Road Trippin'

Our branch here is awesome and we got tons of help moving out. We're gonna miss everyone. :( My mom and Aunt Barbara came in that evening when we were all done loading up the truck (and ditching our poor couch, RIP). My mom said hi to Bianca and then left so they could eat (they didn't stop to eat on the way...?). Then my mom came over to hang out with us girls while Bobby took my aunt to bring the truck to her because they're (well my aunt) is driving the truck to OK for us so we can go at our own pace with little girl, which is AWESOME and we are SO grateful! So it was a long night. 

In the morning we packed up the last minute stuff and headed out basically on time. We decided to make it to Michigan in 1 day (yes we went this way JUST to say we've been to Michigan haha) and we did indeed make our goal! When we got there we ate some Mexican food and then went to explore a beach on one of the great lakes. It was nicer than we thought it was going to be, very cool!

 The next day we were determined to make it to Nauvoo, IL. So off we went. But first we drove for an extra 30-45 mins just to avoid Chicago, which was successful, and then we stopped in Wisconsin so Bobby could say he's been there (literally just went over the boarder, stopped at the rest area, and then turned around and went back on our way).

If you've traveled through IL, you'll know that there isn't much there. Meaning no restaurants for hours. Luckily we found a Pizza Hut in Dixon that was the last food place for a few hours, so we stopped there. The town name sounded familiar but it wasn't until we saw signs did we realize that it was Reagan's hometown! Bobby got excited. It was cute. So we took a quick detour, ate at the Pizza Hut, walked around the town a bit, and went to Reagan's childhood home. Cute older people ran it and they loved Bianca. It was fun and random, just the way I like road trips to go!

Next we went to Cartridge Jail, which was a neat experience. It's fun being able to go to all of these church sites. Bianca had fun walking around. We did not have fun wrangling her. But it was all good.

We FINALLY went to our hotel in Nauvoo, rested, and ate dinner. Since we only had tonight and tomorrow during the day to see Nauvoo, we headed out there after dinner, but everything was closed. Boo! We timed this trip perfectly though because the Nauvoo pageant was going on, yay! They had a little fair before the pageant, which was a lot of fun. They had a bunch of things for kids to do, like coloring and such (we did that for a little bit for little girl). But the highlight for us was the dancing! They had actors teaching some of the dances in the pageant, and Bianca was amazed. She walked right into the center of the crowd and started dancing along with them, even doing the right moves (well some of the time). She'd raise her hand and twirl around, it was great. She did NOT want to leave, so we let her dance. She even danced with a few of the actresses haha! I've never seen her happier. I think she was born to be a performer. Watch out, Broadway. ;)

The pageant was very cool, with song and dance. It was more entertaining in that aspect than the Palmyra pageant. Guess I'll have to get voice lessons when I'm in this pageant someday ;) Bianca was alright during it. She ate a lot of snacks to keep her occupied. She was zonked out by the time it was over. She fell asleep during the 5 min car ride back to the hotel. And slept through her diaper change HA! Silly girl.

We needed to get as close to OK as possible the next day, so our time at Nauvoo was limited. You cannot do that place in one day. We will be back though! First of all, Bobby had to find his cell phone he lost at the pageant, oops! Luckily, LDS people are awesome and turned it in and eventually he found it (YAY!). But I mean, who would want it anyways, it's not a smartphone and barely takes pics. Anyways, so we were able to go on the horse carriage ride around Nauvoo, which was fun, although Bianca got a bit bored half way through. At least we got to see the highlights from afar.

                                    How she likes to hug and kiss you now...grabbing ya by the throat haha!

We went into some of the more interesting/famous sites before we had to head off. Here is our picture highlights of the highlights!

                                                             steepest. stairs. ever!

We were so sad we couldn't do everything, but we had to see the Nauvoo temple up close before we left. It was beautiful indeed!

Oh and then we drove 10 mins out of the way to go into Iowa, so now we've been there. And now we've been to every state east of OK, go us!

 

With stupid circumstances, we ended up at like 8-9pm in Tulsa and couldn't drive any further. SO we stayed in Tulsa lol. My mom and aunt had made it to OKC/Edmond already. So we just woke up early and drove in, thus ending our road trip and starting our lives in the OK...again.