kayley is very smart and always wanting to learn and know everything about something. She amazes me on a daily basis on things she knows that maybe I don't think she knows yet. She also is very willing and loves to learn anything and everything about the Gospel. Ever since our trip to Nauvoo she is very much into learning all about our Church's History. She is very willing to help out with her younger brother, although she is still the older sibling who likes to pick on her siblings every now and then. She is such a good student at school and always willing to learn there too. She loves arts and crafts and is very timid on trying anything physical. I asked her earlier this year if she wanted to do soccer. An immediate no was her response, not even a thought about it. However, this year she has seriously made leaps and bounds in swimming at the pool. She not only learned how to go all the way under, she has learned to jump off the side of the pool and go under all by herself without us catching her and without any type of floatation device. I'm very sad the pool is getting ready to close and hope that we are able to swim in hotel pools throughout the winter year so she doesn't forget this great accomplishment! Maybe swimming will be her thing!?! We love our Kayley and seriously can't believe how old she is getting and how much she has grown and we can't imagine life without her.

Little Rex is starting to introduce me into boyhood little by little everyday. I thought the only thing I had to keep the trash away from was Einstein...apparently not. I had pulled out the trash sack to fill it a little bit more before closing it and Kayley came running into my bathroom, "Mom, come quick and look at Rex!" This is what I found...this cupcake was in the trash sack. He was going to town on it! I took it away and he actually wasn't as sad as I expected him to be. But how do you germ-x a mouth!?! That came from the trash!
And I mentioned that we ended up buying that truck in Topeka, KS...well the first day we bought it we all rode around town in it running our errands and the kids loved riding in it. We decided to do pizza that night and brought it home and did a pizza party in the bed of the truck. The girls thought that was the coolest thing ever! Rex of course realized how much he loves playing in Daddy's truck bed! It was a fun memory to be mad!
Here's another reason why Rex loves the truck bed...he can play in it without us hovering around him constantly because it's basically like a big play pen. The picture is not that great as it's from my phone, but here is Cora and Rex playing in the truck bed while Nick and I cleaned it out.
Then we had Nick's birthday. His birthday was pretty low key, but I think the older you get the more you live for those low key birthdays right? His celebration lasted two days long as the day before we cooked him cashew chicken...a birthday must for him! The girls were ecstatic as they absolutely love cashew chicken too. Then we went swimming that night and I finally got some pictures of Kayley jumping in by herself (top left) and her going completely underwater (top right) and her coming up from the being underwater...it's really a funny site because she comes up like she's been holding her breath forever and she comes up almost like Ariel does when she has legs? Know which part of The Little Mermaid I'm talking about? Anyway, it's the middle picture and little Rex is just cute to take pictures of at the pool. He's also getting pretty brave walking around, getting out and into the pool just because he can now. Cora has also made leaps and bounds this summer in jumping off the side every now and then by herself, but with a floaty thing on. She has also gone underwater a few times, not as much or as long as Kayley, but she has gone under much quicker than Kayley ever did so that's impressive in itself.
Then last week we went to Silver Dollar City for the last time to go during the hot weather. It was hot that day, but bearable at least in the shade. So hot that I couldn't believe we did, but we got on a water ride! We usually avoid these because we don't want to be walking around in wet clothes the rest of the day and because usually our girls freak out about getting wet for some reason. Well not this time around...we rode the new Huck Finn's water extravaganza or something like that. Basically you ride this little boat that goes as slow as molasses and you get to squirt water guns to objects around the ride as well as people standing around the ride. The kicker is they are standing at water guns too that shoot at you. They can move and dodge our water sprays, you on the other hand are helpless on this very slow moving boat! Cora, Rex, and I sat on the very drench able side. Nick, Grandma and Kayley were able to avoid the sprays a little bit more than us. Kayley wanted to ride a second time and had a blast on the ride. We didn't necessarily want to ride again and luckily the line had gotten a little bit longer after we got off so we got out of riding it again. Instead we let Kayley stand at a water gun to shoot all the upcoming riders and of course get shot at herself. Cora joined in a bit here and there, but Kayley probably could have stood there all day. She was getting drenched and even while she was getting soaked she would just keep shooting her gun even though she couldn't see who she was shooting towards. It was funny! Check out her expressions on some of these pictures! Then we also let Rex play in the sandbox..he didn't eat too much of it and I was reminded why I hate sandboxes myself. And we all rode the carousel. Rex LOVED the carousel!! He kept looking at the bears on the carousel and barking like they were dogs so he was in 7th heaven! Also this weekend trip was when he decided that he would take more than just two-three steps at a time. He's definitely loving to walk and it's really cute to see him toddler around! He's growing up so fast!

