Friday 9/1
Today begins a weekend of "Lasts" for us.
This morning we attended our last
Mission Breakfast
Everyone loved Sister Waite's straw hat !
Tonight we had our last Cast Party
A "Farewell" dinner
Sister Miller wrote a poem for each departing
missionary .... she read them tonight.
Also, today this couple showed up at our sites ....
Kristen & Jerry Reed used to live in Bend
It has been 15 years since we have seen these two!
Saturday 9/2
Tonight we, and 13 other missionaries, had a delicious
dinner with President and Sister Hall
in their home
(which is also the Mission Home)
They wanted to do something to say
"Thank You for your Service"
Sunday 9/3
Today was our last Sunday in Nauvoo.
After our meetings we took a few last pictures.
In the Visitor's Center
We took one last MTC Class picture.
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| Van Horn, Hunter, Barker, Norman, Waite, Moench, Winegar, Trythall, Hutchinson, Cook Not Pictured Gross, Rober, Brown, Taylor, Aina |
It seems like we just took our "arrival" picture in
front of the Christus .... and now here we
are taking our "farewell" picture.
Monday 9/4
Today was our first official pack day. We get
two pack days and a farewell day.
So our official last day is Wednesday, however,
we are all packed and will be leaving
first thing in the morning.
Bathroom looking kind of bare .....
Gathering our "travel" things
clothes, toiletries, etc.
We even tried sucking the air out of some
Space Bags
From this .....
To this .... Pretty impressive
We began loading stuff into the car ....
our first attempt, but ....
This was all left over .... plus ....
a bunch more still in the house....Now What!
The "What" came to our rescue.
George, still living in Moline, drove down
to Nauvoo and put all our extra things in his
pick-up. He will deliver them to us in
mid-October when he retires and joins his
family in Washington State.
THANK YOU GEORGE !!!
You know your mission is over when you have to ....
turn in the keys to your house.
Tuesday 9/5
This morning we said goodbye to Nauvoo.
We finished loading the car ....
Closed the door .....
drove away from our home of 18 months ....
stopped at Pioneer Pastimes to dump the trash so Linda
didn't have to carry it all the way to Star on her lap ....
stopped by the temple.....
Took a picture of Nauvoo & the Mississippi
from the steps of the temple, and ....
drove out of town.
We had about a five hour drive to reach today's
destination .... Council Bluffs, Iowa
We visited a couple of places near Council Bluffs.
The first place we stopped was ....
The Kanesville Tabernacle
There are two statues on the Tabernacle grounds
"The Family, An Everlasting Heritage"
and
Heber C. Kimball, Brigham Young & Willard Richards
Brigham Young was sustained as
2nd President of the Church
in this Tabernacle on
December 27, 1847
Heber C. Kimball & Willard Richards
were sustained as his counselors.
Next to this picture is a beautiful old
pump organ.
Elder Walsh, who was conducting our tour,
let Linda play a couple of hymns on it.
She played:
"Behold a Royal Army" and
"Come Come Ye Saints"
(the organ is now electric so she didn't have to pump it)
however, she did play & pump an organ while
serving as Jr. Sunday School organist in
Baker, Oregon
Inside the tabernacle are these dioramas ....
and this covered wagon, along with several other
time-period things.
From Kanesville we drove to Omaha
(only about 10-15 minutes)
crossing this unique bridge.
So we could visit the ....
Pioneer Courage Park
(recommended by E/S Walsh)
Blair Buswell & Edward Fraughton
(sculptors from Utah)
sculpted the Pioneer Courage Wagon Train
Pioneer women walked
she is looking up at her son on top of the wagon
Children helped drive the oxen
Yoked oxen pulled most of the wagons
Pioneer men had to push wagons along
the muddy prairie floor
Kent Ullberg (from Corpus Christi, Texas)
Sculpted some of the wildlife Pioneers
encountered as they traveled the
untamed west
A herd of stampeding Bison/Buffalo
stretch from one end of the block.....
to the other end.
This is the animal that led them
Geese spooked by the stampeding Bison
All the sculptures are bigger-than-life
Bronze & Stainless Steel works of art.
They were set in place and dedicated in 2002-2003.
We are spending the night at ....
Marriott's Fairfield Inn at Council Bluffs
(thank you Pam)
and had our dinner at the ....
Cracker Barrel Restaurant next to the Hotel.
(it has been 18 months since we have eaten at one of these)
loved it !
Wednesday 9/6
Today's travels took us to ....
South Dakota with 8 hours of travel
Along the way we saw fields of .....
Sunflowers .... miles and miles of them.
We arrived in Rapid City about 3:30 MDT
and checked into our Hotel ....
another of Marriott's Fairfield Inns.
After spending some time perusing all the local
activities available we decided to head
for Mount Rushmore which was about 30 minutes
south of Rapid City.
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| (Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, Lincoln) |
The monument is pretty impressive.
Sculpted by Gutzon Borglum.
it is interesting to note that he was born in
St. Charles, Idaho, to Mormon Danish immigrants.
