Nauvoo

We met my two older brothers and their families and my parents in Nauvoo. The boys were so excited to see their cousins. Tyson has been asking me for the last couple of days, "Is Alex my cousin, or Miles cousin?" "Is Jaxon my cousin, or Miles cousins?" He goes down through the list of all the cousins. He hears me talk about my family and Troy talk about his family, and is now trying to figure out which family is his - but gets really confused that Daddy and Mommy's family are both his family.

We had fun in Nauvoo - Miles remembered some of the things that we did last year. So this time we tried to go in the shops that we didn't see last time. I think that it is fascinating to see how that community lived and worked together to make such a beautiful city. I would love to have seen how it really was in the 1830's.

This time I seemed to be more reflective on how much the early saints were committed to their religion. On Sunday we drove down Parley Street to the waters edge and looked out over the water. This is the road that the saints would have walked down and crossed the river as they were being driving from their homes. As I was standing there in the bitter cold with the snow falling, I can't image how they felled leaving their homes in the middle to of the winter and walking to Utah. I wonder if I have the same conviction as they did toward what I believe.