Fall Break

This past week has been Fall Break for our school district. We enjoyed General Conference last weekend and a visit from Granma Vickie. While the kids were out of school we did a few fun things together. One day we visited the Arizona Natural History Museum. Gideon was excited to show a few displays to his siblings. (Gideon and I took Diana there during her recent visit.) If any of you have seen the movie “Night at the Museum,” Gideon was excited to show his siblings the “Rexie” and “Dum Dum” that our museum has. We also went out to the courtyard and panned for fool’s gold in the manmade stream. We had a good time.
Another day Kyler went with me and the Cub Scouts to the Gilbert Historical Museum. Not as cool as a museum with dinosaurs, but they still learned a bit about Gilbert History and got to sit on a police motorcycle. The docent who gave us the tour was once a mayor of Gilbert and attended school in the museum building. I thought that was cool.
On Friday, our last day of vacation, Kyler planned a family bike ride and picnic for his siblings and I to a nearby pond behind the McQueen Rec. Center. This activity fulfilled a Cub Scout elective. Gideon rode his bike with training wheels all the way there and back! He and I were the caboose of the group, but he made it – what a trooper! At the pond we enjoyed our picnic. We got to feed the ducks and the 1 ½ ft. long catfish! The fish were huge!
Saturday night Jerika went with a friend to a church youth dance (8:30 -10:30pm) and Tori went to a friend’s birthday party (5-10pm!) Oh, our girls are growing up!
Today at church I was sustained as the new Cub Scout Committee Chair. I’m still Wolf Den Leader until they call someone, hopefully that will be soon. Today I also ran my first Cub Scout Committee meeting. It went well for my first time. This past week I also enjoyed playing volleyball at the church again with the ladies and I also worked on preschool stuff. I’m enjoying my preschool class. I’m hoping to refine my planning time so that I can spend more time enjoying Gideon his last year at home. Since our elementary school only offers full time kindergarten, this is my last year at home with him. How sad! Well, I want to make the most of it, so I’ll do my best to simplify.
Jerry is enjoying scouts. He is helping his boys prepare for a Rendezvous in January. They’re going to make their own knife handles, leather pouches, maybe even their own teepee. Jerry is quite excited.
That’s it for now.
Love, Steph

Nauvoo Vacation - Last entry

Gideon at the edge of the Mississippi River

The Summary ...

THURSDAY 8/3/2007

· Kyler felt sick. Ran a low grade fever off & on throughout the day. Yay for Tylenol.
· 8:30am – We gathered our family and some of the Allen’s kids and went to the “Trail of Hope” which is the east end of Parley Street that leads to the Mississippi River. When the pioneers were forced out of Nauvoo, they lined their wagons up on Parley Street, waiting their turn to cross the Mississippi, whether by ferry or by crossing the frozen river. Cast members from pageant presented journal entries of various pioneers and their last moments in Nauvoo. The hymn “Come, Let Us Anew” has taken on new meaning to me now.

This is a ferry like the ones used by the pioneers to cross the Mississippi.


At the edge of the Mississippi River after viewing "Trail of Hope."

Gideon is holding a lily pad and Tori is holding a lily pad flower.

Once we reached the Mississippi River, we took off our shoes and waded in the water. The lily pads and their flowers are huge! Some, a foot across or more!
· There is a pioneer memorial board at the Mississippi’s edge that lists over 2,000 names of those who left Nauvoo but died along the trail. Our ancestor Albert Miner is on the list. He is the son-in-law to Edmund Durfee.
· We return to the Allen’s house to pack up.
· I make one last, quick stop at the Land & Records Office for last details.
· We drive through northern Missouri towards Bethany and see LOTS OF CORN & SOY BEAN FIELDS, but no fast food places for lunch! We finally come to a Subway Sandwich shop in Unionville. In Bethany we stop for a quick visit with Gma Susie’s friends the Johnsons whom she knew back in San Jose 40 years ago.
· 4pm – We arrived at Adam-Ondi-Ahman … the reverent feeling there was awe inspiring.
· 6pm – We arrived at Liberty Jail … gives new meaning to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly” (D&C 121:45-46)
· 8pm – We arrived at the Visitor’s Center in Independence … the only church owned visitor’s center without a temple.
· 10pm – We get a hotel, a bit of a complicated situation since there was a bikers’ convention in town.

