Sunday, February 12, 2012

I think I'm starting to figure this out...

This is the picture I wanted at the front of the "house tour"--You have seen these pictures in an email--but I needed to get them all together! This is our front door. People in Nauvoo seldom lock their doors. If you do, you make it impossible for people to bring you goodies and leave them on your kitchen counter!!!

You will notice that we are still celebrating Christmas at the mission home. That is because the Facilities Maintenance group takes care of everything outside the house. Some day they will come and get the wreath and put it away until next year. In about March they will replace the pine trees and bushes with spring ones. Sister Ludwig told me that she just leaves the lights on the trees and plugged in until they burn out! So, who am I to mess with a system already in place!
This cabinet is the first thing you see as you enter. They have a timer on the light so that it lights itself at about 6pm and turns off at 10pm. These statues were not in the case when we got here, but I decided they need to be kept in a safer place so I don't have to worry when the grandchildren are here. The little bowel 4 shelves down was found in the well on Brigham Young's Property--yet another reason to have it in an inclosed area!!! I may move it up a few shelves when they come, just in case! You can see the entrance to the kitchen on the right and the entrance to the living room on the left.
As you turn to your left at the front door, you see a built in book shelf on the right and a grand piano on the left. Further in is the living room and the magnificent window that makes the whole room feel like I'm outside. I love this room.


(Don't know why I'm suddenly underlining--but just LIVE WITH IT, OK?
This is the view from the couch in front of the window. You can see the corner of the piano just above that chair, the stairs leading down to the GA apartment and then the front door. On the left is the door leading to the kitchen and the dining area. That table pulls out easily (I can do it all by myself) and will seat 12 at its fullest. The table and chair set are Aumish--so they are made of very heavy wood--which makes it hard to move the chairs--especially if your are sitting in them!

















From the window couch there is a couch on the left .....
















And two chairs on the right--with a set of chairs behind those, next to the piano. There used to be much more furniture in this room, but it made me crazy so I got rid of it!

















This is the kitchen--the doorway to the dining area is on your far right. The door to the entry is on the far left. There is a nice little nook right between the doors that I have taken over for my "study". I can look out the front room window from my desk area--and almost see the front door at the same time! (NOW it's BLUE and underlined! This blog certainly has a mind of it's own!)
Looking from my desk area toward the back wall. The sink is on the left and the fridge on the right. That picture of the Nauvoo temple was already right there on the wall. Fitting the pictures of all our children and their families on either side of it was so easy and appropriate!
Just to the left of the table is a sliding glass door. This is the view out it. Rus puts bird feed in that bird feeder every morning--we have lots of different kinds of birds visit us daily. We also have racoons visit us at night and deer at about dusk, sometimes come to finish up what the birds have left!
Our guest bathroom is across the hall from the two extra bedrooms (which I already posted) and at the back of the house. It's not very convenient for guests--but nice for the bedrooms.

This is the "General Authority Suite". At our front door, the stairs go down on the left into this apartment. At the bottom of the stairs the room opens up into this living area. (The part you don't see--the left wall--has a treadmill, then a door to the outside, with steps leading up to ground level. There is a fold down table on the other side of the door).

You'll notice there is a pretty nice TV down here--we haven't hooked it up, so don't know how good it is--I imagine one of our sons or son in laws will figure it out when they come!



The kitchen is directly on the right. That back door leads into a large bathroom with laundry facilities--all very nice. The bathroom is so big it could easily fit a crib or bed, if you didn't mind sleeping next to the toilet!!!






King size bed and lovely accommodations in the GA bedroom.


WEll, that's the tour. As you can see, they treat us pretty nice here.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Home sweet home!

I thought some of you may like to see our house--but I'm so blog illiterate that I'd better send this much so I don't loose it. This is the back of the house--
The master bedroom has plenty of
space. It's way in the back of the house, so it is probably the coldest room--well actually, the master bath is!
The master bathroom also has a walk in closet--with lots of room for clothes.

Rus's "office" is in our room! You probably can't see it, but he has THREE computers in front of him! He also has another desk top in his office at the visitors' center. Who needs 4 computers!?
It's not really his choice--but REALLY!

There is a bedroom next to ours which has two twin beds.












We have two extra bedrooms upstairs. This one also serves as a "private" place where Rus can talk with missionaries who need talk time.


On the way out the back door! This is the washroom. The Washer and dryer are on the left as you look at the picture--next to the back door. There is a small pantry across from the coats.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Walk about town...



So, Alex tells me I can post all my pictures and comments at once--let's see!

I decided to give you a "day in the life of" since "they" said it couldn't be done!

