Nauvoo Pageant

As mentioned in my previous post we decided to go to Nauvoo this past Saturday.  It's quite a trek for only a day trip (about 300 miles each way).  However it was totally worth it.  The temple grounds are absolutely beautiful and the Pageant was amazing.  The cast was great and it was so well done. 

 We had to stop and take a picture of the Mississippi River just outside of Nauvoo.

 The kids got to participate in a little parade before the Sunset on the Mississippi show began and they made (colored) their own hats to wear.  Hayden is getting so much better at participating in activities and isn't as shy as he was just six months ago.  It was fun to see him interact with the other kids in the parade.

 Hayden's hat that he colored for the parade

 Corbin didn't want to keep his hat on for the parade

 Casey went with the boys for the parade

 The girl in the brown dress and long brown hair is Eric's friend Samae Smith from SUU.  She did such a great job singing and dancing with the rest of the cast for that show.  I didn't know you could serve a performing mission for the church.  They all wore name tags and had the same rules as if serving a full time mission. Kind of cool!

 The boys actually enjoyed playing in the rocks more than the actual show, but that's OK at least they were entertained and quiet for the show.

 All the flags for the different branches of the armed forces.  The group sang all the songs for each branch while members in the audience stood for their branch and song. I love stuff like this:)

 Hayden playing with the rocks

 Eric.....need I say more;)

Another one of Eric's friends was performing in the Brass Band. She is the first girl to the left of the drum set. Her family is actually from Reno and I think we were in her parent's ward for a little bit when we lived there.  Her name is Janese Shaw and she too did an awesome job performing and playing the trumpet.

I wasn't able to get too many decent shots of the actual pageant.  We didn't have the best seats and I still am not the best with setting shutter speeds and such for dark scenes.  So here are a few that turned out somewhat decent (I also only had my 18-55mm lense, wished I brought my 300mm).

Of course we had to stop by the temple after the pageant and get a few pictures at night. It's so beautiful. It's hard to imagine something like this existed in 1846.  It's also amazing to think of the sacrifices made by the Saints in order to complete the temple only to leave it behind.

 Eric apparently has a lot of these jumping type pictures so I took one for him in front of the temple.

 Too bad I had a spot on my lens for these photos:(

 I couldn't decide which one was my favorite, so I decided to post more that just one or two!

I think the Nauvoo temple has to be one of my favorites because of the history and what the Saints had to endure while living there.  They saw their prophet martyred and were persecuted for years while living there.  They worked so hard to finish the original Nauvoo temple and had to leave it almost immediately after doing so.  The times I have been to Nauvoo I have been able to feel the spirit and know of the truthfulness of this Gospel.  I'm so grateful I've had the opportunity to be sealed to my wonderful husband and family for time and all eternity.