First Sunday Adventure (continued)

 So I know your probably wondering why on earth we have pictures of graves!  Well....We have always wanted to go to a Civil War cemetery, and we know there is a lot of history out here and since the wind put a nice damper on our beach day, I mean, I guess we could've stayed and ate the sand that was blowing in our mouths as we talked but we opted to NOT do that!  So we decided to visit this place....

 I know its a cemetery...but it was THEEE prettiest cemetery I've seen!!!  The cemetery was so neat, there were different little sections all over with differnent kinds of people in each section.  They had a place for the Greeks, Chinese, Civil War, Catholic, etc.  Very interesting.  They had sepulchre tombs that you'll see as you scroll down more. 

 This was the civil war part.  Lots and lots of headstones dating back to the early 1800's.

 I loved this tree!

 This was a view from the cemetery of the bridge here in North Charlston.

 We got to peek inside....I was kinda hesitant but....I was ok! :)

 This one was so cool.  A pyramid????!

 It even had a stained glass window in it that you can see through the doorway. 

There was so many beautiful trees, so much greenery, ponds all over, bridges that crossed the ponds from one place to the other.  Never seen a cemetery like it in my LIFE!

First Sunday Adventure!

 Well now that I have one tiny second.....I'll post these from Sunday.  I feel like time is flying so fast, I can't even remember what day it is, but that is a good thing.  We are just so busy all the time with city licensing here in the office, but that will settle down as time goes on.  But we always love our Sundays!  They are so nice and we get to go see the sights!  We drove to Kiawah Island, home of the 2012 PGA championships.  The drive was BEAUTIFUL! We loved it. The trees are amazing. 

 

 This was at the parking lot before you walk to the beach.

 I wish we could stay on one of those little huts to the right in the trees!  They are so neat!

 Well, when we got to the beach we found some major WIND going on!  I could not even believe how NOT windy it was in the trees and then when we rounded the corner to the beach, it just hit us!  I felt like I could blow away! 

 At one point there was a huge wind gust that picked up some sand and hit both of us right in the face....OUCH!  We both looked at each other and said just that, "OOOUUUCH!"  LOL  But the wind made the sea shells easy to find because all the wind blew the sand off of them!

 

Crazy hair in the wind!

Guardian Angel Pins

Kade came home last night and told me a story that made my whole week! It's about a lady he met while he was out working. I'll tell it in Kade's words. 'We were talking about the alarm system and she said she wasn't interested but she was really nice. I noticed she was wearing a pin. As I went to leave, she said, "Oh, wait a minute!" She ran back into her house and brought back two of these angel pins, one for Me and one for You:). She then told me the story behind the pin. She had a daughter who passed away, and when her daughter passed away, she had gotten this angel pin to remind her that her daughter was always watching over her and woukd always be with her, she wore it everyday. Years later she was with a close friend who was going through a very difficult time in her life. Her friend had a daughter with cancer who would likely die. She had the impression to giver her, her pin, so she did. The friend, knowing what a treasure the pin was to this lady, was very overwhelmed and appreciative to receive such a gift. The lady realized how good she felt, making someone else so happy so she went and bought two more pins, one for herself and one to give away again. She now orders these pins regularly and gives 300 pins a MONTH away to people she meets, all in remembrance of her daughter!!! And Kade and I are lucky recipients of two of her guardian angel pins! There are some great people in the world!!!!

Conference Weekend

 I have been wanting to post these pics for a while, but haven't had time until now.  Over conference weekend we had a lot of fun hanging out with the Church's.  That was our last weekend home with the fam before we headed to South Carolina.  Most of the family was down the whole weekend.  We had a yummy breakfast out at the property on Sunday morning before conference started. It was nice just hanging out with everyone, and letting the dogs run around.  I loved watching Lincoln walk around, he has a new found world on those little legs of his! And I had to get a pic of Kade and I with Shilo, everytime I want one with her, he thinks we are ridiculous because "She's not part of the family"......but she really is! :)

 She's definitely the princess!  Spoiled rotten!  And I seriously love her to death!  She's so fun, and has been the best little buddy for me!  She usually goes everywhere with me, running, biking, horse riding, over to my moms to hang out, and lots of other places.  And my favorite is when she lays her head on my lap in the truck!   I miss her already!!

 I loved this pic of Dennis and Lincoln up in the trees.......Lincoln is in training for the big hunts!

 Beautiful Victoria!  What a pretty girl she is! I love her big blue eyes!  I wasn't able to catch a pic of everyone, but, maybe next time!

 Hanging out by the fire, waiting for breakfast.

 I think Corah is a little worried about not having make-up on?  hehe! 

 Kade and his find out on the property!  We love finding the elk sheds!

 Watching the dogs fetch is one of my favorite things ever! haha! There's something about it that just makes me laugh, and especially when I look at this pic!  I caught a perfect moment that shows how bad they want to fetch! ....looks like they have super powers!

 Kade cookin...what a great job he's doing!

 Ty Fu and Karissa!

 Cute baby Lincoln!

 Kade will miss Ty this summer.....but from the looks of it, Ty won't miss Kade ;) 

 Jaida Jaida!

 Lacey Lou and the Madster....

 Halee and Whitney

 Little Bay who stayed with us and had a fun time!

 See!, she is kinda human-ish!

Mother and Father Church listening to conference.  Fun weekend! We love you all!

