Ziggie's Pizza

New York Style pizza has come to Carthage, Illinois. Our good friends Don and JoEllen Ziegler have just opened a new pizza joint on the square in Carthage ( a few blocks from the old Carthage Jail) called Ziggie's. Marty and I took a drive to check it out today and WOW!!! That is some darn good pizza. We had a little of everything. The ziggie sticks are awesome, the wings are wonderful and the desserts!!! I would drive out there just for some homemade Cheesecake or Cannoli's.
We are pretty picky about pizza and this is some pretty darn good pizza. They make it all from scratch and it really shows.

Don is from New York originaly and decided it was time to introduce Our little corner of the midwest to the kind of pizza he grew up with. It is a fun family run little place and there is some tlc put into thier food that really makes it worth a visit.

They are located at 490 wabash in Carthage, Illinois 217-357-0101 call ahead when you are going to be in town and they will have it ready for you. YUM!!
They are open 11am to 8pm Mon - Thurs, 11 am to 10pm Fri - Sat closed Sunday

New Accommodation Center for the temple

They are building a new accommodations center across the street from the temple on Ripley Street. Since the Joseph Smith Academy building (St Mary's academy) was torn down last year, tourists have had to use the old Family History Center to change clothes and watch their kids while they attend the temple. I am excited to see how "Accommodating" this center will be. I can't believe how fast it is going up considering how much rain we have had. They brought back Elder Hollingsworth to do the work on it. He was here to help build the temple. Then he was here to manage Nauvoo Restoration and now he is over the construction of this new building. I will be one of the people cleaning this building when it is finished because it falls under the temple custodial department. I am actually really excited.

Flat Stanley visit's Nauvoo.

Flat Stanley visiting the Nauvoo Temple
Marty's niece Kelly has a daughter Kenzie who had a school project where they send this adorable little Flat Stanley guy for a visit through the mail. We took him around and mailed him back along with a paper we filled out for the class telling about his visit, our town and our State that we live in. It was a lot of fun. This is the second time we have been asked to do this and was a really fun family home evening activity.

Flat Stanley visiting the Mississippi River at the bottom of Parley's street where he lost his luggage in the river and it floated away



Flat Stanley down at the sites. We would have gone to visit Lynn and Sharon but they were in Rendezvous and we didn't have tickets.

Problems in Old Nauvoo

As I have said it has been raining a lot here in Nauvoo. I have heard that the grounds look terrible and so I went down yesterday to take a look. The grass is long and shaggy and everything looks very unkempt. Sage is on the ground crew and she said it is all because of the rain. Everything is so wet and had been for so long, the mowers just sink out of site. As soon as it starts to dry out it rains again. It's crazy, I've never seen it like this in the 8 years we have been here.

These pictures are from down by the nauvoo pageant site.



I was trying to show the water on the ground but with all the tall grass I could not get a good picture. If you try to walk in the grass you sink over the top of your shoes.

A lot of the trees are losing their leaves, I am assuming from too much water.

A Musical Sunday

1st Presbyterian Church est. 1843
on Sunday I had a Branch conference in Keokuk, Iowa at 7:30am. I got home around 1:30pm and we went with Amber to the Presbyterian Church where they were honoring the Graduating class. Amber and her group were singing a few musical numbers. They had a religious service and there was representative of every religion in the area. The LDS representative was Dean Hughes who along with his wife Kathleen is serving on a mission here in Nauvoo, Illinois.

The service was very nice, but my favorite part is always hearing Amber sing. During the ministers sermon Marty's phone went off much to his horror and then to top it off the minister used it in an analogy in his sermon. Marty was mortified. At the end of the sermon and the closing song and prayer all of the graduating seniors stood in front and announced their plans after graduation. There were three LDS students. Rick Jensen announced he is going on a two year mission for the LDS church and then he will be studying music, Robert Gallaher will be going on a two year mission for the church and then he is going to college, Andrea Glass is going to Brigham Young University. I was SO PROUD!!! :)

After a run home and a quick dinner we went to the church for Seminary graduation. Amber sang again in a duet with Andrea Glass and it just made for a wonderful Sunday.



We have such great kids here in Nauvoo.

When it RAINS it Pours.

