Quote

Explore. Create. Give yourself as much room to fail, as well as the room to succeed. Use a little of the old while ushering in a whole lot of the new. Develop into your own opinion leader. Need no approval. Be courageous. Be humble. Be loving. Be respectful. Learn about everything. Remember there is more than one truth. The best armor in life is self-love and respect. Don't trap yourself with the desire of wanting to be liked. Be respected. Trust yourself to be your own confidant. Tell yourself yes more often than no. Don't take this world personally. Know that every person you come across has something powerful to teach you, especially enemies. Never fail to deliver on your word. Never make yourself smaller for ANYONE. This world is yours in any way that suits you.

Live.

-Jada Pinkett Smith

Nauvoo: Day 3

Tuesday was a significantly busier day than Monday, and I did remember my camera that day. So this post will not be long and boring with no pictures. We started off our day in the Brigham Young home. If there was a house or a place that really made an impact on me, it was there. This was the sitting/living room inside Brigham Young's home.

 This is a cute little tea sit in the little girl's room. It wasn't necessarily from the original Brigham Young home, but it was from the period. It's adorable though!

We walked into a room off the side of the house. This was the room where the Twelve Apostles and the Church were organized to continue on after Joseph died. My grampa made a comment to all of us that in this room was where it happened for him. This was where he gained his strongest witness that the Church is true and that it is led and directed by Heavenly Father.

One of the Sisters who was giving us the tour told us to think about our ancestors. She told us that our ancestors are praying for us to stay strong and with the gospel. This one hit me pretty hard because I started to think about all these people on the other side that are rooting for me to stay strong and keep strengthening my testimony and faith. I thought about my Grampa and Gramma Mecham, I thought about Kam, I thought about Heber C. Kimball, and I also thought about Brigham and Joseph. I thought of all they have sacrificed in their own lives for the sake of the gospel and I thought of all the work they must be doing on the other side to continue to further the work of the Lord. It filled my heart with so much peace and joy to know that I have so so many people on my side pushing for me to do what is right. I also gained a realization that this gospel is true and it is led by Heavenly Father and nothing can take it from the earth again. 

This is the Twelve Apostles at the time that Joseph died. Three future prophets were among that Twelve.

One of the Sister's who was giving us the tour turned out to be Sister Russell. Long story short, she and her husband lived in Safford, AZ and he taught at EA. Come to find out that her husband (Elder Russell) was the public speaking teacher at EA, and Dan was one of his students. Dan was super excited about that and she let us know that he would be at the Jonathan Browning home later that day so Dan could see him. 

Brigham Young had built an outdoor cellar to keep food and other things in. It surprisingly was pretty cold in there. And my stinking little brother locked Chandler and I in there!! When he finally let us out, I told him (completely jokingly) that I didn't want to talk to him. Poor kid has such a guilty conscience that he kept trying to hug me and apologize! 

We went next to the printing shop. The Elder told us that the upper case was full of the capitalized letter and the lower case was full of the non-capitalized letters. He said that was where the names "upper" and "lower" cased letters came from-the early printing press.

This is the printing press that was used during the time. Ethan got to help demonstrate how the press actually worked. They had a demo of the Times and Seasons on the press to show how it worked. 

We then went next door to the John Taylor home. This home had one of the steeper staircases of all the homes we visited. I don't remember too much about it beyond that. On that note though, I cannot believe those pioneer women walked up and down such steep staircases with their long skirts and all! We were struggling to not trip and we were all in shorts/pants. Another place we went to was the Drug store-which had a ton of herbs to mix up for different remedies, fabric, sewing supplies, and even different housewares!

We stopped at the school house and were given a math and spelling lesson. Those benches were dreadfully uncomfortable to sit on. I really felt bad for those poor kids! We also finally met Sister Hatch! By complete accident even! She came into the room because she heard we were from Arizona and she said she was from Mesa. My mom talked to her for a bit, and it turns out the Hatch's knew my Gramma and Grampa Mecham from when my grandparents used to work at the temple (and when my Grampa was governor). We told her we were going to Rendezvous that night and she just laughed and said it would be fun and interesting. She told us that she and Elder Hatch were not actors or singers!

We finally made it to the Jonathan Browning home and Elder Russell was there. As soon as Dan walked in the door, Elder Russell immediately recognized him and gave him a huge hug! I think that was probably a trip highlight for Dan! Elder Russell was one of his favorite teachers at EA. He asked us if we were going to Rendezvous that night because he was going to be in the show, and we told him we were.

