8 years w/ a trip!

It's been eight years since Matt and I made the leap into this crazy adventure of marriage! That's enough time to earn a trip alone isn't?! Ever since we've moved here Matt has wanted to take a trip up to Nauvoo, and it's just never worked out that we could go. It was time to make it happen. So I planned a trip for just the two of us. No kids. For the whole weekend. Friday through Sunday! Can we do that?

I typed up an itinerary and gave to Matt as a surprise. He was really excited (although I think he already had guessed where we were going)! The kids were going to have "party time" at Matt's parents for the weekend and we left. By ourselves. Wow! This was really happening!

We had a great time. I found this great place for us to stay. It's called Nauvoo Log Cabins. They find and restore log homes that were built by the pioneers that had once lived in Nauvoo. Very cool! We stayed in the VanVleet Cabin. It was reconstructed from the original wood they found in Wyoming. With each cabin they give you the "history" of the family that built it. It was so cool. The VanVleet's, we found out, were really good friends with Butch Cassidy's family!

Here's our cute little hide-away:

Matt called the top bunk! haha
Just kidding!
We even had an out house...in the house!!
This was the key.
We kept thinking about what it would have been like to live in this little cabin. One room and they had 4 kids (did I mention that we left the kids home this time. Oh yeah. I did...). It was a little overwhelming. It certainly was a different time. And then we would look over at the t.v., microwave, and refrigerator and decided we could have done it! haha

It was nice to have a few modern conveniences. If is wasn't of these though, it really was a humbling thought as to how these strong, hard-working people really lived. I recommend this place to anyone!

One convenience Nauvoo doesn't particularly have is places to eat. So this was our dinner one night. Pizza from the gas station!

We did eat at Grandpa John's Cafe for breakfast, and it was really yummy!!

And then after breakfast it was right to the Fudge Factory. And no it's never to early in the morning for fudge (plus it was right next door)!
YEEESSS Ma'am!
We spent 2 days walking around Nauvoo. It was the perfect time to go, because nobody else was there. We had all the sites and missionaries pretty much to ourselves. I quickly realized though why we were the only ones visiting. IT WAS FREEZING outside. We were the only ones crazy enough to go to Nauvoo in February!!

I didn't take pictures everywhere, but here are a few. Because we had the missionaries at each place all to ourselves they spent a lot of time talking to us and showing us things. It was like they didn't want us to leave. They weren't sure when they would have anyone else come. They loved talking with us. haha

We made a rope. A must on any visit to the Family Living Center!

Matt was gitty when we stopped here. Jonathan Browning's home and shop. To see the place where all his guns came from was the cherry on top!

We went to the temple as well. I'll say this. That was a beautiful temple. Unbelievable! I felt really lucky to be able to go.

We love this statue of Joseph and Hyrum. Their last stop before they rode on to Carthage.
The Trail of Hope. We realized that Feburary was the same time the Saints left Nauvoo. The only other time I've been here was in August when it was hot and muggy. Standing here in the freezing cold, in February put it in real perspective for me. It was cold.
We had a really great time together. It was the perfect way to celebrate 8 wonderful years together. On our 3 1/2 hour ride home we talked about how blessed we've been. We talked about how great our kids are and how they make us laugh...and cry! But we both agreed that we this was a pretty good choice we made those 8 l-o-n-g (haha, just kidding) years ago! I love him more then words can even say! We felt reconnected and rejuvenated!!

And then...

Welcome home mom and dad...! And here's to another 8 years:) Here we go!
(it is a little blurry, but I'm sure you get the picture) Aaah. Weekends over!

March 1 is our actual anniversary and we went to lunch. I was surprised to see my 8 little beauties on the table when we were seated. He always remembers. I love tulips...and I love Matt!!