Oh..and I can't forget a big moment for Kayley that happened this same weekend, she lost her 6th tooth. It had been loose for a while but she wouldn't let us pull it. She would randomly get very upset about it but still wouldn't let us touch it. We were eating dinner that night at Freddy's and it came right out. She almost didn't eat anything else because in the past when she's lost a tooth while eating she's thought the reason why it fell out was because of eating and she didn't want to loose anymore teeth. But she got over it pretty quickly and finished her dinner. The tooth fairy was even good enough to visit her at the Condos in Branson, which she was really excited about!
And remember me telling you Rex is introducing me into boyhood little by little? One of his new things is to climb onto the girls' little tikes table and look out the window in our living room. Today he went from the table and climbed right into his toy box. He was having a blast for a while having all his toys at his finger tips, till he was ready to get out and couldn't figure out how. Cora luckily came to his rescue. The other funny thing he's been doing lately is pictured in the middle picture below. His feet are flat on the floor and he leans over and puts his head flat down on the ground and just stays there, will sit up and do it again! It's hilariously cute!

Kayley's 1st Day of Kindergarten

So today was THE day...the most un-anticipated day yet for me I think! Kayley went to Kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, I know the girl has to grow up eventually and school is involved as I don't feel qualified to home school nor do I want her to miss out on some public school experience. However, it still doesn't make it any easier! I've seriously been dreading this day for a long time and stressing and worrying about it like crazy..trying not to show Kayley my worry as she had started to show a little bit of nervousness too recently. She luckily went to bed very willingly last night (usually she goes to bed just fine, I was just worried she would be too anxious to go to sleep..I was for sure not getting anymore than 3-4 hours of sleep.) But she woke up very willingly too and was very happy. Side note, my kids normally don't wake up till 8:30/9 on a daily basis, so to get up at 7:30 is quite the feat...myself included! Cora woke up a few minutes before we left and I was going to have her stay home with Daddy while I took her, but she really wanted to go with us, so she got dressed very quickly and joined us. The school was crazy busy to say the least. Apparently some people had poured sugar into the school buses gas tanks the night before, I'm assuming hoping to call off school for the day. So all the students had to be taken to school by their parents, making it a mad house in the parking lot. We started to walk her in, stopped to get a picture in front of the school and then headed in. I tried to test her to see if she remembered where her classroom was and I was impressed that she remembered. As she walked past another room by hers she saw a boy she went to preschool with and got really excited that he was in her same school. I told her she could eat lunch with him and have recess with him and she got really excited. We sat down at her desk and she met the boy that sat at her desk. I then asked her if she was ready for me to leave, she replied with a "not really" in her quiet voice that usually is followed by tears. So we stayed a little bit longer and then I headed out and waited for her to look up at me in the hallway, waved good-bye to her and she was ok it seemed. I then headed home to cry to Nick while re-telling him the story. All in all it was a good day. We picked her up and she said she had a great time. She got to see her friends from preschool during lunch and then for some reason they didn't get to have a recess today with all the craziness, so she is looking forward to having it tomorrow. She's excited to go back, so that's a good sign! I made it through one kid going to kindergarten, on to the next two, but thankfully not for a while from now!

