Day 4

This morning we went back to Nauvoo and we did a mini handcart trek. It was only one mile and it was cool because it consisted of hills and some rivers to cross. We went through a field with cows and they just stared at us and watched us pass. We also went to Carthage jail. It was a neat place, if you can say that jails are neat. :) We went back to Nauvoo and went into more buildings. My favorite place was the post office. They told us that since it cost by how much paper was being sent, people would write one way on the paper an then turn it and write again. It would be confusing but I might try sending something like it to someone. It was odd because the weather turned on us very quickly. It was beautiful weather and then after we came out of one building, it was overcast and raining cats and dogs. We also went to a fudge place on main street. Then we went on a tour of Joseph Smith History which includes a tour of houses he lived in, from the Community of Christ church because they own some of the property. As part of the tour we saw their graves. 

Day 3

Today we went to the old Nauvoo town. We took a wagon ride and got a tour of the area. After that we went to some of the buildings within the town. I was surprised to find out that a lot of the historic houses are occupied by the missionaries. Due to the Nauvoo Pageant in the summer, they send more missionaries out to the area. At 5 we went and did baptisms at the temple. We had a member of the temple presidency come talk to us. I was able to do baptisms too because mom brought me some family names to do. The font inside is tall and huge! After baptisms, the girls went back to the hotel and Mom and Dad and I did a session. It was very nice. When we got back to the hotel, the girls had prepared us dinner and it was nice to relax. Before bed, we started watching "Confessions of a Shopaholic". Fun day!  

Trip Continued

Well the whole "Day 1....Day 2..." etc thing didn't really work out. I always plan to be really diligent in doing it but it hasn't worked. We are actually almost done with the trip, only a couple days left. I've still taken a lot of pictures and I'm still planning on posting them. I'll try to piece the days together.

Day 2: 
Highlights of the day were the Chicago Zoo (which was free!!!), the History of Chicago Museum and the Chicago Bean. At the museum we went on an audio tour and it was pretty cool. I didn't know what to expect with the Bean because I'd never heard of it prior to the trip and to keep an element of surprise and excitement I didn't look up a picture.

Trip Day 1

I don't know what to call this trip exactly, it could be the Kansas trip or the Chicago trip but we are going to many more places than those two alone. The church history trip? Yep, that'll be part of it but it's not all. So for now, it's just a generic trip.
This morning we got to the airport at 9 am and went through security and all that fun jazz. I'm not gonna lie, I enjoy taking my shoes off and emptying my personal bag and pockets to go inside a giant scanner. Maybe it's inconvenient for some but I think it's pretty neat. We boarded the plane and took off around 10:15. Luckily we didn't sit next to strangers, although I'm sure my sisters would claim me as a stranger when I slept, we were able to all sit in the same row. Taking off reminded me of a Disneyland ride when we shot off the ground. Even though I slept, it still felt like a pretty long flight. I woke up a half hour before we landed and even though C had the window seat, I still was able to look out the window. Clouds are so cool! They only go up so high and we were above them. (If you can't tell, we don't fly a lot. This is only our second time) When we landed we were in CHICAGO! We then went to find our luggage. This was a bit of a wait and in the process we forgot the 4th member of the Beetles band. A was wearing their shirt and we couldn't remember one of their names. We had John, Paul, Ringo and......well, it's George. Yep obviously he was forgettable. Sorry George.

We got lost on our way to finding the shuttle to take us to the car rental place. Also, having the inner kid inside me, I convinced A to ride the fast track with me again even though we already went over it once. You know, that moving strip that lets you go faster than your normal walk could ever take you. I loved it. We got to the rental place and got our fancy black minivan, still sponsoring Utah I suppose. We got to our hotel and dropped the luggage off. We went to a store to feed our empty stomachs with a snack and then we headed to the Chicago temple. We took some fun pictures. We also learned that wealthy people must live close to the temple because those houses were more like mansions. After the temple we went to get dinner. We went to get pizza because Chicago is pretty famous for their pizza. We ate it back at the hotel and then went swimming. End of day one and it's already been a ton of fun.

Speeding through

SO many things will be changing here in the next little bit. Finals are coming up next week and then after that we leave. I really hate thinking about it. I don't appreciate change but I know it's inevitable. I was mentioning to my friend the other day that change really stinks. I try to imagine the future, the near and the far, and I have to keep telling myself that good things will happen but it's hard to imagine anything better when you've already got it good. Be grateful in the moment and embrace what I have now. Be flexible with change. Change can be good. All things I have to tell myself.

Tender Mercies

There are so many tender mercies that occur, but the real question is....do we see and recognize them? Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is the scripture James 1:17. It says,
 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." I really love this scripture. If you think about it, it's all about recognizing tender mercies. I came across this video and it explains what a tender mercy is. I really couldn't have worded it better myself. You'll just have to watch it.

The Lord loves us and is mindful of us. He gives us these tender mercies to show us that He doesn't forget about us and He knows us. An example of one I had recently recognized is that I was going to have a super busy Wednesday. There weren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all that I had to do. I knew that the day could end with me being frazzled. Instead, it wasn't so bad. I was about to head to my class and low and behold, the class was canceled. I was able to use that time to refocus on what was priority and able to get a small break from the rest of my crazy day. I know the Lord knew I needed that break. It was no coincidence. Tender mercies are incredible.

Spring Break

I had a great spring break. It's really an understatement just saying that. It was fantastic! Not to mention this that I am talking about was only half of my great break. Wednesday night I couldn't sleep. It felt a lot like the day before the first day of school or the night before Christmas morning. I was so excited. Thursday morning I woke up and shortly after, B and K came and picked me up and we headed to Riverton. We met up with M and S there. We went to S's grandparents house and his grandpa was so kind in letting us use his four-wheelers. We made a quick breakfast and to make a long story short, we headed to our camping spot in San Rafael. We set up camp and we four-wheeled for as long as we could. Unfortunately the weather wasn't in our favor that night and coming back was quite an adventure. It started raining and eventually it got to snowing. We were all soaking and as the hale hit our face it stung pretty bad. M rode with S, K rode with B, and I rode with P. We got back and it held off a little bit but we all congregated to the truck. We were really wet. It was getting dark and no one wanted to leave the warm truck. Eventually we got out and built a fire and ate hot dogs. That night it way still raining and we slept in the tent. The wind was blowing real hard. A lot of the things we slept with were wet and prior to it raining and us heading to bed we held it next to the fire to get things dry. The next day we ate breakfast and we four-wheeled most of the day. The scenery was incredible. Not only is P such a great driver but he was also very kind and patient with me when I drove. He taught me so much. We went to some cool places and the weather was so much better. That night we made dutch oven potatoes which are sooo good. We also ate smores. That night S and P slept on their cots and M and I were in the bed of the truck. It was cold but so worth it. The next morning we watched the sun come up and that was an adventure all by itself. But then the trip was over. Man, I wish it could have been a lot longer. We took a ton of pictures but this is the single picture I have access to.