Gas Prices and 6 Quirks

Gas prices -

Saturday I was at Costco to pick up a few things like the laundry detergent that we had run completely out of. While I was there I realized I was nearly out of gas and went to fuel up. The gas attendant came over to talk to me. (I always hate the random conversation with those attendants and tend to avoid them at all costs - I don't know why that is?).

He asked me if anyone had told me that gas had gone down the day before by 6 cents a gallon. I told him no one mentioned it, but any price drop was a good thing!! So I paid $3.81 per gallon. It cost me nearly $58. Usually it is about $65 to fill up the van if I'm completely on empty. This time I was just under a quarter of a tank.

I keep hoping that some auto maker will either hurry up with the electric car inventions or the algae fuel alternative for gasoline (an article that was in Time Magazine) or something else to reduce the soaring fuel prices.

But on the other hand, when I think about what gas prices could be ($5, $6, or even $10 per gallon - as they are some places around the world), I will just be happy with almost $4 per gallon gasoline!!

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I have been tagged by my friend Tracy and I'm supposed to share

6 Quirky things about me:

1. I cannot stand to have my kids laying around in the morning. I have to have them get up and dressed and ready for their day. Just a little pet peeve of mine!

2. I would rather drive my old van that is paid for than buy a new vehicle and have payments.

3. My youngest daughter has really fine, wispy hair. I have to put it up in a scrunchy every day or I go crazy!

4. After years of being a night owl, I have learned to love mornings! I love the quiet and the birds singing and just having time to think. One of my favorite places to do this is on my front porch swing that the kids and Laren got me for Mother's Day.

5. I do not coupon shop, it drives me crazy because I clip the coupons (not anymore) and then forget to use them at the store - or my kids are distracting me and I forget to use them. So I decided to rid myself of the guilt and just not clip them in the first place.

6. I am a light sleeper and I have trouble falling to sleep at night. I would like to blame it on all my pregnancies and babies who were fussy, but I can't because I remember having the same problem in high school.

Husband Tag

Husband tag...

So my friend and neighbor Jen tagged me. I never participated last time around so here goes...

1. What is his name?
Laren

2. Who eats more?
Him.

3. Who said I love you first?
He did.

4. Who is taller?
He is, by a mile! Actually by nearly a foot! I'm 5'3 and a half and he's 6' 2".

5. Who is smarter?
Laren is, hands down!!

6. Who is more sensitive?
Me, I'm a girl, I guess it comes with the territory! :)

7. Who does the laundry?
We both do. Laren helps me out whenever he has a chance, he's good like that! Laundry is my least favorite chore! And with 5 kids, you can imagine how it adds up quick!!

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
If you're looking at the bed, it's him. But if you're laying in the bed, it's me. Although we just switched a few months ago when Laren hurt his knee, it was too hard for him to get into bed on his side...or so he says! LOL

9. Who pays the bill?
He does. I did them up until about 2 years ago. It became a real tedious task for me and so after 12 or so years of me doing them, he took over! I've never been happier! ;)

10. Who cooks more?
I do, because uh...he never cooks! But he will help me clean up after!!

11. Who is more stubborn?
He is. Although he may dispute that?

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong?
Laren.

13. Who has more siblings?
Me - I have 9 and he has 2.

14. Who wears the pants in the family?
We both do!

15. What do you like to do together?
We almost always go on a Sunday walk together. We like to stay up and chat after the kids are in bed, yeah, interesting people we are!

16. Who eats more sweets?
That would be me.

17. Guilty Pleasures?
Hmmm, for him it's a bowl of ice cream almost every single night, and for me I like to take the time to read the newspaper almost every day.

18. How did you meet?
A blind date, but I had to get a sneak peak at him first - just in case I should need to cancel the date! But after seeing him, I knew I was keeping that date!!

19. Who purposed?
Laren did, 2 times. One time informally, and a second time with the ring. I can't believe it was 15 years ago!!

20. What is his best feature?
He helps me out on pretty much anything I endeavor to do! Of course he is incredibly handsome to me as well!!

21. What is his best quality?
See the first part of my answer to #20.

Other Church sites

Other Church Sites...

Carthage Jail. That window at the top is the one that Joseph Smith fell out of when he was shot by the mob.

On our last day in Nauvoo, we took a short trip over to Carthage, IL to see where the Prophet Joseph was martyred. Carthage is just a short 35 miles or so away. We watched a short movie and then took a tour of the jail, which was also living quarters for a husband and wife and their 6 kids. I could not imagine living in the jail especially with my kids!!

