Nauvooooooo!

I just got back from a great week in Nauvoo for a family reunion. Paul was so nice to let me go while he stayed home and worked. I had so much fun being with my family, I was very happy I got to go. 

Day 1: My mom didn't know I was coming with them to Nauvoo. I told my Dad I wanted to come so he got everything figured out so I could come and keep it a secret from Mom. It was so fun to surprise her. She didn't know what to say when she saw me!! Needless to say, she was excited I was there and I got to come with them :) My mom is the stake primary president, so she was planning an activity for the young girls in the stake. Right after I flew to Colorado, that activity was going on so I got to help out and paint nails and have fun with the girls!

Day 2: This was the day we had to get ready to head out for Nauvoo. My mom, dad and Emily had to pack and get ready to go. My mom and I mowed the lawn so it wouldn't be ten miles long when we got back! Everyone was all packed and ready that night.

Day 3: Road trip!!! On the way to Nauvoo, we broke the driving up into 2 days. We left Longmont and drove to Omaha Nebraska. While we were driving through Nebraska my dad continually said, "Did I mention there is lots of corn in Nebraska?" haha! PS: If you haven't been through Nebraska, there is TONS of corn, that's not exaggerated either! My dad also pointed out the many "points of interest" while we were driving through the very flat state. As you can see, growing up in Colorado is such a treat that it's very hard to see anything prettier!

Day 4: We stayed in Omaha that night and went to church at a local ward. It was a nice ward. We found out that there are many people going to Nauvoo stop and go to church there, which makes sense. After church we continued our trip to Nauvoo. While we were in Nauvoo, we stayed in a cabin that was big enough to fit 14 people. It was way fun. Grandma Anne made us a wonderful lasagna dinner, it was delicious!!

Day 5, 6 and 7: Exploring Nauvoo! There are so many things to see in Nauvoo. We saw every show there is to see: Sunset By the Mississippi, Just Plain Anna Amanda, Rendezvous, and High Hopes and River Boats and of course the famous Nauvoo Pageant. My Aunt Ali and Uncle Todd and their family were in the Pageant. It was so fun to see them preform in it. I would love to go and be in the Pageant sometime. They say it's a wonderful experience! :) Most of the the other shows were done by young preforming missionaries that try out to be in the shows at Nauvoo. If they get in, they are called on a four month mission to Nauvoo to preform in the shows. Every one of these shows we saw were amazing! We decided when we go back we would go see the shows multiple times. In between going to shows we got to tour all the places in Nauvoo and learned how the pioneers lived. We went to the gunsmith, post office, bakery, John Taylor's home, blacksmith and many more. 

I love being with my cute cousins. Poor Evan with all us girls, haha! I think his face in this picture says it  all!! This was before our other boy cousins got to Nauvoo.

This is everyone having fun at pioneer past times. We had lots of fun doing the activities that the pioneers probably did! :)

At the end of day 7 we were on our way to the Boyack reunion in Qunicy. Quincy is about 45 minutes south of Nauvoo. On our way to Qunicy we got to stop in Carthage and take a tour of that. My family had been to Nauvoo and Carthage before but many of my Aunts and Uncles and their families hadn't been there. It was a great experience for everyone :)

Once we got to Quincy for the family reunion we checked into our hotel and settled in. We went up to the ballroom in the hotel for a major sweet dance party! It sounds way fancy, but this hotel was really old, but I'm sure that in it's day of it's newness and awesomeness, it was probably really nice and a hoppin' place, but not so much anymore. It was a perfect area for our family though, I had so much fun dancing with my all my cousins!! We were rockin' out all night!! 

Day 8: This day was the day of the famous Boyack Olympics! The person in charge comes up with fun relays for every team to do. I got the sweet job of being a team caption. We were team Mercury with and awesome cheer: Hot Hot Hot!! Jordyn made up the cheer because Mercury is the hottest planet! After the olympics we were treated to BBQ in the park. After we got back to the hotel it was time to start planning for the commercials that would be performed during the first ever Boyack game show! I was in charge of helping out the 7-9 year olds. I was the only college aged kid at the reunion this year, so I got to help the little guys. We came up with a catchy Boyack song that goes along with the Oscar Meyer Bologna song! It turned out way cute. 

Day 9: Final day of the reunion, picture day, exploration day, Boyack game show and banquet day!!

We took a big picture with everyone that was at the reunion. It was a very cool picture! I'm glad that they planned to do that. Then we drove to Hannibal Missouri where Mark Twain lived. They have many things as tributes to Mark Twain. We got to go on the Mark Twain riverboat. It took us up the Mississippi River for a hour. The boat went a speedy 3 mph, the skipper told us stories about Mark Twain and it was really good weather. We had fun!! We came back and enjoyed the game show. My mom was the host. She did an awesome job! Every aged group preformed their commercial, they were way creative and fun! After that we got ready for the banquet and had a nice meal. The older folks told us stories about the original Boyacks that started these reunions. It was cool to learn about them!

Day 10: The long 14 hour trek home got started at 7 am. We drove all the way home in one day. It seemed like it would take forever, but it went by really fast. We had fun driving together. I really love road trips with my family.

I had tons of fun with all my family in Nauvoo, but I really missed Paul and wished every minute that he was reunioning with us so I'm glad I'm back in Arizona with him! I got back last night finally, after my flight was delayed 2 hours! But I am safely back in this wonderful 105 degree weather:) We have less than 2 weeks in Arizona. Then we will be going on vacation to Minnesota and Colorado! We are very excited to see our wonderful family!