Boo-ti-ful Nauvoo

The town of Nauvoo celebrates Halloween in a big way.  We experienced it last night.  There are about 1100 people who live in Nauvoo.  People come from all of the surrounding towns for this celebration and it was big.  The streets up in the commercial part of town are lined with jack-o-lanterns--about 400-500 of them.  That is one of the things that we missionaries do--carve the pumpkins.



Here are Elder Johnson and Mark carving.

 Some girls who grew up here come home to take charge of the pumpkin carving.  They draw the designs, tell us how to do it, and bring us pumpkins to do according to our experience level.  We used little saws that you see on the table.  It is really fun.

We carved in the mission green house.  It was a little on the chilly side.

Some of the pumpkins waiting to be put on trailers.

Our good friends, the Calls.



I carved too. 

 The building was open for two days and missionaries went and carved whenever they had time.

Here are some shots of the finished jack-o-lanterns sitting around town.

It was still kind of light for this one.

They had some large jack-o-lanterns that they auctioned off later in the evening.  These were some of them.  You can tell the display wasn't on church property.

More for the auction

Some of the local organizations sold slices of pie, hot chocolate, hot dogs, etc.  My new friend, Marilyn Candidos is in the hat and shades.



Main Street with jack-o-lanterns.  The temple spire is at the left. 



A "cat" jack-o-lantern

About 6 in the evening, there was a parade.  People dressed up in costume, some costumed their dogs, and etc.

A couple of characters in the parade.  The lady who cuts my hair is Minnie.

There was a cute train in the parade.  I couldn't get it in one shot, but had to get it for my grandsons.

More of the train

The caboose

 President Obama and Governor Romney walked in the parade.



Here comes the missionary band.

 The missionaries had a crazy band in the parade.  They rode on a carriage pulled by horses, Mike and Ned.  Mark is at the right driving the horses.

Another shot of the horses and carriage.  Elder Endter is the teamster on the carriage with Mark.  Elder Poulsen at left and Elder Rodgers at right are walking along to make sure no one gets in the way of the horses.

Mark was sort-of smiling

Some of our talented band members

Sister Endter is waving

Elder & Sister Openshaw and Elder Wise

Mike and Ned

Elder Endter backed up so we could get a good shot of Elder Dahl

Sister Heaton bagging kettle corn for the folks

The mission furnished Elder & Sister Anderson's kettle corn for everyone.  They gave out about 1300 bags of kettle corn.

Sister Anderson.  She and her husband make the kettle corn.

Elder Newman with a kettle of kettle corn

Elders Christensen, Andersen, Newman making the kettle corn.



 As the evening got darker, the designs showed up better.

Jack-o-lanterns

They look better lit up.



Here's a great one.



I like the animals on the second one from the left.

The one on the left has card shapes and the mouth spells Bridge.  Elder Call carved it.

We had an enjoyable time at the Boo-ti-ful Nauvoo.  The missionaries were involved in order to support the community.  We had a good time and made some new friends.

Wonderful Visitors

 We have had some lovely visits from family members and friends during the last month.

Our daughter, Olivia, and her family came about the middle of September.

The Cobians--Ruben, Ammon, Marcos, Liliana, Omar and parents Edgar and Olivia



In September, the Cobian family came to visit us.  Omar was born May 15 and this is the first time we've seen him.  We were so glad to see all of them.

Ruben, Omar, Liliana, Marcos, and Ammon in front of the Nauvoo temple

One place we haven't talked about too much in this blog is Pioneer Pastimes.  It is a family play area open mostly during the summer months and on Fridays and Saturdays during September.  There are toys that pioneers may have used, stilts, play animals to ride, pioneer dress up clothes, pioneer games, picnic tables.  Of course everything is free.  In the summer time at Pioneer Pastimes, the Nauvoo Brass Band comes by every day and does a Children's parade for the kids.  All of our grandchildren have loved Pioneer Pastimes.



Liliana, Ammon, Ruben, and Marcos in the little play house.



Baby Omar sporting his new hat at Pioneer Pastimes




Ammon riding a sheep

 

Grandpa helping Ruben with the stilts





Liliana at Pioneer Pastimes

  

Marcos at the Scovil Bakery--where you get free gingerbread cookies.  Marcos is ready for one.



We celebrated Marcos birthday with cheesecake.  Ammon, Ruben, Liliana, Marcos, Omar, and Grandma



Liliana in the children's bedroom with the dolls at the Heber C. Kimball home



Liliana, Grandma, and Olivia in the Heber C. Kimball study.  The banister knob on the table and the gas lamp hanger are from a church in Preston, England.  Heber C. Kimball preached in Preston on his first mission to the British Isles.



Liliana, Ammon, Marcos, and Ruben at Carthage.



A photo of all of us behind the pulpit in the Seventies Hall--the first missionary training center.

Ruben learning about the bee box in the Lyon Drug.  The pioneers used the bee box to find bees and get honey.

Liliana, Olivia, Ammon, Marcos, and Ruben enjoying the oxen ride.  The oxen are Owen and Jesse.

Ruben and Liliana sporting fancy hats after Rendezvous.  So many grandchildren-hungry missionaries.  They all love it when children come to the show.

The Cobian family with Grandpa on the wagon ride

We had such a good visit with the Cobians.  We sure hated to see them go.  I could stand my tears and Olivia's, but when Liliana cried that was really hard.  We are thankful for telephones and email and blogs.

A few days after the Cobians left we had a short but great visit with our son, Enoch.  He had some training for his job in St. Louis and he was able to drive here for a day.  His family couldn't make it but he promises to bring them next summer.



Enoch and his dad at a favorite spot--the Browning Gun Shop

Another shot with different guns

Enoch and I



Enoch and Mark outside our house

 We sure hated to see Enoch go.  We're so glad he's coming back next year.  We are so thankful that four of our kids have visited us.  The other two are planning to come next year also.

We also had a good visit from our nephew, Harvey, his wife, Lorie, and their little daughter, Dominique.  Harvey is an offensive guard for the St. Louis Rams, so they live about 3 hours away from us.  We were so glad they could come.  They saw us in Rendezvous playing our new role of Jed and Annie.  They photographed us.

Jed and Annie



Lorie, Harvey, and Dominique

 Harvey was a very good sport about the people who wanted his autograph for family members and the people who wanted to be photographed with him.  Ah the price of fame!



Dominique is so darling



Harvey and Dominique in one of the lady's hats after the show.



Me, Mark, Lorie, Harvey and Dominique in a wagon near the Browning Gun Complex

We enjoyed Harvey, Lorie, and Dominique's visit so much and hope to see more of them.

A few days later, our dear friends, Kathy and Annmarie Neff stopped to see us on their way to Nashville where Annmarie is planning to pursue her music.  Kathy and I have been good friends for so many years and it was wonderful seeing them.  Annmarie is such a talented singer.  We have always enjoyed watching her perform.  Kathy and I have worked together in Relief Society and the day she came, I was working in the Sarah Granger Kimball home where the Relief Society idea was born.  That made her visit even better.  They watched us perform in Rendezvous and didn't even throw rotten eggs at us.

AnnMarie, Kathy, and Me with the river and dying American Lotus in the background.

We have enjoyed all of these visitors.  You all come!