You can still see the bullet holes in the door and windowsill, where the mob came in and attacked. I walked away with kind of a bluesy feeling.

After we left Nauvoo we drove to Adam-ondi-Ahman. This is a beautiful location in Northwest Missouri. A lot of it is farm fields. It is green and lush there. This was one of my favorite parts of our trip because of the history of that place (that is where the Garden of Eden was located) and the future of that place. That is where Adam will meet with the leaders of each dispensation and get an accounting. That is also where the Saints will gather in the last days.

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Tower Hill is located there, and it is called Tower Hill because Joseph Smith and some others found an old Nephite Altar/Tower there made of rocks. The tower is no longer there, but that is where it gets it's name.

There is a great valley there, that Laren said he had heard has some of the best acoustics of anywhere - there is no echo. He told me this as we hiked down a trail part way towards the Valley. So of course upon his telling me that I had to holler, "Hel-lo-o-o!" just to try it out! There was no echo, but I don't know if it was a very scientific test! :)




While we were there, at Adam-ondi-Ahman, there were 3 busloads of Youth there from Kansas City, Missouri for a Youth Conference. They were wearing matching blue shirts, so they were easy to spot.

Far West Monument.

Our next stop was Far West, Missouri. The cornerstones for the Temple are still there and there is a memorial/monument there. The Saints were driven out and were not able to build their temple there afterall, but it was neat to see anyhow.






Then we went to the Liberty Jail Visitors Center in Liberty, MO. The tour guide gave us a little talk about the History of the Prophet Joseph Smith's time in Liberty Jail and then we got to see the Jail. This was a basement jail.

Liberty Jail.

The original foundation was there and they built a replica right over the top of it. This jail had a ceiling of only 6 ft. high, so some of the prisoners were not even able to stand upright in it. The jail was very dark. This is where Joseph wrote sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Though it was time spent in jail, it was a time when the Prophet Joseph was especially close to the Lord and able to receive much revelation.

After that we ended our Church History Tour in Independence, Missouri - just E. of Kansas City. We toured the LDS Visitor's Center there which just 2 years ago was made into a Temple Visitors Center. There is no LDS Temple there and there are 2 other Churches that own the other part of the land that the Prophet Joseph Smith dedicated for the Temple so long ago. We don't know what may happen, but the belief is that someday the Church will have that land back.

LDS Visitor's Center in Independence, MO

At the Visitor's Center they gave me a sheet entailing what that Temple is to look like, that it will be different than all of the other temples built to that point. That it will have more than one building and that it will be very large with arches, etc... I thought that was pretty neat to read.



Laren made the executive decision to drive straight home after Independence. Our original plan was to spend the night there. But the kids were getting on each other's nerves (and on our nerves - just keeping it real) and so we drove on. Just after crossing into nowhere, somewhere in Eastern Kansas, we stopped to gas up and Kyle was complaining of something on his back.

Tick.

Laren took a peek while I was in Flying J with the rest of the brood taking a bathroom break. He showed me his back and identified the source of discomfort as being a wood tick. Great! So I was going to buy some petroleum jelly and we were going to try to smother the darned thing. But as I went to check out the clerk suggested burning it out and then tweezing it.



So a hillbilly truck driver did the burning part with his ever ready pack of matches. For some reason the tick was stubborn and would not back out! Eventually it quit moving it's legs and we determined it was dead. So another clerk came over with a first aid kit and removed the tick. I was holding my breath the tick's head would come out with the body - and it did!



After almost an hour long stop, we were on our way and had a pleasant, non-bickering ride home with Laren laughing away as he listened to Laugh USA on our XM Radio! He did have to take a little no-doze and eat a bunch of junk food too. But we made it home before 5am!

Nauvoo

Nauvoo

One of the first things we did upon arriving in Nauvoo is we drove down Parley street straight to the Mississippi River. I think it is the boy in my husband and the fascination with water! Tyler and Kyle had a good time throwing rocks into the water and Laren quickly joined them skipping stones acrossed the river.





That is one wide river! I think it's around a half a mile wide, and that is not an exaggeration!! It is extra wide right now because of all the recent flooding. We had noticed quite a few places where there were sandbags when the water was cresting a couple of weeks before we arrived. We could see water lines on telephone poles and other things indicating to us just how high that river got in places! There were several messages on signs around the towns along the Mississippi thanking volunteers for their help.





