saying goodbye to nauvoo

Monday was our last day in Nauvoo. After we finished Sunset, we headed back up to the temple. Matt said that he wanted to take some shots of the temple as the sun was going down so that he would have the best lighting. None of us complained since the temple was our central point of the whole vacation. Matt had the really awesome camera. These are the ones that I took with my poe-dunk little camera:

through the temple gates

the water tower is just a bit behind the temple to the east

the statues are that of Joseph and Hyrum riding to Carthage

This one's my favorite from my camera!

We all went our separate ways. I wandered off by myself down the hill in front of the temple watching the sunset. I love sunsets! SO much! I feel like they are a special gift just for me from Heavenly Father. I haven't met a sunset that I didn't like. The sunset on the Mississippi was magical.  And really, leaving such a place that had changed my life and been such a course correction for me, I needed some time to think. I love that spot so much. It is dear to my heart, just like the Dew bathroom up at Brighton. The circumstances and the stories are different, but the love I felt is the same. 

I had no idea that Matt was taking pictures of anything other than the temple, but when I walked back up to the group after saying my own goodbye, Matt comes up to me and says, "Jenny, are you ready for amazingness?" pulls out his camera, searches for a minute, and shows me this:

Oh. My. Gosh! Matt is wonderful! This is me, contemplating my life and falling a little bit more in love with Nauvoo.  Didn't think it was possible, but I was wrong.

nauvoo: day 4 (shows)

A reminder of where we left off- yummy Ziggy's pizza through a recommendation from Elder Fairbourne and Matt locking the keys to Black Diamond in the trunk. Good, good times!

The first show that we saw was "Just Plain Anna Amanda." It is a show made for children, but you better believe that I had a blast and the moral behind the story hit me hard. Fermata (Sister Paulsen) played the role of Anna Amanda's mother and she did a fantabulous job! I could listen to her sing all day long. She makes me want to write a song on my guitar. Haven't yet, but she'll be my inspiration whenever I do. 

 The Crazy Eight waiting for the show to start. If you turn your head and squint, you can see Justin in the back. And don't mind Tamra. She's special.

Story- we were waiting for five to ten minutes because we heard that Nauvoo time is fifteen minutes ahead, but then we had little to do. So, I grabbed my camera for the group photo. After the photo, Laura wanted to see the pictures that I had taken so far. Hours later, I was going back through them and came across this little gem:

and laughed my head off. Thanks, Laura, for being so awesome!

Back to business- Since the story is meant for children, the actors ask that all the children sit in the front. They were all bubbling with excitement and made me feel like a youngster myself. Before the show began, Sister Aramaki came out and asked if the children wanted to meet her special friends. They hollered "Yes" and suddenly there was Fermata, Sister Aramaki, and Elder Fairbourne with puppets. They started telling jokes and singing songs. We stood up to sing "Popcorn Popping." I was sitting next to Matt, who never had the pleasure of experiencing Primary. The entire time we sang, he had a look on his face that you could tell he was thinking, "What the...." Tamra leaned over and said, "Now you can say you know what Primary is like." And he just smiled. Here's a little bit that I recorded- they decided to play "Name that tune (or Disney Song)"  Kids vs. Adults. See for yourself. My friend Fermata is on the far left:

Elder Fairbourne is pretty cute. I wonder..... ;)

The show was fantastic. The simple story is: Everyone calls Anna Amanda "Just Plain Anna Amanda" making her feel that she isn't special. Her mother leaves and tells her to stay in the house and take care of things. While her mother is out, neighbors stop by to visit and with each visitor, Anna Amanda tricks them into trading one of their belongings so that she can feel special. She ends up with large work boots, fancy bags, a cloak, a fancy hat, and maybe some other things. When everyone figures out that they need their belongings back, they can't find Anna Amanda because she is covered in all sorts of things. Then, through the help of her mother she realizes that it is special to be Anna Amanda because there is no one else like her. It was great! How can you ever get tired of such a sweet reminder? I feel like I need one at least once a day.

After the production, the cast was waiting for a meet and greet just outside the doors. We saw all our Elder friends that had serenaded us a few days before, and then I made straight for Fermata. That girl- One day I will be as cool as she is. Not only was the show fantastic, but Fermata has a way of making you feel important. I love her!