The monument cost a million dollars
the hourly pay for workers who
risked their lives working on the mountain
ranged from 35 cents to $1.50.
400 laborers - no deaths
The faces are approximately 60 feet long
noses, 20 feet long,
eyes 11 feet wide & mouths 18 feet wide
What an amazing accomplishment!
the Avenue of Flag is also a beautiful sight and
we had fun searching for our State Flags.
(Oregon, California, Idaho, Illinois)
We just had to take a few pictures before
having some dinner in the Park
at the Carvers Cafe
1st one with Steve, then .....
one with Linda, and of course we had to ....
try a selfie of us together !
After dinner we walked down to the amphitheater and ....
waited for the Evening Lighting Ceremony.
A Park Ranger gave a short talk, they showed a
20 minute video telling about each of the
four Presidents and why the artist chose them.
As part of the Ceremony we sang
America the Beautiful and
The Star Spangled Banner.
Before retiring the Flag they invited all
active military and veterans to
come down to the stage.
They honored each of the military branches,
having those that served step forward
when their branch was called.
Steve participated as an Army Veteran.
(front row, center, navy blue coat, standing straight)
At the end of the Ceremony ....
they turned the spotlights on to
illuminate the monument.
As we left the Park we turned back to see ....
This beautiful view.
Then looking forward we saw ....
This bright full moon shining right next
to the American Flag unfurled in the breeze.
We had a wonderful evening enjoying
beautiful weather and this
inspiring National Monument
Thursday 9/7
First of all, Today is our "official" mission release date.
This morning we drove down to ....
Custer State Park in South Dakota
(South of Mt. Rushmore)
there were narrow one-lane roads as we traveled
the Iron Mountain Road.
It was slow going because of all the twists and turns
but it was beautiful.
There are at least 3 of these one-lane tunnels, however.....
there is an amazing view at the end of each one.
This one was at a "Scenic Lookout"
Once we finished the Iron Mountain segment
we moved on to the
"Wildlife Loop"
We weren't disappointed .....
Antelope
free range Burros
Prairie Dogs and ....
Buffalo
We left the park and ....
the Black Hills around noon and
made our way to
Fort Collins Colorado where were able to ....
visit the beautiful Temple.
And the beautifully landscaped grounds add
so much to it's beauty.
We were able to take a few pictures before
doing a session.
Steve, as we walked up from the sign
Linda, up by the fountain
Before our session at 7:00 p.m.
After our session .... gorgeous !
We loved finishing our day with
a visit to this temple.
Friday 9/8
We drove over eight hours today
passing through
Colorado, Wyoming and finally into ....
UTAH !!
Our destination ..... Bountiful where
Kevin & Lani live.
We met our new little granddaughter
Shea Elle and ....
got reacquainted with,
Crew, Connor & Sydney
Shea, all bundled up and ready for bed ....
now if she only knew that's what she
was supposed to do .... she is a little night owl !
We had a fun "tour" of their house with all
the beautiful updates they have
made while we were on our mission ...
It is beautiful .... nicely done !
Saturday 9/9
More time and pictures with our
Bountiful Grandkids !
Sydney & Shea
dressed and ready for a new day !
Connor loves to play Chess ....
sometimes he even beats his dad !
He also enjoys holding his baby sister
Today is Kevin & Lani's 11th Anniversary.
We were able to do a little babysitting for them
so they could go out to dinner .....
they enjoyed the kid-free time and
we enjoyed being with our cute grandkids.
We even treated the kids to a Wendy's dinner
complete with Fries & Frosty's !
Sunday 9/10
Today was Stake conference in Bountiful so
we attended in the Reagional Center here.
this is the outside of the Center and ....
This is the inside .... it is very large and used primarily
for occasions such as this .... Stake Conferences.
We also took a few pictures before church which
didn't begin until 2:00 p.m.
Shea - 3 weeks old
Sydney - 3 years old
Crew - 6 years old
Connor - 8 years old
About 5:30 Debbi came over and we all
had dinner together and ....
laughed together and ....
played together and ....
acted silly together and ....
smiled as Crew kept snapping pictures of everyone
with our "real" camera !
We have had a wonderful time with our family but
are anxious to get back home to Star .... Tomorrow !
Monday 9/11
Our trip home began this morning.
We drove away from Kevin's
and headed toward ....
Boise, Idaho.
After a few hours on the road ....
we passed this sign ....
Then a little while later ....
we passed this sign ....
and in just a few minutes ....
we drove up to our home in Star, Idaho
Everything looked nice and was
in good order .... Thank you
Coltin & Candice Steele - our House Sitters
during our mission.
The last 18 months has flown by.
It's hard to believe our mission is finished and
we are back home.
We have loved Nauvoo and have found a special
place in our hearts for the Prophet Joseph Smith,
the Early Saints and our pioneer ancestors.
Our testimonies of the truthfulness of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been strengthened
and our love for our Savior and our
Heavenly Father has deepened within us.
We will always have amazing memories of Nauvoo
and the time & lessons we learned there.
We have made many new, wonderful friends
that we will miss but at the same time
it is good to be home among family and old friends.
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