Final Destination: Nauvoo, Illinois

This morning I woke to pictures from Mr. Stannix of our girl on an airplane. They were en route to meet us at the Cedar Rapids airport shortly after noon.

I had shared a bed with Lily and Sawyer to give Hyrum the other bed to himself so that his hand wouldn't get bumped. He was pretty sore when he woke up.

I opened the curtains to let in the morning light, cracked the door to the adjoining room to see if there was any signs of life, and began getting ready for our final day of driving. It didn't take long for the littles to start stirring, and soon we were all dressed and packed up and ready for breakfast.

A few of the kids enjoyed a bowl of cereal along with their chocolate milk from the night before, while others made waffles.

We hurried through potty breaks along the way and only stopped for gas when we needed it as we had a timeframe to keep. I enjoyed spotting these barn quilts on the buildings as we made our way to the airport.

Daddy and Camilla only had to wait about an hour (oops) for us to arrive, and then together, we all went out for a slow lunch at a nearby DQ as we were only a few hours away from our destination. Grampa watched the kids eat their ice cream while Mr. Stannix and I slipped next door to Walmart to grab groceries for the first few days of our stay in the Cabin. Every seat in the van was now full due to our two new arrivals, and the cooler was stuffed.

The kids were all very excited when we finally made it to our tiny, two bedroom cabin in Nauvoo. It was a cozy space to be sure.

We snapped a quick family photo (thanks Grampa) and then began unloading for our two week stay.

My Dad had done basically all of the driving over the past few days while I acted as co-pilot, tossing out treats and breaking up fights, so he was pretty tired when we arrived.

The cute little porch swing was a very popular place to hang out for all of the Stannix littles during the afternoon while the adults relaxed. 

In the late afternoon we took in the temple grounds just down the road from us. It was so beautiful! The kids loved being there and walking around and checking it all out.

I had to snap a picture of Hyrum and Joseph with Hyrum and Joseph on horses.

Lily was so happy to be reunited with her big sister again!!

After dinner, Mr. Stannix and I left the kids at the cabin and went down to the pageant area to see the last bit of the country fair and the Nauvoo Pageant. We wanted to see what we were getting ourselves into for the next couple of weeks.

The performance was incredible and left us feeling excited (and underqualified) for what lies ahead! We came back to the cabin late to find everyone sleeping soundly.