A great event happened on August 23 -- Jenna was baptized by her dad, and then confirmed a member of the Church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost by her grandfather.
Jenna was very excited that her Grandma Goodrich, and Grandma and Grandpa Christiansen were able to come to Iowa to participate in this special event.
It was a long baptismal event as Jenna was being baptized with 4 of her friends who also had August birthdays: Alena, Sara and James. The family survived the event, and even had the ability to smile for the camera afterwards (although I think that was because of the amounts of cookies and chocolate milk that was inbibed!)
The following Tuesday, the family made a trip down to Nauvoo to see some of the sites: the blacksmith where Jenna received a "baptismal" horseshoe and the family learned about how many processes went into making a wagon wheel (the spokes, the tire, the wheel, the axle, the wheel hub, the chiseling, bending, shaping, curing fitting with no nails used; the bakery where each of us received a yummy sample of molasses cookies and learned about one family's conversion story; the Lucy Mack Smith house where the Prophet Joseph's mother lived after his martyrdom until she passed away (the kids weren't sure if a trap door that locked them in/parents out was a good or bad idea).
One of the most interesting places that the family enjoyed was the Family Living Center where they had many demonstrations and some activities you could do yourself: candle making (at left) had the girls really interested, and we all learned to tie a rock to keep your wick taunt; rope making (right) was one activity where you could actually make a rope and keep your handiwork; there was bread making (where you had a sample of fresh bread where instead of "yeast" you would use "potato water" to leaven the bread; rag rugs (both square and round), barrel making and pottery making were two other activities.
But the most fun the kids had? Throwing rocks in the Mississippi River (of course); but, there is some history behind the place where they threw in the rocks: it was at the end of Parley Street where the Saints drove their wagons across the frozen Mississippi River in February 1846 to Montrose, Iowa to start the trek to Utah, or after the thaw, took ferries across the 1 mile wide river to start the trek.
So while the children tossed in the rocks, their dad took a moment to provide them an historical lesson. "Aw Dad. Enough with the history!"
