Our Little Family Getaway

A little over a month ago, Danny asked me if there was anything around here that I wanted to do before we move to Utah. I told him that I wanted to take one more trip to Nauvoo so that I could go here:
We chose a time, Monday-Tuesday of this week, and invited some friends to go along with us so that we wouldn't have to go to the temple by ourselves. Unfortunately, our friends weren't able to go, but we went anyways and Danny and I both enjoyed going to this amazingly unique temple. We stayed overnight in a little house owned by the same people that own the Hotel Nauvoo. The girls loved the getaway and the chance to stay in the "Hotowel House" as they call it. We took them to some of our favorite sites, let them enjoy the two different carriage rides that are offered, went "bye-byes" for meals (our term for eating out), let them play at a park, took them to the little play that the senior missionaries put on in the evening, and let them throw rocks into the Mississippi River. (I forgot to bring the camera along, so we don't have any pictures). As we were leaving, Alyssa said "I love Nauvoo." My thoughts exactly. There is something special about that little town that you can't help but feel complete gratitude for the early saints who lived there. I am so thankful for their sacrifices and their examples of faith. I wonder if I would have been as strong as they were had I lived at that time. For me, that same spirit that you feel in the town adds to the spirit that you already feel inside of the temple and makes for an amazing experience when you go inside. I am thankful for the opportunity that we have had to visit Nauvoo so many times as we have lived in the midwest and for the chance we had to go there one last time before moving away.