Texas Trip

We seriously have had a fun summer! A few days after getting home from Nauvoo, we packed up and went to Texas. David's nephew, Lofton, was leaving on an LDS mission to Brazil. We decided to make it a long weekend and go down to see him off. Our kids had never met Greg and Cachet's family so it was definitely time to go visit.

 It was fun to see Grandma Bean, Uncle Tim and Haley who came from California.

 My girls fell in love with their cousins Aspen and Olivia.

 And Dallin learned how to give a "fist bump"

 Carmen so badly wanted to be included with the teenagers. See her at the end of the table with them all? Every where we went, she was with them. They were so nice to include her.

 This was Dallin's first time bowling - funny thing is it was bowling that put me into labor with him!

 He loved the ball return more than anything. I was so worried he was going to get his fingers smashed by the balls when they came shooting up.

 I think Carmen loved the dogs more than anything else! This is Buckeye, and I'm pretty sure Carmen would have put him in her suitcase if she could have.

 Having served my own LDS mission in Brazil, I was in love with these adorable cookies. Not only were they cute, but also delicious.

 I've always thought Aliza looks so much like her cousin Haley.

 We spent most of our time just talking and playing games.

 I guess somewhere floating around there is a picture of David in his missionary suit holding baby Lofton. So of course we had to get a picture of Lofton holding Dallin. Hmm... I'd love to have that picture.

Going home after 3 weeks of traveling. And our flight wad delayed. But the kids had fun watching the planes. 

Part Three of Bean Family Car Trip

The whole reason for going on this vacation was to attend the Nauvoo Pageant, which is a tribute to the life of Joseph Smith and the early saints of The Church. Each night before the pageant there was a fun carnival with pioneer games and crafts. We went every night we were there and still didn't get to every game! We also attended the pageant every night, we loved it so much. 

Here Dallin and I are watching the girls do a sack race.

 Tug-o-war

 Handcart races

 I realize now that I never got a picture of the actual pageant, but it's held at night and might not have made a great picture anyways. But it was very touching and well done. Below Aliza is sporting the braided headband she made the night before at the carnival.

 We also went on a carriage ride around Nauvoo.

 And we made certain to stop at the black smith to get our Prairie Diamond rings. The story goes that when a couple got engaged the boy would give the girl one of these rings, which are really just a bent nail shaped to be a ring. She would wear this until they had the money to buy a real ring.

 David and I took turns attending the temple. It's absolutely beautiful inside, as is every temple. But the significance of this one made it seem more beautiful.  I left the temple that morning with renewed sense of self worth and a renewed testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ. My testimony was strengthened and my gratitude for the early Saints increased. My faithfulness in the Saints of today was also increased. Just like the early Saints who sacrificed so much, had hearts full of gratitude for the gospel and were so diligently faithful in all things, the Saints of today are very much the same way. And I'm grateful to be a part of it!!

 David and I contemplated all week how we could really end our vacation with a spiritual "bang". We never really came to a conclusion of how we would do that but in hindsight, I think we accomplished it.  We started the day by learning how to make rope. The missionary took 6 pieces of twine (one for each family member) and taught us how to spin that twine tighter and tighter until it became a rather strong piece of rope. This is just the way a family should be - intertwined together to make one strong unit.

 Then we headed over to Carthage Jail, where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred. It was a noticeably different feeling from Nauvoo, the joyous happy city to the very somber feeling of Carthage. Here the girls are looking out the window from which Joseph Smith was killed and you can see poor David and Dallin who had to skip out because Dallin was beyond tired. They were napping under the tree again while we took the tour.

 After the jail we headed back to Nauvoo to see the Joseph Smith home, which we still had not seen! But it was late and already closed. We were able to see their grave site though. (my camera we dead by this point, which I'm so sad about!) Then we traveled down the "Trail of Hope", which is the street the Saints lined up on with their wagons full of their most prized and needed possessions as they waited to cross the Mississippi River. They were being forced from their homes by persecution. As the sun was setting we sat on the bank of the river and could only see water ahead of us. We turned and looked over our shoulders just as the early saints would have and could see the majestic temple on the hill in the distance. The only difference was it was standing boldly against the setting sun instead of in flames being destroyed by mobs. (I so wish I had my camera because it was the "golden hour of light" as the sun was setting and it was just so beautiful. Plus I really want to remember that small moment of time as we stood on the banks of the Mississippi River). We reflected on our entire vacation. It was hard and hot and not always exciting. We often found ourselves having to do something we really didn't want to do. We had to support each other in so many different ways. We overcame challenges together and had many triumphs; like Charlotte finally being able to buckle her own seat belt!! Or everyone being able to ride their bikes. Or David finally making it up the hill after his chain broke.... and many others. We likened that to those pioneers who went through such challenging days. Yet they never lost hope and they persevered and supported each other. We definitely had a lot of fighting in the car and a lot of complaining went on, but I sure hope my children learned as much as I did about never giving up and always striving to support one another.

Part Two of Bean Family Car Trip

We had planned for 4 days in Nauvoo. We were initially worried that was going to be way too much time. By day two we were worried it wasn't going to be enough time. And by day four we felt like it had been the perfect amount of time!

We stayed at the historic Woodruff Hotel. It was right across the street from the temple and offered gorgeous views! Our suit had three beds and the kids immediately were drawing straws to see who would get their own bed.

 This was the view from our room.

 We were directly across from Zion's Mercantile as well.

 Carmen won having the bed to herself on the first night. Once everyone was tucked in she admitted to feeling a little nervous about having such a large bed all to herself. But by morning, she had worked it out and was able to utilize the entire bed herself.

 Finally we were able to get our bikes out and ride them! Nauvoo is very flat except for one big hill that separates the temple and our hotel from the lower Old Nauvoo.  It's actually very ideal for riding bikes. Although it turned out being a ton of work to bring bikes and a ton of work to actually get the family all moving in the same direction at the same time; the bikes turned out being one of my favorite parts of the trip.  I think it turned out being one of my favorite parts because Aliza and Charlotte really didn't want to ride bikes at all. But Aliza did it anyway and although I don't think it was her favorite thing, she never complained. Charlotte was really scared about riding her bike. The first day she rode in the trailer with Dallin. On the second day she finally rode it and did fabulous, until she tried taking a short cut through some grass. That was the end of her bike riding for the rest of the trip! The sad thing was when David's chain broke going up the hill back to the hotel.

 Pioneer Pastimes:

This was by far the kids favorite spot! They could have played here all day if we had let them. It was a small area with fun games and little log cabins to play in. Oh, and there was dress up clothes! 

 Dallin loved this little sheep.

 I could not get over how cute the girls were in these little pioneer outfits!

 Carmen and Charlotte trying out stick pulling

 We saw a lot of the old homes and structures that still exist there. I believe this one was Brigham Young's home. The girls saw what a school would have been like during that time period. And Dallin and David took a lot of naps under trees. The poor boy was up late every night and never got a real nap the entire vacation. I was so grateful to David for dealing with Dallin most of the trip. The two of them really bonded and I felt so relieved to not have to deal with his grumpy and wiggly behaviors.  I felt like David may have missed out on a lot of different things because he was dealing with Dallin, but I also secretly think he enjoyed that Dallin preferred him over mommy!