Home At Last... but Missing Nauvoo!!!

Family pictures
All of the family cast members
The stage at night after all is quiet.
The Nauvoo Temple at night... so beautiful.

After a long trip home, we finally made it late on Tuesday night. Yesterday was spent the day trying to make sense of the huge pile of I don't know what that was hauled out of the Yukon. It's amazing how much stuff can be packed into a vehicle, a roof top carrier and a hitch haul. To make matters worse, we were in such a hurry to check out of the hotel room that it was all literally stuffed into the trunk anyway possible. We ended the trip in Nauvoo with an amazing few last days. On Saturday, Mark and I were both able to attend the temple, followed by testimony meeting for the cast and then our closing night on the stage. It was a tearful day to say the least! We also stayed in Nauvoo an extra day on Sunday to see the core cast perform "Our Story Goes On" - it a great show in which the cast performs about 15 different Broadway tunes. We were also able to see a concert that night - The Nashville Tribute to Joseph. It was a fabulous show - even when we got totally rained out and had to see the performance inside while everyone was dripping wet! It was well worth the stay.

I just can't describe in words how wonderful this trip was for all of us. It was an amazing time to bond together as a family, to get to know others who share the same beliefs and values as our family and to also share the gospel with so many others who attended the pageant each night. I know for me personally, I have grown so much from my experiences there and I truly came home with a new view on life and certainly a much, much stronger testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, of my savior Jesus Christ and of the great importance of service towards others and sincere care for those that we serve. Time went by sooo quickly that you had to learn things through the mistakes.. there was no time to be upset at someone who may have offended you, you just had to forgive and move on. The friendships that we made there will truly last through the eternities and I am so thankful for all that have helped me through their examples to me. It was amazing to see how we all bonded together, knowing that we were all working for a common goal. It was a sobering note to think that the saints who lived there long ago most certainly were looking on as we practiced and performed. After all, we were sharing their story... real, true stories of those who lived through so much persecution, heartache and turmoil. It does not matter what religion you are, it was very inspiring for all who were there to think about what these people went through all to defend and protect their religious beliefs. Nauvoo is one of the most BEAUTIFUL cities you will ever see (the name in Hebrew actually means - beautiful city) and it is stunning to think that these people had to give up all they had to move on to where they would be safe from the mobs and those who hated them just because of what they believed in. I am forever thankful for the opportunity we had to be a small, small part in this pageant.

Our trip home in the car was reality smooth.. all things considered. The kids were wonderful despite two long days in the car. We were all anxious to get home, but sad at the same time to leave Nauvoo. The kids had all decided that they wanted to move to the country and live close to Nauvoo. Who could blame them - the views of the Mississippi River are stunning and the corn fields are actually really nice to see as you drive! We would all love to have a little extra room to run around. We were so blessed on the trip in so many ways. I just don't have the time to write all the things down that we experienced while we were there. Hopefully over the next few weeks, I'll have some more time to write all the things that I hope to. One of our dear friends at the pageant that had been in it the year before, told us the hardest part was going back into the real world and getting back into the routine. I didn't understand at the time, but now I know what he means. Now it's off to getting kids to bed and all the routine stuff again.

And the Rains Came!!!

Just a quick note tonight... Mark, Tanner and Brennan are all at the family dance (something the boys did NOT want to miss - they have found a LOVE of the pioneer dancing) so I thought I would post a quick note while I wait for the washer to finish.. many loads need to be done tonight. We were all SOAKED! The rains started tonight and it rained the almost entire night a very light, but damp rain. You can only imagine what we looked like after playing stick ball in the mud and then just as the pageant was to begin the rain returned for round 2. We huddled under the picnic blanket, and two umbrellas that we had and tried to fair the weather as best as we could. The poor pioneers had to deal with so much. How grateful I am for all the modern conveniences we have. It's so nice to sit inside right now, in dry pj's waiting to go to a soft and dry bed inside protected from all the elements outside. How did they do it? I felt awful bouncing Reese in the rain under the umbrella as she fell asleep tonight and could only imagine a tiny, tiny speck of what the mothers had to do long ago. We had a great practice this morning in the HOT sun and then were able to have the afternoon off to get some rest. We took the kids out to lunch and then went to a fabulous "homemade" bakery place in Fort Madison, Iowa called the Ivy. YUM... and they sold a cookbook for their recipes too. Perfect! The boys enjoyed an afternoon getting a few wiggles out at the hotel pool too. Mark's parents and sister flew in today and arrived at their hotel tonight. We look forward to seeing them tomorrow... we have not seen them in almost exactly a year. Hooray. Next week, my parents and grandparents are also coming to visit and see us perform. We are so blessed to have such supportive families! Not much else new since yesterday. Hopefully we can add some more photos soon... if I ever take some more! More to come... when I'm not falling asleep on the keyboard!

