Flashback to July

Folks, I did it.

I managed to get all of my parent's pictures (there were a TON) from when they visited in July, download them onto my computer, and edit them.  

There were a lot of pictures that I wanted to put on here, so I'll try to keep the narrative short so you can enjoy a glimpse of our adventurous week with my Mom and Dad.

I enjoyed meeting them at the hotel they were staying at and taking them to one of our favorite places to eat here at Davenport- The Machine Shed.

The next day, we loaded up my parent's rental car and drove two hours to Nauvoo, Illinois.  We had a fun weekend going to the temple, eating some good food and great frozen custard, attending the Nauvoo Pageant, seeing some Church historic sites, and enjoying the beautiful scenery that the small and quiet town of Nauvoo had to offer.

I don't know why but I just loved the idea that this beautiful building is right smack dab in the middle of a town with a population of 1,118

Me and Mom in front of Hotel Nauvoo where we had dinner.  The dinner was delicious and we couldn't help but have an extra serving of cinnamon rolls!

Peter waiting for me and my Mom to be done at Hotel Nauvoo (there was also a little antique store inside) isn't he so handsome in this picture!?!

It looks like a movie theatre but this place was a breakfast joint called Grandpa John's Cafe.  Their special that day was "The Codfather" . Get it?

Annie's. Nauvoo's famous frozen custard.  Really good!

Enjoying some pre-pageant activities

In front of Heber C. Kimball's home

Lucy Mack Smith's Bed (not really her dress though.  I asked.)

Dad in front of Lucy Mack Smith's home

John Taylor's home

Us with a tour guide in front of the old post office

Original rocking horse that belonged to John Taylor's son

Smiling in spite of the heat and humidity

Brigham Young's root cellar

I'm pretty sure this is Nauvoo house.  Not positive though.

The Smith home

"1846 began the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo.  Leaving behind their homes, beautiful city, family and friends who they quite possibly would never see again in this life..."

This isn't really a site.  It was our hotel.

The last thing the saints saw before crossing the river.

 We love Nauvoo.  We loved showing our parents this beautiful city.  Seeing as the Nauvoo temple is our stake's temple, Peter and I will be back I'm sure.  But I will always be reminded of taking my parents to all the sites and the good memories we made at this spiritual place.

Of course our Church history trip wasn't over then.  Obviously we stopped at Carthage on the way back to Davenport.

One of the most solemn places I've been.  My parents kept taking pictures and it felt weird smiling.  I didn't feel like I should be smiling here.  I knew what happened here, we all did.  But at the same time, I knew this wasn't really the end of Joseph Smith.  I knew this wasn't the end of the Church, despite the mobs and murderers best efforts.  Maybe I was smiling because I'm glad it didn't end here.  I'm glad the untimely death of one great man by a group of confused, angry, murderous men didn't stop a Gospel that would save mankind.  

 After we got back to Davenport, Peter had to head back to work.  So while Peter went back to providing,  I took my parents about an hour north to Dyersville, Iowa.  

That's right, baseball fans.  I took them to the Field of Dreams.

Couldn't help it.  I had to run to all the bases.

My parents really enjoyed this place.  My dad and I reenacted scenes from the movie, we watched him come out of the corn field, we took many pictures, and I watched them buy lots of souvenirs for family back home. I'm glad I could take them somewhere they really enjoyed.  

And afterwards, Peter got me the movie and I watched it for the first time.  It was pretty epic.

We went to LeClaire, Iowa next.  And visited Antique Archeology (home of the show "American Pickers").  I was excited to show my parents this place because I'm a fan of the show.  But after we visited the place, I found out that they haven't really seen much of the show, so we decided to get lunch and head back to Davenport where they could see some local sites.

Lunch at Crane and Pelican Cafe.  Delicious!

Then the dreaded day came.  The day where my parents had to leave.  Their flight was in Chicago (three hours away), so we got up early and had breakfast at the Machine Shed, then met back at their hotel where we tried to hold back tears (unsuccessfully) and said our goodbyes.

I was so excited for my parents to come!  We loved having my parents visit and loved showing off our new home.  I hate saying goodbye to them and I hated getting in the car to leave them.  

Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband that bought me a plane ticket to see them a few months later!

That will be coming up next in my October post!