July Jaunts of 2022 aka July Jazz cont.

 Day 7: We woke up without having to pack our bags and took our time getting ready for the day. Now that's taking a vacation! We should of been heading to Independence, Missouri to see the temple, and then to Richmond, Missouri to see the area where the Saints faced a lot of persecutions and the courthouse where hearings against the prophet were held and a cemetery where Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer is buried. We also missed seeing Liberty Jail and the Kansas City Temple. Maybe we'll have to go see those places on our own next summer.

We did find out that we had to arrive at the Cleveland Airport the next day around 2:00pm. So, we got in a good days' worth of the famous Cleveland Museum of Arts. 

We joined up with a couple of sisters from the group, Suzi Adams and Marianne McKay and had Uber give us a ride to the museum after breakfast. 

It was all it was hyped up to be. There was a LOT to see! Things tied in with early Christianity, to other cultures, to paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso ( just to name a few), to a Mid-evil and Egyptian exhibit. The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 61,000 objects and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts. One of the top comprehensive art museums in the nation and free of charge to all. It was all pretty awesome and is in a beautiful building. We got there when it opened and stayed there until it closed and didn't come close to seeing everything. 

We found a Himalayan place to eat that was close by and continued our adventure by trying some new cuisine, which was pretty tasty, before having an Uber take us back to the hotel. It was a lot of walking. We were on our feet most the day, but it was worth it. We chilled in the room and visited with some people from our group before hitting the sack.

Day 8: We were supposed to head to Far West and see the Far West temple site and where the Hawn's Mill massacre happened. We also missed seeing Adam-Ondi-Ahman where the Church thinks that Adam & Eve were cast out from the dreary world and where Christ will appear again for the Second Coming. We also missed Hannibal, MO where we might have seen some Amish sightings, and would have seen Mark Twain's home, the river he used, a lighthouse, and  riverboats to get a feel for the area he grew up in. BUT... we slept in again and ate a late breakfast, packed up our bags and played the 3-13 card game with Dean & Barbara Hancock and Ben & Cole Kemp (Cole was one of the youth essay winners) until it was time to get ready to meet the vans for our ride to the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:00pm for the Chicago-Midway Airport, but the incoming flight for it was delayed in Denver, CO they said for about an hour, so we walked around the airport and even found a Christmas tree! We hoped that wasn't an omen that we'd be staying in Ohio until Christmas!!

After another delay was announced when we got back from our walk, we were worried that the flight might get cancelled again because the same scenario was happening to us from last time we were in this same airport! Luckily, we did board and landed in Chicago. 

There was a Tour bus waiting to pick us up and drive us to Quincy, Illinois where we would stay in a hotel for the night and then catch up with the scheduled tour. It was supposed to be a 5-hour drive that ended up taking 7 hours because we went on a lot of back roads and not the interstate. I didn't sleep at all on the bus, it was too loud and bumpy. 

We arrived at the hotel in Quincy around 2:30-3:00am, which put us to bed around 3:30-4:00am and we needed to be on the bus again at 7:00am.

Day 9: I can't say I slept great, but the 3 -3/12 hours of sleep I did get helped some. We ate a nice breakfast and then our new bus driver headed the bus to Nauvoo, Illinois where along the way we saw the towns of Green Plains and Warsaw, IL. Dale is related to Elliza Jane Grahmn who was living in Warsaw at the time Joseph Smith was murdered and working at a hotel where those in the mob stayed the night and were bragging about how they had killed him. She heard it all and testified at the young age of 19yrs. when she took the stand to tell the court what she witnessed. However, none were sentenced or prosecuted for their terrible acts towards the Prophet, his brother, Hyrum, and an apostle, John Taylor that were in the Nauvoo Jail under false accusations. Sad deal.

Dale was pretty excited he got to see the "Warsaw House". 

Nauvoo was our next stop and Dale and I, along with others from our tour were able to attend an Endowment Session in the Nauvoo Temple. What a beautiful temple. We had the opportunity to do some of our family names there. The name I took was Betty Wimpenny who was born in 1892 in Glossop, Derbyshire, England. She was one of the early Saints that came across the ocean and could have landed at Fairport Harbor by Lake Erie, so it made my experience pretty special.

We walked around the grounds after the session and got a picture by a monument of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

Then we loaded our bus and got dropped off in the heart of Nauvoo City.  We changed out of the clothes we wore to the temple and got in a horse-drawn wagon ride that took us around the area to give us an overview of what and where the sights were.

