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!