FRIDAY 8/4/2007

· 9am - We leave for St. Louis; Jerry is excited to be driving on freeway and not highways through podunksvilles. We are TIRED of seeing LOTS of corn & soybean fields, but should be grateful – We saw more greenery in a week in the Midwest than we see in a year in AZ! We crossed the Missouri River for 1st time. (We crossed the Mississippi River 4 times during our trip.)
· 2:30pm (CDT) - Our flights take off on time! Jerry and the boys have a layover in Denver. The girls and I change planes in Houston. Gma Vickie & Gma Susie fly to Las Vegas together. Jerry & the boys’ plane had to wait out a storm in Denver, so they arrived in Phoenix 30 min late. Gma Susie’s plane to San Jose had to turn back to Vegas due to a flap problem on the wing. She arrived in San Jose finally, about 8:30pm (PDT).
· Tio Eric picks up the tired Newitts at the Phoenix airport. We have dinner at Cathy’s then head home.

The Details...

THURSDAY 8/3/2007

After driving through the northern portion of Missouri, we finally arrived at Adam-Ondi-Ahman around 4 pm. The valley was green. The trees were lush along the distant river that ran through the area. We visited two different hillsides. The reverent feeling there was awe inspiring. It calmed my spirit and filled my soul with a profound, reverent peace. I hope to never forget it.

At the entrance to Adam-Ondi-Ahman.

Overlooking the valley.

Our next stop was at 6 pm in Liberty, Missouri, to see one of the jails where Joseph & Hyrum Smith and their companions spent about 5 months incarcerated. It was here that the Prophet Joseph received 2 powerful and touching revelations on dealing with adversity (D&C 121, 122). As we saw the jail and understood its purposeful construction, and saw the conditions that these men lived in during the harsh winter, the scripture to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly” (D&C 121:45-46) took on new meaning to me. To have positive, virtuous thoughts even in these dire circumstances was possible with faith.

At Liberty Jail. The cross section of the jail is housed in a Visitors' Center.

At 8 pm we arrived at the Visitor’s Center in Independence … the only church owned visitor’s center without a temple. We enjoyed the dramatized history that we were able to see and hear. The kids enjoyed the children’s pioneer play area.

We flew home Friday afternoon from St. Louis, Missouri. It was a great trip. The kids, especially Kyler, are asking when we can go again. It was an incredible and inspirational trip.

For Anyone Going to Visit Nauvoo

Lessons Learned

There are some things I wish I’d done differently and advice I’d give someone visiting Nauvoo. The main issue was not enough time.

We should have flown into Kansas City, and drove to Nauvoo while doing the MO sites. I really regret not having more time in Independence (we had about 25 mins). Feasibly, you could try to fly in on a Saturday as early as possible, spend the rest of the day in Independence and Liberty (depending on how early the flight in was) and get a hotel. Then you could leave early Sunday to see Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and Far West on the drive to Nauvoo. On Sunday, some of the Nauvoo sites are open, including the old visitor’s center. You’ll probably want to stay in Nauvoo through at least Friday, if not Saturday. Ideally, we’d have driven down the Mississippi on the last day and flown out of St Louis. Without stopping it’s about a 4 hour drive.

Having a cooler full of ice and water bottles was a necessity. Hit a grocery store the 1^st day and buy a flat of water, a styrofoam cooler and ice. Healthy snacks are also highly valued, since many days we ended up eating meals late in order to see sites. Buy ice and more snacks at mini-marts throughout the journey.

In Nauvoo, I liked doing the wagon ride and old visitor’s center first. After a day or tow, it would have been nice to do the carriage ride and the ox cart ride, but we didn’t have time. There are no vignettes, demonstrations or other shows that I’d pass up on; as a matter of fact, there were some we couldn’t see because they weren’t shown on the days we were there or we didn’t have time (detect a theme?). You need to get tickets for the some of the shows at the visitor’s center a day or two in advance.

Note: for endowments and baptisms, you need reservations, but not for sealings.