In the time between "Just Plain Anna Amanda" and "High Hopes and Riverboats," we wandered through some more of the sites of Historic Nauvoo. It felt like a million degrees outside plus humidity. I don't think I can ever live in the Midwest. The point of going to so many places was partly for the experience and partly for the air conditioning. We visited the Blacksmith who has always been one of my favorites. Once when I was with Tamra at a school field trip to This Is The Place, she mentioned to compare the Blacksmith to Heavenly Father and the metal to me. I haven't thought of it in the same way since.

After the Blacksmith, we walked down the same street a little ways to visit the Seventies Hall. During our wagon ride, the tour guide said that it was kinda the MTC of Nauvoo.

Upstairs, they had a lot of old "relics" from Nauvoo, like a piece of the rain gutter from both Joseph Smith's and Brigham Young's homes. That was pretty cool to see. My favorite part of this building was in a separate room on the second floor. Inside, there were records of all the members of the Seventy. I knew that my Great Great Great Grandfather William Wallace Casper lived in Nauvoo. I've heard stories about his wife Sarah Ann Bean and their trek west. William Wallace was also a member of the Mormon Battalion. But I never heard anything from my grandma about him being a Seventy. On a whim, I took a gander through the record books. And....

There He Was!

When I came home, I asked my Dad and my Grandma if they knew about it and both said no. How cool?! I'm related to a member of the Seventy! It makes me wonder how well he really knew Brother Joseph. This was a definite highlight of my trip.

We carried on through the sites, including the house of Brigham Young. I was surprised at some of the similarities of his house in Nauvoo and The Beehive House in Salt Lake. He was very smart and truly resourceful. I can't wait to meet him too.

One of the best sites we visited in our break between shows was the Family Living Center. In one room, you can learn how pioneers made everything: candles, rope, rugs, etc. There was a small area where a sister missionary showed how the pioneers would make bread in a "Bustle Oven." Then, of course, we had to try some. :) We had the most fun making rope. It took half of us to get it done, and then we were able to take the piece home. Its new home is the Tulip.

Twisting the pieces together. Matt did a really good job of turning the thing. The Elder was pretty impressed.

Laura was on a foot pedal or something.... She worked up a sweat! :)

(My job was to help cut it)

AND THEN... It was time for High Hopes and Riverboats! We had to get back in our cars and head over to the Visitor's Center. We walked the distance once on one of the first days and decided we wouldn't be doing that again. High Hopes and Riverboats is great! There's humor and romance and tragedy and music! Always music! Fermata played the role of Sarah Ann, the older sister of the lead. She and Elder Fairbourne are married and responsible for her younger siblings after their parents died. It is slightly a complicated story, which is surprising for an hour long performance. Still, it was fantastic! I loved every minute of it. The best part was watching the actors fall in love while all they could do was gaze into each other's eyes and hold hands since they are still missionaries. When the hero proposes, they hug. I understand why there isn't more to the romance and it must resemble a Disney Channel flick, but that doesn't stop me from smirking. Come on guys. Aren't you in love? Ah, well, way to be strong in the faith.

The Captain of the River boat with a little introduction. He had an awesome voice. Just sayin'

A good portion of the cast. Elder Fairbourne is sitting, Fermata is right behind him, and my friend Tyler Elwood is the guy in the straw hat. The heroine is to the right of Fermata, Sister Aramaki. Too guys fall for her. Tough life.

Sorry, the picture is rough. The hero, Chance, just won a stick pull. Later in the show, he sings a solo. I can't remember what the title of the song is, but good golly, I went to mush. The missionary's name is Elder Black. Another one of our barbershop quartet, serenading friends.

We had another break between HHARB and Sunset on the Mississippi, so we decided to head up to Main Street where we found the cute little shop earlier. The goal was to buy t-shirts that all matched. It was fun to wander through all the shops. We ran into this little find:

a shot glass with a picture of the temple on it. Really? That's a little ironic.

I bought a book about the life of Joseph Smith. It doesn't matter how well I think I know his story, there are always new pieces that add to the puzzle. The more I really learn about him, the more I want to meet him. I was reminded that he was still a man. He made mistakes. He started business ventures that didn't really work. He started down one road, only to be given the proper detours; everything happening to shape him into the man, and the prophet, the Lord wanted him to be. The fact that my life has taken detours and I'm still working to end up where I want to be is okay. I'm still moving forward and I will continue until the Lord has created the woman I am meant to be. 

