Nauvoo and Nieces

We woke up early to drive 3 hours to Nauvoo.  I was surprised how out-of-the-way Nauvoo is.  We drove through a lot of farm land and tiny, tiny towns til we got there.  Once there, we found out that everything (including Carthage) closes at 5pm.  So we had to hurry through town and catch the highlights.  We did a session in the beautiful Nauvoo temple and then hurried to catch the last wagon ride through town.  That gave us a nice overview of all the little shops and houses.  We stopped by the brickmaker and John Taylor's home and then headed another 30 minutes to Carthage.  It was really interesting to see the place where Joseph Smith died.  We also got chased down and yelled at by a local in Carthage for going the wrong way (for one block) down a one-way street.  It was actually quite humorous.  We felt more threatened in Carthage (population 500) than Chicago!

 We got to spend Tuesday with some adorable nieces.  I was able to do everything girly: hair, makeup, crafts, dress-up, etc.  It was so fun to hang out with such snuggly, sweet (and so polite!) little girls.  Allie just turned 4 and Olivia just turned 2.  We all went out to a fantastic burger joint in Bloomington that evening and enjoyed their frozen custard.  Yum!

Before too long, it was time to say goodbye!  We will miss you but hopefully meet again in Disneyland!