A Feeling of Peace Among the Hustle and Bustle of New York

Our last day in New York we really wanted to attend sacrament meeting and see the temple. We had heard that they held church meetings in the temple. We finally found out when the meetings were held and the four of us (all small town country girls) made our way by subway to the temple. We were so proud of ourselves that we were finally able to figure it out. Sad to say that when we got there there was a sister Missionary standing outside to tell us that the meeting house section of the temple was under renovation. We were disappointed but so glad we had made the trip to see this beautiful modest temple in the middle of this huge city among skyscrapers.

The REAL New York Experience

If you've ever been to New York you may have noticed the street venders on the sidewalk selling things; perfume, souviners, purses etc. Well when we got off the subway in China Town an Asian man whispers to Mel "I show you designer purses!" He flashes a picture of some designer purses and says "Come." Mel follows him and the rest of our group follows her across the street, down anther sidewalk and then he opens up this dirty old door that leads upstairs. "Come quickly." He says. Meanwhile we are all saying to Mel "No! Let's GO!" "Come now or I get other people" he says. Mel insists that she will not go without her family and she grabs us by the arm and shoves us through the door "We are all going!" she says. My mom and I give eachother looks as if this may be our last good-bye and I keep close to Cort. As we are walking up the dimly lit staircase I notice how it looks as if it should be condemed but there is a tatoo parlor off to the side and we go up another flight of stairs. I was about to loose it and turn around when all of a sudden several women with stuffed black garbage bags pass us on the way down saying "It was really worth it!" We are all still quite scared especially when he unlocks a door, funnels us through and then locks us in. The rooms are all falling apart and dimmly lit and he takes us to a very small room with tons of purses. Some of our group purchase a few purses but they wanted us to make a purchase within a few minutes so they could bring more unsuspecting victims. I tried but to no avail could get them down to the price I wanted to pay so they said it was time for us to go.

So then it became the "mission" of eveyone else to "help" me get a purse since everyone including Cortlynd had bought at least one purse if not 15! (Cynthia) By the last evening Cynthia with her charm bought a cute green purse for me for the price I wanted to pay! Yeah!

Later in the trip we notice that "others" sell purses on the street from a bag at night. We were walking back late one evening when a guy whispers agian to Mel. How do they know that she will say yes? She follows him around the corner out of the light of the business and behind an electrical box on the street corner. He looks around for cops and opens up his bag of purses. A few minutes later a cop car drives by and he gets pretty nervous. We thank him and pull Mel away. She just laughs at both experiences and says "I just wanted you all have the REAL New York experience!!!

Stardust Diner

Kristy and Cynthia found this great diner where the waiters/waitresses sing songs from table to table in between serving. It was really fun and they all had great voices. All of them work on and off Broadway in minor roles too. We even noticed one of them at "Legally Blonde" the next day. I was surprised when all of a sudden this guy sat on my lap and started serenading me

LOBSTER Anyone???

We ate at a wonderful seafood resturant. Great service/fun waiter! (Very expensive but Mel was gracious enough to take care of the bill.) I ordered lobster I was just surprised that I got the whole thing eyes, antenea, claws, and all yike s! My nieces were quite freaked out about it
and it became the joke of the evening! We then thought it would be fun to play a joke on our waiter by telling him that we couldn't pay but Brooke and Jaime would do the dishes instead. Of course none of us could keep a straight face and they couldn't even get the words out so we left him a nice tip in change! It was a fun night.

LIBERTY LADIES

It was WICKED!!

Wicked was amazing! Beautiful singing, freaking awesome affects and scenery.

Navy Pier

I Did It!

Though these pictures don't look like much I just had to make a note of their significance. It turned out that Cort, Graham, and I made it to St. Louis 1 1/2 hours before Darren and the other two boys made it. We weren't about to sit around at the airport for that long so- Drum roll please; I got the car from the rental and drove to the St. Louis Art Museum all by myself and then back to the airport to pick up Darren and the boys. (This was the fun part because I had Cortlynd navigating for me without turn by turn directions!) We had to figure out the directions turning in the opposite direction. Not so hard you think to yourself ahh we beg to differ. It actually wasn't so bad after we figured out where we took the wrong turns (yes plural) but in a big city that I had never been before I was pretty proud of myself. We really enjoyed the art museum too.

St. Louis Arch

On our way up to the top of the St. Louis Arch we were crammed in a tiny little 5 seater elevator that would go up as high as it would allow and then the elevator would turn and kink as we would go along the arch.

Poor Cortlynd is so scared of heights she was quite terrified and kept her eyes closed the whole time. She didn't even want to go but we forced to go.

Carthage Jail

The bullet hole that shot Joseph's brother Hyam in the face

Following in Their Footsteps

Carthage Jail was a wonderful experience. A testimony builder of the sacrifice and love of the Lord that Joseph and Hyram have and their wonderful examples of Hope and Joy.

Some Fun Activities In Nauvoo

Sunday's Drive

Adam-ondi-amhem
Far West

On Sunday we went to church in Independence and visited the LDS Visitor's Center there. Then we drove to Liberty Jail, Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahmen, Jamesport (which is an Amish town) and then finally to Quincy, Illinos. It was a long day of driving but we enjoyed the time together and the spirit that we felt at each site. What is so wonderful were the missionaries both the sister and couple missionaries who were assigned to each site, each had a message to share of their testimonies and knowledge of the church history. We are truely blessed.

Nauvoo Temple

The one thing we wished we had time to do was a session in the Nauvoo Temple. It was beautiful on the outside and I wanted Darren to see how magnificent it was on the inside too.