Nauvoo family trip with the Siders!

Cyle has a sister that lives in Denver, CO. so we don't get to see them much.
But they decided to take a spring break trip to Nauvoo, IL to see the church history sites. And we happen to live only 5 hrs away!
What better time for us to take a trip out there as well!
We spent Friday night, Saturday and part of Sunday there with them and oh boy was it fun!
Nauvoo is BEAUTIFUL!
And the saints...what they went through.
Its amazing to me that they lived each day working just to survive the next day. I hope the found joy in the work they were doing b/c that is all they ever did it seems.
The temple there is the most beautiful place on the earth! We got to go and it was stunning. Such a blessing to have temples on the earth and the sweet spirit that we can feel esp during these troubling times.

Thankfully Cyle's sister, Carli, is quite good with the camera. She was able to snap some great shots!
So the trip went as follows...
Friday night we hit up the pool at the hotel...a must.
Saturday Cyle and I got up and went to the temple together while they watched Kingston. Then they came up and we went to the visitors center. From there we did a wagon ride around town. This wagon was pulled by two Clydesdale horses...= death by allergies for me. I closed my eyes and just listened. Also it was supposed to be 60 degrees but the weather man changed it at the last min to freezing cold and rainy. We were not prepared for that.
Thankfully the nice missionaries new we'd need some warm stuff. So they had lots of blankets, hats, and gloves. So we stayed pretty warm.
We then did another ride through the back woods and saw different spots where the pioneers "hung out".
Regardless of the cold it was still a lot of fun!

I really enjoyed seeing the grave site of Joseph Smith b/c it just seemed so real that he was right there. Its crazy to think about.

Later that day Carli and Ken got to go to the temple and we watch the Joseph Smith movie with the kids. I love that movie.
We then watched a show by the missionaries and they were SO cute! It was so fun!
On the way home our little niece Peyton rode with us to dinner. I love this little one. She is so full of funny comments. That girl can TALK! So when ever we vaca with them I love taking note of all her little comments.
So here are the comments of Peyton...
-You can trust them (brothers and sisters) only when they are not chocking you.
-Cyle: Is your mom slow?
Peyton: No. But she HATES running!
-I'm one of the fastest runners in the class and those kids can get pretty fast!
-***BEST ONE*** Pinterest is sometimes our friend or our enemy. It takes up half of our playtime b/c mom is looking up stupid recipes that we don't even like!
She cracks me up!
The next day we attend church at a little branch in Keokuk, IA. Then we came home to have fun at an Easter egg hunt that the bunny planned.
SIDE NOTE...My kids are doomed for ever believing in anything like that. I spill the beans SO easy!
The kids had lots of fun finding eggs!

Then we went to Nauvoo and went to all the different shops and places.
That was a lot of fun!

The fun didn't end there! Monday-Thursday (today they left) they came to Indiana to visit us!
We had so much fun having them. I thought we might need to bust out the food storage to feed all the troops! I forget how much they eat! haha A family of 6 is much more to feed then 2.5 :)
But we loved them being here.
We spent Tuesday at the Children's museum which is the largest one in the states. It was AWESOME! We probably one got through half of it. But had a great time!
Wednesday we went to the movies! I took Peyton and Cooper to the Croods and the rest went to OZ.
The Croods was quite cute I must say.
That night we went to dinner with Cyle and Morgan watched all the kids, including Kingston, at home. We went to TGIFiday and it is becoming one of my fave places to eat! The carmel cake thing...to die for!
This morning they were packing up to leave bright and early. They've got a long trip ahead of them.
BUT as they were getting ready I was helping Morgan learn how to do her hair. As I was blow drying it she just passed out! She hit her head and body against the wall and started shaking. She was out cold! I was freaking out inside and just yelled for Carli. She came to in 30 seconds but def had a headache and probably a little embarrassed. Poor girl. Broke my heart for her. Oh and it broke our wall. Thankfully walls are an easy fix and we are just glad she is ok.

Needless to say it was a very eventful and fun spring break!
Thank you Siders for the great time and for coming to visit us! WE LOVE YOU!
I almost forgot two more funny quotes...
While we were all eating together Kingston had a shirt on that said "Champ" and everyone was reading it and calling him a champ. Well Cooper had to join in on the fun and in his cute 3 yr old voice said "yeah Kingstons a tramp!" bahahaha!
Cyle was telling them how I'm a bad parent and how I put our BIMBO on the counter top! haha Bumbo. And yes I'm a bad parent and do that. But all weekend we joked about the bimbo in our house!
Good times!