Autumn, Thanksgiving, and Walking Where Joseph Walked

The time has flown by so quickly! Since Halloween we have been doing the day-to -day things we always do. It has been a beautiful Autumn here. The leaves changed (which we think we mentioned in our earlier post) and we had fun raking them up. Well, Benjamin didn't so much because he REALLY had to rake them up. Laura, Haley and Rufus just played in them all the time instead. Every afternoon Laura, Haley and Rufus would run around in the backyard, "rake", play fetch with Rufus, draw with sidewalk chalk to welcome Daddy home, and watch the feud continue between Chester the squirrel (that lives in our tree) and Rufus. We also love sun puddles!

(She is not asleep... We do this almost everyday, just to feel the warm rays. Rufus does too, but he usually looks at Laura and Haley like they are crazy...)

For Thanksgiving, we could not make it home to Idaho or San Diego because of the distance when we had so little time off. So we were planning on going to DMU for Thanksgiving dinner. About a week beforehand, we were called by a family in the ward and invited over for their Thanksgiving. They invited two other families as well. We divided up dinner so that no one would be slaving in the kitchen all day. We brought the stuffing, deviled eggs, and olives (OF COURSE OLIVES!). We had a great time with everyone but forgot the camera, so no pictures! :( Haley looked adorable with her hair all done in pig tails which are starting to curl now. Finally some hair! Not much, but some!

Just before Thanksgiving, we went and bought a Christmas tree so that it would have time to rest before we decorated it. We love our tree! To keep Haley from learning there is water under the tree, we put the skirt right on. But first, she put it on herself!

Then we played with Haley with a new toy that we are borrowing from baby Norah next door until she is big enough to use it. It is lots of fun. Even we played with it tons.

(The ball went under the couch in all of the craziness... Rufus was a little upset and tried to get it himself...) On Friday, we got up and headed out on a church history trip. We drove south about 25 minutes and dropped off Rufus at a kennel out in the country. We thought it would be a good idea to see how he handles it before we leave him there for 2 weeks for Christmas. (side note: He LOVED it! The owner takes each dog out 3 times a day to play fetch. She said he was a good boy who gave lots of kisses and was very sweet! It is awesome because it also is the cheapest place we found in the area. During our research we found out that you can reserve a kennel with a tv for the dogs to watch and webcams for owners to check up on their dogs at MOST places that kennel dogs. Weird, huh? He is part of the family, but he is still a DOG!)

Anyway, then the first stop was the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman. It probably would have been a lot prettier during another time of year. It was still cool to see and to feel the spirit where so many great men have been and will be. This is where a small settlement of saints started. After persecution, they were asked to move to the main settlement of saints in Far West for protection. It was named Adam-ondi-Ahman by Joseph Smith because this is the place that Adam lived and blessed his children in before he died. This will be the gathering place of all the important guys in the history of the world just before Christ's second coming. Laura refers to it as the ultimate stake conference...

It had plenty of scenic overlooks and places to walk to see different views.
Haley took advantage of the freedom every chance she got. She wanted to experience everything for herself.

Then we went to the temple site at Far West. It had a great spirit there. It is a fenced in area with the cornerstones still in place. Now there are cases put around the cornerstones to protect them. It is awesome to think those men that lived 180 years ago carried those rocks. It is a beautiful area.

This place was where the Lord told the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to leave from on their mission to the British Isles in Doctrine and Covenants Section 115. Before the date that the Lord specified, the saints were driven from far west back to Illinois in the east. To fulfill the commandments of the Lord, they went west, met at the temple site as specified, and officially started their mission, all in the dead of night because the mobs knew what they were planning and these wonderful men could have been killed.

Then we went to Liberty Jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith, along with Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae and Caleb Baldwin were imprisoned in horrible conditions for five months. The visitor's center is literally built around the actual prison. The basement is the same and a lot of the reconstructed part was built with the same materials. It was like a life-size diorama. It was an amazing place to visit, but by then Haley was so crazy from being in the car the whole day that we took turns listening to the tour guide while the other TRIED to control Haley.

Needless to say, we needed a break and so did Haley. What better place to stop than... McDonald's for a happy meal!

Then we went to the Independence visitor's center. The trees were all lit outside after a big ceremony with the mayor that we just barely missed. Here is what we were able to see before Haley could not take it anymore (the next several pics) !

There was a children's place to play. Here is a Haley-size, horse-drawn, covered wagon.

Sister Black was our wonderful missionary who gave us a personalized tour that was catered more to Haley so she could roam around. She walked us through most of the building and summarized most of the videos they offered. This is a little cabin that is a full scale replica of a possible log cabin. It has ALL of the possible furniture in it, and it isn't very big. We were thinking that it would be tight, but our little family would have been ok. Then she said that it held up to ten families! Crazy! Haley stole the baby out of the crib...

What a pay-day it was for us as parents to see Haley point and say Jesus every time she saw a picture of Jesus, even when we hadn't seen the picture before she got to it. She watches out for them and knows who He is. We felt, after this very long day with her, that we were doing something right...

Outside the visitor's center are a lot of different things owned by different break-offs of our church. Sister Black said that there are 30 variations of the Community of Christ and the Church of Christ. We need to be there during the day to see the crazy swirly temple across the street owned by one of the other churches. We went to the temple site that is only a grassy field that Joseph Smith dedicated for the building of a temple. The field is owned by one of the other churches as well... Can you tell?

During this trip it really hit us that we have never stood in a place where the Prophet Joseph Smith had actually been. It was amazing to finally be there!

We went to our friends Matt and Ali's house to visit them where she fed us, we watched a movie and hung out. The "check engine" light came on while we were on our way there so we ended up not going to Nauvoo on Saturday like originally planned (Haley had had enough site-seeing, too). It turned out that the car was fine. Instead we got to play with our friends and take our time coming home.

It was very sunny on the way home and Benjamin was concerned about Haley getting sunburned. So Laura was put to the challenge. She found a small umbrella that did the trick... it just freaked Haley out when she woke up!

Now we are enjoying the holiday season. Pictures of our decorations and other fun stuff to come. We figured this was enough for one post! We love you all and are truly grateful for our family, friends, and the church we were raised in that has helped us to understand our potential and the importance of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Here is a note from Haley: hg hy swnhggd syb7nhgtvfffrbthyyy