Pheeeewww! What a WEEK!!!

O.K. judging by the hit counter.. there are many of you who are visiting the site... and nothing new is appearing. So sorry... this week has been INSANE!!! We are practicing and running constantly through the day and night. In the few free minutes that we have at lunch and dinner, I am scrambling to do a few loads of laundry, scrub some grass stains, try to fold what I already washed, feed everyone, scrub some grass stains, pack the bags with water, snacks, etc. for the next rehearsal / show and then hurry scrub some grass stains and run out the door!!! Oh did I mention that the boys stain there pants every night with horrible grass stains! HA!!! Being a mom of four boys, I will admit that I have NEVER seen messes like my boys have been able to create for me this week on their pants. Brock cannot seem to play stick ball for more than 30 seconds without sliding into the bases... including when he is covering the bases too! HELLO... can you say... HOORAY for stain removers... we have already gone through two entire bottles! Yikes. If the stains are any indication of how much fun is being had by our family, I'll let my complaining speak for itself. Even if it takes me 1 1/2 hours each night to clean the pants, it's worth every second.
This is Mark now...it's 12:10am and my feet are killing me! Our days are pretty much going from 6:30am till about now, for this week. Next week will be better since we'll have most of the days off (once we know all our scenes) and we'll just have to perform each night. We had a great night at the pageant tonight. It was one of the biggest audiences I've seen so far, so there had to be at least 2500 there. We had a ton of kids at our stick ball game all night too. There were two youth groups there, one from Arkansas and one from New Orleans. They were all harassing each other and having a good time. We found out last night that Tanner has been sneaking on stage the last few nights with the red cast and dancing with them, doing group scenes, etc. because he enjoys it so much. We thought he was just hanging out backstage with some friends! Last night he just about got ran over by a group of dancers though because he hasn't quite memorized our parts yet. There's about 170 people on the stage at one time during the big dances, so no one noticed him, and it's hard to really pick out any one person...but my wife did. From the back of the audience of 1500 people, Wendy looks up to see Tanner barely getting out of the way of the Young Performing Missionary dancers before they stampeded him. (He doesn't quite have his parts down as well as he thinks he does) He is so funny. Our other boys were jealous when they found out Tanner was moonlighting with the other cast, so we told him no more of that!
Tonight there was a stake youth conference here from Arkansas and they were from my sister Marlene's stake. We got to meet her bishop, who said she's a great primary president and that they just love her. A bunch of the kids from her congregation talked to us and one took some pictures with us. It was fun to see people that knew her. I have to go to bed, we have 8:30am practice and I'm wiped out! Talk to you soon!
Hooray for bedtime... even though it's really morning time. Phew. The time goes by at record pace here. Off to another adventure tomorrow... hope to post more soon. And hopefully some more pictures too.

Pictures of Nauvoo

Sunday - It really is the day of REST!!!

WOW! What more can I saw but... Ahhh a few moments to rest and relax today. So much for thinking that I would have time to update the blog... maybe 2x a week is what I am now thinking. We have been extremely busy and running like crazy every minute of the day.. .and night...but it has been SOOOOO wonderful!!!! We are all having a great time and really enjoying the very special feeling that is here in Nauvoo. What an amazing spirit!

Currently Reese and I are back here at the apartment and missing out on church this afternoon thanks to a VERY nasty diaper mess that she blessed me with just minutes after we got to church. Thanks too the antibiotics she is on - at least it is giving her a much needed long nap with all the other boys out of the house. She is on meds thanks to a very high fever and double ear infections that we discovered after getting here. She made it great to St. Louis on Monday night and then started a fever. We thought it was from the shots she had before we left home, but the fever just never broke and lasted for 3 days - time to find a doctor after that long. Oh the joys of her poor little ears - I think we will need to reschedule her surgery for tubes which I cancelled because I thought we were done. Bad Mommy!

The pageant is so much FUN. We have had hours of song practice, rehearsal in the hot sun on stage for hours and dance till our feet hurt and we love it. The boys are having a great time and beginning to make friends. For the last few days and this next week, our family is in charge of one of the pre-show games called stick ball. It's basically baseball played with a large ball of yarn and hit with a stick or piece of wood. The kids hit and then run the bases - but in stick ball you run opposite of baseball - 3rd base, 2nd, etc. The boys have loved playing each night and have created quite the mess for the costume crews with the grass and mud stains from sliding bases and jumping for fly balls. Mark makes a great pitcher and coach and Reese and I are the cheering squad. Look below for some pictures!!!

