Nauvoo, IL

In the Blacksmith shop.

The main street of Nauvoo. Our Hotel would be directly to the right.

Our hotel room was the Joseph and Emma suite.

Dad and Ben, on the balcony of our hotel room.

Joseph, Emma and Hyrums' graves. The log part of the house just behind it, belonged to Joseph and Emma for a few years during their time in Nauvoo. Then the white part of the house was added onto it later on by Joseph's son, Joseph Smith III.

In the room above the Joseph Smith Store, where the Relief Society was originally organized.

Kalli, at the original well just outside Joseph and Emma's log cabin.

A Statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in front of the Nauvoo temple.

In front of the Nauvoo temple

Ben, on the way back to the hotel.

We also went to Carthage jail, Where Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyram were martyred.

Walking along the Trail of Hope: the trail that the saints traveled down leaving Nauvoo, on their way to Ohio. There were about a hundred plaques lined up on the fence along the trail, with quotations selected from the journals of the saints leaving Nauvoo. We found two of our ancestors' plaques, Zina D. H. Young's and Benjamin F. Johnson's.

Mia, Mark and Hunter Busby on the millstones behind the bakery.

In Lucy Mack Smith's house.

At the Brick Firing factory, we heard about how they heated up the bricks to make all the brick buildings in Nauvoo. We got a little souvenir brick too.

At the Family Living Center, we learned how to make rope, candles, bread, pottery, barrels, and quilts in the way the pioneers did it.

We took a wagon ride around Historic Nauvoo and saw all of the different houses and businesses that have been preserved from when the saints lived there.

The Nauvoo Temple

Chicago, IL

We went to a huge children's museum right next to Navy Pier, and the kids had a great time.

On one of the buildings, there were tons of different stones from a bunch of different famous places, like the Pyramids of Giza, the Salt Lake Temple, the Injun Joe Cave, the House of Parliament in London and atleast a hundred other places.

That building behind Mark, is so large that it has its own zip code!

We took a little cruise around the harbor and heard a a bit about the city's history.

Looking at ourselves under the bean.

Mom and Vicky Busby in front of "the bean" at the park.

Ducks in the fountain at Millenium Park.

Walking around Chicago. It's a beautiful city; very artistic.

Kirtland, Ohio

We weren't allowed to take pictures on the tour of the inside, of the Kirtland temple, so this one is just a picture of a picture of the inside. But we did get to go inside, it was beautiful.

The Kirtland temple

This is a house that belonged to Benjamin Franklin Johnson and his family, who are our ancestors. He bought it from Joseph and Emma Smith. It was the first real home Joseph and Emma owned. Above is the house in the mid-1800s, and below in 2010.

Mom, looking up our ancestors who lived in Kirtland. We have eleven, that we found.

This building used to be an inn in the 1830's, but is now a museum for oldtown Kirtland.

If they took the process a step further, they could make "pearl-ash" which could be used to make other things, such as china.

We learned about the process that the workers used to transform the ashes, sold to them by the townspeople, into useful products like paper, soap and glass.

The ashery

The town sawmill

A room in the Whitney's house, where many priesthood meetings were held in the early days of the church.

Above the store, where Joseph and Emma lodged for a year and a half. The table in the picture above is original, and belonged to Joseph for a time.

Inside the store

We visited the old Kirtland town where the early saints moved after their persecution in New York. The store behind us in the picture above belonged to Newell K. Whitney, who was called to be the bishop of the church in Kirtland, and also housed Joseph and Emma for about a year and a half in the second story rooms above his store.