Beautiful Nauvoo

In continuation of our adventures in the midwest, we just spent a whirlwind weekend in Nauvoo! This was a first for Travis and Jaxon, so it was extra special. It's about a four hour drive, so we arrived late Friday evening and shared a tent with Travis's brother and his family.

Travis and I got up early the next morning to attend a session in the Nauvoo temple. Technically, our temple is the Chicago temple, but since we were in Nauvoo we couldn't pass up the opportunity. It was such a wonderful experience, and so beautiful. We kept thinking about the people who built the original temple, and how there were so many people who wanted their work done before moving out west. The spirit was so strong. Many thanks to Brady and JaNae for watching Jaxon while we were gone. :)

After the temple, our families took a fun carriage ride around Nauvoo and learned all about the history of the area. Travis and I then took a quick drive down to Carthage where he was able to see Carthage Jail for the first time. It's incredible that the original door is still in place and you can see the bullet holes. We loved every minute of it.

When we came back, we visited some of the recreated buildings and had a scrumptious dinner at Hotel Nauvoo. To end the day, we watched "Sunset By the Mississippi" (a hilarious musical program put on by senior and volunteer missionaries), and the BYU Ballroom Dance team which was on tour in Nauvoo!

We got home at two in the morning and woke up early for church the next day, but it was well worth the trip!

Madison and The Dells

We've been having so much fun exploring Wisconsin- it seems like there's so much we want to do in so little time! This weekend, our family took a day trip to Madison, Wisconsin's capitol. Travis spent the day on a service project with other Lands' End employees, while Jaxon and I explored Madison.

Madison is a beautiful capitol, I really enjoyed it. We dropped by the Monona Terrace (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) which sits right on the lake in front of the capitol building. After that, we found the Henry Villa Zoo, which is free! There were a lot of kids there on field trips, and Jaxon didn't really seem interested in the animals, so we didn't stay long. We spent the rest of the day walking around Lake Monona and playing in the sand.

That evening we drove up to Wisconsin Dells and met up with Travis's brother, cousin, and their families. It's fun being so close to them, and we're looking forward to lots of adventures with them this summer. The next day we took a nice, rigorous hike at Devil's Lake State Park. About ten minutes into the hike we decided to ditch the stroller and borrow Bryce's baby carrier. We climbed rocks for what seemed like forever, but we had such beautiful views of Devil's Lake that it was worth it.

When we got back, we went swimming at the clubhouse pool and enjoyed hot dogs and s'mores around a fire. It was so much fun to be with great company in such beautiful surroundings. I can't believe how beautiful Wisconsin is turning out to be.

Life in America's Dairyland

We've made it! Our family is now settled in and thoroughly enjoying Wisconsin. It is so beautiful here! We love how green everything is, and how there's nothing but farms as far as the eye can see.

The town we live in is very small. We live right on the main street and have a good view of everything from our living room windows. Monday, we celebrated Memorial Day by watching the parade go past our house. Our bedroom balcony made for a perfect view. The parade only lasted about 5 minutes, but it was great, "small town America" fun.

Church is amazing- it's only been one Sunday and we absolutely LOVE our branch. Everyone has been so warm and friendly. There are lots of young families in the branch, and many who graduated from BYU who are now working for Lands' End, so we feel very comfortable around them already! On Monday, we were invited to a Memorial Day picnic, and the night before that we had been invited to a marshmallow roast. Everyone is really fun to be around and get to know.

Travis started work yesterday, but he has a couple of days of orientation before he can really get to the meat of his work. But he's very excited to see what he can learn from and contribute to Lands' End.

Everything that we've seen and experienced out here so far has been amazing. We've truly loved it and can't wait for the rest of summer to get underway!

Wisconsin, Ho!

We're moving! For the summer, that is. Travis accepted a summer internship with Lands' End where he'll work with a group of inventory strategists (although he tells everyone he's been hired as a model...). He was flown out for a second interview last month and was able to meet his team and see the facilities. He was very impressed, and is excited to work with them.

We already have so many ideas of fun things we need to do while in Wisconsin! We can't wait for all the adventures that await us there this summer.

Pool Party with Friends

The weather has reached up to the mid 80's, now. That means it's time to go swimming! This afternoon, Jaxon spent some time in the pool with friends.

He could only take about 30 minutes before he started getting tired. But as you can tell, he had a lot of fun! We might just have to invest in an inflatable pool ourselves. :)

Baby's First Easter

We had a wonderful Easter week with family. Easter Sunday was spent at the Anderson's with a yummy dinner, and Jaxon hunted for Easter eggs on Saturday with the Talbots.

On Easter morning, the Easter bunny left Jaxon some bubbles and graham crackers, which are his new favorite food. I guess mom and dad will have to take care of the candy until he's old enough to eat it. :)

(Yes, these are Christmas pajamas...it must've been a rough night.)

Let's Go Fly A Kite

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going kite-flying. A perfect March activity. :) It was fun to see how high we could get the kite to fly, that is, after poor Travis spent about 30 minutes untying a huge, complex knot that had formed in the string. Jaxon had fun tracking the kite ("la cometa") in the sky.

You can't tell here, but Travis actually has green stripes on his shirt.

The weather had actually been amazingly warm for a couple of days, and we'd been able to spend lots of time outside in the sun. This particular day had been cooler and we barely made it back inside before it started to rain and snow. So typical. :)