Sunday, March 28, 2010

Trip to Nauvoo

We have lived in Illinois for almost 5 years and have not had a lot of time to travel around and see what's around us. My mom came over Spring Break, and she hasn't been to Nauvoo since her high school graduation and I have never been, so we hopped in the car and drove the 4 hours to Nauvoo, IL! Bladen was SOOOO excited to go on his 1st "road trip"
Bladen sitting on the throne in our 2 bedroom bed and breakfast style hotel room haha
On our way to Nauvoo we had no idea if there would be any hotels or anywhere to eat because we drove out in the middle of the country for 3 hours and didn't see anything but a house every mile and a couple of bars, but we were lucky to find the Nauvoo Hotel, which was more like a bed and breakfast!

Our hotel had the BEST buffet I've ever had and our waitress said that many locals drive 2 hrs to eat there every Friday night. We were there on a Friday night and it was PACKED! Mmmmmm Mmmmm Good!


Bladen and Nana

When I first came to Illinois I thought these things were just lsigns/monument things letting everyone know the name of the town, little did I know they were water tanks DUH - but hey I'm from the mountains so I didn't know any better!

Bladen learned A LOT about the church on this trip.

Bladen kept saying I want to go in this temple place.


The temple was right across from the Mississippi River - it was beautiful at sunset!





This is downtown Nauvoo from the temple grounds.

Nauvoo visiting center - we actually got Bladen to sit through the whole 70 minute movie... it was really good!

The missionaries were even given wagon rides in the snow!

We followed the river for 20 miles from Nauvoo to Carthage.
This is Carthage Jail
The keeper's kitchen
The keeper's dining room where him and his family slept when the mob arrived.

The cell - it was 120 degrees in here when the mob arrived so the keeper had Joseph and his crew in his personal bedroom.

Man he was a joy to take on a historical trip, but what else what I supposed to do with him haha

The room where the murders happened - you can see the bullet hole in the door

Joseph fell out this window to his death

I thought it was Spring???
Bladen and Roco on our way home!

This was the most interesting thing we saw on our 4 hr drive home. We did not go on one interstate the whole way... my navigation even took us through trailer parks and loops we should have never taken... I was about ready to freak out (thanks to my patience I learned from my dad) good thing I had mom there to tell me we were in no hurry and no where else to be.
Overall our trip was fun and it was a huge learning experience for both me and Bladen and a good refresher for my mom!

Valentines Day

One thing that I love about Bladen's daycare is that is gets us all hyped up for every holiday! Mr B. shoveling out in the snowBladen brought home TONS of goodies from his Valentines party at school. His whole box was full of junk food... just what we needed!
Cupid brought Bladen 2 games for his Clickstart computer, bubble gum and new toothbrushes

Bladen's loot from Papa and Nana's Valentines package

Christmas!!

I'm a slacker for not posting Christmas until March, but hey better late than never. BEware IT will be picture overload!!

Danielle and I took Lauren and Bladen to Monticello on the train to have lunch with Santa. The kids loved it! PB&Js with Santa what more could you ask for!

Bladen got "exactly what I wanted" at his daycare Christmas party... a Playdoh set!
Before we left for Utah, we got together with Ryan, Jenna and Kendal to let the kids open their gifts from one another.
Bladen got his regular and swine flu shots right before Christmas. In these pics he's "laying out the sections" of the newspaper.
Santa visited Bladen early in Illinois since this gift couldn't come back with us on the plane.
FINALLY made it to Utah.
Bladen helping Nana deliver neighbor gifts on his 4-wheeler

I surprised Nate with a 30th birthday party with all all of our family at Rusty's... it was great and he DIDN'T have a clue!!
The cake decorator asked me what he liked to do and I said all he does is work, but I guess you could put the Illinois logo on it since that's who he works for... poor guy doesn't have time for anything else!
As always on Christmas Eve, we have the Bulloch Christmas party down at Crystal Inn.





Bladen and Auntie sprinkling reindeer food on Nana's lawn.
Christmas Day breakfast... this is usually the only time I ever see dad cooking :)

Bladen and Pri riding his snowmobile for the 1st time


No we didn't plan to match on Christmas Day it just happened



Dad has gotten Bladen trained already

Bladen is such an animal lover that we can't leave Cedar without Ben taking us to the farm. It was fun this year since the baby lambs had just been born.

We spent New Years Eve back in Illinois with just our little family watching movies.