Taking Stephanie down to the river (at the end of Parley street there were a couple of benches on the other side of the stage) to watch the sunset was one of my favorite moments. Dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo was nice. The buffet was good. Bring bug repellant.

Jerika had a great idea for souvenirs for the boys. We bought them wooden rubber-band shotguns in one of the gift shops and took it to the pre-pageant activities where we got them branded with the pageant logo.

Don’t underestimate how much time you may spend in the lands and records office. If you do some genealogy work *before you go so you have a list of names of ancestors that may have lived in Nauvoo at the time, you’ll come home with a ton of information about them. You could spend a couple hours there gathering information. When you are done, they burn it to a CD for you to take home.

Speaking of time, leave enough time every day for journal writing, and personal time. I’d suggest every morning.

Of course, you have to see the pageant. The night or morning before you are going to see the pageant, take tape and papers with your names on them to the audience area and reserve seats. I’d say shoot for the back of the front center section. You can get too close and be careening your neck too much. I would like to have seen the pageant twice.

It was nice to visit the old cemetery knowing what relatives we had that died there. It was a good, slow down, rest and ponder moment. Visiting the grave sites of Joseph, Emma and Hyrum was also one of those moments.

There is a very nice campground in Nauvoo, but it may be full of pageant performers.

The ride to St Louis: On the way back you could visit Hannibal, MO early enough in the day to do the Twain (train) ride (closed at 4:00 pm) and maybe the museum. I’m not sure I’d do the cave again. The Mark Twain historical portion was nice and the tour was entertaining, but I’d rate the cave itself quite low as far as caves go. There were very few geologically intriguing aspects. Maybe if it weren’t so costly it would be a definite. In St Louis, if there’s time, you could see the arches. We didn’t have time.

Before you go

Visit nauvoopageantcousins.org before you go (it is available there as well in case you can’t do it at home) and put in as much information as you can to find out which of the characters from the pageant you are related to. Print it out and bring it to the pre-show activities. You can get pics with the performers, plus it’s nice to watch for those characters in the performance.

Visit the Historic Nauvoo web page and look at the calendar and schedule. It’s a good idea to generally plan your week beforehand so you don’t miss things. Leave time for rest, pondering and journal writing. Note that some of the sites are only open in the afternoons.

*See note about doing some genealogy work before you go. Print out the information and bring it along.

Newitt Vacation - Nauvoo Part 3

Dear Family,
Here's the next entry about our Nauvoo Trip.
Love, the Newitts

The summary...

WEDNESDAY 8/2/2007
· 9:30am we arrived at Carthage Jail to see the location of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph.

· Back at the Allen’s home we had a nice sit down dinner-lunch with the Allens.
· Gma V, Gma S, Jerry, the boys and I went to the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds to look for family head stones. There is a memorial board there listing the names of those early saints who died while in Nauvoo.

· In the cemetery Vickie & Jerry searched for Seymour Brunson, but his headstone must have deteriorated long ago. Thanks to the Miner Family Organization, we found the beautiful marker for Edmund Durfee, the first ancestor on Dad’s side to join the church.
· We visited the Pioneer Family Living Center and saw demonstrations on weaving, candle making, bread making, spinning, and the kids’ favorite – rope making. We brought home a rope they made!
· We visited the rebuilt Red Brick Store of Joseph Smith. We bought some souvenirs, including root beer!

· 4pm – Bagpipe trio; We went to one of the Groves to hear an actor portray Joseph Smith giving the discourse on eternal families from Bro. King Follett’s funeral. The early saints met in groves of trees for worship instead of chapels because the building resources were used for the temple, homes & businesses.
· We did some souvenir shopping in downtown Nauvoo.
· We walked the temple grounds and the kids were able to see the sun, moon and star stones of the temple exterior.

· 6:30pm – We watched the variety show “Sunset on the Mississippi.” Kyler and Gideon were in the welcoming parade and were on stage for the flag ceremony. The show was performed by senior missionaries and the young summer performing missionaries. It was incredible!

The details...