 

This was a display that was set up to show the different guns Jonathan Browning had made and different guns from the period as well.

We went to the family living center (the last stop of the day before dinner and then Rendezvous). We met an Elder who was from Canada (we picked it out immediately because he said "eh" after he talked). It turns out he knew my uncle Dennis (my dad's brother) from serving their missions together. We learned how to make barrels, and how to make rope! Your arm sure gets tired after spinning that wheel for a long time! But we did get to keep our rope and it stood up straight which meant it was good quality rope!! 

We also got to taste bread that had been made in these special ovens, and I cannot remember what they are called so if anyone knows, please comment and tell me! Basically the oven was a brick chamber with a fire built below and it had this fancy wood door to close the chamber where the bread/meal was cooking. We saw how they made candles in large quantities, and how they made their rugs from scrap pieces of fabric!

That night we went to Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo. Holy cow, what a hoot!! It was hilarious to watch and I loved every minute of it! After, we finally met Elder and Sister Skidmore too! 

Elder and Sister Skidmore made sure we were coming to Carthage and that they would love to be the ones to give us the tour of Carthage jail. 

{Elder and Sister Skidmore, Dan, Elder and Sister Russell}

And the moment we had all been waiting for, to see the stars of Rendezvous (okay not really), Elder and Sister Hatch!

{Caitlin, Rylee, Chandler, Elder and Sister Hatch, Dan, Me, Ethan}

It was so fun to see them. Elder Hatch was giving Caitlin a hard time because we had seen him quite a few times and each time he asked Caitlin where her fiance was! Tyler didn't meet up with us until Wednesday, and Elder Hatch gave Caitlin a hard time saying that Tyler wasn't real and she was just making it up. Funny funny!!

We talked to the Hatch's for quite a while after Rendezvous and Elder Hatch said some pretty hilarious things which I had to write down immediately so I wouldn't forget them

. 

Elder Hatch: I gave away 3 extra bricks (from the brickyard) one day and you would think I gave the gold plates away!

*All of us just laughed

Elder Hatch: I really got in trouble!

Elder Hatch: How many bricks did you get

Us: Oh lots!!

Elder Hatch: No don't say that!

Us: Oh...we only got 1.

Elder Hatch: Okay good- say that!

Elder Hatch: You have to stay an extra week if you call your spouse by their first name. We had 3 extra weeks by the time we walked out of the mission president's office.

Tuesday was a very long but very very funny day, mostly thanks to Elder Hatch. He has us rolling we were laughing so hard and some of the stuff he said! He kind of reminds me of what I picture Ethan will be like when he's an old man-goofy with funny stories!

And just for kicks: some other Nauvoo funnies that don't really fit on any particular day. So this one is as good as any.

Dan and I rode in the car with my grandparents for most of the time that we were in Nauvoo. We took to singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall...root beer of course.
Anyway, gramma thought we had said 99 bottles when we were already down to 95, so my Grampa, being the quick wit that he is, says "Gramma's too drunk to remember how many bottles we've had!"

We also sang Row row row your boat a few times and started singing it in a round. Well, leave it to us to get confused between which line in the song we're singing and replacing words, namely getting stream and dream confused. Don't ask me how.
Row row row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

Nauvoo: Day 2

**Preface: I totally forgot our camera the first day we were in Nauvoo. So when my family gets around to swapping pictures, I'll try to put some in here!

The first place we stopped was the Heber C. Kimball home. This place is super special for my Gramma because he is her great great grandfather. It was a pretty cute little house to go through. I didn't take any pictures though. Fail. We did get to go onto this little balcony ledge that you are not technically allowed to go on, probably for safety reasons, but one of the Sisters who was giving the tour let us! She even went down to the street level and took our picture. It was a pretty neat thing to do!

The second place we stopped was the brickyard. I don't know why but I didn't take any pictures there. This was where we met Elder Hatch. More on him later. So we go into the little "classroom" where they teach you how they made bricks in Old Nauvoo. It was actually quite interesting and I learned a lot. There is quite a bit of iron in the soil in Nauvoo which gives the bricks their vibrate red color. In order to bake the bricks, they built a type of enclosure with all the bricks and put the fire underneath it. The bricks would bake for a few days, and then be left to cool for a few more days after. The bricks would be three different colors at the end of the baking process depending on their location during baking. The bricks that were closest to the fire were charred black. The ones in the middle were the beautiful, vibrant, and rusty red color. The ones on the outside were a lighter red, called a salmon brick because it did not get baked long enough.