Here are some of the things we did in Nauvoo:





*Went on 2 different wagon rides, one to "show us around" and one that was more a spiritual ride through the rural parts to the North. I especially enjoyed 'Dan Jones Hollow' where we sang I am a Child of God and being up on a grassy overlook above the Mississippi, a place they figure that Joseph Smith often went to think and ponder.





*Ate a really yummy lunch at the Nauvoo Bakery. They had the best sandwiches on homemade bread!





*We went to the Scovil Bakery, Blacksmith Shop, Gunsmith Shop, Brickyard, Family Living Center, the Print Shop, and toured the homes of Heber C. Kimball, Willford Woodruff, and Brigham Young. And we went and played at the Pioneer Games venue one day before lunch.

Tyler in front of a statue of Joseph Smith in the Visitors Center.

*We visited the gravesites of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Emma Smith (these 3 graves are next to each other) and also Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith.

*We attended the Nauvoo Temple - Laren and I each did an endowment session, but had to do it separately so that one of us could stay with our kids. That is a beautiful edifice, both inside and out!! I loved all of the dark wood in it's interior and the murals on the walls.

The Beautiful Nauvoo Temple.

But more than anything, I just stood in awe of that beautiful building that was erected by those early Saints who sacrificed everything they had to build that temple and religious freedom. They had finally built their "House of the Lord" and then soon thereafter had to abandon it because they were again being pursued by their enemies.




*We went to the Nauvoo Pagaent, which was excellent! We actually went to the full dress rehearsal the night before the official opening and there were fewer people, though most of the chairs were still full. I highly recommend this pageant!





*We went to see 3 other shows in Nauvoo. They are kind of like musicals, my favorite was called High Hopes and Riverboats performed by the young performing arts missionaries in Nauvoo who are 18-21 years old and it is just a 4 month mission. This one was somewhat of a love story, which is probably why I liked it :)

The Annie Amanda Show.

*The other shows we saw were Annie Amanda, geared towards children. My kids loved it! This one and Rendevous in Old Nauvoo - which is geared toward an older audience, are both performed in the Cultural Hall. The tickets for these shows were not easy to come by, even though they are free - it is just limited space! Both of them were good!!





*And then we went to Sunset on the Mississippi which is performed by the missionaries. It is kind of like a variety show on an outdoor stage - that had to be moved right before we came to up by the visitors center because of all the flooding they've had this year, the old stage for it had been under water!

Our kids in front of one of the wagon's we rode on. Please excuse the poor quality of pictures that my cell phone takes! Our regular camera's batteries lost it's juice and so we had to rely on other means!!

This program was my daughter, Kayla's favorite. At one point in the program, Kyle said, "Where's Tyler?" I looked at Laren's lap where he'd last been and he was gone! I looked at Laren and he said he didn't even realize he had gotten up! I looked high and low, it was dark at this point. It didn't take long before I found him behind us, quite a ways, off in a field chasing fireflies!!





I panic every time we have lost a child since we lost Rilyn when I was pregnant with Tyler, 4 years ago, and I had to call 911. You may recall that we found her at the school behind our house playing with some other kids under the slide.





*We drove along the highway South to Keokuk along the beautiful Mississippi a few times to get dinner, what a beautiful drive that is!! I was quite impressed by the gorgeous Sunsets over the mighty Mississippi. They were breathtaking, some of the prettier sunsets I've seen!

A sunset over the Mississippi.

*Laren ran into Mr. Ramrell in the temple. This was his high school principal in Sugar City, Idaho where he grew up. It was so fun for him to see him and catch up on his life. Later that night we ran into Brother and Sister Ramrell again, they were just leaving the Temple and we were there taking pictures with our kids. They said they were serving their 5th mission. I had told them I have long had the dream to serve 5 missions, one for each of our 5 kids. So it was inspiring to see them there and fulfilling that dream for them.

Parley Street. This used to be known as the Trail of Tears, the path the pioneers walked as they left Nauvoo and crossed the Mississippi to travel West. But know it is referred to as the 'Trail of Hope'.

At the end of our Nauvoo visit, we did as our former Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley had admonished those who attended the Temple Dedication to take a walk down Parley Street and read the journal entries of those early Saints on the signs posted along the way. And then turn back and look at the beautiful white Temple, standing on the hill, and imagine how those Saints must have felt. I tear up just rethinking it in my mind as I type this.





Those Saints taught me a lot about perserverance, sacrifice, obedience, and most of all Faith. It was a very moving experience.

Joseph Smith.

