Bartholomew Reunion-Nauvoo

The 2017 Bartholomew reunion culminated in Nauvoo, Illinois.  Between much persecution and moving place to place, the early members of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, found a brief respite in the swampy land of Commerce.  After draining the swamp, the early church members built a beautiful city, renaming it Nauvoo.  At one point it was the 2nd largest city in Illinois. We camped again, enjoying Historic Nauvoo and the fun activities there.

At the camp ground some of the kids made a little frog/toad city.  It was so cute!






We went to two different pageants there.  One based on church members who came to Nauvoo, and another one based on the British who joined the church over in England and surrounding areas. Before each pageant they had a fair with lots of different games.


















Our full day there, Friday, we spent going around town.  But first Lee and I and others went to the temple for an early session.  We had been showering at a campground all week, sharing towels and dirty towels...  There is a welcome center across the street from the temple so Lee and I went in early and took showers.  It's such a great facility with clean, white fluffy towels and soap!  I thought how luxurious this was and my thoughts went to the early Pioneers of my church who walked & rode across the plains to Utah.  They had so many physical hardships.  I wonder what they think of their Nauvoo temple being rebuilt (it was destroyed by fire a few years after mobs forced the church members out of Nauvoo) and of this welcome center with clean, running water and towels that I didn't even have to wash...let along wash by hand!



We went on two different rides that day, the wagon ride and the carriage ride.  Lee got tickets for us and I told him the carriage ride.  He didn't know there was a difference so got wagon ride tickets instead.  Poor guy, I was not happy about that as I wanted us to go on the carriage ride.  I'm not very good about dealing with kinks in plans.  We ended up being able to go on both rides so in the end it worked out. 




We heard some awesome stories about church members who lived in Nauvoo and knew the Prophet Joseph Smith.  We heard many powerful testimonies during our visit.


The kids tried their hand at making rope.








Steven and Clark are quite the buds!




We also visited the brick yard, the bakery,  the blacksmith's and Joseph and Emma Smith's gravesites.








A photo from an evening pageant. One night I saw my friend Melissa which was fun, along with my cousin Missy.  I also saw some friends from our ward in Missouri!








The kids hunted for geodes in a riverbed that same morning and they each found a few.
















Friday night we celebrate Alyssa's birthday.  Lena or Mike made some s'more brownies.  They were fantastic!  Lee and I bought some ice cream at a gas station to share with the brownies.


My mom gives each grandkid a $2 bill in their birthday card.  Alyssa mistaking received two $2 bills.  Quite the birthday surprise!






A cicada crawling out of its skin.


We had a great time in Nauvoo and left Saturday morning.  We swung down to Sam's near St. Louis as we wanted to visit their family.  We stayed for the day.  It was great to see them and hear about some fun retirement plans Sam is doing.  Thanks for the visit and the fun food Sam and Shawna! 


On Sunday we were at Stephanie's house.  We went to church, had dinner and took off again.  It was fun visiting them briefly.  Steph saved some cake for James' birthday and had Alyssa join in the celebration as well. Thank you Steph for feeding us yummy food as well and giving us a place to sleep!




We arrived home that morning (around 6:30am?) with enough time to take a nap and for Lee to go to work at 9am.  It was a great trip.  I am always so thankful when we arrive home safe and sound.