Blogging fail

I don't know what it is lately, but I HATE to blog. I don't know if it's that my ADD has taken over and I can't seem to focus my attention to one thought for more than five minutes or if it's just that I live a SUPER boring life.

Probably a nasty little combination of BOTH.

So does anybody have a "quick fix" for this bleh attitude towards blogging? Do I need to give up and write in a real journal every day?

Speaking of journal, I need to catch up on Ellie's baby book! She's doing so many awesome things lately!

Yesterday, I successfully taught her to find her nose and touch it when I say, "Where's your nose?" It is the cutest thing ever. It may take her about a minute and a few pokes in the eye, cheek, ear, and mouth, but she keeps trying and eventually gets to her nose, then gets REALLY happy because she knows she did it! She also learned how to hold her hand up to her ear when we say "hello" as if she's talking on a phone. Super cute as well!

She's getting SO BIG!!! I can't believe how much she isn't a little baby anymore and how much of a little toddler she's becoming! She's such a blessing and a joy in our lives! She makes every trial, hardship, bad feeling, bad day worth it when she smiles and snuggles me!

I am SO very grateful that my loving Heavenly Father would entrust me to take care of and nurture such a sweet little daughter! I am even more thankful that He seems to bless us in so many other ways so I can stay home and teach her the things only I can teach her.

I've been feeling very pitty partyish lately about budgets, staying in them, having them, following counsel from David and having a hard time with being a poor college student family. While I know this phase won't last forever, I am surely looking forward to getting out of it, but at the same time I'm thankful to be experiencing it! I know that the most important things in life can't be bought, and that is manifested to me every time I look into my sweet baby girl's eyes, see her smile or hear her laugh.

I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to be a mother and to love and nurture one of God's children. It has been and I'm sure will continue to be one of the greatest blessings I will experience in this life. I am also very thankful for the Gospel and the guidance we have within it. It's so reassuring to know that because I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I can read/listen to the words of modern day prophets and receive guidance for my life. I am also very thankful for the concept of Eternal Families and the knowledge that I can be with my sweet family forever! I'm most thankful though, that when the going gets tough and it seems like I just can't take it anymore, I can turn to my Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ and through the atonement of Jesus Christ, I can be at peace with whatever life throws at me!

I guess this was my fast and testimony meeting testimony, since I didn't share my testimony yesterday in Sacrament Meeting!

Nauvoo

OK, so there's lots to say about Nauvoo, but I don't have all the time in the world to say it so forgive me!


When we got into Nauvoo, we headed to the visitor's center to grab some brochures and then went to the Brickyard. It was cool to learn about how they make brick and hear stories about the people building homes and what not.



After that, we decided to make our way to Carthage. We knew we wouldn't have tons of time to see everything, so we made going to Carthage a priority, since it's such a spiritual experience. When we got to the visitor's center, we were the ONLY people there, so we watched the movie, then the Sister Missionaries took us on a tour of the jail. What an amazing experience. It is honestly like no other experience I've had, and I hope that EVERYONE can someday visit Carthage Jail and walk where Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor and others have walked. It was definitely an experience that strengthened my testimony, and I am so thankful for the opportunity we had to visit Carthage Jail. I will remember the feeling I felt in that room forever!


If you want to learn more about this click here.

After we visited Carthage, we didn't have any time to make it back to Nauvoo before things closed, which was sad but OK since we had such a good experience at Carthage. We headed to Keokuk, Iowa for dinner at Ogo's. ...interesting place...they served whole catfish, fried froglegs and other scary looking things. Pretty much the desserts were the best part and I was glad when dinner was done ha ha. We stayed in Keokuk and had planned to get up and go to church before going to Nauvoo again to see what we missed the day before. Our plan was thwarted when we all woke up at 8:45 and church started at 9. So, we were unable to make it to church and went down to breakfast, packed up and headed back to Nauvoo to see a few more things.

We drove through an insane storm to get back to Nauvoo and we were pretty sad to learn that we probably wouldn't be able to get out and walk the Temple grounds and take pictures since it was SO stormy. We decided to just sit for a while and lo and behold, the storm passed!

Pictures of the Nauvoo Temple during the rain!


Inside the Seventies Hall

Different view of the Nauvoo Temple! It's such an AWESOME Temple!

We set the camera on a timer, and David ran back into the picture JUST in time. :)

David and Ellie on the Nauvoo Temple Grounds

Seriously, if you have the opportunity, visit Nauvoo. It's such a beautiful place with such a great atmosphere! Whether or not your are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you can have an enjoyable time visiting Nauvoo and taking in the beauty that is there.

We loved our short but sweet trip to Nauvoo and I'm so happy we decided to take the extra travel time to visit! So neat!