Last Trip of Summer- Wolf Creek, Utah

About a week and a half after we returned from our month long travels, we took off to northern Utah for a Chapman Family Reunion. We stayed in a cute little resort area in Wolf Creek, near Ogden. 

All of Justin's brothers and sisters and their spouses made it for the whole week there and it was so fun to chill and hang out with everyone. 

We went hiking, swam in the pool multiple times, played games, had devotionals, threw Stephanie a baby shower, painted nails, did crafts, learned how to make bread, and I taught aerobic classes in the mornings. It was a blast. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures. I guess I was too busy having fun :) 

I did bust out the camera for our hike and here are some pictures from that. 

Ellie was reunited with her beloved Aunt Caryn and I don't think she left her side the whole week!

Parts of the hike were so beautiful in its own unique way. 

Justin and his brother, Jordan, helping Mason up the hill.

Uncle Art & Aunt Rhonda spoiled our kiddos with love...and tootsie rolls...while we were there :) Uncle Art was so good to help a tired Ellie on the hike. 

Ellie is all about the pose in pictures now a days :) She is such a little sweetheart. 

Nate and Chanda are so good to our kids. Nate knew he could win the heart of Mason by bringing him his very own flag.

Barrett and Lindsay were there with their cute little Celeste. She is so far the only cousin for our kids on the Smith side. 

It was such a fun week and it was nice to get away to the cooler weather and mountains of Utah. 

Bluewater, NM

I forgot to add this picture in to the previous post. Did I mention that our kids were exhausted? Yes, I am fully aware that she is not properly wearing her seatbelt (and obviously the duck tape on the straps did not work), but I just had to laugh when I turned around to see that she had shoved her blanket up her shirt to look just like her momma ;) I actually caught her the other day with it the same way while jumping rope. I guess she sees her momma exercising with her big belly and she wants to do the same.. haha!

Anyway, when Justin realized that we would be passing right through Bluewater, NM where his great- grandfather and beyond are from, we had to make that stop. 

This is the house where his Grandpa Chapman was raised in. 

And this is the gravestone of his Great-Grandpa Chapman. Apparently, he fell off of a windmill and died when Justin's grandpa was just a little boy. Justin has a lot of family buried in this cemetery. 

Grandpa Chapman had heard that his dad carved his initials into the nearby dam but has never been able to find them. So Justin took on the challenge and scaled the rocks all the way down and up to look for them. 

After more than a hour, he was able to find them!

It's really hard to read in this picture but at the top it says " E.C. Chapman" which stands for Ernest Collins Chapman.

Grandpa Chapman was elated that Justin took the time to find this for him. I admit, I was less than elated waiting in the car for over an hour with swollen feet, a full bladder, and grumpy kids who had already been stuck in the car for a ridiculous amount of time, BUT I'm glad that Justin was able to stop here and see a bit of his families history. It was important to him :)

And then we finally made it home 6 hours later, which marked the end of our month long vacation. We then left a week and half later for a family reunion in Utah but that is for another post :)

Far West, Liberty Jail & Independence, MO

After Nauvoo, we drove down to the Missouri area and visited Adam-ondi-Ahman the next day. Adam-ondi-Ahman is located in Daviess County and is another Church historical site. You can read more about it here.
It is predominately used as farmland for the church and is such a beautiful little spot. 

It was fun to walk around and explain the significance of this spot to our kiddos. It was also nice to let them run around and get as much energy out as they could!

I'm so glad that the nice guy who took our picture thought to just get Justin and I. These kind of pictures are usually few and far between.

Ethan saw this piece of fruit on the ground and sincerely asked, "Hey Mom, do you think that this is the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?" I'm always amazed at what he can remember!

On our way to the Haun's Mill site, we met up with this gigantic snapping turtle on the side of the road. These guys are SO mean and can take a finger off of you like nothing . Instead of curling up in it's shell when we drove up, it turned around and faced us ready to fight!

There is really not much to see at Haun's Mill but word is that our Church just bought this property from the Community of Christ and are making plans to recreate it. For those of you who may not be familiar with the story, this is the site where a Missouri mob attack Mormon settlers here and brutally killed 17 people, women and children included. 