WEDNESDAY 8/2/2007
Wednesday began with a 20 minute drive out to Carthage. We wanted to visit the Carthage Jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred. At the Visitors’ Center we were shown a brief film in which LDS and non-LDS gave their thoughts on Joseph Smith. I’d never seen this film before and liked it.

Kyler as the "Key Master"

After the film, we were taken to the jail. Kyler was chosen to be the "Key Master" of our tour. On the main floor of the jail house were the main living quarters of the jailer and his family. Upstairs was the Dungeon Cell and the bedroom of the jailer and his wife. We learned about the many miracles that took place there in the Carthage Jail in order to allow for the testimony of two witnesses to the martyrdom of the Prophet. The beginnings of the miracles was the kindness and report that the jailer’s family showed the prophet and those who were with him. They befriended each other and shared meals together on the main floor of the jail house. The prisoners were even allowed to play with the jailer’s children.
The day the mob attacked, the temperature in the upstairs Dungeon Cell was about 120◦F. The cell had no air flow and its walls were of stone. (see photo) The only light in the room came from 2 narrow slits in the walls. The jailer moved Joseph and his group into his own bedroom so they could be more comfortable. The jailer left the jail on business, leaving his wife and children downstairs – what a trusting jailer! What trustworthy prisoners! The mob stormed the jail, ran upstairs, and attacked the bedroom. Hyrum died instantly, Willard Richards only had his ear nicked, John Taylor was struck 4 times and rolled under the bed, attempting to preserve his own life. Joseph leaped to the window, possibly to draw the mob’s fire. Once Joseph fell from the window, the mob ran downstairs to investigate. Once the mob left, Bro. Richards took Bro. Taylor to the Dungeon Cell and hid him under the straw-tick mattress, clotting his wounds and preventing him from bleeding to death. They feared the mob would return. However, the mob, once outside, heard someone shout, “The Mormons are coming!” and so they scattered, never returning to the upstairs to kill the witnesses.
In spite of the mob’s actions, the Carthage Jail has become a symbol to me of kindness and trust. It is inspiring to me.

Jerry's group pointing to Brunson name

In the afternoon, while we were at the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds, we took a picture of the Edmund Durfee grave marker.

Edmund Durfee grave marker

Click image for larger view

We visited the rebuilt Red Brick Store of Joseph Smith. We bought some souvenirs, including root beer! Yummy!! While there, we took a self guided tour of the 2nd floor. This was the room where the first LDS endowments were given because the temple wasn’t ready at that time for such ordinance work. It was also the room where the Relief Society was formally organized. (See photo of Steph & mothers at RS secretary's desk.) I enjoyed imagining the women there in meeting for that historical event! The LDS Relief Society is the oldest woman’s organization in the world!

Bagpipe Trio at the Grove

Later in the afternoon we followed the sound of the bagpipe trio to one of the Groves downhill from the temple. The early saints met in groves of trees for worship instead of chapels because the building resources were used for the temple, homes & businesses. We sat on rough hewn logs and at the focal point was a rough log pulpit. The actor who portrays Joseph Smith in the pageant came and delivered a part of Joseph Smith’s discourse on eternal families which he gave at Bro. King Follett’s funeral. I was amazed at how the sound carried in the Grove. I enjoyed imagining hundreds of early saints listening to the Prophet Joseph on such an occasion.

After the vignette, we did some souvenir shopping and then took the kids to the temple and walked the temple grounds. The kids were able to see the sun, moon and star stones of the temple exterior and were excited about touching one of the moon stones near the temple steps.

Our evening ended with the variety show “Sunset on the Mississippi.” Kyler, Gideon and I were recruited to be in the welcoming parade. We met back stage and the boys got their homemade paper hats. Kyler got to hold a small green flag and Gideon got to shake a tambourine. Then we joined the group of children and paraded through the lobby, down through the theater and onto the stage for the flag ceremony. The show was performed by senior missionaries and the young summer performing missionaries. It was incredible! They sang, danced, played musical instruments, performed skits, told jokes … oh, we were laughing up a storm! What a mission to be on! It was a great way to end the evening.

Finally

Ok, we've finally come around to the 2000s. Here's our blogspot. Hopefully we'll actually update it more than our .org web page.