Learning the Ropes

 Today was another fully booked day. After an early breakfast we headed to Pageant Headquarters for a British Music Rehearsal in the morning, followed by a Nauvoo Pageant Blocking rehearsal. There was lots of singing, explanations, and dance steps to be learned! We had a lunch break from 12-2pm where we ate at the cafeteria and headed back to our cabin for a rest. The heat made the children extra tired and they needed a few moments to recoup. On our way to the cabin Sawyer asked, "Are we going back to our shed for a little while?" We all burst out laughing. It was tiny, but not THAT tiny. So it's become a running joke now. "We heading back to the shed, Mom?"

Most of our afternoon was spent at Pageant Headquarters in a dance rehearsal. For the first hour the children went with the family service helpers to do a craft while the adults learned a few group dances from start to finish. When they joined us, we went through the dances with the children's parts added in. We were all tired and sweaty at the end!

We had a little bit of time to eat dinner and then we headed down to the Country Fair to meet up with Grampa and take it all in! Our family was assigned the stick ball station for the rest of the week, so tonight we made sure to check it out and see what we were in for. We were also able to enjoy some of the other games and stations for the evening. 

Just before the pageant began, we were able to go on stage and meet the family who's part we would be playing the following week. Throughout the rest of the evening we were able to watch their positioning on stage and learn a little bit more about where we were going to be during each scene and what we would be doing. 

The Stage for the British Pageant

The family we were learning from on the left

 The dress rehearsal (it was their first time performing it) was so well done! They shared so many great stories and the dances were incredible! It was very engaging (except to Lily who fell asleep in my arms in the first half) and the kids watched it wide eyed and excited. I think they were finally able to catch the vision and understand how much hard work and fun were in store for the week ahead! They chatted non-stop on the way back to our "shed" about how cool the performance was and how they couldn't wait to be the ones on stage!

Church & Costume Fittings

 Sunday morning had us dressed and off to Sacrament Meeting at Pageant Headquarters. The entire gym space gets filled with chairs and the amount of people that come fill all of those chairs and the bleachers behind. 

They have over a dozen young men passing the sacrament and Hyrum got asked to join them. With so many people in the building they start at the front and backs of rows and work their way towards each other. It's quite effective!

After church we went back to walk the temple grounds again and get a family picture in our Sunday best. With a crew this big there is always somebody blinking or looking away, but we captured the memory!

Lily just ran around singing for most of it!

 

 

A few of the kids asked for individual pictures in front of the temple and I was more than happy to snap those!

We also officially let people know that BABY NUMBER EIGHT will be joining us early in the New Year. We are so excited for this prayed for little one! There is such a story of faith behind this pregnancy as I've grown to trust more deeply in the Lord and the plan that he has for our family.

The afternoon brought us back to Pageant Headquarters for our scheduled costume fitting. Most of us were given two outfits for the Nauvoo Pageant (one dark and one light in color)  and one outfit for the British Pageant. 

 

The vests were reversible which makes costume changes  during the show a lot easier with little people! The kids thought it was so fun to get outfitted and check out how they looked in the mirror. The boys had to stand on the raised step so that their pants could be marked for adjustments to make sure everything fit proper.

 

I think their hats were my favorite!

 

These two were so stinkin' cute in their costumes!

 

Sawyers little pants for the British Pageant were also adorable and Mr. Stannix was rocking his new facial hair.

 

It was quite amazing that they were able to outfit all nine of us in such a short time! 

 

With markings made to hem pants and skirts, we took the things that fit well in two large laundry baskets with instructions to grab the rest of our stuff from the rack outside the room the following day. The kids were pretty happy!

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.