Temperatures were running a little high with so many chiefs and fewer Indians, but I think the walk did us all some good. We found a little awning where two men were selling a bunch of t-shirts. We saw a young boy wearing the exact one that we wanted earlier in the week, and we were elated to see the same shirt there. Not only did we find the shirt, but there were three color choices! I don't do so well with choices- I couldn't decide between blue or maroon. Turned out I picked the same color as Tamra. "We're the same person." Laura was the only one who got a bright blue, but she was okay with that. It makes the pictures fun. Three brown, three maroon, and one bright blue. Jon didn't want to be a part of the group... party pooper.

Another great find was Norbert's. We came across this little stand by chance. The man who owned it came out and started talking to us. He is Dutch! The stand was selling Pineapple Whips like those you can buy in Disneyland. These were pretty special because he threw some cherry something on the top of the whip. Oh, man, my mouth is watering just thinking of it. We all grabbed one and ate it on our way back to the show. Mmmm...mmmm...mmmm....

I think Sunset on the Mississippi was our favorite show. JPAA had a great moral to the story, and HHARB was an all-around great drama, but SOTM was just plain fun. The YPMs and the missionary couples combined for a huge party on stage. Just a few pictures and you will see:

Our marching band friends gave a little intro. They really are awesome.

She was an awesome fiddler. I don't remember the name of what she played, buy my feet couldn't hold still. They were tapping of their own accord.

Barbershop mosquitoes! They buzzed in harmony. Haha!

Battle of the Bands: drums vs. piccolo

I think this is the song about kissing a frog.... Maybe?

They honored us with an Armed Forces Medley and asked those members of each to stand up. Way to go, Matt! Elder Black also stood up for the Navy. Impressive.

Some crazy song about moustaches...hahahahahahaha

Devil Went Down To Georgia. Rock it, Fermata!

The sappy drama

Auditions for next year's YPMs (kinda) This is Kung Fu style. The whole time, Tamra, Whitney and I were thinking about when we would do this at Brighton. You have a story line, actors, and a director. You play out the story once, then the director comes in and plays around with how you do it. Slower, faster, different languages, Kung Fu, whatever. Their story was something about eggs... And that is my friend, Tyler. I've never seen him quite this animated.

Story: I walked into the auditorium after everyone else. The missionaries were lined up right outside the door in a long single file line. I tried to be polite and sneak past a few of the older Elders but there laughing and all in a clump right in my way. As gentleman, most of them moved aside with a smile, but one of them had his back to me. As I'm walking past, all the sudden he starts doing this crazy dance move and completely smacked into me. The other Elders grabbed him and pulled him over to where they were standing. I just laughed. As I passed, he said, "Sorry, just practicing..." I knew I was in for a treat right then if the missionary couples were going to dance around like that! I'm still laughing about it!

Waiting until Monday for all the shows was totally worth it. How fun!

things i love (whatever day this is...)

*My life is insane. It has gotten to the point where I don't know what day it is until Sunday rolls around again. So here's to today...what is it? Friday?

painted shoes

cut bangs (thanks Pix, just in case I forgot :) )

laughing through presidency meeting

Mellie's new blog

meeting the Secretary of Labor from Washington- no joke

sharing work shoes with Morgan

ruffles and stripes in my wardrobe

wavy hair that "looked hot" yesterday

this camera (just dreamin')

and Brighton flowers like these:

nauvoo: day 4 (pre-shows)

(Sorry it has taken me so long to get these days posted. It is serving as my own journal entry of the trip, which always involves an unusual amount of writing. I either run out of time, or I get distracted by, oh, SOMETHING SHINY! Eventually, you will know each and every lovely detail of this summer's trip!)

Monday was our last day spent completely in Nauvoo. We dedicated most of the day to watching the performances of the Young Performing Missionaries. I gotta say- watching them sing and dance made me want to learn how to dance so that I could possibly do this next summer. I think I have the singing part down, but I can always improve. One day, I will be as cool as my friend Fermata.

Still, we started our day early with a trip to the temple! The Nauvoo Temple is one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen!

(This picture was taken by my friend Matt. He is an amazing photographer. One day, I will be as cool as he is too.)

