let nauvoo in her beauty rise

nauvoo, illinois is a beautiful place. the whole city is so sacred. the events that took place there were so important to the growth of the church & the foundation of faith of the members of the early church. I am so grateful we live so close to such a historic church site!

members of the church started their trek west from nauvoo. they sacrificed so much to build up a city & beautiful temple only to be forced out by the ever increasing mobs who persecuted them for their beliefs. I am so inspired by the faith of those early church members who built up a strong community of service, love & faith with our Savior, Jesus Christ, at the center. they experienced all kinds of hardships but with the help & leadership of Joseph Smith & the apostles, they thrived & found joy in all things.

we traveled up to nauvoo early yesterday morning to make it to the first session at the nauvoo temple. we live 3 hours south of nauvoo & so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time for travel. we arrived around 7 am & enjoyed the temple grounds for a little while. we were blessed to have been in a session with several senior missionary couples who are currently serving in Adam-ondi-ahman & came to nauvoo for a session.

this was our first time going to the nauvoo temple. it was extremely enjoyable to see the beauty of the temple, inside & out. the little details marveled me & all the people we associated with there were so kind, warm & friendly. we even ran into a couple that are from federal way, wa & who are good friends to my mother in law! what a small, small world it is within the LDS community. I absolutely love that instant bond we can create with complete strangers from all over the world.

after the temple, we headed over to the visitors center to change into some casual clothing. we also met up with our friends, the langstons, who we had planned to come enjoy nauvoo with.

we spent the afternoon touring all of the different sites & old homes, taking tours & learning about the history of nauvoo & the people who lived there. we enjoyed gingerbread cookies at scovil's bakery, tasted brick oven baked bread at the family living center & got our prairie diamonds at the blacksmith's. austin even got a horseshoe they made as a birthday present! (he had the closest birthday out of the tour group)

it was EXTREMELY hot the whole day & apparently it was even worse earlier in the week. we still enjoyed the day nonetheless. around dinner time, we stopped by the fudge factory & got some delicious  smores fudge.

we then had dinner at Hotel Nauvoo & stuffed our faces full. we headed back down to the pageant site, saved our seats & relaxed from all of the walking we did & all the food we had just consumed.

the fair started & there were a lot of fun activities all around. we watched the band play while people learned pioneer dances. (I also got 2 compliments on my shiny, beautiful hair by some nice ladies)

the pageant began with "let nauvoo in her beauty rise," their own special rendition of the hymn, "let zion in her beauty rise." the pageant was performed so well & we enjoyed it! it was very spiritual & uplifting to learn about the people of nauvoo & the sacrifices they made for each other & for their beliefs.

we had a long drive home & I am so grateful for austin for staying awake to drive! (I napped nearly the whole drive.) we were so tired from waking up at 3:30 am & we sure needed a good night's rest! we are so lucky that we have 1 pm church!

I highly recommend visiting nauvoo when the pageant is going on. it is so fun & so neat to learn about church history right where it happened! I enjoyed my first trip there 3 years ago & it was fun to come again this year to see more sites than I did before. the first time I visited we stayed for 2 days so we got the chance to visit carthage jail but we did not have the time this year. I would recommend it as well! it is so spiritual & sacred to visit that site & to learn more about the steadfast faith Joseph Smith had all the way to his very last breath.

my 2010 nauvoo trip with sisters, mom, cousins & aunts:

visit:

http://www.nauvoopageant.org/

http://www.historicnauvoo.net/

austin's birthday

 we had lots of fun this week! austin turned 25 on july 18th & I wanted to make it super special since this was the first time we got to be in the same place for his birthday to celebrate. (last year I sent him a package with a week of goodies & presents).

I woke up a little bit earlier to start making him crepes for breakfast. I had never made crepes before but they turned out good!

austin also got to open a present before he left for work. I saw this book on amazon & a store last Christmas but I decided to wait to get it for him until his birthday. he loves it! its pretty nerdy but it is pretty much a jedi handbook that has been past down from jedi to jedi & they each wrote little notes in the margins (ex. anakin skywalker, count dooku, ahsoka, obi wan kenobi, yoda, luke skywalker, etc.)

it's been pretty stressful & busy at work the last couple of weeks. I stayed later every day the week of his birthday & it made me stress out a little when I was trying to get home to start cooking up his birthday dinner! I was happy with the way it turned out & austin sure loved being treated so special :) I ended up making spinach mushroom lasagna. I wanted something fancy but also something easy & simple. I didn't like any specific recipe I found on the internet so I ended up with 3 recipes that I dabbled between to put together the dish.

and of course, we got a freebie at starbucks for his birthday. they recommended a vanilla bean with raspberry syrup for him & it was so delicious! I got a strawberries & creme.

I love my husband so much & I am so lucky extremely blessed to be his wife! he is so wonderful for providing for all of our needs with a job that he absolutely loves. he is smart, supportive, kind, extremely handsome, thoughtful & everything that I have always wanted.

this little boy is all grown up!

heaven is here

I am currently reading Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson. She has a beautiful story of hopes, dreams, love, trials, faith, motherhood, beauty, the love of God, & courage.

Watch her story below:

She is definitely an inspiration to me. I am just on Chapter 8 but I am really enjoying it so far. You can check out her blog here: http://www.nieniedialogues.com/ She archives her life with her cute family on this blog.

Highly recommend it!

danica & popi vist

Last Friday, after the holiday, my sister Danica & my cousin Popi came to visit! They had originally come to keep me company while Austin would be on a business trip however his trip was postponed 2 weeks. They came anyways & it was the perfect time to come since we had a 4-day weekend. Plus, there was lots to do due to the holiday festivities.

Austin & I have been shopping for a refrigerator & microwave for awhile since we will need them for our new house. We stopped by a store that Friday morning & found a great deal. Afterwards, we explored the Bass Pro Shop for the first time which was pretty cool & soon, it was time to pick them up from the airport. After we picked them up, we headed back to our apartment to freshen up & eat some lunch.

We headed down to the St. Louis Zoo afterwards. I love the zoo here because it is free & it is in beautiful Forest Park! You also don't have to rush to see the whole zoo since you can go as many times as you want without wasting money. It was blazing hot though.

the apes walked right up to us!

After we got tired of walking around, we decided to leave & hit up Ted Drewes, a famous frozen custard place down in the city! It was a lot busier that we imagined!

raspberry brownie, apple pie, oreo & cookie dough, chocolate brownie

At the end of the day, we taught Danica & Popi how to play Settlers of Catan, our favorite game. They loved it!

Saturday, we hit up some garage sales in the morning & ran some errands. Austin & I experimented with lunch & ended up making lemon pepper chicken with sauteed vegetables & couscous. It was delish! In the afternoon, we headed down to the arch to see the air show that was going on at the St. Louis Fair.

We left just in time for the rain to start pouring. We hit up Steak & Shake to get shakes & afterwards, some Papa John's pizza. Can't resist their garlic butter sauce! We relaxed the rest of the night & watched several episodes of Numbers.

With church on Sunday & work coming up, we didn't too much else while they were here. We made sure they got to try our favorite recipes of thai curry & spinich lasagna while they were here.

Sadly, Austin & I had to work while they stayed at our apartment. Tuesday night was their last so while Austin was at Scouts, we went to the Mills Mall to do some shopping. It has been so long since I shopped with girls & it was nice! We got food at Steak & Shake (again) & got shakes & Sonic since they are half off after 8!

I really enjoyed their stay here & so glad they could come out to visit for a few days. It is always nice to be around family & I can't wait until we get to visit them in San Diego for Christmas! & to go to Disneyland with them :)