After that we headed on over to Far West. 

Far West was originally settled by Mormons but were later driven out by the Missouri mobs and the Extermination Order. It became a ghost town after that. This is the site where a temple was to be constructed and the land was even dedicated for it. Maybe someday there will be a temple built here. 

It is a beautiful little property.

We visited Liberty Jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith was incarcerated for about 5 months. Even though the living conditions there were horrendous, this jail is known as a Prison Temple because of the remarkable revelations that were received here and the growth and experiences that the Prophet went through.

After Liberty Jail, we stopped by the Visitor's Center in Independence, MO. You can read more about it's history by clicking the link. 

We saw the Community of Christ's temple, which is right across from the Visitor's center. We would've actually loved to go through and tour their temple but we arrived too late and tours were done for the day. That seems to happen to us quite frequently :)

By this point in the day, Ellie and Mason were DONE, (we couldn't really blame them either). I was lucky enough to go through the visitor's center tour with Ethan while Justin watched the other two kids roam wild. 

It was so cool to hear Ethan talking to this sister missionary about church history. They were just easily chatting about different scripture stories and their significance and their thought s and feelings about it. Again, I'm amazed at what he can remember!!! It truly blows my mind. He makes us look good, that's for sure. 

We snapped this picture in front of the Christus Statue as we were heading out the door to make the LONG drive back to Phoenix. 

I love my eternal family. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of how families can truly be sealed to each other for forever. I am grateful that I have an amazing husband who helps us work towards that goal everyday. I am grateful that our loving Heavenly Father has entrusted us with His precious little ones here on this earth. They are pretty special kids. 

I am so glad that we got to take our kids to such special places and I hope that their sweet little testimonies were somehow touched by it. I know Justin's and I's were. 

Needless to say, our kids crashed hard when we got to our hotel room. They were such good troopers to go through the whirlwind of a summer that we put them through!

Carthage Jail & Nauvoo

Our first stop on the way back home was to Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois. 

This is the jail where Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were shot and killed by a mob of about 150 men. 

It was so neat to bring our children here and show them where our prophet was martyred for his beliefs. They will probably never remember it but Justin and I feel that any opportunity that we have to strengthen their little testimonies, is 100% worth the effort. I think Ethan is old enough (and has an incredible memory) so he will remember it. It was really neat to talk to him about what happened here and answer all his questions. 

This is the window on the second story where Joseph was shot and fell out of. 

The Church has bought a lot of the land around the jail and it is such a peaceful, beautiful little area. And it was a good place for Mason to run around in to expel some pent up energy from being in the car seat for too long!

Next, we drove a little ways down to Nauvoo, also known as the "City of Joseph" or "City Beautiful"

The kids got to see how the pioneers made the bricks that built the town,  and also got to see what it was like to be a blacksmith back then. The each even got their own "diamond" rings. 

I went to Nauvoo before I was even baptized for a Youth Conference trip, so it was really neat to go back there and see the sights being a member of the church, and having had church history classes at BYU. It was so much more meaningful!

We were actually impressed with the tour that the Community of Christ did of the Smith's house, Joseph's store, and gravesite area. 

The bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were first buried in the uncompleted Nauvoo House (that you can kinda see in the background, but were later moved to where they reside now, right by the Joseph Smith Homestead. 

This is where Josephs parents are buried. 

This is the back of the homestead where Joseph and Emma first lived when they moved to Nauvoo. 

The Mansion House is where Emma and Joseph (and like everyone else who was in the process of moving to Nauvoo) lived. it was their second house. The Smith's were always so generous to open their home to everyone. 

Ellie and I had to try on the pioneer bonnets at the Red Brick Store. That pink bonnet just looked so cute on her!

These were our best attempts at getting a picture in front of the Nauvoo Temple.  Obviously, the sun was a little bright...

So I just opted to let the kids roam free and snap a few pics. They were much happier doing that anyway. 

After some dinner, we hoped back in the car to drive to our next location, Missouri. 

And can I just say that using Mason's tray holder from his booster seat as a place for him to eat on while in the car was a life saver! I'm sure that idea is on Pinterest somewhere but I kinda felt like a genius when I realized it was a perfect fit!