Kensley & Conner

Kensley watching a video of her cousin, Conner, on Aunt Sandi's blog.

Toy Box

I bought this container to hold all Kensley's little toys with little parts. Her favorite thing to do is dump out the entire contents on the floor and then climb in! She is very proud of herself.

Pretty Girl

These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago after Church. Kensley took the rubberband out of her ponytail and this was the beautiful result!

Perfectly Average

Kensley had her two-year checkup at the doctor's today. She weighs 27 lbs and is 34 inches tall. She is exactly in the 50th percentile for height and weight. That is pretty much where she has been her entire life. She had to get a shot, like always, and wasn't happy about it. They decided to draw some blood as well and that was the most traumatic for her. A shot is really quick, but this time I had to sit her on my lap and hold her legs and body while a nurse held her arm straight and another stuck a needle in her arm to draw some blood and then fill a vial with it. They wanted to do a hemoglobin and lead test since she has never had one before. Now that we are home, she kept looking at her arm and remembering what happened so I finally took the bandage off so she could move on and hopefully forget. She keeps coming up to me for a hug and then saying "all better!". Thankfully, she is now at the point in her life that she is down to yearly visits and we won't have to do it again until next year. They suggested she get a flu shot in October, but we will have to see...

Kensley's Birthday

Kensley got a new tricycle for her birthday and she was very impatient to use it!

Stephen & Kensley

This picture was taken in front of the Blacksmith shop in Nauvoo. They demonstrated how they used to make horseshoes and then gave the little horseshoe they made to Kensley because she had the closest birthday, July 22. They also gave us prairie diamonds, rings made from nails.

Memories

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.
It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Carthage Jail

We were getting ready to leave Carthage Jail when Stephen heard some people talking about Diamond Rio and that they were on their way there for a tour of Carthage Jail. Dan Truman of Diamond Rio was supposed to be in Nauvoo that night for a concert. It turned out not to be quite true, but we decided to stick around for a little bit to see. Stephen was getting ready to take a picture of me and Kensley just as a group of people walked up. One of the guys offered to take our picture and joked with us a little trying to get Kensley to smile by spitting at her. After he took the picture, he gave Kensley knuckles and then they were on their way. As they walked away, we discovered this was the group we were waiting to see! It wasn't Diamond Rio, but a guy who travels around with Dan Truman named John Deare or something like that. We had never heard of him, but it seemed a lot of others had. They have a CD they wrote together as a tribute to Joseph Smith and they travel around together performing it. So, we are the big dorks who had our picture taken by him without even knowing! We did attend the concert that evening, but Dan Truman wasn't there.

Sunset on the Mississippi

Mom performing in "Sunset on the Mississippi".

Wagon Tour

My mom narrated our wagon tour through the streets of Old Nauvoo. Kensley fell asleep before the tours end.

Skipping Rocks

Stephen is showing Kensley how to skip rocks and the end of the Trail of Hope. The Trail of Hope is where the Saints lined up their wagons and families to wait their turn to cross the Mississippi during the winter they were driven out of Nauvoo.

Cultural Hall

A family used to own the cultural hall and used it as their home. It was originally 3 stories, but this family took off the top floor and lowered the roof on top of the floor of the third story and because of that the floor was preserved. When the Church purchased the property, they restored it to its original structure and raised the roof back up so it had three stories once again. The third floor used to host dances for Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Here we are dancing on the original dance floor that Joseph and Emma used to dance on.

Joseph and Emma's Mansion House

Jonathan Browning Gunsmith

Skovil Bakery

My Mom is currently serving a mission in Nauvoo, Il and she is here giving us a tour of a bakery from way back when.

Hannibal, MO

Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) father's law office
Becky Thatcher's Home