Liberty & the Journey Home
Thursday, July 5th
I got up early Thursday and wrote one of these days on the blog for a bit (they are all blurring together). I then woke the kids and we drove over to the Liberty Jail parking lot. By then everyone was awake and dressed and getting ready for the day.
The Liberty Jail's visitor's center did open until 9 AM. So I sat all of the kids down at 8.30 AM, and told them this was the very, very last "church" thing I would ask of them for the trip. I then had them watch Elder Hollands "Lessons from Liberty Jail." If you haven't ever listened to this (and then gone back after and read and studied it), then you absolutely should. In my opinion this should be required reading for all Latter-day Saints. 😁
Liberty Jail can be a "that was nice" tour. However, after the power of the Spirit of that talk, and the applicability to our lives set the perfect tone as the kids went into the Visitor's Center. Another little miracle - on day 14 now, the kids are still tolerating me putting them thru more "Church" stuff. But really, they are enjoying it, and have caught the Spirit of it.
The Sisters who did the tour explained the history in a meeting room. Their history was good, but a little long, and my kids were starting to wiggle. After hearing the talk, my kids were anxious to get into the jail room.
The room surrounding the jail is very impressive and carries an amazing Spirit. The Sisters do a nice presentation and ask a lot of probing, personal questions. But my kids had just listened to an Apostle do frankly a much better job. Granted, he had 40 minutes .... but my kids humored the Sisters with some answers. But they definitely felt the Spirit of this "Prison Temple." I know, because we have talked about it a few times since. And enough so, that most wanted a picture by them self.
As we walked out of the Visitor's Center, there was a collective sigh. We did it! We had hit all of the sights that we had planned to see. We were sooooooo glad that we had done it, but in 13 days we had accomplished so much, and frankly we were exhausted!!!! But we were so glad we had done this trip! And now that they had seen it, lived it, learned it, loved it, felt it ... the homesickness started to set in.
So we loaded back into the RV, and took off! We left the Visitors Center at about 10.30 AM and had a short drive. We were going to stay in a hotel that night because the kids thought the hotels were fun, and when we decided to trim 1 day off Nauvoo, the deal was if we got to stay in a hotel. Plus, without good data coverage and too much heat - I had swapped my Remote Work day from Tuesday to Friday. So I needed a place I could get stuff done!
The Spirit in the trailer was jubilant. The kids were excited to be heading back home. And the weight of the trip was off them as well. (I will try to go back sometime and get the video to work, but this is a video of McKay singing with the boys to Frozen. ???? yeah ....) Nate isn't naked - he is just doing his #NoShirtClub
So our route for the rest of the day was this:
Once we got to the hotel the kids swam in the indoor pool and then we all just chilled. We walked to a DQ that was accross the street for dinner that afternoon. Yep - that is how we were rolling today!
Friday, July 6th
I got up early (like 5 AM) and dug in to get as much done as I could. The kids and Karson were able to get stuff rounded up to the RV. I worked until a late checkout a little after 12. Meantime, Lily was having a blast at the hotel. Her clock was all messed up so she was awake a lot of the morning.
After 12, we were back on the road. The kids enjoyed the hotel, but were ready too roll.
Next stop - the Grahams! We left the hotel at approx 1 PM by the time we got gas and food. We stopped along the way, and landed at the Grahams at approx 10.30 PM. The drive across Okalahoma and Texas are so funny to me. I forget how amazingly flat and straight the roads are. They stretch on for milllllleeeesss.
We were excited to see the Grahams, but our kids were tired. So we visited for a bit, and then stuck the kids back into the RV and crashed out.
Saturday, July 7th
All day we got to play all day with the Luke and Jen and their awesome kids! We had so much fun! And the weather was absolutely perfect! The high was in the 80s, and the low had been in the low 70s. And it was dry!!!! No more humidity! Talk about perfection!
McKay and Luke got to go for a run in the mountains. We got to play lots on their new balance line (I'm tired and can't remember what it is called). We got to swim in the pool at least 3 or 4 times. And the kids just played and played and played all day.
Sunday, July 8th
This morning I got up, blogged a day (I am playing catch up) and then roused the kids and we all got ready for Church. We grabbed a 9 AM church time (earlier than Luke and Jen's time). We had such a fun time visiting them!
We really enjoyed their Sacrament meeting! The speakers did a gave great talks and all our kids commented how this this so much better than last week's strange meeting. One of the things that really stood out is that the speaker had read this scientific study that talked about how much unhappiness there was in Olympic Athletes that got Silver medals. The feeling of failure is just overwhelming to them.
If we thought the kids were excited to head home before, now they were just down-right giddy! They have been awesome travelers, but they were so ready to head home!
