Field of Dreams

People in our ward decided to go to the Field of Dreams and invited anyone who wanted to go to go with them. I saw that movie probably 10 years ago so I don't remember it, but it was still fun. Apparently it is exactly the same as it was in the movie. It's only about an hour and a half from us so that was even better. We were hoping to play a pick up softball game with the ward members that came with us. When we got there though there were tons of people there. We walked around and read some signs and it says anyone can play and they don't allow organized games. So basically there is constantly people there hitting. Everyone just takes turns hitting. They hit for as long as they want. Nobody runs the bases and there are no outs, so that made it not quite as fun. We weren't able to play a game, but we still all got to hit.

Collin hit baseballs

I was too afraid and hit softballs instead

The corn acts as the back fence. The kids that were there loved to walk up and down the rows. 

And yes, that is what all of Iowa looks like, covered in corn.

Oh, one more thing. It was FREEZING! Who would have thought that the last Saturday in July we would be wearing hoodies. It was a temperature record breaking low. It was only about 60 during the day. I was shivering the whole time we were there. But it was a lot of fun so it was okay.

Street Fair

Davenport hosts a huge 7 mile run called the Bix 7 the last Saturday in July. Apparently it's super huge and famous runners come and run in it along with like 15,000 people. There was a street fair downtown the night before that Collin and I decided to go to for our date night. It wasn't as great as I was hoping for, but it was still pretty fun. It was nice to do something new and see more of the city. I got an okay Taco Salad and Collin got a really good Greek Gyro. After we were down at the fair we figured since we were right by the Mississippi River we might as well walk the rest of the way down and walk along it.

People fish here like they do the ocean. This river is so muddy that I think the fish

would taste even nastier because of how dirty it is!

Isn't it beautiful???

Panic!!!

Last Monday we were at a couple's house in the ward. They invited us over for FHE and then we played some games. It was about 9:30 and our neighbors on the other side of the duplex called Collin. He asked if we were home, which we weren't. So then he told Collin that our front door was wide open and there was a windowless white van out front. He said it looked super suspicious. So Collin and I immediately left to go home. It was raining like crazy! From the time we left their house, running to our car, and getting in, we were already drenched! The streets here also don't really have gutters on the main roads so the roads were pretty flooded, making it so we had to drive even slower. The whole way I kept racking my brain about whether or not I locked the door. I could have sworn I did but I was hoping I didn't and that was why the front door was open. That was one of the longest car rides of my life. We finally got home and immediately went to our neighbors house. Our neighbor, Bryan, has guns and gave one to Collin and he kept his big one. I stayed at their house while Collin and Bryan checked the house. I was listening so close the whole time, hoping I wouldn't hear any gun shots. They finally came back over and said there was nothing there and the house was fine. I guess I must have forgotten to lock the door and since it was stormy the wind blew it open. Man that was so scary! I have been edgy the past week because of it. We are super grateful to now have great neighbors! We really like them! And thankfully they are watching out for us!

Date Nights

Last week for our date night we tried a pizza place just around the corner for us. NOT good! We paid $20 for a pizza that was not very good at all. Little Caesar's is better than that place! Although I like Little Caesars. Then this week for our date night we decided to go check out the local mall. We tried a Mexican Food place. I was getting so excited cause the salsa was actually really good! It was spicy and had really good flavor! I got a plate that came with 3 beef and bean tacos. Normally I love getting tacos and having the fried tortillas as the shells and the delicious shredded beef. However, these tacos were not good at all! It was ground beef that was completely unseasoned, not even salt and pepper. And the taco shells were just like the taco shells you can buy at the store. Lame! Collin got chicken enchiladas and his chicken wasn't seasoned either! We are not going back to either of these food places that's for sure. But we had fun at the mall! It is bigger than Ogden's Newgate Mall that's for sure! There were lots of new stores that the Midwest has that the Southwest does not! It was cool! I also had my first caramel apple! It was very delicious! Although I'm not a huge fan of green apples. I wish they would use red apples!
We found a hulk mannequin! The camera makes the shirt look blue, but it was actually purple!

Here's our delicious Reese's Caramel Apple!

Our New Home!!!

So here's a tour of our home! For some reason it's not letting me upload what the outside looks like. When you first walk in the front door this is what you see.

If you turn into the door way on your left, it's our front living area.

Now if you turn right out of this room it's our dining room/piano teaching area. i was so happy my piano made it all the way here!!

Walk straight to go into the kitchen and we have a very small kitchen. All the counter space you see in the picture is all the counter space we have. Luckily, on the other side of the fridge is a big pantry!!

Go back to the stairs when you first walk in. Go up the stairs and we have a very small bathroom that gets extremely hot and humid.

Turn left at the top of the stairs and then the three bedrooms come. The first one is a small one that I'm going to use as my "craft" room. The next one is Collin's "office"/studying room. Lastly is our bedroom with a big enough closet that we can both use. 

Collin is already studying on the second day of school!!! Good job honey!!!

We also have a basement for our washer and dryer and an attic that we use for storage. That's all! We love it and are so happy to be in Iowa! Our ward is fantastic and we've already made lots of new friends!!!

