St. Louis June 2012 {June 8, 2012}

For Ash's birthday we went to St. Louis. She picked the trip (we have all picked our birthday trips this year). We went to a Cardinals game, which was so much fun. We love baseball, and at least Ashlee has a goal to go to every major league baseball stadium in the US and Canada. The Card's lost the game we went to, but it was firework night so we were ok with the loss.

Everyone told us we had to go up in the arch-- so we did. The little bucket thing you ride up in was not my favorite part but it was cool to be up in side of the arch like that. We also went on a river boat ride on the Mississippi river, that was a little disappointing. I think a lot of the stuff we did so we could say we've done it-- well put a big old check mark on done on St. Louis, Mississippi River, and the Arch.

While we were there we also drove out to Nauvoo and Carthage. It was really neat to see all of those church sites and to really get an idea what it was like for the saints that lived there. I can imagine it would have been very difficult to leave such a beautiful place behind, knowing that mobs were just going to destroy it. Another interesting thought we had was about the river. That is the biggest river I have ever seen and I can only imagine how cold it must have gotten to freeze that thing over-- bitter for sure. It was interesting to think about how they crossed it and what a challenge that must have been. While we were in Nauvoo we toured some of the historical sites and one of my favorites was Brigham Young's home. They sister missionary explained that they had found old plates and cups in a storage cellar that most likely belonged to Brigham Young's family. They were all broken and shattered. A missionary came along and pieced them together and fired the dishes back together-- they looked PERFECT! It was incredible! The whole area was very beautiful.

When we were in Carthage we didn't have very much time because they were closing, but we did get a chance to go on a tour of the jail. That is such a spiritual place. There is a feeling there that you can't explain. As we went through each of the rooms you could really relieve the last 24 hours of Joseph Smith's life and see how it must have felt to be there with him. One thing one of the missionaries said that stuck out to me was that she thought the jailer and his family were very nice people. It was an interesting thought. I had never really considered the jailer. She told us that he had 7 children and his wife also living in the jail house. It is unclear whether or not the children were present when Joseph Smith was killed- but what an horrifying thought. I thought it was interesting that when everything happened- they were in the jailer's bedroom. He must have realized that Joseph was not a threat, because there were rooms he could have left him in very easily. Just some interesting things to think about.

We really enjoyed our time in St. Louis, but I think the best part of going is just having a chance to spend time with my sisters. It is so fun to be able to spend that much time with them and really get to bond with each other. We always spend a lot of time laughing and enjoying each other-- and surprisingly enough-- we don't really fight. You would like for how stressful situations can be and how tired we get sometimes we would be fighting all the time-- but we just don't. I am SO happy I can travel with them and have these awesome memories forever.