Day in Old Nauvoo

After completing our biking journey, we went to take showers,get the kids, and eat.
Then we went and visited Carthage Jail. It was beautiful and peaceful.

 

This was the window Joseph was shot out of

I loved hearing about the love that was between the brothers Joseph and Hyrum. Makes me hope that my boys will always have a close relationship with each other.

 

I'm grateful for the close relationships I have with my sisters

My mom told the tour guide that 30 years ago, on that day, she had married my dad. Well, my mom also failed to tell the tour guide that they were no longer married. She claimed that she didn't say anything because the tour guide didn't ask if they were still married. Weird that the tour guide would assume that since they were together on the anniversary of their marriage, with their children, that they would still be married. Silly mom.

Then we went into Nauvoo. Todd and I were able to go to the temple, which was awesome.

After the temple and playing with the kids a little bit, it was late afternoon. My mom, dad, and sisters were leaving for they were driving back to Utah (in a car that had just lost the AC the day before...don't forget it was the middle of the summer) and wanted to get a good distance to start.
 So we had one last picture at the Johnathan Browning Guns Shop (my ancestor) and said good bye.

Todd and I were trying to decide what to do. We had a 10 hour drive home and Todd had to work the next evening. But, we didn't feel like we got to spend much time in Nauvoo, and there was a outdoor pageant performance that was going on in just a couple of hours. We weren't sure if we wanted to be more responsible or if we wanted to give the boys another experience. We decided that especially since we were this far, we may as well wait the two hours and stay for the show.
We decided to take the boys to the temple grounds for a bit while we waited for the show. It was fun to talk to the boys about the fact that we were married there.

By the time we made it to where the performance was taking place there was only about 20 minutes until it started, which I thought was great until I realized that there were all sorts of pioneer games and activities set up for people to do before the show started. The games were awesome and the crafts were fun (and all free), so the boys had a good time as we tried to get in all that we could.

The show was pretty good, but half-way through William and Grant had to go to the bathroom. Todd took them while I stayed with the other two boys.
Many minutes later Todd returned and asked me if I had William with me. Apparently while he was at the bathroom, he went in the stall with Grant and William had gone in a separate stall. When Todd came out, William was gone.
This made me a little nervous for there were tons of people around, it was dark, and William didn't know where we were. Todd handed Grant to me as he went looking for William.
While he was yelling out for William's name, a man (one of the helpers at the show) approached Todd and asked if he was looking for a little boy and told him that a lost boy had been found. Todd went with him to the information tent and found William standing there silently.
Relieved, Todd gave him a hug. Being grateful for the people that had helped, Todd asked William if he had told them his name so that they could help him. William answered with,
    "Dad, when they asked me my name I talked so quietly
     so that they couldn't hear me....because I'm not supposed
     to talk to strangers"

Glad he knows Stranger Danger, and impressed with his creative ways to obey the rules.
The rest of the evening remained uneventful, then after the show, we loaded into our car and set out for the long drive home.

I was planning on driving most of the way, stopping to sleep at a motel if needed, so that Todd could get some rest since we had not only just ended a long bike ride, but he had to work the next evening.
When we got into the car at 10 PM, Todd offered to drive first, let me get some sleep, then we could trade off when he got sleepy. I was planning on maybe an hour or two, so I quickly fell asleep.
Around 3 AM I awoke as Todd was putting on the brakes. We were on the freeway and he had just seen a car swerve to the left and run into the guardrail. Because it happened right behind him and because there was almost no one else on the freeway, Todd u-turned the car and parked right in front of the wrecked car.
In the wrecked car was a middle aged women who looked a mess. Todd helped her out and brought her over by our car as he called the local police to help the woman. The woman did not appear hurt, but the airbag had gone off and her car was undriveable.  As cars went past on the freeway, I was so nervous that one of them may clip the woman's car, causing her car to hit into Todd. But I was grateful to have such a good husband that was willing to help someone else in need.
As we waited for the police to arrive, the woman kept going through her trunk and car, looking for something. Then as the police car pulled up behind her, she threw something into the field. Todd talked to the police officer briefly then came back to our car and we left. Todd said that the woman reeked of alcohol - NOT COOL.
Still being willing to drive, Todd let me go back to sleep, which was probably good since I don't know if I could have stayed awake. About 4 hours later, Todd pulled over and switched me. It was about 6 or 7 in the morning, I had pretty much had a full nights sleep while Todd had stayed awake. I got into the drivers seat and Todd fell fast asleep.
Just shortly after, the gas light came on. This isn't a huge concern since it comes on when I still have about 35 miles of gas left, but I was also driving on the Turn Pike, where service stations are few and far in between. So, I kept my eyes peeled.
About 20 minutes later, I was still looking for a gas station. At this particular moment, I was in a crowd of early morning 18-wheeler drivers. It wasn't until too late that I noticed that one diesel was blocking my view of the exit signs for a service station. I had missed it! But I kept my hopes up that 1- we weren't that empty on gas, and 2-there would be another one soon to come.
A little while later, I still hadn't found a gas station, and was not particularly focused on it until I felt the car slowing down. I pulled off the nearest exit ramp and coasted until the car came to a stop.
I saw that about a mile down the road was a gas station, so I was going to grab my bike off the back of the car, ride to it, get the gas, put it in the car, and be on our way, all without waking up Todd or the boys.
Just as I was about to get out of the car, Todd awoke and in a worried voice asked what was wrong. I told him that I had run out of gas.  Very patiently and lovingly, he responded with,"That's okay, I'm sorry it happened to you babe. I'll go get some gas." He hopped onto his bike to get some gas.
While I was waiting, a police car pulled up behind me. He came to my window and asked what my problem was. After telling him, he said that he didn't like how far onto the road I was, especially since there were children in the car. I wasn't sure of how to respond when he told me to just stay in the drivers seat while he pushed my car (that was on an uphill) from behind. He got on the back and tried pushing, but the downward force from the decline was too great, but luckily a truck driver pulled up behind him and ran out to push with him. I felt incredibly awkward, but was grateful for their help and concern.
Todd made it back shortly and we were able to make it to our home an hour before going to church.
It was a very long 24 hours.