Kayley & Cora's Birthday Party

This last Saturday the girls had their birthday party and let me tell you...it was fun and a bit stressful, but what party isn't stressful?!?! At least at this house it seems! If you remember from an earlier post about Rex's birthday party, it had to be changed to a different day last minute due to him having a fever, Nick was on call for both hospitals on accident that night and had a callback in the middle of the party, and on top of it all had a co-worker let go to make for a very stressful day at work for him! So, I was very glad that the girls had decided to do a party together this year to lessen the stress...or at least make it a stressful day for one day instead of two days! They pretty much have the same friends anyway so it worked out perfectly this way. And they both wanted a pool party, so that makes it easier too. Here they are posing in the morning of their party after I had finished making their cake. I've decided now that I might always make their cakes this way. It's an edible cake topper from ebay. Really cool, and really easy! Just make your cake and put it on top. And the girls of course loved it and got to pick out exactly which picture they wanted on top of it. I also had to add this picture of Rex. My friend was so nice to take pictures for me to lessen some stress for me...let me tell you..it's great knowing someone else is taking care of your picture taking while you are busy with everything else! But I had taken a few pictures before she started taking them and this was one of Rex that I had taken that I wanted to put in.

And of course there was tons of swimming at the party...the best part about a pool party...you don't have to plan as many activities. I only had to plan one game, then presents, cake/ice cream, then let them swim the rest of the time! It was fun to watch all the kids compare what they could do in the pool and then try to out-do the next kid. Talk about peer pressure!
And the craft...the one thing I had planned and tried to make it as simple as possible...it almost ended up being the most stressful part! I had the idea to have the kids find hidden jewels (that Flynn Ryder had hidden) and then make their own prince and princess crowns. I had found some jewels at the store that were self adhesive to make things easier, but apparently had bought the wrong box and didn't notice it until the party started! So I had to have Nick grab some glue sticks from home, he brought me glue sticks, but the glue sticks for my hot glue gun...and he didn't answer forever because we randomly had a flat tire in the van so he was stuck at home trying to fix it...I know of all times!! And these were brand new tires we had just put within the last month! Anyway, he finally came back and I went home to get the correct glue sticks and the kids ended up enjoying the craft.
And here they are displaying their crowns....even some of the babies joined in...notice Rex down in the bottom left trying to play too! A big thank you to Grandma for solely watching Rex!! It was very relieving not to have to worry about chasing this fast crawler around whether outside or inside the pool.
And of course the presents. The girls had a blast opening their presents and they had such fun presents from all of their friends. You should see the sides of their beds, they are sleeping with pretty much all of their new toys and the sides of their beds are cluttered with toys, but they love it!
So all in all...it was a very fun party! And I have to admit I really like the idea of them having birthday parties together from now on...only one party to stress about and now I've been able to try to ease into Kayley starting school in a few days without having to double stress about planning her party as her birthday is the third day of school. Which is a very good thing as I'm pretty stressed/worried already with her starting school. Anyway, they had a great birthday party and had so much fun celebrating it with their friends and family!

Paradise Park

About a week ago we went with my friend Jessica and her kids to Paradise Park in Lee's Summit. It is a really fun place, and the girls could really stay there all day playing. We only got to play with our friends for a couple of hours before they had to leave, but we stayed and played a little bit longer. At noon they had a little storytime/craft thing that the girls just loved! They read a book about cows, made a cow puppet, and then made their own milkshakes. I wanted to make my own it looked so yummy! Then Kayley discovered that this room she had been playing in for quite some time had Dorothy chairs...these were chairs she had already been sitting in, so it was funny seeing her reaction when I told her. So she couldn't get enough pictures with the Dorothy chair. They were really cute and I'd love to have them for our house, but I guess we'll just have to continue to go see them at Paradise Park! Rex's favorite part was the water play part!

Cora Anne turns 4!!!

