Cabella is TWO

On Sunday, our little Bella Lou turned TWO. Our little hip dysplasia baby is now a rough and tumble toddler. 

She is starting to talk more and likes to tell us "Come Here Now....Please"

We have been half potty training for a few months now but will probably take the full leap in August. 

She likes to climb, ride the gator, ride the tractor, squeeze all the farm animals a little too tight....

Eats Everything - I don't know if she has a favorite or anything she won't eat. 

Favorite person - Levi when he comes home at night and me in the middle of the night.

She still wakes up once a night but goes back to sleep pretty easily. 

She likes to grab everyone's hand and lead them around where she wants to. Or pull their shirt. 

She bonds with all her siblings - she loves Clairana to read to her and Cora/Nephi to play. 

We started her birthday with church which she happily went to nursery which never happens. 

Then ended our day with s'mores with family around the fire and gator rides. 

Bell Family send this adorable pajama set and a book to match - she has been sleeping in it with the book for days.

This is how we slowly wake up for church......

CHEESE!!!

Cabella and Ensley (I realized I always take photos of the 'same cousin pair' so I switched it up! 

Our new goat stand - Cabella trying it out with Ensley and of course Clairana in the barn.

Not the best photo but Cabella and Levi in the new tree-fort he just built for the kids.
I swear I don't think our home could get more magical for the kids sometimes -
Clairana has requested a zip-line so we shall see...

Reagan is going to be the party animal - we can see it now. Look at all the joy in this picture!

Cousin Time is Perfect Time

Birthday Candle on a Marshmallow kinda Party

Present Time

This Kid. He asked Bella several times if he could sleep with this chicken (her present from Mamaw & Papaw) and of course she said No and I told him to just let her be....Then he comes to me and ask if he can go upstairs to sleep with a toy....Okay Nephi then to bed.
I go in to check on them and he must have bartered with Bella she had his other toy and he was fast asleep like this.
HaHaHa 

Bella's new doll from Grandpa 

Nauvoo with the Mosley Family

Our June was CRAZY. 

Right after everyone flew out we packed up and headed to Nauvoo, Illinois for a short trip with friends from Arizona. 

They had called a month or so ago saying they were road tripping it across the country and Nauvoo was as close as they would get to us (5 hour drive from us.) 

I was over the moon excited to see them!

The Mosley Family

They are LDS although in Arizona we were not in the same ward (mostly means we met at different times on Sunday based on our address) but they homeschool and her husband Paul is the State Representative for Arizona. 

Nauvoo is a small city located on the banks of the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. 

Its historic importance and religious importance to many religious groups attracts a large number of tourists and visitors. 

It is registered in the National Register of Historic Places of USA.

Once 20,000 people then within months down to 2,000 due to being forced out. 

Nauvoo Temple - Restored in 2002 after being destroyed by arsonists' fire only four years after being originally built in 1848.

Temple Grounds 

Temple Steps overlooking the Mississippi River

Mormons being pushed out of Nauvoo by mobs for their religious beliefs and traveling across the frozen Mississippi in February 1846.

Jonathan Browning was a person who ran a successful gun repair business in Nauvoo. By visiting the Nauvoo home and gun shop of Jonathan Browning we can take a look at the beginning of the world famous Browning Arms Corporation. We can also see the creations of Browning’s here like his specially designed authentic rifles, handguns and shotguns. 

He is recognized as a man who invented the six shot repeater and the repeating rifle.

He moved from Quincy to Nauvoo primarily to be closer to the gathering place of the Mormons and continued building and repairing guns in Nauvoo. This continued until persecution drove the Mormons out of Illinois -- which began the Great Mormon Migration to what would eventually become Utah.

He was devout about his religion and his firearms. 

Guns made by him during this time were each marked with the words "Holiness to the Lord - Our Preservation."

He was not an early pioneer to travel to Utah, he was asked by Brigham Young to stay behind. 

This assignment was to outfit and equip the pioneers as they headed west over the next few years. 

In 1852 Brigham Young called him to Utah where he settled in Ogden, just north of Salt Lake City. 

This picture was in his home although not much is known of it.

Post Office Tour

Looms - This is Lydia she is one of the Mosley twins that Nephi just adores. 

Wagon Rides with Oxen and Horses

Chauncey Webb's Home

This used to be called The Trail of Tears - plaques line the Trail of Hope with quotations from pioneers who left Nauvoo on that February day or during the following months.
This helps us to imagine what it would be like....


HOW STRONG IS YOUR TESTIMONY IN CHRIST?
HOW STRONG IS YOUR FAITH?
Leave everything behind to travel from Illinois to Utah across the frozen river in search of Religious Freedom.
For a hope to be LEFT ALONE and able to WORSHIP without mobs and murders.

Approximately, 100 men were involved in the attack that killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith (his brother.)

When we think our life gets hard.....Its was a good reminder of people who have suffered so great before us.

There is a pioneer story of a woman whose husband was killed before they left and she made the trip with her four babies only to bury all of them along the way with a SPOON. 

School House 

Making Rope

Band!

Clairana playing pioneer games

Nephi and Cosette 

Nephi with Sam and Brielle

Cabella playing too.

Ms. Coraline with her Arizona Bestie Portia

Not all Littles Pictured!

Clairana with Eliza Jane, Brielle, and Lydia

Brynley Mosley -
Mother of Seven  and does an amazing job of showing me how to be a better Godly mother.
Homeschooling Mama.
Politician's Wife. Hospice RN.
She LOVES to play with her kids and is always making up new games.
I am so very happy our paths crossed in this life.