It has been raining and raining here in Nauvoo. It just starts to try to dry out and it rains again. In previous posts I showed how all this water made mom's pond float away. Well everytime the water goes down to where we can put the liner back in it rains again and fills it up. My whole back yard has been a swamp for months. The wet has killed 2 large forsythia bushes bucause I guess they don't like living under water.
Well on Friday it started raining hard..again! It rained all morning and when Sage came home at lunchtime She went down to the basement, where her room is, and saw about 1 1/2 inches of water on the floor and a waterfall pouring out to the wall where the crawlspace access is to the underside of the rest of the house. I yelled at Marty who was also home on lunch our and he ran to check. The sump pump was working overtime but it couldn't keep up with what was coming from under the crawlspace. The sump pump under there had been overwhelmed by the amout of water that it had been pumping and burned up. Marty ran to Ft Madison and got a new one while Sage and I hauled all of her stuff out of the basement. As soon as the pump started working the flow slowed then stopped. The breaker blew and panicked us because the basement pump stopped for a bit but we got it working again.
I didn't take pictures because....well I was busy. :)
Everything is dried out now. We tossed the carpet, it was old anyway, and now we just need to get Sage a rug. I am so tired of the rain.

Tornado season is here.

On Wednesday May 13 we were under tornado watch most of Wednesday afternoon. It was overcast and warm there is often an eerie feeling in the air during a tornado watch. I went for my walk and watched the news. The alerts were going crazy around 6pm. I heard that a large tornado was spotted heading towards Kirksville, Missouri. Kirksville is in our stake and is where our stake president lives so we know quite a few people who live there. No one we know was hurt but there was a lot of damage.
The storm was moving up towards us and we were hit for just a brief time with a hard rain and a very strong wind. I had to go to work at the temple at 8pm the wind hit shortly after that and was over really quickly. By the time I was finished at 12am it looked like nothing had happened at all.
Three people were killed in this storm and there was a lot of damage.







Here is the official press release from the city:

(Kirksville, MO) — The E911 Dispatch Center has received reports of four tornados that touched down in Adair County this evening. Two of these cells were located near Novinger and were reported at approximately 5:48 pm. An additional tornado was reported in Kirksville at approximately 6:00 pm. The Fourth tornado was reported in the Troy Mills area.

The tornado in Kirksville touched down in the general area of Industrial Road and continued through Jim Robertson’s and to the general area of Bobwhite Drive. There have been numerous reports of substantial damage in the immediate area of this storm path. At this time, The City of Kirksville has not received any reports of fatalities and an few reports of minor injuries associated with this storm.

The Local Emergency Planning Commission activated the Emergency Operation Center at approximately 6:15 pm. All emergency personnel that have been called into service should report to the Department of Public Safety at Truman State University, Franklin Street.

Highway 63/Baltimore has been closed from the intersection of Baltimore and Highway 6 West to Highway T. The public is advised to stay clear of the area. There are power lines down and emergency personnel are on-site.

Happy Mothers Day!

Today is Mothers Day and I was just thinking about the amazing mother I have. She is always happy and positive. She makes every moment more special just by being there. She always knows just what to say and just what to do to make everything better. I am never afraid or worried when she is around because she is always so practical and positive with a twist of crazy fun just to keep life interesting. There is no one I would rather spend time with, travel with or talk to. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for loving me enough to give me the best mom in the whole world. I love you mommy! Happy Mothers Day!

Today for Mothers day I woke up to a clean house and a wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast fruit and waffles. There were flowers and a new watch that I LOVE!! Tonight we get to have a barbecue of steak and chicken and then cake and Ice Cream for Ambers BIRTHDAY!! I love Mothers Day!!! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY EVERYONE!!!!!

Amber is 17 today!!

Today Amber and her friend Bryce Capener are singing in church for Mothers Day!
Happy Birthday Sweetie! Have a wonderful day!

Music Awards Night at Warsaw High School

Last night we went to the High Schools music awards night. It was rough after sitting through 3 hours of awards the night before it the same auditorium but it was really fun to hear the kids sing and the band was really good too.

The band played first. My favorite part was when they played 30 songs in 3 1/2 minutes. It was hilarious. I don't think I have ever been so entertained by a High School Band performance. Then the Chorus sang. Then they gave out awards. The night ended with a performance by the Jazz Band who have won national awards. They are amazing.