Four years ago tonight Nick and I were staying the night in the hospital trying to wrap our brains around why we were so blessed to have another healthy, beautiful baby girl. I know everyone says get as much sleep as you can with a newborn, especially if you already have children. However, I had a really hard time taking Cora back into the nursery for the night so we could go to sleep. So much that I had to have Nick come with me to take her to the nurses and I have to admit I cried a little bit on the way and the way back. But Cora is such a wonderful little girl. She is so loving, so much that it takes her a long time to say goodnight to me because she gives me tons of hugs and good bear hugs too at that. She is very easy to be willing to share with her siblings. She is a bit more of a dare devil than her sister has been on a few things, but is still a dainty, princess. She loves gum and anything with mint flavor, very much unlike her sister and her Dad. She loves, loves, loves babies and has since she was big enough to hold one herself. It was like a dream come true to have her baby brother and actually be able to hold him like a baby. Every now and then I'll catch her trying to hold him like a baby and of course he hates it. She always asks for a new baby when it comes to Christmas or birthdays. She always says, "I just want one more baby!" She has always been very expressive and I love that about her. Sometimes I really can't believe she is already 4 years old but of course I can't imagine life without her! In 4 years she has gone from this....

to this....She told Daddy last night that it was her last night to be 3 years old and when she woke up presents would be here for her. She came running to the side of my bed this morning ecstatic to open them! I was really proud of her as I told her she could only open one present as we had to wait for Daddy to get home from work to open the rest. But of course every 5 minutes or so she'd ask me again if she could open just one more present. I almost caved as I know it was so hard for her to wait, but I knew Nick really wanted to be there to watch. So as soon as Nick could get home from work he did and he called her on the phone and said he was on his way and get ready to open her presents!

This is her opening some of her presents. She loved every one of them!
Remember how I said she was very expressive!? Check out her face here!! And I have to say that this year Kayley was really good about not getting mad that Cora was opening presents and she wasn't. Last year she had a really hard time about it and we ended up letting her open one of her presents early. They have been really good about sharing Cora's presents.
This year Cora and Kayley decided to have their friend birthday parties together...which I love because I only have to plan one birthday party! But I told Cora we were still going to have cake and ice cream tonight with family and she requested a Hello Kitty cake. I've been very proud of her for agreeing with Kayley on them both having a Rapunzel themed party as she has requested multiple times to have a Hello Kitty party. So of course I thought real quick today on how to make a Hello Kitty cake. I think it turned out pretty good. And Cora thought it was super yummy. I kept finding her sneaking into the kitchen later tonight with a fork grabbing a bite here and there!
And...still expressive...I've always loved her dimples, which are shown really well here!
Her trying to blow out the candles on her own...
Thanks to the help of her big sister, she was finally able to blow it out!
All in all it was a great day and not that stressful! The Walker family joined us for dinner (Cora requested Cashew Chicken) and cake and ice cream and then we all went swimming. It was so fun and relaxing to visit, enjoy each other's company, and celebrate Cora's birthday. Ashlyn even went under water after watching Kayley and Cora go under...and they have just learned how to confidently go underwater thanks to one of their friends that joined us at the pool last week. Michelle and I were two very proud Momma's as it has taken all three of them a while to get this confidence! And I would say it was a successful party and Cora enjoyed all her presents...and is still sharing them with Kayley even while they sleep...here they are sharing her new air mattress! So cute! We sure do love our Cora! Happy Birthday Cora Anne!

Sargent Family Reunion Day 3

So the third day we all got together for breakfast at the Nauvoo State Park. Uncle John and Stephanie got some pictures of everyone together that was there, but I don't have a copy of those pictures yet. It was fun to think of everyone that attended the reunion, but of course not everyone was there so we missed those that didn't attend. After pictures some people left to go home and others left to go check out of their hotels, etc. My siblings and all of our kids stuck around for a bit to get a few cousin pictures. These are all the cousins minus the Sanders' family, who were busy welcoming their new addition Amelia! So, these are only 20 of the 26 grandkids. I really think we got a picture of all of them looking at the camera! Amazing!