I started my morning at 5:30 with my personal scripture study. At 6:15 I went for a walk. Yes! 6:15 AM--it was still dark, but, actually warmer than it has been the rest of this morning--only 29 degrees that early. The temple is about a half mile from the mission home. I LOVE this statue of Joseph and Hyrum--it always reminds me of Jospeh Smith saying "“This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them.” I think it is still true today.


From the temple I walked down the center of town--Mulholland Street. This theatre has been turned into a diner! We ate here for lunch one day. There is always a whole table of men, sitting and eating and talking--reminds me of Mayberry!









The name of it is Grandpa John's Cafe!









And no town would be complete without a fudge factory! This one is owned by church members.









Zion's Mercantile is also owned by members. It is a combination of a store, an inn, and a restaurant.














This is the bakery where we buy the bread to have at each of the missionaries' apartments along with some soup for their first day of arrival. GOOD BREAD!












In the middle of all the shops and stores there will be random houses--this one was deserted, but some of them are kept up nicely.


Now I'm on my way home, again--I think Brother Allyn did the windows in the temple???
















Next to the Allyn House is the most popular place in town--when it's open (many of these places are closed until summer)---Annie's fresh frozen custard! The lady's name isn't even
Annie--I think it's Brenda.














When my parents brought their whole family (in a BUS) to Nauvoo--we ate here. It's closed until the spring.















Last night, our "boss", Mark Lusvardi, came to check on us. Rus told people he was coming to check to see if we still had a pulse. I said he was coming to see if we had totally ruined what they were trying to do in Nauvoo! He really just came to answer any questions--That's pretty amazing, when you realize that it is at least a 3 hour car ride away from any airport! He wanted to take us out somewhere nice to eat--but all the really nice places in Nauvoo aren't open yet--so we went to Weber's Kitchen! Talk about a home town feel...they had a taco bar--all sorts of mexican food--but it looked more like a potluck ward social! Rus and Brother Lusvardi weren't at all impressed--but I thought the food was pretty good--Maybe because I didn't have to cook it!


I'm told that Mr. Kraus owns a good deal of the land and stores up in the town part of Nauvoo. Down on what we call "the flats" (where all the sites are) the church owns most of it.















The latest need in Nauvoo--other than the ever present one of not having enough business in the off season is their library. It's just a little place and needs to be updated--too bad--it's kind of cute, don't you think?













Can you tell it's getting lighter? Back by this magnificent temple, again.
















The first session we went to after we arrived in Nauvoo, was amazing. There was a time when I felt the power and presence of all my ancestors who had been here. I was overwhelmed with their love for me and the sacrifices they gladly made for their families--present and future. I know these aren't the original walls--but it was as if the very walls were speaking to me. I got a glimpse of how "all things are present" with the Lord.














And just a 5 to 10 minute walk, and here we are, back home again!

Now I understand, in part, why no one ever gave us a "day in the life of": I'm only up to 7:00am and I'm out of time! Maybe I'll finish later--but I've got to go now. Life is anything but boring here--even in the "down" season!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

So...I finally got around to putting this experience on a blog--but I'm pretty blog illiterate. I don't know how to make the order make sense--so you'll just have to read it upside down! Good luck!

Yes, we made it! The sunsets in Nauvoo are spectacular. So very little in the way of seeing them. And, it helps that this picture is taken at our Living Room window--which is easy for me to see from my desk in the kitchen--so I don't even have to go outside to see them each night!
Asher is Jenni and Jonah's baby. The last time I saw him he was still in a carrier--now he's pulling himself up to everything!

We traveled all day Saturday and arrived at Jenni and Jonah's Saturday night. As you can tell by Aden, Megan and Carter's dress, we spent Sunday with them.

We left Provo on Friday morning and were at Becca and Alex's in time for dinner. Even tho this picture is pretty current (only a few weeks old) it is already out dated! In addition to Julia and Luke, Becca and Alex just had their third child...Derek Russell! And the kingdom keeps growing!!! He's number 32 for us--but who's counting?
I don't know how I got this underline on here--oh well! Anyway, we spent Monday through Wednesday taking classes and having meetings and meals at the Provo MTC. Thursday we went to temple square in SLC for other meetings and meals and to be able to have the experience of having Sister Missionaries teach us in their sites. These two were assigned to take us to the Brigham Young Home. The thing I like the most about their "tour" was that it wasn't really a tour. It was mostly an opportunity for them to teach gospel principles and bear testimony with the Brigham Young home and his life as visual aids!

When we arrived in our MTC room there was a nice plate full of nuts for us.


Our accommodations

It's official! We really ARE going to Nauvoo!

We had breakfast and scripture study at the Hurtado's before checking in at the MTC.

Let the party begin! Let's go GG!

I made sure there were plenty of blankets so Lily wouldn't get too cold moving across country!

We only packed our most precious items!
No "farewell" is complete without a trip to Mary Coyles for a showboat sundae. Larry and Debbie Brown took us. YUM!