Moving Time!!!

Saying goodbye was not fun at all!!! I got a blessing before we left that told me to be strong so that's what I had to keep reminding myself of. I did better after I had that. We left for Iowa on July 1. Collin and his brother Rhees drove the Accord, my mom and I drove the Civic, and Collin's Parents drove their truck pulling the trailer. We did it in two days. It's normally an 18 hour drive but it took us a little longer because of the trailer, even though it did fine most of the way. We stopped in North Platte, Nebraska the first day and had AMAZING Mexican food. It really was so good! The next day we drove the rest of the way to Davenport, Iowa. We were hoping to be able to get into our apartment that night and then unload the next day, but our landlord said it wouldn't be ready until the next day. Luckily she did let us sleep in another of her apartments that was vacant. We all slept on the floor, but we didn't have to pay so that's all that mattered!
The next day (Wednesday) was stressful. We had to wait until noon for the apartment to be ready so we went to the John Deere Tractor Museum in the morning. Then when we got the phonecall from the landlord saying we could move in, we realized we forgot to pull out our security deposit for the house so we were scrambling to get that before we could move in. We finally figured it out and were able to get the keys and move in. We had tons of help from the ward and had it done in no time. My piano made it!!!! I was so worried about it the whole drive! We had almost everything unpacked the first day. I was feeling so bad that my in-laws and Rhees were going to have to drive home on the Fourth of July, but Davenport had their fireworks the day before so we went to those. They shot off from a bridge that went over the Mississippi River. It was cool, but would have been cooler if we were closer.
The next day the Cragun's left to go home. They left early in the morning. I had just barely woken up so I was too out of it to show any emotion. I would have been a mess if I had really been awake. My mom stayed until Sunday to help us finish unpacking. That was super helpful. If she hadn't we probably would still be unpacking. We even have all but one picture hung/placed. Since we got everything done quickly, we went to Nauvoo and Carthage on Saturday. We saw Carthage Jail, went to the Nauvoo Temple, Brickyard, Red Brick House, Trail of Hope, Visitors Center and saw two plays/musicals, and Brigham Young's home. It was so cool!! The Nauvoo Pageant didn't start til the following Tuesday, but they had a dress rehearsal the night we were there that we were able to stay and watch! It was so amazing! Not quite as good as Easter Pageant (Collin says I'm biased), but still super great! Dropping my mom off at the airport on Sunday was not easy at all!

Collin's Dad, Scott Cragun

Fireworks

This was the window Joseph fell out of when we was shot.

You can see the bullet holes from the men trying to shoot through the door. 

This is a gorgeous but plain and simple temple!

I love how you can see the real Nauvoo Temple lit up.

Jean-Pierre Stall'e was one of my ancestors. He was listed on a wall along with hundreds others who died crossing the plains.

Pre-Move

So between my graduation and when we moved not a whole lot happened. Collin posted about going to the Manti temple and his trip to NY for work. Pretty much the only other thing we did was go to Bear Lake one final time before moving. It was so much fun. One night Collin and I went on a walk on the beach and I kinda had a melt down. I started thinking about moving and missing all of our family back at home. Luckily I have a fantastic husband that took care of me when I was sad and reminded me that we can come home and visit and talk on the phone and skype and pretty much still keep in contact. We just won't be able to watch our nieces and nephews grow. We were at Bear Lake for a whole week along with Chet and Abby and their kids, and Rhees and Celeste. Collin's parents and Tiffy and Mike and their kids had to go home early. We also had no boat so that was a little disappointing, but not too bad. Chet and Abby brought up a canoe that we all had fun with. Collin and I even saw a otter/beaver/water-squirrel-type-thing when we were out on the canoe. We had so many laughs late at night playing games. We also FINALLY found us a place to live in Iowa while we were up there. It was kinda stressful at first, but it all worked out thankfully. We also celebrated my birthday.
As soon as we got back from Bear Lake I had a week to pack up our apartment before we had to be out. Thankfully I had TONS of help packing up. My mom, Katie, Abby, Tiffy, and Kaden all came to help me pack up. I had everything packed up Thursday and we weren't moving until Saturday. Saturday when we moved out we had some help from the ward and we had everything out of the apartment in less than 2 hours. We had a trailer we were borrowing from Collin's cousin to haul everything to Iowa. Collin and his brothers loaded everything into the trailer and it all sat in the trailer (including my piano) for a little over 2 weeks. We stayed with my in-laws until we moved.
Father's Day ended up working out great. My in-laws were out of town for Father's Day so we were able to spend the whole day with my Dad. Then the next day we did the Cragun Father's Day.
Life at the Cragun home was pretty fun. My in-laws were having a waterfall being built in their backyard so that was fun to watch. Playing games with the nieces and nephews was also fun. Collin and I watched Chet and Abby's kids so they could go to the temple. We also had a girls night making Pinterest food and crafts and then watched Gone with the Wind. We went and saw a bunch of people before leaving. The last week in Utah was so busy it went SO fast.

We could have stayed there forever!

We had to go to the Draper Temple before leaving

A very hard goodbye for me! My eyes are all red from crying.