In conclusion, I add my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith that he was truly the Prophet of the Restoration who was only a boy of 14 years old when he saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. It was through Joseph Smith that the Book of Mormon was translated and that we have a living prophet on this earth today, Thomas S. Monson.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is our Savior, he gave his life so that I could overcome sin and death. I'm so grateful for those Pioneers who suffered much through persecution, sickness and countless other trials who made it possible for me to have the Gospel in my life today. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

This was such a great vacation for our family! There is really, so much to do in Nauvoo. And all of the Church sites are free. It is all geared toward families. I would do this trip again in a heartbeat!!

Fountain Park

HOT!

It is hot here these days! We are trying to beat the heat around here the best we can. Today I took my kids to a nearby park that has one of those fountains that they can play in. (similar to the one above.)

The kids played for an hour while I read my book. It was a nice little break. Usually when they play in water it is a pool and I have to play lifeguard and cannot have the relaxation of reading.

We've had the neighbor kids in and out all week and now the house is quiet as the kids have gone over to our neighbors to have a squirt gun fight and swim in their pool!

Winter Quarters and Chicago

The Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, Nebraska.





Winter Quarters













This is in North Omaha, Nebraska - I think the little town (just west of the Missouri River) is called Florence. The Winter Quarters Temple is there and right adjacent to it, on the same piece of land is a cemetary where many early pioneers are buried. Some have headstones, but not all and only 1 headstone is an original. It is really a beautiful cemetary with a very special spirit there.







This is the one headstone that is an original, at the cemetary in Winter Quarters.





Acrossed the street there is a visitors center. We went through the drive through at a nearby fastfood place and along with our fruit, homemade bread, and string cheese we had us a picnic dinner at a picturesque little park behind the Visitor's Center.














To me, I could feel a very powerful spirit while at Winter Quarters. It sits up on a hill. We walked through the Visitors Center. Kayla especially like conducting music, leading the Tabernacle Choir in a little interactive display they have set up there.













Sister Tonga, a very nice young missionary, gave us a tour and memorized each of our kids names upon hearing them one time! For the rest of the tour she called them by name. We watched a 15 minute movie about the pioneers and their efforts to move Westward. Then we went to a series of displays while Sister Tonga told us about each one.












One display was some minature covered wagons and there were some miniature items laying out and the kids had 15 seconds to pack their covered wagons. In that amount of time, they had to decide what was important to take as there was not enough room to take everything. And they had to do it quickly. This represented the task the Pioneers had to do.












At another display we got to see what the inside of one of their cabins might have looked like, it was a replica. It was very small with 2 beds and a kitchen. 12-15 people would have stayed in that cabin. It would have likely been 2 families or more that would have stayed there. At another place we put on bonnets and hats and aprons and vests like the pioneers would have worn. And at another station we pulled a handcart and then she put rocks (2 small ones, one under each wheel) and experienced how difficult that would have been! It was really difficult with the rocks under there, and that was with an empty wagon!







We stayed that night in nearby Council Bluffs, Iowa. We had reservations at a Super 8 but when we got there they had reserved us a Smoking Room when we had specifically asked for Non-Smoking. They recommended a Motel next door, called the American Inn or something like that and the place was not very clean (it was cheap though). We then had a tough time of getting out of our reservation with Super 8, but after about 5 phone calls they told Laren they would cancel the reservation and not charge us. Crazy, after they told him if we didn't want the smoking room we could just get a room at the neighboring hotel!


The banks of the Missouri River on the Council Bluffs, IA side.

CHICAGO

The next day was on to Chicago. But before we left we went to Sacrament Meeting. It was no easy task to find the Church. And then we finally found it and the sign on the door said Church didn't start until 10:00am and this was about 5 minutes to 9:00am. So we drove around for a bit and came back. It was Fast and Testimony Sunday and so it was interesting. The ward members seemed to be a mix of "Back Woodsy" type people and young marrieds, in dental school, law school, etc... One gal introduced herself to me, Angie, she and her husband had one little girl and her husband was in Law School and they were looking at moving to Denver when he graduates. They live in Omaha, but their Ward Boundary is such that they attend Church in Council Bluffs.

I wanted to make note of all of the rest areas through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois that said they had Vending Machines and Wireless Internet. I thought it was so amazing you can go and connect to the internet at a rest area! Also, it was SO green and beautiful through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois! Much prettier than I had imagined.





