Trip out west during Nauvoo Temple Closure

While the Nauvoo temple was closed November 10-25, we got approval to go to our granddaughter's baby blessing in Millcreek, Washington, and our granddaughter's sealing to her parents in the Gilbert, Arizona temple.  Both sacred ordinances were wonderful to witness and participate in.  

We left Nauvoo on Sunday, November 10th and arrived at our home in South Jordan on Monday afternoon, November 11th.  We attended a Sacrament meeting in Iowa City on Sunday - it was their Primary Program.

While in South Jordan we saw all of our children who live in the Salt Lake valley.  It was wonderful seeing them again.  While there we had dinner with our local family both this week and the next week.  Our grandchildren just keep getting bigger and bigger.  Below are some pictures from our time in South Jordan.

We traveled to Nampa, Idaho on Wednesday, November 13th and visited with Jared, Krista and their children.  We had a great visit with them.  They celebrated Parker's 3rd birthday party while we were there.  We stayed overnight at their home that evening.  Below are some pictures from our time there.

On Thursday, November 14th we travelled to Kennewick, Washington and visited with Katie and her children.  We had a great visit with them.  Lincoln opened his birthday gift while we were there.  We stayed overnight at their home that evening.  On our way back from Justin's - we stopped by for a few minutes and also saw Katie, Shawn, their children, and Shawn's sister Steph, with her children (see their picture below).  Below are some pictures from our time there.

 

On Friday, November 15th we travelled to Millcreek, Washington to visit Justin, Kati and their children.  We stayed at their home until Monday morning, November 18th.  We had a great visit with them.  On Friday night we went to Alyssa's play (the Addams Family) at a local high school.  On Saturday morning we went to Ashlynn's volleyball game.  On Sunday we attended their ward with them where Justin gave a beautiful baby blessing to Ella, their new baby daughter.  On Sunday evening Justin sang in a duet with another man at the Stake's general priesthood meeting.  Below are some pictures from our visit with them.

On Monday, November 18th we travelled home to South Jordan.  Along the way we stopped at Katie and Shawn's in Kennewick where Katie fed us lunch.  We had a nice (and short) visit with them.  We then went to Nampa, Idaho and saw Jared, Krista and their children, where they fed us dinner.  We had a nice (and short) visit with them.  It was great to have these places to stop along the way to visit with our family.  We arrived in South Jordan that evening.  We spent a couple of days at home in South Jordan.  

On Thursday, November 21st we travelled to Mesa, Arizona to be with Nathan, Chantal and their children.  We had a great visit with them on Friday, November 22nd, including playing miniature golf with the boys.  On Saturday morning we met them and all of their children at the Gilbert, Arizona temple.  At this temple, their newly adopted daughter, Sophia, was sealed to them.  It was wonderful to see Nathan, Chantal, Sophia, Hyrum, Jesse and Hadyn in the sealing room for this sacred ordinance.  We then went back to their home to celebrate the sealing and celebrate Hyrum and Jesse's birthdays (which are both this month).  Below are some pictures from our visit with them and pictures outside the temple.

We then left for Nauvoo, driving 7 hours on Saturday, about 11 hours on Sunday (attending a Sacrament meeting in Edgewood, New Mexico) and about 6 hours on Monday.  We arrived back in Nauvoo in time to attend a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the Temple Missionaries and the Nauvoo Historic Site Missionaries at the Nauvoo Pageant headquarters.  It was a long but wonderful trip.  We feel so blessed to have been able to attend these sacred, family events.