July 2025 (Missouri/Nauvoo Trip)

We were SO incredibly blessed to take a two-week vacation this summer in conjunction with Alex teaching at two different FSYs in Missouri. 

Leaving from the Idaho Falls airport

Landed in St. Louis, then Hayden picked our sweet rental car.

Off we go to the St. Louis Zoo

It was hot and humid and we were exhausted, but a cool little zoo visit!

Massive hippos swimming around us

You can't see it, but there's a Cheetah down there (Hayden's favorite animal)

There he is!

Verity couldn't wait to see real elephants. We got a good show.

Penguins!

Awesome, talented giraffes!

You can't see it, but Hayden's taking a picture of a lion

Averly calling us on her p-day!

Final zoo picture, then we hit the road for two hours to go to Columbia, MO

Alex's FSY classroom on the campus of the University of Missouri (Mizzou)

Super fun to meet up with Grace's cousin!

While Alex was teaching, Mel and the kids drove a little ways to a fun little Amish community

Found some fun things at the many little Amish stores they visited

Dinner that night was at Shakespeare's Pizza. It was a MASSIVE pizza!

Then we went exploring at the beautiful Rock Bridge state park. It was awesome!

Very cool cave

Inside the cave

Down a trail at another awesome cave

Looking up from the bottom of the cave at the bottom of a cliff

On our walk out of the state park, Hayden and Verity were trying to catch fireflies

Beautiful sunset on the way back to the hotel

Playing at a fun arcade while Alex taught FSY day 2. 

Unfortunately, this little mini-golf adventure turned into a little accident as Mel took a golf club to the eye and split her eyelid open pretty good. It took a while to her cleaned up and patched up, then Alex finished teaching and we hit the road from Columbia to Branson Missouri. 

Day 1 in Branson, MO, we spent at the Silver Dollar City amusement park. It was an incredible park and SO crowded!

This was our first ride on a roller coaster. Mom chose not to do rides as she recovered from her wound the previous day. Just about every roller coaster we rode had at least an hour-long wait (until the end of the day).

Melanie got to enjoy a lot of the fun shows they did at the park isntead.

The kid rides had very small lines, so Hayden was a champ and did a few of those with Verity.

Massive corn hole boards

A fun little house where things were upside down...

...and super slanted...

Dinner! (Cookies & cream funnel cake). Melanie did join us on a float ride. We got absolutely drenched.

Since we were absolutely drenched, Alex and the kids decided to do the log ride, too. More wet!

This was a super fast roller coaster that Alex and the kids got to do because lines were short at the end of the day. He and the kids are right in the middle.

Coming off the roller coaster

Trying to toss a ring on a rope and get it on the hook

Hayden celebrating because he did it!

Good bye to Silver Dollar City. We had a blast (even though the lines were crazy long!)

The next day we headed to downtown Branson to experience a lot of fun shops and stores

Hot sauce store!

They had a lot of hot sauces, and Alex and the kids all tried the hottest one. It was brutal and stayed in their throats forever!

Crazy candy store with all kinds of fun candy creations

Massive gumballs the kids got

Last stop on the street was Cabella's. Hayden bouth these awesome fish slippers!

Nice octopus head gear! 

Enjoyed "The Star Spangled Banner" with fountains on our way out.

First Branson show was Reza - a magician. His tricks were cool, but his stage presence was terrible (no life or excitement in the dude!)

A helicopter appeared on the stage at then end of the show. Cool stuff!

A cool thing - we won some tickets to other events at the Reza show, so Alex got to go to an 11 pm showing of a Michael Jackson tribute artist. He said the guy was fantastic is looks, sound, and moves!

Happy 4th of July! We celebrated in very patriotic style by going to the Dolly Parton Stampede dinner show. It was absolutely amazing!

Our dinner seats looking over the arena.

Incredible show!!

Excellent dinner!

We tried to find a fireworks show that night away from the city so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic. We saw a bunch of people parked on a hill with a beautiful overlook of Lake Taneycomo. The people next to us were playing awesome USA music so we were singing and dancing and enjoying a few neighborhood fireworks from the homes below us. There never was a big fireworks show, but we had a blast anyway!

What an amazing store with amazing things all about Jesus. Too expensive to buy anything, though.

Then we found this Trump store. Crazy and a bit inappropriate, but just fun.

Classic upside down kids' museum (saw this is Pigeon Forge TN too)

One of our favorite Branson experiences was watching the Bible production, "David" at the Sight and Sound theatre. The stage was wrap around, the acting and singing as good as Broadway, they had real animals (camels, horses, dogs, goats), and it was very spiritually moving. We all loved it!

Another one of our free tickets from Reza was to this fun mini-golf arena. I think Hayden won, but mom was the major winner (no accident this time)!!

Found this fun 50s diner in Branson.

Melanie had them sing "Happy Birthday" (a little early) to Alex. Good times!

Fun donut shop with a fun sign (we didn't get any, unfortunately)

Our final Bronson show was "The Haygoods". It's a family that uses numerous instruments and they do all kinds of tricks. Extremely entertaining show (the kids' favorite)!

Dude playing the guitar upside down ziplining down to the stage (to "Dancing on the ceiling").

Yeah - suped up lawnmower! This show really was incredible!

Had some delicious custard after the show at Andy's custard. So good!

Goodbye to Branson. We had an absolute blast in this fun city. So much to do, incredible shows, and really kind, God-fearing country-loving people!

Sunday we left Branson and headed to Arkansas (first time!).

Our first stop was this awesome church in the mountains, the Thorn Crown chapel. It's a non-denominational Christian church and it is gorgeous.

We enjoyed a really nice church service in the building and continued our travels

A fun lake we found for a good lunch-break stop.

