Autumn is a beautiful time in Wisconsin. We are enjoying gorgeous Fall colors. I had to take my camera on my last run just to take pictures. I thought the reminder of warmer days would be welcome during the long, hard winter ahead.
There is a trail through town that used to be an old military road/railroad. It runs 40+ miles from Madison to Dodgeville and is one of our favorite places. It's so beautiful and serene.
The final installment in our Nauvoo posts! You'll find many pictures of various scenes our family was in. We hope you enjoy the photos of us singing, dancing, whistling, skipping, running, twirling, listening, carrying, greeting, praying, mourning, cheering, freezing, marching and sweating. Be sure to click on them to enlarge them so you can better see our happy faces! We loved the opportunity our family had to participate in this powerful event.
Above: the exodus from Nauvoo. We're supposed to be cold!
The first week in Nauvoo, we meet daily at 8:00 a.m. at the stage for rehearsals (except for Sundays). Just to put this into perspective, here's our daily schedule:
8 am - Cast rehearsal on stage Noon - Lunch 2 pm - Cast rehearsal in gym 4:30 - dinner, costumes, hair/makeup 6 pm - Cast meeting 6:30 pm - Arrive on-site for pre-show 7 pm - Pre-show begins 8:45 pm - Pageant begins 10 pm - Post show mingling 11 pm - Conclude mingling, lights out Most days we actually got to bed between 11:30 and 12:30. Needless to say, arriving bright and early in the morning was challenging. Now factor in grumpy children and heat and humidity. It was crazy. But somehow, we did it and we loved it!
Dress Rehearsal Our cast had dress rehearsal on Monday, August 4th. During our morning rehearsal that day,the heat index was dangerously high at 126 degrees. After the sun set, the heat dropped a little, but it was still over 100 degrees. We have never been so hot in our lives. The following pictures mostly show us sitting on the stage after the performance to listen to the directors.
What do you think? Do we look hot, tired and sweaty? After a week of this grueling schedule, we couldn't possibly be closer to worn out. We were having the time of our lives! Just for fun, let's do a poll!
**All picture credit goes to Blaine Hofeling, a volunteer who took tens of thousands of pictures for the casts. Thanks, Blaine!
We have family members who have been waiting with bated breath for this post. We have friends who will be just plain confused! Here's the long and short of it. Our family participated, for the second year, as family cast in the Nauvoo Pageant. The pageant shares the good news of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and invites all to come unto Him. Because it retells a time during church history, we are dressed in period costumes.
We are in Nauvoo for a two week period. The first week, we rehearse during the day learning the pageant, direct activities in the pre-show during the evening (which is themed after an old fashioned country fair) and perform in the show finale. During the second week, we rehearse, we welcome and visit with those attending and we perform in the pageant.
During the pre-show this year, Trevor played his banjo in the band and the kids and I ran the horseshoes. Okay, let's be clear. I ran the horseshoes and the kids ran around the pre-show doing all the other fun activities. Trevor did take breaks from the band periodically to give me a reprieve. We met a lot of great people and families! During the week we worked the pre-show, we had friends and their kids visit. That was so much fun!
Olivia throwing some horseshoes!
Brennan trying his arm at some log sawing.
(You can see Trevor in the distance, on the band stand.)
Tyler waiting to brand his newly sawed disc.
Having quality period costumes is important. We spent the better part of a day at the costume department being outfitted. The Pageant provides all costumes for each cast member, which is a huge relief! All we had to provide were socks and shoes. I'm sure you'd like to see more of these costumes and admire them, modeled on some adorable and cheeky children.
Twelve is a big birthday at our house and Tyler was spoiled! As you know, we took a family trip to Door County to commemorate his big day. On his legitimate birthday, I picked him up for lunch (Subway, his favorite) and delivered a balloon bouquet to his school. That night we had a family party at home. He chose pizza for dinner, and instead of cake and ice cream, peach crisp. What a birthday!
In our faith, when a boy turns twelve, he receives the Priesthood and becomes a deacon. (Like I said, it's a big birthday!) It also means that he now attends Priesthood meetings with Dad. Look at these handsome guys!