Church caused us to get a late start on our journey to Chicago. And shortly after we got on our way it started to rain. The rain got quite heavy at times. And then on top of that we ran into terrible traffic (it was only 2 days after the 4th of July, so I'm sure most of them were coming home from their holiday weekend) and road construction. We traveled about 10 miles in one hour. So it took us a little bit longer to get to Chicago than we had anticipated.



Marble bathrooms, and brass faucets and fixtures at the Hilton Hotel where we stayed in Chicago.







We had reserved a really nice place in Chicago, just off from Lake Shore Drive which goes right next to Lake Michigan (one of the 5 Great Lakes) on Michigan Avenue. It is in an upscale area of the city, but we got our reservation on Hotwire.com and got our room for only $85 per night! The going rate for our room would have otherwise been around $269. The only glitch was parking for that hotel was $41 per night, reminisicent of our stay the weekend before in San Francisco where hotel parking was $43 per night.

Our spacious room at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue, right off Lake Shore Dr.






Laren solved the parking dilemna by finding a spot on the street. It is free to park on the street in Chicago overnight. Then at 8:00 the next morning he went out, a block or two away from our hotel and fed the meter where our van was parked. It worked, without a problem! The next night was a different story. He parked at a different meter, not realizing it was a Tow Zone!!



He went out at 8:00 the next morning to fee the meter and the van was gone!!


This picture turned out dark, but it is part of the inside of the Hilton, then entrance to the Grand Ballroom.




What he didn't see the night before was that that particular meter needs to start being "fed" at 7:00 am and that it was a tow zone after 7:30 or something like that. Needless to say, he came back to the room and told me, "There is something interesting going on with our van." That was his way of telling me the van was gone!! I have learned that whenever Laren says "interesting" that it is usually not a good thing!

The Five Best Kids in the World!




Laren then spent the next 30 minutes on the phone trying to track down our van and finding out the fee. He spent the next 2 hours walking around, first in one direction and then another trying to find the hidden impound spot where the city of Chicago had the van. He finally found it, and there was a $160 fee to retrieve it. Ouch. And on top of that, we had a $60 ticket for parking it where it shouldn't have been. So much for trying to save $41 per night to park it!! It was a tough lesson to learn. Laren got lost a half a dozen times or more trying to find his way back to our hotel; the roads change to one way and things like that in downtown Chicago.


A polar bear swimming at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.




In the meantime I got everything packed up and the kids and I were waiting for him when he finally did make it back to the Hotel. But to back up a little, aside from that, we actually had a very nice stay in Chicago!


The camels at the Zoo.



On our first morning there, we got great showers and it was so nice to have a clean and roomy space to rest and get ready in! We were up on the 11th floor, in a corner room. Out one of the windows we could see Lake Michigan to the East. The kids took turns as to who would sleep in the beds. The first night, Kayla, Alyssa and Rilyn got a bed and the second night it was Kyle and Tyler's turn. Of course, Laren and I got a bed every night!

A Snowy Owl at the Zoo.



We went to Lincoln Park Zoo there in downtown Chicago. The parking there is very expensive, it was something like $14 for the first 30 minutes. So again, we found a free place on the street. And it is actually a very nice Zoo, with free admission as well! After the Zoo, we found a drive-through place for lunch and it was actually a miniscule amount of food. The burgers were served on little dinner rolls! So Laren and the kids were still hungry (I had eaten a nectarine and string cheese - trying to stay on a healthy diet that I blew too many times on the trip on other occassions!). Laren found a McDonald's and we dropped another small fortune for them to get more food there.





Next we wanted to go to the Navy Pier on Lake Michigan. It took us about 30 minutes of driving to figure out all the parking was very expensive and the more convenietly located it was the more it cost to park! So, again we found a free place to park on one of city side streets and walked about 2 miles (with all the kids) to the Navy Pier. Thankfully we found a tunnel to get acrossed Lake Shore Drive safely.

Leaving the Zoo. One thing is for sure, we got in a lot of walking on this vacation!

Some buildings in downtown Chicago.





I was told Lake Michigan only had a "concrete" beach, but that is not the case it has quite a few sandy beaches along it. We stopped at one of them on our way to the Navy Pier and splashed around a bit. Then we walked along the Navy Pier checking out all the prices for Boat rides along the way. We finally settled on one particular boating company with reasonable prices and we boarded almost immediately. It was fun after taking a boat ride or two in San Francisco to be on a different body of water in an entirely different part of the US to ride another boat.


Splashing around at a beach on Lake Michigan.






