Future Kid

Junior Ranger kids are so cute. One of the activities in the Lincoln Home Junior Ranger book has the kids write a letter to Abraham Lincoln. Usually they write about slavery or the Civil War and how they're glad that Lincoln was a brave man who did the right thing. But today I got a Junior Ranger who had written a letter quite unlike any I had ever read before. It was this cute little girl, and in her letter she had written: "President Lincoln: WARNING do NOT ever go to the theater! This is no joke. I am a kid from the future and I know that John Wilkes Booth is going to kill you at the theater. Don't go there!" I loved it.

Also today we had a lost two-year-old little guy in the Visitor Center. We noticed that he had figured out how to push the handicap-accessible button on the doors, and he came into the Visitor Center by himself. No one nearby looked like they were with him, so I was keeping an eye on him. When he went out the other doors and headed for the road, I ran after him. I asked him if he knew where his Mom and Dad were, and he said, "No. I poopy." Great--now he's lost and poopy! Luckily within a few minutes his family came in looking for him. I guess he had escaped from them down by the Lincoln Home. But all's well that ends well (unless you're the one who has to deal with the poopy).

Three Years Ago . . .

Three years ago Eliza was born! Happy Birthday, Eliza!!! She was such a cute little baby with her crazy spikey hair and her perma-frown. She always looked so serious, and now she is all smiles. I remember when we went to the hospital after she was born. She seemed so tiny, and she had a cute little green bow in her hair. This picture was taken when she was just five days old.

The Barrett girls were excited about their new cousin. I absolutely love this picture. Camden and Riley had made cards for "Baby" (she didn't quite have her name yet), and even little Sid seemed pretty intrigued by it all. I am lucky to have such cute nieces--and a nephew on the way! Eliza will be a wonderful big sister.

Today was also my friend Melissa's birthday, so Greg and I went out with a bunch of friends tonight to celebrate (in my mind I was also celebrating Eliza's birthday). We opted, however, not to go to the post-dinner bars with everyone :-) The best news of the day today is that Mom is doing well after her thyroid surgery on Tuesday! You were so brave, Mom! I had originally planned to be home at this time for a visit, so I could have helped take care of Mom, but the Lincoln Home people wouldn't let me leave (cue the Travelocity gnome's "I need to get out of here" song). But we are so grateful that everything went well with the surgery.

Girls' Trip

Last Monday was SO MUCH FUN!!!! My Lincoln Home friends Crystal, Melissa, and I took a girls' trip to Nauvoo! Crystal and Melissa are so nice, and we have all become really great friends. They are two of about four nice people left working at the Lincoln Home--so we nice people have to stick together. One day Melissa told me that she has become obsessed with Mormons because she watches the show "Big Love." My first thought was, "Oh no." But luckily she realized that "Big Love" is not about how Mormons really are, and she's been reading books to try to find out the truth about Mormons. She said, "Would you take me to Nauvoo sometime?" You don't have to ask me twice to go to Nauvoo!

We began our day at Baxter's Winery--because Crystal and Melissa like wine :-) And, besides Mormons, Nauvoo is famous for wine. They offered a "winery tour" there which we were pretty excited about, but the tour ended up just being two rooms that you walk through on your own. It was funny. Crystal and Melissa were happy that they could buy some wine there.

Then we went into town and saw all of the Nauvoo highlights. We started at Brigham Young's house. The tour was really good, but Crystal and Melissa felt a little weird when the sister missionary asked them if they wanted to fill out a piece of paper and have a Book of Mormon brought to them. Luckily I was wearing my BYU jacket, so most people just assumed that all three of us were Mormons :-) We then went to the Visitor Center and saw my favorite movie ever: "Remembering Nauvoo." I think that movie really captures the spirit of Nauvoo, and Crystal and Melissa loved it.

I was hoping that we could go on the wagon tour of Nauvoo, but all of the tickets for that were sold out. So, we ended up on the carriage tour to Inspiration Point. The carriage tour takes you back through the woods, and the missionaries leading the tour talk about some of the people who lived on the outskirts of town. At one point when we stopped out in the middle of the woods and the missionaries started singing "I am a Child of God," Melissa leaned over to me and said, "Have we been kidnapped?" :-) I had to explain a few things to them, but I think all-in-all it went really well. After the carriage tour we went and saw the Joseph Smith Homestead, the Mansion House, and the Red Brick Store.

We even saw Elder Holland walking down the street! When I saw him, I did a double-take and said, "Oh! There's Elder Holland." They said, "Who is Elder Holland?" I explained the Quorum of the Twelve to them, and they wanted to get a picture taken with him, but he looked like he was in a hurry. He kind of almost hit us with his car when we were crossing the street :-)

It was a beautiful day in Nauvoo, and it was fun to have friends with me who had a lot of questions. We all had a great time, and we ended our day with a delicious catfish buffet at Grandpa John's Cafe. On our way home we had to make a detour over to Keokuk, Iowa, because Melissa had never been to Iowa before. It was a great day! Last night Greg and I had our friends David and Teal over for dinner. Chef Greg whipped up some delicious pesto chicken Parmesan, three cheese tortellini, and glazed carrots. We're lucky to have really nice friends here!