John Roskamp, Amber Sreen, Chris Haas, Ande Glass, Bryce Capener, Jacob Stevenson
They gave a certificate to the kids that Amber sang with in her Mixed Vocal Ensemble at the Illinois State Solo and Ensemble Competition this year. Their Certificate read "The Best of the Day Award presented to Mixed Vocal Ensemble C. Haas, A. Glass, A. Steen, S. Weisinger, B. Capener, J. Roskamp, Q. Clark, J. Stevenson In recognition of the most Superior Musical Performance heard this day by your judge." They sang it again last night so I recorded it since we didn't get it recorded at the competition and I posted it below. All of the kids in this group are Seniors except Amber and Bryce who are both Juniors this year.

Amber Marie Steen

John Roskamp, Amber Steen and Chris Haas

Warsaw High School Awards Night

Wednesday night we went to the High School to see the kids get their academic awards. I wish I had written down the percentages. They were very high for the amount of kids that made the honor roll. We were very impressed with the kids. Amber was in a goofy mood all night. It was fun even though the program went on for almost three hours.

Amber and Bryce are feeling pretty happy about their accomplishments.

Amber and Amanda received an award in digital photography. They got a certificate, a trophy and a check for $50.


Amanda got a trophy for being a brain when it comes to math.
Afterwards we headed to Burger King for dinner to celebrate and because we were starving.

Chris Haas, Bryce Capener and Amber

Sage, Me and Marty


Amber, Josh Adams and Rick Jensen

Tom and Melissa Adams
What a fun night. Lacey missed it because she spent the day at the St. Louis Zoo with her school. They didn't get home until after 10pm but is sounds like they had a BLAST!!!

Amber's Junior Prom 2009

The girls all came over to our house to get ready. There were 6 girls and most of their parents there. The before prom activities were a blast from what I hear. Some of the kids, I have been told, even ate worms. lol They ate breakfast together that the Jeanette and Rob Glass prepared for them, Then had a scavenger hunt where the worm eating happened. They went to Alexa's little sister's baptism at the church. Then Shawn Mathews fed them a fancy lunch. It was after lunch the girls all came over to our house to get ready. It was so much fun visiting with parents and swapping supplies and skills to get them ready.



Alexa Stout and date, Chris Haas and Amber Steen, Devin Diveney and Bryce Capener


These pictures were taken by Alexa Stouts mom in front of our house and around Nauvoo.


Alexa, Amber & Bryce

Aj Glass and her date, Amber and Chris, Alexa and her date, Rick Jensen and AJ's cousin Elissa

Amber and Chris Haas




Before prom all the kids went out to Warsaw High School for "Prom Preview" where they are announced and take pictures. Then the kids were off to dinner and then to Prom. After Prom they came to our house for movies and popcorn. Amber bottomed out after the first movie and sent everyone home. I went out to check on them at about 1:15 and the house was empty and Amber was sound asleep in bed. I hope she wasn't too rude. She woke up cranky and tired but she said she had a good time.

Nauvoo University

Tere is now a NAUVOO UNIVERSITY!

"Joseph Smith stated that the purpose of the University of Nauvoo is to "enable us to teach our children wisdom -- to instruct them in all knowledge, and learning, in the Arts, Sciences and Learned Professions. We hope to make this institution one of the great lights of the world, and by and through it, to diffuse that kind of knowledge which will be of practical utility, and for the public good, and also for private and individual happiness." The reorganized Nauvoo University will use this prophetic pronouncement as its mission statement.

The governing body of Nauvoo University will be a Board of Trustees. This Board is being reorganized and has started a campaign to raise funds for, and solicit support of, the University. Donations of real estate, endowment funds for buildings and scholarships, and assistance in the organization and establishment of the university are needed.

Nauvoo University is not owned, operated, funded, or supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is an independent institution adhering to Latter-day Saint standards and principles.

With the blessings of God, Nauvoo University will grow into the kind of institution that Joseph Smith envisioned it to be. Please join us in the creation of this new university.

To learn more about Nauvoo University, please visit the official website at http://www.NauvooUniversity.com"