Bentonville, Arkansas. This temple is right next to the LDS church we attended. We were surprised to find an LDS temple right next door!

After church, we explored Bentonville a little. They have a lot of nice trails through mountains, so we enjoyed some trail walking.

Famous Crystal Bridges Museum of Art (surrounded by beautiful trails)

And "LOVE" signs. 

Downtown Bentonville

Sam Walton's first 5 and dime store: the birthplace of Wal-mart.

Monday morning we got up early to rent mountain bikes and go trail riding in the "mountain biking capital of the world".

The trail was so fun. They had a paved trail for 5-6 miles, but little off-shoot mountain-biking trails in the hills. Hayden and dad enjoyed those. Super fun morning riding mountain bikes!

We were hot hot hot and extremely tired when we were done, but a great experience!

We had lunch at Crepes Paulette. Delicious meal crepes and treat crepes. We tried both kinds.

Time to head back to Missouri for Alex's FSY the next day. We first took a 45 minute detour to this very anti-climactic triple-state marker. We were in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma all at the same time!

First time in Oklahoma! (Hayden just woke up from a nap, hence his dazed expression). Next stop. Warrensburg, Missouri.

Alex's FSY classroom on the campus of University of Central Missouri. He loved teaching there (kids were very respectful and kind).

That night we met up with one of Alex's Midwest called online seminary teachers, Grant Bench, at a Thai restaurant. He was so kind and so gracious to buy us dinner. We had a wonderful time visiting and feeling his love. 

A cool park with mountainous trails called Cave Hollow Park.

Always appreciate Hayden's belly shots

On day 2 of Alex teaching FSY, Mel took the kids to Applebee's to use our final free coupon from the Reza show in Branson. Not much to do in Warrensburg, MO, so, next stop: Nauvoo Illinois!

We stopped first in Warsaw, IL to check out the place the men in the mob who killed Joseph and Hyrum went to after the martyrdom. We stayed in a cute little cottage Air B&B just outside of Nauvoo.

On our first day in Nauvoo, we visited the Joseph Smith properties that our church just acquired. We toured the Mansion home...

Then the Smith Homestead (Smith family's original log cabin)

The Red Brick store (top floor where the Relief Society was organized and the endowment was first presented)...

Then the Smith Family cemetery

With Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum's graves behind us.

After a nice lunch back at the cottage, we went on a fun horse-drawn carriage ride all around Nauvoo

With a beautiful view of the Nauvoo temple

Which we went to next. First time in the Nauvoo temple for the kids. This is the temple preparation building. We had to wait for 15 minutes or so, so the kids took a little snoozer.

We loved doing baptisms, and the temple is SO gorgeous!

After dinner back at the cottage, we went to Annie's custard and enjoyed some delicious flavors.

Then we went to the Fudge Factory and purchased their delicious caramels (not as good as mom's though)

Then we went to the amazing Sunset at the Mississippi performance by the young service missionaries. They put on an incredible show.

Then we went to all of the pre-pageant fair festivities. A little stick pull.

Hayden beat us both :)

We had awesome seats for the Nauvoo Pageant. It was a wonderful show (kids' first time)

This is a family we know from back in Idaho

Loved the pageant! So fun!

For Alex's 46th birthday, we went to the temple again to enjoy an endowment session. The temple is breathtakingly beautiful, inside and out.

Happy birthday, Alex!

Coming back to a birthday-decorated cottage and Hayden and Verity playing cards.

Nice Hayden, nice!

Nauvoo temple far in the distance behind us.

We found Sister Camarie Orr from our stake!

Pioneer games

and Pioneer crafts

Visiting Lucy Mack Smith's home

An 1800s original cart in the barn next to Lucy Mack's home (we kinda snuck in a peek).

Buffet dinner at the Nauvoo Hotel. We gorged ourselves on some really great (and expensive) food!

We did some more of the pre-pageant fair activities, but unfortunately...

The remnants of a massive tornado storm rolled through and dumped all kinds of rain and wind that night, so unfortunately, we never got to see the British pageant (weather canceled).

Hanging out in the car, wondering if the storm will stop. It didn't, so we drove through tornado rains (as always) to get back safely to the Cottage.

Spent some more time at the temple Saturday morning doing baptisms.

Again, went to the pre-pageant fair activities on our last night in Nauvoo - log cutting.

Got a special peek with Elder and Sister Renlund

Then, instead of going to the pageant that we had already seen, we walked the Trail of Hope to end our beautiful night.

Where the pioneers crossed the Mississippi river. Beautiful sight.

Final day in Nauvoo. Went first to the old Pioneer cemetery.

Then visited a couple of final stores on main street in Nauvoo (and enjoyed the sheepies!)

Mom found a cute little caterpillar. We also went to an incredibly moving performance by the young service missionaries, "The Love of the Savior." It was so beautiful and the music was very touching. We are so glad we chose to stay in Nauvoo a little longer to go to that!

Finish our Church-history trip, of course, at the Carthage Jail.

Upper window - the one Joseph fell dead from.

Same window, from the inside

Hole in the door from the bullet that killed Joseph

Stairway up to the martyrdom room

Front door the mob charged through

Upper window Joseph fell dead through. We loved our time in Nauvoo. Next and final stop: St. Louis Missouri.

Crazy big Catholic Cathedral in downtown St. Louis

Final stop, the St. Louis arch - gateway to the west.

In our little elevator box taking us to the top of the arch

At the top of the arch

Quite a view - That's the St. Louis Cardinals stadium

In the elevator box on the way down

Beautiful bridge across the Mississippi river (first one built??)

And our final stop before the airport: Lunch at Raising Cane's (Hayden's favorite)

We are so grateful and feel so blessed for our opportunity to go on this incredible trip for two full weeks. It was precious time together as a family!