Sunday (day 3)

Sunday morning we dressed in our church clothes before heading down to eat the free breakfast provided by the hotel. Afterwards we loaded up the van and headed to the LDS meetinghouse in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from where we stayed. We attended the Kanesville Ward and were welcomed first by sister missionaries and then several people in the ward. They were very friendly!

We only stayed for part of Sacrament Meeting because the boys started acting up and we needed to get on the road anyway to finish traveling to Nauvoo. The last hour of travel seemed to take forever! We finally got there and enjoyed taking a quick tour of the Hyrum Smith Farmhouse where we would stay while in Nauvoo.

Front of the home

Rear of the home

Because it was Sunday we just spent the rest of the day relaxing with the rest of my family who had all arrived on Saturday. Grandpa Ventura pulled out his guitar. The grandkids who are taking lessons joined in and we all sang various songs. It was so much fun!

Monday (day 4)

We took family pictures out at the Sarah Granger Kimball farmhouse. It was a little hot but the pictures turned out so well! I’ll post those pictures another day. For now here’s one I took on my phone with my parents and all the grandkids. It’s not very good but wait until you see the awesome ones the photographer took!

Of course, Thea Rose was the center of attention whenever there was a break in the picture taking.

The pictures took most of the morning. After we changed we ate lunch and then each family headed in different directions.

Monday afternoon we toured some of the buildings of Old Nauvoo, the first being the Jonathan Browning Gunsmith shop. The boys especially loved it!

I took the younger kids to see Just Plain Anna Amanda (which was super fun!) while the rest of the group toured the Print Shop, the Tinsmith Shop, John Taylor Home, and the Post Office. Then Julia on up went and saw The Promise at the visitor’s center and I took the little boys to Pioneer Pastimes where they got to dress up and play old fashioned games. Aren’t they so cute?

Monday evening everyone gathered back at the farmhouse for a special family home evening put together by my parents. My mom had created a slideshow with excerpts from letters they sent to my grandparents living in Spain. The excerpts told of our births and every day living. It was such a treasure to see!

After the slideshow we played family history bingo with pictures of us as well as our ancestors filling the bingo cards. It was a very fun filled evening!