All my dreams come true❤️❤️❤️

 It took me almost 22 years to get back, but I finally made it. To this beautiful place that was a foundation of my testimony-- of Joseph Smith as a prophet, of the Book of Mormon and the restored Church, but also a foundation of my testimony that God loves me and is aware of me.  That I have a Savior who is there to ease my burdens. That I can choose faith over fear.  All of these truths were tested in Nauvoo in 2001- and came through burning stronger than ever.  If I could have just seen at the time, the beautiful family I would be bringing 20+ years later!

I thought I would cry when we drove into town and got our first glimpse of the temple, but I didn't.  I was just radiantly happy! We went straight to the temple and got to watch the sunset over the Mississippi from that vantage point.

 This memorial now stands where the JSA used to be- where I lived for 4 super hard/super amazing months. And here's the Illinois sign from earlier that day.

Cute Owen,  and here are my favorite people in one of my favorite places!

bigger view of the temple, and the view of the temple from the bathroom window of our airbnb.

And Eric!  I used to walk around the temple (it was under construction when I was there) and dream about coming back there with him someday. And that night all of my dreams came true!!!

Yay!!!!

Cuties at Sunset, and Whitney enjoying a photo shoot by the magnolia tree in the Flats.

A picture of a plaque that showed the Blue Cheese company....and the JSA in the background! aka an old catholic school the church bought and used as the Joseph Smith Academy from 1998-2005?

We took a few pretty portraits during the weekend in Nauvoo.  Me and my Love by the river, and cutie Emma.

standing on the approximate spot of me and Jessica Tuckett's room at the Academy :)

Love the view of the temple from the Flats!

Me and Maris on a run in the statue garden- by the mother/daughter statue, so sweet.

Early morning temple run.

I took lots of happy selfies.

More river portraits. Grown up Kate and a little boy with his slingshot!

Maris playing with sticks and Whitney loving the sunset.

Temple pic of us all, and Owen enjoying the river.

Just the kids.  I am SO grateful I got to take them there!!!

2 random pics I forgot in older posts, haha.

And here's the man who has been making my dreams come true for 20 years. But seriously this was the biggest one since marrying him and having our 5 kids.  I told him he never needs to get me another present, seriously!  This was all I wanted.

Stop growing up so fast, little one!!

 Emma's big 6th birthday! She really wanted an Ocean party. NOT a beach party, an under-the-sea type party!  So we went for it!  She had a lot of strong opinions haha. 

Here she is wearing Christmas pajamas on her birthday morning!  And with the cake that she designed and helped decorate.

The one thing that was probably the most important to Emma, was to have an "underwater room" like you were going under the ocean.  Well you know I love a great theme/challenge/creating an experience!  So we made an obstacle course in our "underwater room". It was super fun!  Katelyn helped make the sea turtle, and Owen and Maris helped with some of the other decor.  I especially liked how the hanging seaweed and jellyfish turned out!!  And of course owen and maris were a big help with running the obstacle course.

All the cuties ready for cake!  and playing of course- the fishing game. Thanks Whit for running that one!

The kids with their decorated dollar store pails, ready to play the Cakewalk on the sea animals Emma had drawn and colored!  Cute Korver was the only boy who came to the party. Also you can see that Emma asked Katelyn to do facepainting for the kids, thanks Kate!

Owen being a shark for the obstacle course- they had to paddle six times to get away from him.

And here's all the kids having free play time under the sea.

Present opening and the lovely cake.

The sign for the door that Emma made, and doing a puzzle for part of the treasure hunt. Eric helped by putting on an ocean screensaver haha.  

hailey doing the balance beam part of the obstacle course, and more fishing.

After the party we went to the Nicklecade for a family activity. Emma and Maris purposely dressed to match!

We had fun!

One last shot of the side of the cake, and the invitations that Emma also made.  

We love our Emma so much, 5 was SUCH a cute year for her. She had a lot of fun being the family goofball. She jumps at the chance to play with anyone.  She loves to pray and sing. She loves to learn.  She has great musical, athletic and academic talent. Go Emma!!

Tuck- the Professional Pics

 I sorted through literally 1,000 professional pics of the show to get these, so I had to include them!  

What a cute wood spirit!

 Katelyn top right- you'll see her in this spot a few times.

Singing right behind Sulice. 

Cast funny photo, Karlie is choking katelyn over on the left haha.

Dancing up top in Good Girl Winnie Foster.

On the left behind the boat in maybe my favorite song, It's a Wheel. Jonny and Sarah and the wood spirits were so good!!

Singing her heart out!

Playing a drunk carnival go-er in Golden, on the left by Sulice.

Bows, from the Right, Camille, Katelyn, Rebekah, Grace, Malaina

More bows

Dancing! 

singing with Dylan in Live Like This- Dylan ended up getting best High School Musical Actor for the whole state of Utah for this role!

More crowd supporting vocals and great supporting acting!

and drinking haha

Being part of the woods!

playing games at the fair behind Dillon and Sarah's masterful Partner in Crime

Real Cast Photo. So many great people, friends, actors, and techs in here!

Wheel Reprise/Finale. Evan, Dillon, Liliana and Jonny as the Tucks, Katelyn standing by Nathan Tanner (spoiler- we just found out they will be playing Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett together in the next show!)

This was a beautiful, soulful show!  So glad she did it and loved it and we got to enjoy it too.