After a tasty catered lunch, we headed out on a "Joseph Smith Sites" walking tour. We saw the "Red Brick Store" and Joseph's office. It served not only as a general store, but it also became the center of social, economic, political, and religious activities. Joseph Smith’s office was on the second floor.

Before the temple was completed, the upper room of the store was used as an ordinance room, where the first full endowments were given. On March 17, 1842, the Prophet Joseph organized the women of the Church into the Relief Society.

We also saw the Mansion House and the Smith family cemetery. Joseph Smith and his family moved into the Mansion House in Nauvoo in Aug. 1843. Later a wing was added to the east side of the main structure for a total of 22 rooms. Beginning in Jan. 1844, Ebenezer Robinson managed the house as a hotel, and the Prophet maintained six of the rooms for his family. The house served as a social center of Nauvoo society. This is the house where the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were brought after they were shot and killed in Carthage, IL to lie in state prior to their funerals.

The family cemetery was just across the street and close to the old log home that Joseph lived in when he first came to Nauvoo. 

Emma Smith lived in the Mansion House until 1871. Then she moved into the Nauvoo House, where she died in 1879. 

It was a warm day, but luckily there were trees to give us shade. We went to the Nauvoo Visitors Center and watched the film "Remembering Nauvoo" in the air-conditioned theater as a group, which was nice. 

While we were in the area, we were able to get in another wagon ride, but this one was pulled by oxen. It took us around the area that's close to the Visitor's Center. It was more open, and they claimed that this was the area that Joseph would go with Emma for carriage rides to get some time together with no distractions.

From there we saw the homes of Wilford & Phobe Woodruff, Orson & Miranda Hyde, and Heber C. & Violate Kimball. All nice homes.

We had to make sure that Dale got to see where Jonathan Browning, the founder of the famous Browning guns lived. It was his son, Moses, that invented the 30 Caliber Air Cooled Machine Gun. We also saw his gunsmith shop where they made the guns. I'd say this was a BIG highlight of the day for Dale. I did think that it was pretty cool. Mr. Browning's story was quite impressive and so was his house. I loved the grounds around his house, so inviting, and so pretty.

We visited a General Store also. When you say General Store, it's compared to our Department Stores. It had a huge variety of items. Anything from medicine to horse feed.

We met the group for dinner and then hopped on the bus. It took our group to the Nauvoo Pageant. The show was very informative, and the pageant was very entertaining. 

The cast was HUGE!! Full of families with young children that volunteer for 3 weeks at a time, which live in Nauvoo housing and pay for their stay there. The leads in the pageants are more professional singers and actors and get some type of monetary compensation and free housing.

We might have had our heads bob a few times during our down times due to our lack of sleep from the day before, but it made it easier to fall asleep when we got back to the hotel.

Day 10: We woke up well rested and refreshed and left the hotel with a full stomach.

Today was a full day of visiting the sights of Nauvoo. We did a LOT of walking, and it was another hot day, but we took advantage of any shade or air-conditioned areas we could to make it bearable.

We saw the Brigham & Mary Ann Young home, John Taylor home, and the Hyrum & Sarah Granger Kimball home (didn't get pictures of them all), the printshop, and post office.

After dinner we went to a Pre-show to the British Pageant called “Sunset on the Mississippi” that was performed by young preforming missionaries that were called to serve in this capacity. Those called auditioned for this type of mission. It was very entertaining and full of music, dancing, and singing.

From there, our bus took us to the British Pageant. In the picture above it shows how thick the bugs were, but I was prepared and wore my bug spray! We had great seats and enjoyed another wonderful show. The story, music, and sets were awesome. The cast was again HUGE. What a sacrifice these early Saints had made that crossed the ocean to come to America to join the Saints here. Again, it touched my heart knowing that my ancestry came from overseas and sacrificed SO much to get here.

Day 11: Today we say good-bye to Nauvoo, but only after we stopped and walked The Trail of Hope. Even though it was a hot, humid morning we were to imagine that it was a bitter cold day in Feb. 1846. That day more than 1,000 Latter-Day Saints walked down Parley Street, now referred to as the Trail of Hope. We were to imagine how the Saints felt when they looked back at the temple for the last time. There were plaques along the trail as well as some people dressed in costume that shared stories from journals of people that took this trail. 

We couldn’t read the plaques or hear the stories those in costume shared due to a LARGE group that had arrived before us. But as we walked down the road and looked back and you could see the temple through the trees and all those people. It gave us a better idea of what it might have looked like and the thoughts that might have been going through their heads.

As you saw above, some left nice homes after they had been living in dug outs or log cabins. They had worked SO hard to build their home only to live in it for a couple of months before they were driven out of the area.

