Melissa Mallory of Nauvoo, Illinois

Melissa Mallory (10) has lots of favorite things to do. One of them is making flower decorations. Another is going to the Nauvoo Restoration sites. After going there two years ago, she and her family learned about the Church from the missionaries, and they all were baptized.

You might think that living in a small town with no large amusement parks nearby might be boring, but Melissa and her friends make their own fun. Like this playground. How many kids build their own playground? In these three pictures, Melissa is sharing the teeter-totter with Carrie Cheek (that’s Nikki Rogers watching the action), demonstrating the one-person trampoline, and scrambling on the jungle gym with Jaime Case.

Melissa says that she’s “good at baseball—not because I hit a lot of home runs but because I’m a good runner.” Here, her brother, Nigel, is refereeing a close play at home plate.

Across the street from her father’s Old Nauvoo Jewelry and Curio Shoppe, where he makes beautiful custom jewelry, is the public library. Behind the library is James Topic’s Nauvoo Glassworks. All three are favorite places, but if she had to choose among them, her father’s store would win hands down. She spent all one day there recently, choosing polished stones that she then made into earrings.

Melissa loves to dance and to sing, and, like her dad, she is very artistic. Here she is signing one of her ebony-pencil creations.