Carthage IL

Carthage IL: it's a tiny town in the middle of no where. awhile ago i had the opportunity to visit carthage jail where the prophet Joseph Smith was wrongly imprisoned and eventually martyred. It was a really somber experience and it just really made me grateful. Grateful for all the sacrifices made so that I can have the gospel in my life. Grateful for people who are willing to give everything for good, people who act with courage and kindness no matter what. Grateful for the freedom to live my religion. Grateful for the overall message that good does triumph in the end. i'm not sure where i'd be without the messages of hope and happiness that Joseph Smith was a key instrument in restoring to the earth. i'm not sure what my life would be like if he wasn't willing to make huge sacrifices, even unto death, to bring to pass Heavenly Father's work. but i do know that my life wouldn't be as happy and hopeful and peaceful as it is today, and for that i'll be forever grateful and humbled by everything that has been done so i can be where i am today, living how i choose to live. 

a few hours in st. louis

back in April we took a mini road trip and passed through St. Louis. even though we were only there a few hours it was such a cool city and i definitely want to go back! i was amazed at how many different things there were to see- from the arch to the super cool city museum, the river, the zoo, a super cool park, and lots of interesting buildings/bridges there was something new everywhere you looked! 

we started out by visiting the city museum which was crazyyy amazing! i had heard lots about it but it still totally blew my mind! there were tunnels everywhere that connected in totally unexpected ways and it pretty much fulfilled every childhood dream i ever had about secret passage ways. there was so much to do and so many places to explore and climb that i ended up checking my camera/bag so i could just really enjoy. the outside is also crazy because there are these structures that just connect and climb all the way up the building. we got super lucky because even though it was sort of rainy and overcast they opened up the outside for about a 1/2 hour of our time there. the plane was mind blowing- it was literally an old, gutted out airplane that was SO high up!  the castle was also super cool and totally looked like it had come out of a storybook. one of my fav parts was a room with lots of old skatepark ramps where you could climb and slide and swing on a rope, but i also loved the caves and the slides- it's just too hard to pick a favorite! i could go on and on about how cool this place was but it's one of those things you really have to see for yourself.

after that we headed to check out the arch. even though it was closed for rides i was still super impressed- i had no clue it was that big! there were a bunch of pretty bloomed trees around it & it was a fun thing to check off my bucket list. plus we got some super rad boomerangs which were totally worth running out in the pouring rain for haha. 

after that we headed off and stopped at a culvers where a super nice lady randomly made us all balloon things (like a unicorn, an ice cream cone, and a bow & arrow- she was super impressive tbh) and we stayed up way too late swimming at the hotel. 

st. louis was super cool & i 10/10 recommend checking it out even if you don't have long. i'm hoping to be back soon cause there's so much more i want to see! 

(photos above are a mix of iPhone + camera pics)