Stuart's Wedding

In July my cousin Stuart was married in the St. Louis temple. It was so much fun to be able to go and visit with family!! I FINALLY got to meet Karren's husband! It was fun to catch up! My brother Glenn and family picked me up on their way to the wedding. It was so nice to get to spend time with all of them! This shot is us waiting for the bride and groom to come out of the temple. It was SO HUMID!!!! Their wedding reception was beautiful! I'm sad I didn't take more pictures to share. It was held in a quaint tea shop over looking a pond surrounded by candles. The weather was gorgeous once the sun was down and we all lit up sparklers on their way out. The next morning we all got up early and headed to Carthage Jail. I was cool to see the old jail and remember a young man's sacrifice. Pictures don't do this temple justice. It was so beautiful. I seriously wouldn't mind living in Nauvoo the rest of my life. Everything is just as it was. Lot's of land, horse and buggies, and people walking around with big dresses. And let's not forget the men playing Praise To The Man with bagpipes. Awesome! Here we are walking the Trail of Hope. At the end of the trail, next to the Mississippi River, there is a memorial for all the pioneers. The names of those who crossed the river are written on a wall. Glenn found our ancestors' names. In one of the tourist buildings, the Seventies Hall, they have a book with names of all the general authorities that lived in Nauvoo. I found Clark's great-great-grandpa's name and my great-great-grandpa's name. Since we had an ancestor in the book, we all got to sign a book saying who we are related to and how many generations back. When we went to sign our names we saw the signature of someone that was there earlier that day who was also related to our great-great grandpa, Thomas Karren. The missionary there said we missed them by about 10 minutes. Small world!




     When we toured John Taylor's home we learned that his wife was from the Isle of Mann, which we also just learned is where our great-great grandpa was from. (I could be off on all those "greats") When I got home from the trip I was curious if I could find anything on the internet about my ancestors and I came across these two blogs. Here's a link for those of you related to me who are interested. The first blog is of THOMAS KARREN and the second blog is for his wife ANNE RATCLIFFE KARREN. The creator of these blogs has some journal entries, as well as some personal memories recorded. I'm so grateful to have such inspiring ancestors who were hard workers and who sacrificed everything for the gospel.



Thanks again to Glenn and Cindy for such a wonderful vacation!!!!