From Nauvoo to Harry Potter

I have been waiting for this past weekend for 4 months. Why? Because I flew across the country to visit my brother Jeff and to go the Harry Potter Exhibition. On Saturday morning my mom and I flew to Chicago where we met up with my aunt. The 3 of us drove down to Champaign, which is where my brother Jeff is doing his last year of vet school at the University of Illinois. I was so excited to see him again. We stayed the night there. Early Sunday morning all four of us got up and drove to Nauvoo. The countryside is so green and the weather was perfect a 70degrees. But the main thing we saw was CORN!!! As far as the eye could see. So what do you do when there is nothing but corn around..... Take dumb alien pictures.

Me being dragged into the corn field

An alien foot!!!!

We stopped at Carthage Jail on the way. That was an amazing experience.

The Bullet hole that hit HyrumThe Window that Joseph Smith fell from.

The Nauvoo Temple was so incredibly beautiful. To think of the hardships that the early saints went through to build it only to have it burned down. I am so glad that the church rebuilt it and is now open and fully functional. I wished I had had the time to do a session.


The Hotel Nauvoo that we stayed at.

Half of the historical sites are owned by RLDS. I didn't know much about them or how they got started before but from what I understand they wanted the 2nd prophet to be Joseph's son. It makes me think about Emma's life after her husband death and what was her part in the reorganization. What exactly lead to the breaking of the church? It's pretty fascinating to think about. We were able to visit the homestead( which is owned by RLDS) and the final resting spot of Joseph, Emma, Hyrum, Joseph Sr., Lucy Mack, and other Smith family members.

The Homestead

We also went to Brigham Young house, Heber C. Kimball house, and several others. There was so much to see but we didn't have enough time for everything unfortunatly.

Inside Brigham Young's Cellar

Infront of Brigham's home

We did stop to marvel at how big the Mississippi is. We also got to cross over it and go into Iowa for abit.

Monday night we had to say good bye to Jeff and go back up to Chicago. It was hard. I miss him so much. It was alot of fun having him with us. Thanks Jeffie for taking time out of your extremely busy schedule to hang out with your little sis.

Tuesday we explored Chicago. It was so cool to seen in person and to experience a different culture.

Me and Lake Michagan



Sears' Tower

We got to go to the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. I was so excited. But the only problem they wouldn't let you take pictures. It was amazing to see all the props up close. I couldn't believe how much detail went into each thing. I even got to try on the sorting hat.(It put me in Ravenclaw) The exhibited is supposed to go on tour so hopefully it will come to Pheonix.

Mom and I outside of the museum.

The only picture I could take was of the Ford Angelina from the 2nd movie.