 They would build the homes three-four layers thick on the outside with the bricks. The Elder who was telling us the stories about the bricks asked us to guess how many bricks were used on a single house. We all guess 4-5 thousand bricks. Ethan guessed 30,000. The Elder told us that Ethan was the only person who he had ever had come close to the correct number, which was 40,000. Love that genius brother of mine!! Then they gave each family a brick to take home to remember the Old Nauvoo brick yard. I have it sitting in our window sill along with a few other Nauvoo artifacts and it always reminds me of this lovely week we spent in Nauvoo.

Back to Elder Hatch. So, when you get to the brick yard, you ring a bell to let the Elders know that you're there. Elder Hatch and his companion (another Elder...I can't remember his name) came out and talked to us for a few minutes before we went inside the "classroom." We found out Elder Hatch was from Mesa, AZ. Super cool dude already just for being from that great state of Arizona. We found out that he used to drive the Wells Fargo stage coach in all the parades and stuff. He was pretty cool, and he told us to go take a wagon ride the next day (Tuesday) because he would be driving the wagon and we could see him. We also were asked probably a thousand times if we were going to go to Rendezvous while we were there. That got kind of annoying, not going to lie.

*Side note* We stopped at a lot of houses throughout the week...and I won't be able to remember them all, but I will definitely include the highlights. 

We stopped at the Sarah Granger home, which has an incredible view of the temple. She had a sweet little home, and she was instrumental in helping to organize the Relief Society. We also went to the shoe shop and learned how shoes were made back in the day! It was super cool and informative and it helped me to realize why people only had 1 or 2 pairs of shoes-those things were made to last for a LONG time, and were fit perfectly to your specific foot. We stopped at the tin shop and saw how hurricane lanterns were made, and also different size pans were made and sealed shut to prevent them from leaking. We also went to the blacksmith's shop and were each given "Prairie Diamonds." The wagon shop was right next door and we learned how the axle and wheels were made for the wagons to go across the plains. That part was pretty neat because it helped me to personally gain more appreciation for the sacrifices the pioneers made, leaving everything they had for the sake of the gospel. What faith they must have had.

We also went on the wagon ride which is drawn by two gigantic horses (I don't remember what kind they were off the top of my head) but they were big, and beautiful. Anyway, there was a family sitting in front of us, and the mom turns around (she's a young mom-late 20's) and asks Dan if he has a brother named Kameron. He said yes, and after she told us that she and Kam were in choraleers together at EA and they were good friends. I thought it was super cool and I'm sure Dan did too that 3000 miles away from Arizona, someone still recognized Dan and knew Kam. She told us to find her parents (who were serving their missions in Carthage) and say hi because they knew and loved Kam too. We told  her we definitely would. My mom leaned over after we were done talking and gave Dan a hard time because he ALWAYS knows someone wherever we go. It's one of my favorite things about him. I'm so glad it carried all the way to Nauvoo too :]

Monday night, Nauvoo turns into a ghost town. Everything closes up around 6 for family home evening. We grabbed some dinner at a BBQ joint (it was the only place open) and then walked down the street to get some custard for dessert. A bunch of sister missionaries came in and guess who we found!!!!

Sister Bekah Streeter! I didn't know if she was still serving her mission or if she was done already. We saw her a few more times during the week and it was super cool to see her again!!
We went home after, and likewise crashed and planned out the next day...it was going to be a busy one!

Car Accident

Well friends...it happened. Dan's very first car accident since we've been married. Thankfully, everyone was okay and no one was seriously injured. Unfortunately, our car was in pretty bad shape.

Yeah...it was bad. So here's what happened:

Dan left for work about 7:45 am on Tuesday, June 25th. He was driving down 400 South in Springville heading towards the freeway. There's only one stop light from the freeway to Main street (a good 3-4 miles away). In the mornings, the traffic can get pretty backed up at that one light and if you're not paying attention, accidents happen that you can in no way avoid. Such was this lovely Tuesday morning. 

I was sitting at home, Dan had just left, and I was cleaning up from making his lunch. I was probably checking out instagram or something, and I got a phone call from Dan (5 minutes after he had left). I thought it was to read scriptures together.

D: I just got into a car accident 

A: No you didn't. Are you serious?

D: Yes...

A: *Slight panic* Umm okay, well are you okay?

D: Yeah I'm okay.