This quote by George Q. Cannon describes some of what they felt: “Those of us who can remember when we were compelled to abandon Nauvoo, when the winter was so inclement, know how hard and gloomy the circumstances of the Saints were, with the mob surrounding our outer settlements and threating to destroy us. … The word was to cross the Mississippi and launch out into an unknown wilderness---to go where, no one knew.  Who knew anything of the terrors of the journey thither, or of the dangers that might have to be met and contended with? … (We moved) out with faith that was undisturbed by (these) unknown terrors. It was by faith that this was accomplished.”

Our bus met us at the end of the trail by the water's edge. We loaded the bus and headed to Carthage, IL, another somber place in Church History, for this is where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob.

The grounds surrounding the area were very welcoming, but once inside the jail you felt the darkness and the horror that happened on June 27, 1844, where Elders John Taylor and Willard Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were in jail with the Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum. It was where John Taylor (who was shot, but survived) and Wilford Woodruff survived, but our Prophet and his brother were martyred—killed by a mob that attacked them in the building I was in.  A strong spirit was felt in the bedroom they were in when the mob attacked as their last words were shared. A somber feeling as well.

In the room that Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, and Willard Richards were in when the mob attacked with Gina & Paul Phillips from our tour.

After lunch we stopped in Iowa’s Garden Grove which was where those Saints from Nauvoo stopped to rest for a time before moving onto Kannesville, Iowa. Here they established the first of many settlements along the Mormon Trail west. Several markers identify the original settlement and the cemetery, where many of the pioneers are buried.

We helped pull weeds around the fenced area of the marker due because the caretaker was an older lady that hadn’t been able to get to it due to the rain in the area. This site is not owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But they allowed the Church to put up the monument.

We got to our hotel early so after dinner we played card games and visited with Cindy, Jan, Tara, and Greg Goodrich (two brothers on the tour with their wives). They were two couples we got to know at the airport in Salt Lake and we were able to create a friendship with them.

Day 12: After breakfast we loaded up our luggage and headed to Mt. Pisgah. The cemetery includes as many as 150 Latter-Day Saint pioneers who lived in the temporary settlement between 1846-1852. The original grave markers are long gone, but an obelisk memorializes those who died at Mt. Pisgah and provides the names of 63 of those interred in the area. Mt. Pisgah was one of three temporary way stations established in central Iowa during the exodus from Nauvoo. Between 2,000-3,000 pioneers lived in Mount Pisgah at its height, and thousands more stopped here briefly on their way west. Although the community provided refuge and a chance for the Saints to rest and prepare for their journey further west, illness was rampant, and the death rate was high. Mount Pisgah and the other settlements in central Iowa were completely abandoned in 1852, when Church leaders called the Saints still residing in the Midwest to gather to Utah.

We arrived a little early in Council Bluffs, Iowa so we were able to walk around the temple and the cemetery by it and get a few pictures. Dale and I have been to this area before because our daughter, Danica, played soccer in Council Bluffs at Iowa Western University her first two years of college. It’s a beautiful area.

We got a picture of our tour directors Doug & Tyler Meredith and our bus driver, Bob (we think that's what his name was).

We also toured the Visitor’s Center and had lunch in an area by the Visitor’s Center. 

On a sad note, we were notified that there had been some bronze plaques stolen from off from two walls of the monument wall in the cemetery that shared a bit of the history of the area the night before we arrived. Police tape was blocking off the area. They said that a couple of years ago another plaque had been pulled from a rock that was outside the front gate of the cemetery. Sad deal because these plaques may never be replaced due to the fact that the molds are gone. Notice the two plaques gone?

We stopped in Omaha, Nebraska and walked in the "Pioneer Courage Park". An area that has beautiful bronze sculptures of different scenes about the early pioneers and a grassy area with trees to enjoy. Amazing lifelike pieces that showed much detail and expression. Just beautiful.

In the right picture top left corner L-R: Dean Hancock, Dale, Jan Goodrich, Greg Goodrich. Left bottom corner L-R: Robert Hale, Susan Hale, Debbie, Dale some of the friends on the tour

From there we headed to the Omaha Airport. This was a smaller airport, and we arrived plenty early. However, again the plane coming in to take us to Denver, CO was delayed by an hour, but we made it as well as on our connecting flight and landed in Salt Lake late, but we were back in Utah. 

Our tour guides Doug and Tyler Meredith were AWESOME and so knowledgeable and fun! Those in the tour group were great too. We got to know some of my sister, Tanya's, neighbors even. Gary and Sonja Wright and learned to adore them. 

fun times. Maybe we’ll see some from our group on another tour somewhere?