Since half of the group is endowed and half has yet to be, we left the hotel in two groups. Tamra, Laura, Whitney, and Justin left around 7 am or something while the rest of us, Maggie, Matt, Jon, and me, all left a little after 8 or so. I don't remember really when they left. I was still asleep. Maggie and I got up and got dressed but filled my big bag with everything we could, including a straightener, perhaps a hair dryer, make-up, and a few more things. The bag was bulging but we couldn't have baptism hair for a day full of pictures!

We met the boys downstairs and grabbed a quick (and I mean quick) breakfast from the poor continental breakfast selection. Then, finally, we were off. I can't explain the excitement in the car. We had been walking around the temple a little bit every day since we arrived in Nauvoo. It is such a central point to everything, and now we finally had our reservation to go inside! I felt close to my ancestors as we traveled where the pioneers sacrificed so much. Driving along, Maggie suggested that we sing hymns. Actually, she suggested that I sing hymns. Early in the morning and a'cappella. I sang some as a solo but finally convinced Maggie to sing with me. Probably because I needed the help. At one point during "Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," I ran out of air, gasped, and started back in all the same note. I wasn't trying to be funny, but we laughed. As we pulled into the parking lot, Maggie and I were singing "The Spirit of God" and I got chills. The parking lot was across the street and down aways from the temple, so we had an awesome view as we walked in.

L to R: Jon, me, Maggie, and Matt

We walked around the back, thinking that it would be like the Draper Temple and have its own entrance off to the side. Nope. We started up the stairs and the baptistry was separated by a door on the left, but the door is still in the front. We walked in and then turn over to the right. The recommend desk is the same for the baptistry and the rest of the building but the baptistry is escorted over to the left and down a staircase while the others are escorted to the right. Even with modern conveniences, the temple has the look and feel of the pioneers. It is beautiful! The font is separated from the rest of the area by a massive window with individually blown panes of glass. On the wall was a large painting of the saints leaving Nauvoo and traveling across the frozen Mississippi with Brigham Young in the front, looking back towards the temple, his face the picture of hope and despair. To get to the girls locker room, we had to walk through the chapel where a group of youth were having a meeting. I felt out of place as they were all in white and I was still in my skirt but it made sense that the largest part of the baptistry would be the font. All the confirmation rooms are off of the large room for the font. 

The font itself is the biggest I have ever seen, and quite possibly the biggest ever if I remember right. After we finished, one of the temple matrons gave us a quick tour and said that the font has the same dimensions as the first did back in the 1840s. Its grandeur allowed for three baptisms to be performed at one time. The other thing distinction between the Nauvoo temple and others is the status of the oxen around the font. When the first font was erected, it was made out of wood. The wood would expand and contract due to the amount of water and as such, the font would leak, making the ground underneath it soft. As time went on, the oxen supporting the font began to sink into the ground. President Hinckley wanted the restored temple to be as accurate to the first temple as possible, therefore the oxen are built sunken into the floor. The brick floor around meets them just below the knee.

Another interesting fact that we learned during our "tour" was that Temple Square in Salt Lake is not officially the first. As the temple was being built, the pioneers built a smaller, temporary roof around the baptistry so that they could continue the work while still finishing the temple. The small roof provided a square building around the font, so saints would say, "I'm off to Temple Square!" 

Since Justin was the only endowed priesthood holder in our group and he was in a session, the four of us tagged along with a small family that came from the east coast. While we sat waiting with the two young girls, the Temple President walked through and asked, "Are you ladies waiting to do baptisms, or is this a beauty contest?" haha.... funny President. 

I was the first of our small group in the font. The place to wait is separated into two different benches, one for boys and one for girls, located almost even with the oxen. To enter the font, you walk up a small staircase similar to the format of the Salt Lake Temple's font. It was incredible to walk into the font for three reasons. First- I realized truly how HUGE the font is. Just me and the ordinance worker in a space that triples the size of other fonts. Second- The only thing that I could see as I was walking in was the stained glass window on the opposite wall that depicts the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist. Third- It was one of those moments when I realized completely what I was doing, why, and for whom. It was another moment that left me breathless, beaming, and covered with goosebumps. 

