Made it to Moab

After a very long day, we finally made it to Moab, Utah late in the afternoon! The views were incredible as we drove and the littles were excited about the red rock surrounding us on the highway. 

These flowers literally lined the freeway from Kansas to Utah. They were so bright and sunny looking!

Mr. Stannix found us the best hotel with an outdoor swimming pool! The kids were so excited to spend the late afternoon swimming and having fun after being stuck in the van all day.

Lily is such a water baby and loved swimming around with everyone in just her life jacket. She moves pretty fast through the water.

Hyrum graciously leant Oliver his goggles once again, and he enjoyed diving under the water!

Hyrum enjoyed hot tubbing with Daddy, keeping his arm wrapped in two towels for extra protection against splashing. He had strict orders not to get his splint wet while we were away. It did my heart good to see him smiling and enjoying his time though!

 

When everyone was hungry, we ordered some pizza and ate in our hotel room. The littles went to bed and the boys snuck down to the pool for one last swim!

Good night, Moab!

 

Kansas Skies

 After being up most of the night with a feverish and moaning Lily, we slowly woke slightly later (but still quite early) to load up and head onto our next adventure. Lily puked in the kitchen sink just as we were getting ready to load her in the van. Thankfully I had saved a bunch of shopping bags for the road. Camilla took the copilot seat in the front and I squeezed into the back by Lily. 

We drove towards Keokuk and in a matter of about thirty minutes we had crossed from Illinois to Iowa to Missouri. It gave us all a chuckle. The drive across Missouri was beautiful as the fields were blanketed in an early morning fog. We pulled off for a quick breakfast at McDonalds and then trucked on towards Kansas with hopes of making it to Denver, Colorado by the evening. We had a good ten hour day of driving ahead of us. Thankfully the littles were exhausted after two weeks in Nauvoo and happily slept or quietly enjoyed the scenery.

As we drove across Kansas, the skies turned ugly and what looked to be a tornado began forming right above us on the highway. It started raining hard, so we turned on the local radio station to see what was going on. When we learned that baseball sized hail was expected to start falling near us, we seriously considered pulling over and waiting out the storm, but both of us felt that we should carry on.

It was so eerie watching the clouds move and pull together. As the radio sirens went off and announced the mile markers and potential weather, we were glad to know that we had come out ahead of the worst of it, and grateful we listened to the prompting to keep going even though logic told us to stop and take cover. The winds on either side of the freeway were insane looking as the rain pelted our van making visibility difficult, but we never did encounter the baseball sized hail. By the time we made it to our hotel late in the evening, Lily was feeling much better. The kids were all excited about the pool and spent a good few hours swimming before we went in search of dinner. Then we tucked in for the night, ready for another long day tomorrow.

Forever in our Hearts

 Tonight is our very last performance! It's hard to believe how quickly the time has gone by. After a few weeks filled with laughter, tears, faith strengthening & character building moments, we will be going home with this memory forever in our hearts! 

The End in Sight

 Tonight was our last night performing the British Pageant. A few of the kids were pretty sad about that because the music and dances are some of their favorites. Here are a couple of snap shots from our day and evening at the country fair! Lily loved her rag doll as I knew she would. The boys enjoyed playing the old fashioned games at the picnic tables, and we tried to soak in our last evening performing this particular pageant!

Another Nauvoo Night

Today we took the kids for shaved ice! We had been driving past this place on main street multiple times a day and today was finally the day!

 

 

 

Each of them picked a delicious flavor of their own and they came with these cute little umbrellas and gummy worms. It made for some pretty happy littles!

 

At our company meeting tonight, Hyrum was the one to fall asleep sitting up. This week has been so fun and exhausting that the kids have learned to catch a wink of sleep here and there whenever they can. I probably should have woken him up when we began stacking our chairs and heading to the bleachers for song practice, but he looked so peaceful. He had a few photos taken and even became famous on the Nauvoo Naps insta page. At least he doesn't snore!

Lily fell asleep on the drive to the Country Fair, so I carried her across the fair grounds and to the stage. Camilla made her the cutest little rag doll at the fair and I'm sure she will be in love with it! She woke up an hour later at the beginning of our performance as the bagpipes came on stage. 

The view of the temple up the hill from the stage will never get old. 

 

Hyrum got to be a flag bearer during the laying out of the city.

Oliver loved being one of the "penny children"!

The stickball scene was also a fav for all of our boys!

At the end of the evening I hauled a tired, grumpy Sawyer back to the van. He missed out on the snack table because he was off playing with friends somewhere and I didn't get him his ticket. He was devastated! Soaked with sweat, and tired myself, I carried him to the van while the boys pushed the wagon full of costumes and lily and Daddy looked for a few missing older kids. I was on the brink of tears by the time we made it to the parking area, exhausted and ready for bed!