We got home around 1:30am and found all well. It’s SO nice to have willing neighbors and kids that will step in to help us when we need it. The lawn was a little more yellow, but with the water restrictions and warmer temperatures we figured it would be. It was great to go, but it felt great coming home and sleeping in our own bed.

Enough of us…. now onto the kids highlights….

Nate got in some good climbing in Mt. Stuart on the Direct North Ridge with his girlfriend, Diana. It looks amazing. I’m glad he can get away from the office every now and again. He got blisters on his hands and kept going even. What a guy!

He and Diana also got in another climb, but this one had a special purpose. He had his buddy, Brody Hatch, as well as Diana’s friend, Janet, who is a photographer, go on the climb with them. Their plan was to hike to the top of Forbidden Peak in WA. Their purpose was to get married!! Brody got his online Preacher certificate, and Janet filmed the event. They didn’t quite make it to the top of the peak due to fog which made the rocks slippery, but they were close enough to call it their wedding destination.

The crazy thing is Brody, has been taking it easy on his foot due to a stress fracture, but he made the climb and Janet has never done any rock climbing and made it with the help of the others! They all made it up safe, and Diana had a dress and had Nate a white shirt, black tie, and black shorts stashed away in their backpacks for wedding pictures. Their wedding pictures turned out stunning thanks to Janet, don't you think?

No one on either side of the family knew this was going to happen! I just got a call from Nate the afternoon of July 30, 2022, where Nate started the conversation with, “Mom you’ll never guess what I just did”. Of course, I was thinking he’d broken a bone or something, but he said I’m on Forbidden Peak with Preacher Brody and Diana. Then I said something like, "So Brody was praying you would get to the top, okay? “Nate's reply was, "Oh, we're alive and we just got married. Brody just married us!!” I said, “Wait, what? You got married and I didn’t get invited?”  Come to find out only two were invited to join them. I do have to say I got a little teary eyed. They will be great for each other. We are thrilled for them, and we welcome Diana with open arms into the family.

The Mallory crew have been involved in soccer tournaments. Tis the season!! Jaxson, Kennlyn and Langston all played in the Cache Cup. Kennlyn’s team took 2^nd in her age division, Jaxson and Langston played with their teams, but came up short on getting a medal. Next time.

Matt had his birthday! They went boating with us to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday Matt!!

Jaxson played the good big brother and took his little brothers fishing at the pond by Willow Park. I know memories were made even if they didn’t catch many fish! Way to go big bro!! He also got to spend some time with his buddies at Bear Lake.

Mazin was all smiles when he pulled out his own first tooth. That tooth fairy may be getting busier for a while visiting his bedside.

Andrew and Lindsay’s house is moving along. They got the countertops in and got it done enough that they could close on their construction loan/house loan. They locked in at 3 1/2% interest. Pretty sweet deal for them, huh? Now to get their other house sold!!

They celebrated Titan’s 11^th birthday with a Spider Man theme with family and friends.

Dale and I took him to the movie— “Thor-- Love & Thunder. It was quite entertaining!! After we took him to Olive Garden for dinner.

I guess you could say he had a “Marvelous” Happy Birthday!!!! Titan, you’re growing up too fast!!

Zandra and Jorie helped the family get in the “Proud to be an American” Spirit and made a flag cake. They also celebrated with friends and were able to do sparklers to make it a fun way to end the celebrations.

Garrett and Zandra both rode in the Grand Fondo Bike race that happened in our area. They stayed the night with us and headed to the starting line at Green Canyon HS, ready to ride by 6:30am. I took the kids on a nature hike along the canal and then we went and watched Kennlyn play in the Championship game of her soccer tournament that was by Green Canyon as well. Then the kids, Zandra’s mom, Gloria, and Dale and I met Garrett & Zandra at the finish line at Green Canyon. They made good time and didn’t really look beat after riding 76 miles. Way to go guys!!

Garrett got to spend some time at Bear Lake with the Young Men in his ward. They took ATV’s and rode them to Bloomington Lake, and boated, and played outdoor games. From the looks of it, all had a good time. I think he has enjoyed serving with this youth group. I’m sure they love him.

The Hassell’s have had a busy summer with family reunions. They went to Payson Lake for a reunion with his dad and siblings. It was June’s first camping experience.

They’ve had their boat out taking friends and family skiing and surfing and went to Bear Lake with the extended Hassell clan. This was June’s first time at the beach, and she loved it.

This month was one for the books as you can tell for how long it is!! Let the good times roll!!