Trip to Nauvoo

 As you all know, we moved to South Carolina for the summer months.  We had to drive SO FAR so we thought, What the heck, we might as well make it a road trip and go see Nauvoo!   We have both been wanting to go really bad, so we DID!....and we ended up staying a lot longer than planned because we didn't want to leave!  And it was so neat.  Very humbling.  We left early Friday morning and drove 16 hours to Des Moines, Iowa where we stayed the night.  We got up Saturday morning and drove to Nauvoo, Illinois (about 3 more hours).  We crossed the Mississippi river and came into Nauvoo the back way.  When we saw the temple, we were both so excited!  It is BEAUTIFUL! It rests on a hill overlooking the beautiful Mississippi river.  A stunning scene to behold! We parked the car and walked across the street to the grassy hill in front of the temple.  From where we stood we could look up and see the temple in front of us, or we could look out and see the Mississippi out just below us.  As I looked up at the temple and then out at the Mississippi river, tears came to my eyes.  The spirit was so strong there on that hill you could just feel it.  I could feel that we were on sacred grounds.  I looked over at Kade and he had tears in his eyes too and we hadn't said a word to each other.  I hugged him and told him what an awesome experience it was to share with him.

 We were able to attend a session while there in Nauvoo and it was very nice.  Just calming and peacful.  I love the inside of this temple!

After our session, we took some time to walk around the temple and just think back on the great heritage of our church, the people who worked so hard to build this temple, and who sacrificed so much to then leave it, to go to the Salt Lake valley.  The sky was really pretty that night.  

 back side of the temple.

 Front steps

 I absolutely LOVED this statue.  It is placed directly in front of the temple. It is of Joseph and Hyrum, depicting "The Last Ride", and on the front, there is some words said by Joseph to Hyrum as they left Nauvoo for the final time in this life. They stopped on this hill and he said to Hyrum, "This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them". 

 Front view of the temple.

 Statue in front of the temple

 We stopped in the gift shop and looked around a bit, and I had to try on this pioneer bonet! :)  ....Sometimes I wish we could step back in time, so I could wear it.....on my horse!.....in a dresss!.....riding side saddle! :)

 We went on a wagon ride, pulled by Tim and Tom.  They were our big Percheron team.  They did a great job and so did the teamsters (our missionaries).  The teamsters took us out in the country of Nauvoo and talked about the local members that lived in the area way back then, and about some of their relationships with the Prophet Joseph. One of the people that they talked about was Dan Jones.  We stopped in "Dan's Hollow" which was down in a little ravine.  It was quiet and peaceful there.  The missionaries asked us all to sing, 'I am a child of God'.  It was neat being out in the trees in a wagon singing one of my favorite primary songs! 

 I loved touring all of the differnt buildings that they have preserved there in Nauvoo.  And these quilts were in the Culteral Hall upstairs and get me way too excited!  I LOVE THEM!!!  There were lots and lots of them. I'm kind of obsessed with old quilting, and how they did it, and how they didn't waste anything that they had....they USED IT!  A little different from our generation! 

 This was one of my favorite places.  This was were Joseph Smith lived first here in Nauvoo.  It was so pretty!  It literally sat right on the bank of the Mississippi River!  The feeling here was very calm and peaceful.  I just imagined their families all gathered here to spend time together.  This is also where the bodies of Joseph, Emma, Hyrum, Lucy Mack, Joseph Smith Sr and a whole bunch of their kids were burried. 

 It was a really cool feeling to look upon the graves of such life changing people who will forever be exaples to the world.  And what a perfect place for them to rest, in their own yard, where they were at the happiest times in life. There was a humility and reverence there.  The birds were chirping and there was a light breeze. 

 Sitting by Joseph's house (pictured above) by the Mississippi River.

 The trail of hope was very eye opening for me.  This was the very route that the saints were driven out of Nauvoo.  There were many plaques along the way, of actual journal entries of people who walked this path to the Salt Lake Valley.  The temple is in view (looking back) almost the whole way along the trail.  I can only imagine the emotions that were felt as they looked back at the beautiful temple that they had to leave behind.

 This was at the waters edge, the end of the trail of hope before they had to cross the Mississippi River. 

 This was a statue of Joseph and Brigham Young at the rivers edge.  I love it, because it makes me think of Joseph, turning over the responsibility to Brigham, and what Brigham must have felt like with this new responsibility placed on his shoulders.

 I took a lot of pictures of different journal enties on the trial of hope, but this one stood out to me a lot.

 View looking back from the trail of hope.

 This was in the black smith shop, where I got a diamond ring (a horseshoe nail, shapped into a ring).

 The back of the Brigham Young home, one of the original structures in Nauvoo.

 Carthage jail.....very humbling experience.  It was definitely a different feeling here than in Nauvoo, you could still feel the spirit, but it was more of a spirit of testimony, that this is where he was in fact martyered, also a spirit of reverence and respect for him and the men that were with him.  

It was awesome going on the tour because we got to hear the facts about Carthage jail and more of the detail of what happened.  They also said that the door inside with the bullet hole in it, was the original door from back then.  They played, on an old radio(maybe a phonograph) a naration with the song that was sung by John Taylor(a poor wafering man of grief) as we sat in that room.  I'm so grateful that I have been able to have this experience, and I know Kade feels the same.  It has built my testimony stronger of the prophet Joseph Smith and it makes him more real to me.  We hear so much about him and never doubt that he was a prophet, the prophet of the restoration,  but to visit his 'place', where he lived and where he died, to see where his body rests and to have glimpses of his world, was very humbling for me.