Then, as we came down thru Payson, I think half of the people in the Phoenix valley was in the mountains this week - and all heading home this afternoon. We got stuck in not 1, not 2, but 3 different traffic snarls coming down the rim into and in Payson. It added over 2 hours to our trip. But this was the route:
But tonight, after driving 5,100 miles, going thru 12 states (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Iowa, Missouri), and feeling the Spirit of Palmyra, Kirtland, Nauvoo, Carthage, and Liberty - there is no place like home!
It truly was an EPIC TRIP for 2018. Karson and I are in agreement that a once every 10 years trip like this might be just right. 😁😂😃
I got up early Thursday and wrote one of these days on the blog for a bit (they are all blurring together). I then woke the kids and we drove over to the Liberty Jail parking lot. By then everyone was awake and dressed and getting ready for the day.
The Liberty Jail's visitor's center did open until 9 AM. So I sat all of the kids down at 8.30 AM, and told them this was the very, very last "church" thing I would ask of them for the trip. I then had them watch Elder Hollands "Lessons from Liberty Jail." If you haven't ever listened to this (and then gone back after and read and studied it), then you absolutely should. In my opinion this should be required reading for all Latter-day Saints. 😁
Liberty Jail can be a "that was nice" tour. However, after the power of the Spirit of that talk, and the applicability to our lives set the perfect tone as the kids went into the Visitor's Center. Another little miracle - on day 14 now, the kids are still tolerating me putting them thru more "Church" stuff. But really, they are enjoying it, and have caught the Spirit of it.
The Sisters who did the tour explained the history in a meeting room. Their history was good, but a little long, and my kids were starting to wiggle. After hearing the talk, my kids were anxious to get into the jail room.
The room surrounding the jail is very impressive and carries an amazing Spirit. The Sisters do a nice presentation and ask a lot of probing, personal questions. But my kids had just listened to an Apostle do frankly a much better job. Granted, he had 40 minutes .... but my kids humored the Sisters with some answers. But they definitely felt the Spirit of this "Prison Temple." I know, because we have talked about it a few times since. And enough so, that most wanted a picture by them self.
On the way out, McKay caught me and pointed out a copy of the Extermination Order. Little miracle: he knew what it was that he spotted it! With it, is a letter of apology and an official Executive Order from the Governor in 1976 rescinding the horrible original act. Very cool little piece to have here and so glad that McKay caught it. It is a very unassuming place down the hall.
So we loaded back into the RV, and took off! We left the Visitors Center at about 10.30 AM and had a short drive. We were going to stay in a hotel that night because the kids thought the hotels were fun, and when we decided to trim 1 day off Nauvoo, the deal was if we got to stay in a hotel. Plus, without good data coverage and too much heat - I had swapped my Remote Work day from Tuesday to Friday. So I needed a place I could get stuff done!
The Spirit in the trailer was jubilant. The kids were excited to be heading back home. And the weight of the trip was off them as well. (I will try to go back sometime and get the video to work, but this is a video of McKay singing with the boys to Frozen. ???? yeah ....) Nate isn't naked - he is just doing his #NoShirtClub
Once we got to the hotel the kids swam in the indoor pool and then we all just chilled. We walked to a DQ that was accross the street for dinner that afternoon. Yep - that is how we were rolling today!
Friday, July 6th
I got up early (like 5 AM) and dug in to get as much done as I could. The kids and Karson were able to get stuff rounded up to the RV. I worked until a late checkout a little after 12. Meantime, Lily was having a blast at the hotel. Her clock was all messed up so she was awake a lot of the morning.
Next stop - the Grahams! We left the hotel at approx 1 PM by the time we got gas and food. We stopped along the way, and landed at the Grahams at approx 10.30 PM. The drive across Okalahoma and Texas are so funny to me. I forget how amazingly flat and straight the roads are. They stretch on for milllllleeeesss.
Saturday, July 7th
All day we got to play all day with the Luke and Jen and their awesome kids! We had so much fun! And the weather was absolutely perfect! The high was in the 80s, and the low had been in the low 70s. And it was dry!!!! No more humidity! Talk about perfection!
McKay and Luke got to go for a run in the mountains. We got to play lots on their new balance line (I'm tired and can't remember what it is called). We got to swim in the pool at least 3 or 4 times. And the kids just played and played and played all day.
We played late into the night. What a fun place with fun people!
Sunday, July 8th
This morning I got up, blogged a day (I am playing catch up) and then roused the kids and we all got ready for Church. We grabbed a 9 AM church time (earlier than Luke and Jen's time). We had such a fun time visiting them!
If we thought the kids were excited to head home before, now they were just down-right giddy! They have been awesome travelers, but they were so ready to head home!
It truly was an EPIC TRIP for 2018. Karson and I are in agreement that a once every 10 years trip like this might be just right. 😁😂😃
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