Then we all parted ways to get in a few last look at some of the sites and then we all met up at Carthage Jail for the tour there. I really enjoyed watching Kayley eat all this information up about Joseph Smith and the early Saints. Cora liked some of it too, but Kayley really loves to learn new things. Here are the girls in front of the statue of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith in front of the jail.
There were so many of us that we made our own tour group. I felt bad for the sister missionary as she had to talk over all of us and didn't really know what to expect with this many kids/people. But the cousins had a blast being with one another. It was cute because throughout the tour, I told my girls to fold their arms while walking so they wouldn't be tempted to touch something they weren't supposed to touch and I would tell them when they could touch something. They were very well behaved and were even folding their arms on the way up the narrow staircase of the jail. I told Cora she didn't have to fold her arms while walking up the stairs and she could hold onto the bannister so she wouldn't fall. I'm so grateful for such obedient children. They really were very well behaved and Kayley loved hearing the story in the jail.
Then, the hardest part for them I think was to leave their buddy Olivia. They both wanted their own picture taken with her and we are going to be printing these off for them to sleep with. They really love Olivia and hate that she lives so far away! What I think is neat is when I was about Olivia's age (maybe a little bit older) was when Olivia was the age of my girls and I was inseparable with Olivia and Judson. Sometimes they would even prefer me over Jessica. It's fun to see my kids love them as much as they loved me and vice versa!
Kayley's picture with Olivia. She really was attached to her hip this weekend/trip. She kept talking about them driving home safely for the past 3-4 nights after our trip in her prayers.
All in all the reunion was a blast! A big huge thanks to my cousin Sarah for doing almost all of the organizing! I'm sure we'll be calling her for advice as my siblings and I are all in charge of planning the next reunion. Can't wait already for it!