Again they gave us an overview of some of the major landmarks in downtown Chicago, with a pre-recorded tour guide. This included telling us about the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the US. We had been told you could take a glass elevator up to the top - but I was seriously not interested in doing that! And there are quite a few antennae's on top of Chicago's tallest buildings and I can't help but think they put them there to "add to their height" to help them in their attempts at having taller buildings than other cities. But that is my opinion. I'm sure the antennae have other functions as well.


On the Navy Pier in Chicago.



After the boat ride, we had some great laughs looking in these funky mirrors that made us either look ridiculously long and lanky or hilariously short and squatty!! We also took a ride on a BIG Ferris Wheel that overlooks the Pier and Chicago. Only 6 people could ride in each "car" so Laren and I split up and Kayla, Rilyn and Tyler came with me and Laren took Kyle and Alyssa with him.


Tyler, Laren and Kyle looking into the "Squatty" funny mirror on the Pier.



Then Alyssa went on a "swing" ride and I took Tyler and Rilyn on a Carousel. Kyle tried his hand at running a remote controlled boat. We got dinner at an Italian Place on the Pier. And after that we looked in a bunch of little shops and stores they have there. The kids each got a souvenir.


A view of Chicago from our boat ride.

The 5 Best Kids in the World in front of the Boat that took them on a ride on Lake Michigan.

My Boys on the Boat ride.

Us before boarding the Ferris Wheel on the Navy Pier.





There was a great fountain outside where the kids had a good time getting themselves soaked while we waited for a Trolley ride through the streets of downtown and onto the famous Magnificent Mile in Chicago's trendiest shopping district. The girls wanted to go to the American Girl Doll Store, but it was getting late and we just couldn't fit it in. Laren rode the Trolley a short ways and then walked to get the van. We met back up with him at the Pier and we went back to our hotel for the night.


Alyssa on the Swing Ride she took.

The Carousel ride Tyler, Rilyn and Mom took.

All of us on the Navy Pier.

Kyle, Kayla and Rilyn in the restaurant.

Alyssa and Tyler in the restaurant.






The next morning was when we found out the van had been towed. It kind of put a damper on things. But after getting the van back we went to one of the beaches on Lake Michigan for a couple of hours and went swimming. This time we paid for parking, $9 for 2 hours! :) It was actually a really nice beach and the water was pleasantly comfortable. For the most part, it was a decent crowd there. But I was disturbed by 2 heavy-set darker skinned (one looked hispanic) ladies who were obviously an item. They put on quite a display of public affections for each other both in and out of the water.

The kids getting wet in the fountain.

The kids riding the Trolley in Chicago.

Then we drove through Chicago's Chinatown, which is no where in comparison to San Francisco's Chinatown. The kids were hoping to find some cheap shops there to buy some more souvenirs, but we never did. We then headed to see the Chicago Temple. We hadn't printed off directions ahead of time and thankfully we were able to use Laren's Blackberry to Google directions. But it was a long 1 plus hour drive to the North in heavy Chicago traffic. We finally found it! It was beautiful!!

Kayla in front of the Chicago Temple.

It looked like it was during it's 2 week summer closure and they were doing some construction work. There are big beautiful trees all around the land surrounding the temple and there is one house that is just on the other side of the fence from the temple, no road or anything in between - which I thought was interesting. And there are apartments acrossed the street.

Waiting outside our hotel for Dad to come with the van.

It was rush hour by this time and it took us forever to get out of Chicago. And we had to drive on a few toll roads as well. But they were cheap compared to E-470 here in Denver. I think we only had to pay around $1.80 for all the tolls total in Chicago. I had tried to get a hold of my cousin Terri M. while in Chicago - she lives there, but somehow I ended up with the wrong number and could never reach her. I think she was on vacation then anyway - I had gotten an automated email sent from her office emai saying she would be away until the same day or so that we were leaving. This is my cousin that got brain cancer a few years ago, and so far has been successful at staving the cancer off. She is married with 2 teenage boys.

Swimming in Lake Michigan.

We headed off for Nauvoo, IL. It was a long drive but we finally made it around 10pm. We ran into more road construction and had to take a detour to get to our hotel in Fort Madison, Iowa - a short drive from Nauvoo. In order to cross the Mississippi River into Iowa we had to cross a drawbridge. At the time we entered, it was pouring down rain and had been for miles, it was dark and we had to wait 30 minutes at the draw bridge for a tug boat and a barge to pass underneath before they could put the bridge back and we could cross.

Swimming in Lake Michigan, July 2008.





Then we had to drive to the far end of town to our hotel. But we finally got there and got settled!