A: Alright, call the police and I will be right there!

Seriously, how sad is that that I thought my husband was joking when he told me he was in a car accident? Bad wife right there. But he literally had JUST left, and he sounded so calm on the phone that I didn't think anything had happened. Poor guy was probably in shock. I called my mom and I can feel my adrenaline kicking in and my heart is racing and I'm frantically searching for some basketball shorts and a t shirt to throw on. I felt so bad for waking her up (it was 6:45 AZ time) but she was awesome! I was trying to calm myself down but it was hard. I took off down the street and it felt like twice as long to get to where the accident was. I could see the police lights up the street and the traffic backing up. When I came up over the hill and I saw the damage to the lady that hit Dan's car, my heart just sank. The entire front end of her car was smashed. Then I saw our car. I've never been so anxious to see Dan in my entire life. There were 2 more cars ahead of Dan that got hit as well,  so I had to park a few feet ahead of the accident. It's kind of a surreal moment because you see all the wreckage, but your mind can't take it all in. I had a one track mind at the time...just get to Dan.

That's probably way more dramatic than anyone cares to read, but it really was how I was feeling. I knew in my heart he was okay (and he had told me) but I just needed to see him and get that reassurance that everything really was okay.

Here's how Dan described the accident (in my words): Traffic was pretty far backed up, almost to the top of the hill, not unusual for a Tuesday morning. He looked down to call me so we could read scriptures, and he heard screeching and then he got hit. He doesn't remember actually getting hit (thank goodness), but he said that his first thought, as soon as he got the car out of the way of traffic, was to make sure everyone was okay. 

And since diagrams are always helpful, here's two. One before the accident, and another for after the accident.

Basically, what happened was this: the lady who caused the accident was going down the road (probably 45-50 mph-the speed limit) and Dan was backed up with the traffic to almost the top of the hill. This is one of those hills that you can't see what's on the other side at all until you're on the very top of it. So you have no clue what color the light is until you're on the other side. Unfortunately for her, Dan was right there. She slammed on her brakes, and slammed into Dan. She hit Dan so hard, that he slammed into car #1 and car #1 hit car #2 (okay more like love tapped-car #2 barely had a dent in the bumper). 

 Our back bumper was barely hanging on, and the front wasn't hanging on too well either. Even looking at these pictures, it makes me so sad. We've only had that car for 6 months. 

 This is the damage to car #1 from Dan hitting it. 

This is the car that hit Dan. Her car was JACKED UP. Dan said that there was smoke coming from her engine for a few minutes after the accident. Thankfully, she was okay.

So after an hour or so getting the accident cleaned up, and getting the preliminary copy of the police report, we went home. In all honesty, we probably should not have driven our car home, but we did. The steering column was totally wacked, and the back two tired looked like they could buckle in any minute. It was the longest 2 mile drive back home ever. To add insult to injury, we had to go like 25 mph the entire way. 

Duke's of Hazard style...so ghetto. Love it.

So we spent the rest of Tuesday dealing with car insurance companies, claims, x-rays, and the chiropractor. And over the last few weeks, more calls from the insurance company and claims and chiropractor. We found out yesterday that the car is totaled. I went over to the body shop and cleaned everything out of the car. I probably could have cried had I been in a more emotional state. Thankfully I wasn't, but it really was sad. It got take away from the body shop today. No more taters to speak of.

All through this experience, I've honestly felt so blessed. The mechanic told us, after having one look at the car, that we were so lucky to have an old car. The old cars have steel bumpers, and that basically saved Dan from A LOT more serious injuries. Then we also found out yesterday too that we are getting more money for the car than we had originally thought. That was a huge relief because car shopping with not so much mulah is really quite depressing. Oh and one more HUGE blessing, the car insurance company called yesterday and they need the title in order to send us the check for the money from the totaled car. Well...we couldn't find it last night. Looked everywhere and could not find it. I was super frustrated to say the least. When I got home from work this afternoon, I started searching, and low and behold I found it!! Hallelujah!! Last blessing, our awesome upstairs neighbors have an extra car that they don't use over the summer and they have been so kind to let us borrow it until we get a new car! Thank you has never been so inadequate. They truly are gems. Thank you Jenkins!!

In summary, car accidents suck. But we have felt extremely watched over and blessed through the entire trial, despite the major set back of being down to one car again. I've been so assured again and again that my Heavenly Father is so aware of us and knows what we're going through right now. I have never been more sure that my Savior knows me.