We finished and started the process of becoming presentable after wet hair. Turned out that the locker room was filled to the brim of hair dryers and straighteners so we really didn't need to load the bag up with an entire bathroom. Maggie even used the dryer attached to the wall that resembled a vacuum hose. It was a little odd, and kept us laughing. Even with the straighteners, the humidity was no help to the hair, so I french braided her hair. Funny story- I grew up with no idea how to french braid. Then I became a counselor at Brighton and every girl wanted their hair braided after they showered. So in 2007, I took what little I knew from watching my mother and started braiding campers' hair. They had no idea that I had no clue what I was doing. With practice from those three summers of my life, I now can braid hair in record speed! (Another thing I learned after having units of 13+ girls and each one of them wanting a braid.)

When we finally finished, it turned out we had been in the locker room for awhile. Poor guys had been waiting long enough to hear the "tour" three times. Whoops... It all worked out okay though because Jon and Matt were very excited to share the tour with us. In our self-tour, we walked over to look up the spiral staircase. Maggie was told that we couldn't leave without seeing it. It was amazing how high we could see. The entire staircase was white with a dark stained wood railing. If I didn't think that the temple was beautiful already, this staircase really took my breath away. Then, amazingly, as we started to look up, we saw familiar faces! Our friends had finished their session and were on their way down this magnificent staircase to see the baptistry. And there we were at the same time! Coincidence? I think not! Friends came down and we had an official tour by one of the sisters. When she was done, she guided us back up the staircase to exit while the others went back to their locker rooms to change.

The three of us had about fifteen minutes to spare walking around the temple grounds. Of course, I pulled out my camera.

Standing here made me think of the part in Legacy when she accepts the proposal :)

The temple is on Well's Street. This is the intersection to turn into the parking lot. I tried not to get the stop sign... Darn these modern conveniences

When everyone was reunited, we took group shots on Tamra and Matt's camera and then headed out to change clothes and grab lunch before our first show of the day. Fluffy Bunny parked in the small parking lot right next to the temple so they got a head start. As we walked back to Black Diamond, we passed by a General Store on Main Street in modern Nauvoo and had to step in. It was an awesome store, but we were in and out since we had places to go and people to see. But I loved this on the doorstep as you walk in:

I love country stuff like that! And what is more country than a milk pail?

We caught up to the rest of the group at the Visitor's Center. We went there a lot! For the first time in my life, the girls were changed faster than the guys. Shock of my life. Although, they did have full on suits from the temple. I'm so proud of them that they went the extra mile to wear a suit at the temple. It is like my rule of never wearing a denim skirt to the temple. Sunday best doesn't include denim in my opinion....(rambling) 

Then we went to Ziggy's Pizza Place, a reference given to us by one of our new Elder friends. I think that more people from Utah visit the place than people from anywhere else. My proof?

Go UTES!

Each table at the restaurant had napkins under a large table cloth of clear plastic. Don't worry, we added two or three ourselves.

We love pizza! We ordered a pepperoni and a hawaiian but just in case you will be traveling to this wonderful place anytime soon, you should know they also have gluten free pizzas. It would have been a great thing to know before we ordered, since Laura was then forced to eat a simple green salad while we chowed down our weight in carbs. Don't worry, it was totally worth it!

While we were eating, Matt realized that he had dropped the keys in the trunk. We were locked out of Black Diamond. As stressful as the situation could have been, we laughed. Laura kept joking that it would be something she would do, and Matt is so responsible. And really, it wasn't that stressful because there was a locksmith just up the street. Matt and Laura drove in Fluffy Bunny up to his house while we were eating. He came and fixed everything and was only going to charge Matt $5! How crazy! Matt gave him a hefty tip and we didn't even lose any time or sleep over it.

This was one of my favorite napkin artworks. So I took a picture...

I love this! In the middle of lunch, the Nauvoo Bagpipe Band starting playing up the street and walked right past our window. They didn't play "Praise to the Man" but it was still unbelievable cool!  The guy at the end with the really big drum just loved his life. I don't think his smile could have been any bigger. I used to hate bagpipes. Now I can't remember why.

We couldn't eat all the pizza even with seven of us all eating multiple slices, so we got a box. I don't know how Black Diamond lucked out, but the pizza came with us. For the rest of the day, every time we got in the car, someone cried out, "PIZZA!" It was truly delightful! (The pizza and the fun times that followed)