Sargent Family Reunion Day 2

So on the 2nd day I didn't get as many pictures as I probably should have gotten. Nick got up early and headed to Nauvoo with Edward and Andrew to assist in the nieces/nephews/cousins Baptism Session. So, the kids and I got up and headed over to the hotel that Edward and Andrew's families were staying at and went swimming with both Felker Families. I didn't get any pictures taken here as I was by myself with all three kids and the pool was pretty deep as the most shallow part was 4 or 5 ft deep. The kids had fun swimming though and then Nick, Edward, Ross, and Andrew came back and everyone swam a bit except Nick because I forgot his suit back at the hotel. Then we all got dressed, went for lunch in Keokuk and headed to Nauvoo to see a few tours and then start babysitting for those wanting to attend the sealing session that afternoon. We ended up watching Sarah and James' kids and Andrew and Sarah's kids. The Carles were nice enough to let us crash their hotel room as their hotel room had a very open layout and was great for corralling all the kids. They all had fun playing together. Once the adults all got finished with their sealing session, we went around Old Nauvoo for some more tours. It was neat to learn all about the early Saints and Kayley and Cora really enjoyed learning some of the information. This horse is the horse from John Taylor's home. After they had already left Nauvoo, they left all their belongings behind. His 4 year old son kept crying and they couldn't figure out why until John Taylor finally found out that he missed his rocking horse that was left behind. This was a horse that John Taylor had made by hand for him. So John Taylor went in the middle of the night (as it was very dangerous for him to be seen by the mobs) and went back to their house to retrieve this horse. It was neat to learn this little detail on describing how much love John Taylor had for his children. Then we also went to the John Browning house....it was Nick's favorite tour as you can see why from this picture below of one of his displays of guns he had made. What I thought was very interesting about his story was that Brigham Young had personally asked John Browning and his family to stay behind to help the Saints instead of moving west. At this point they had already been driven out of Nauvoo and had temporarily settled in Council Bluffs, IA. But Brigham Young knew that a lot of the Saints weren't going to have adequate protection if John Browning didn't stay behind. What a great sacrifice he and his family made to help the Saints in staying behind.
We also visited the gravesides for Joseph Smith, Hyrum, Emma, Lucy Mack, and Joseph Smith Sr. Kayley was so interested in knowing who was buried where. Here they are pictured by Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma's grave and she immediately asked where Joseph Smith's parents were buried.
So we found their graves, which were right around the corner.
Then we headed to meet my siblings for dinner. Now I have 6 siblings and almost all of us have kids. 5 of us were in Nauvoo totaling 20 kids and 10 adults...finding a place for all of us to eat together in Nauvoo was difficult, but we eventually found a place called Grandpa's Cafe. It was good food I thought and plenty of space for all of us, although Rex had to sit in our laps to eat as my other siblings were using all of the high chairs! It was funny! After dinner we headed to the Nauvoo Temple to get some pictures. The girls were so excited to see the Nauvoo temple in person. Kayley specifically has always said that the Nauvoo temple was her favorite, well she says the temple that was burnt down was her favorite, which would be the Nauvoo temple. So it was exciting to see her get excited to finally see it in person.
We got some random person to take our picture altogether in front of the temple. It would have looked a lot better had Nick been wearing his cool tie-dye shirt that Sarah Kirchmann made for us! I had so many compliments on them....they really look great don't they?!?! He left his in the hotel room as he went to help with the Baptismal session and I packed his clothes and packed the wrong shirt.
And then of course it's hard to get the whole temple in the picture as it's so big, but he tried!
Then a couple pictures of the girls up close to the temple.
Aren't they cute?!?!
And them touching the Temple walls. They kept asking why they couldn't go inside this temple and I had to keep explaining to them how it had already been dedicated and you had to have a recommend and be at least 12 years old. They are so excited to go through the Kansas City Temple when it opens for the open house soon.
And them holding the door handles...it really was cute seeing how excited they got just to touch the door.
Cora taking her turn holding the handle...
And this by far is one of my favorite statues in Nauvoo! Everytime I read it I can barely make it through without crying. This is a statue of when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were riding to Carthage and they turned and looked at the city of Nauvoo and looked at the Temple and just marveled at what had been built. It also mentions what the Saints had been through and would go through, I can't remember all the wording, but it is very sweet and I just love the love that you feel from this poster that Hyrum and Joseph had for one another.
Then we headed to the Visitor's Center to watch the Sunset by the Mississippi performance. It was fun and nice to be inside for once in the air conditioning as after this we were heading outside to the Nauvoo Pageant.
Here's a mini display of the Temple outside the Nauvoo Pageant. They had some games and things for the kids to play...we did a few, but not many as we wanted to make sure no one took our seats. Jessica had taken their hotel sheets out earlier in the day and roped off 30 seats for our family. We were worried someone would take them down or that they had fallen off. Luckily they were still there so Jess and Jud didn't have to pay for the missing sheets and it was great that we all got to sit together for the pageant. Let me say that other than being at Nauvoo with family, the pageant was by far my favorite part of the trip. I've seen it before, but it always gives me such a great perspective of what the early Saints had to sacrifice and go through. I'm not sure I would be as strong as some of them were. I also loved being able to learn a little bit more about Joseph Smith and his character. Two of my favorite things from the pageant were 1) Joseph is talking to Emma about meeting with the sisters the next day to start the Relief Society program and then he stops and says, but tonight Emma...and then he stops everything and just dances with her. I just love this part in showing how much love he had for Emma. And 2) the whole story follows this family that moved from Scotland and lost a child when he was only 3 years old. The wife gains a testimony and desires to be baptized very quickly. The husband on the other hand takes a while to come around, but when he does, he says to his wife, "I can't believe I gave up everything I had to get receive everything that I ever wanted." I just love that part! So, the pageant was my favorite part and best of all...Kayley and Cora learned so much and still talk about it. In fact tonight when Nick was reading scriptures to them he said, "come here girls, it's about Joseph Smith tonight." And they both perked right up and ran right over to him to listen.