Today we got to spend the morning visiting one of the most beautiful places in Nauvoo - the old burial grounds. Far in the country, out through the corn fields, there is a very quiet and serene grove of trees and path that leads to a very peaceful cemetery on the hillside. It was so amazing to walk the path and think of the many times the early saints traveled there to bury their loved ones. Many of the headstones are very hard to read now, but still lovely all the same. The boys were very surprised to see that many of the names were young children and babies. What a sad time and challenge for these families. It was truly a blessing to walk there and feel of the very special people that lie there. Hopefully this afternoon we will be able to see a few more sights. It is all so lush and green from all the rain... the grass is incredibly green and soft and the flowers are in the bloom like nothing I've seen for a long time. Oh to have a little of the rain back home.

We are currently just in the finale each night, but will start preforming the entire show in a one week. The kids are SOOOO tired and really do fall asleep just about anywhere. Yesterday during the dance rehearsal, Tate was asleep on Mark's lap and Brock on mine while Tanner was walking with Reese while she started to doze off. Although Tanner and Brennan have not found the love of a nap here and there, they soon will need it! The show is really fun to watch and to be a part of - I highly encourage everyone to see if they can. It's well worth it! Well I should probably get a few things done myself while all is calm and quiet - it will be another long week!

Enjoy the pictures!!!

We Made It!!!

Can you imagine this hillbilly wagon going half way across the country.. and then to see our wild family unload at the rest stops was always good for a few dumbfounded stares by onlookers!
All in all we really had a VERY good trip! The kids were amazing considering that we were literally on the road for two full days. On Monday we left around 8:15am from home and stopped that night around 11pm central time in St.Louis!!! Hooray! We were very thankful to have made it so far. Tuesday was a very pleasant 5 hour drive... including a two hour stop in Quincy, IL while we were stuck inside Walmart while a terrible, drenching thunderstorm came thru. It was not raining when we went inside to find some belts... Mom forgot to get the belts and boys hagging their pants was not exactly the image we wanted to share!!! ... but by the time we were done, it was coming down in buckets. HUGE RAIN!!! We made it here to Nauvoo around 5pm last night and it was such an amazing relief to finally be here. Reese traveled wonderfully despite the fact that Monday night she started a high fever thanks to her one year shots the week before. After they gave her the shot, they reminded me that she would spike a fever 7-10 days later... I knew right away I was in trouble on the trip. She was an angel and no one would have ever know how yucky she felt. She still is running the fever this morning, but hopefully it will get out of her system soon. We have to report today at 1pm for registration and costume fittings and then we are on to the start of the crazy schedule. In all that mess in the Yukon, I know it might be hard to believe that I forgot anything except the kitchen sink, but I did forget the schedule of where we are suppose to be and when. Yikes! I hope they have another copy for us today. Just a few funnies from the ride in the car... Tate is the winner for the best one liners... Tate - "I know why they called it Nauvoo.... it's because we have to sing OOooooo all the time!" A lot of the music that we learned was more "ooo-ing" in the background while the actors speak. Tate also had the best observation in the car.... he found the cloud makers and that is where we get all the clouds in the sky from.... aka smoke stacks at the factories! He has such a great sense of humor. Thanks Tate for keeping us laughing. Here are some of the latest pictures of "The HAIR" from the 4th of July. Everyone is a little scary except for Princess Firecracker as the boys named her for the firecracker bow on her head. More to come soon!

Check out my Slide Show!

Home Improvements

This was at 10:06am last Saturday morning... the beginning of yet another home improvment project at the Kenison's home. Are we really leaving for Nauvoo in a week??? What were we thinking... well the dog needs some shade while we are gone... and the awesome latino crew that the neighbor found had great rates... and we just needed to add a little more stress to our lives... our hair is not going gray ( or falling out ) as fast as is should! And 6 1/2 hours later, this is what you get...

a GORGEOUS start to our new screened-in porch! Hooray!!!! We are all sooo excited to finally have a little shade in the back yard.

This spring we have several bids from local contractors to have the stamped concrete poured and a porch put on ... needless to say the $25,000 price tag that everyone was tossing around was NOT made in the shade - wink, wink - with us!!! Are you kidding... it's no wonder the construction business is SLOW. Lower your prices people! At that point, Mark decided that he was going to tackle the project himself ... my first thought was... Are you NUTS??? Were you planning on building this in your free time, lets say from midnight to 4AM??? Then we found this GREAT concrete company to do our patio.. which turned out beautiful. Less then $6000, which was about 40% less than the general contractors bids.. can you say middle man! Then onto what to do about the porch? Hmmm...Then steps in Jose our amazing neighbor - who also happens to be an architect!!! Jose speaks spanish and has a great relationship with many of the subcontractors in the area. He was wanting to put a porch on the back of his house too so off he went to find some crews to do the work. To make a very long story short... after @$900 in materials and $580 in labor... we now have our beautiful porch started. After we return from Nauvoo, we will start on the electrical and finish the screens, door, etc. It seems that the latino crew now has several jobs in the neighborhood! It's a summer thing I guess.