Things

When we found out we were moving to Iowa back in December, my first thought was, "You want me to move where????" But then my next thought was,  "But isn't Iowa so weird??" Well I have since then figured out where Iowa is, and no, it's not anywhere near Idaho butthanksforasking. And I have also learned that it's not so weird. Or at least not any more so than Idaho so do with that information what you will! But I have noticed a lot of things. A lot of things I miss about Idaho and a few that I actually like more. So here it is-a list.

Things that are different:

• There are no mountains. But don't go on thinking it's flat here because I drove all the way across Nebraska and that is flaaaaaat. Iowa is not.
• Fireflies. They are everywhere. I don't care how old you think you are, when you see them I swear it's like magic.
• There haven't been many cops driving around town. In fact, I can't think of any that I have seen. We live near the hospital and hear the ambulance quite a bit but no police cars in sight so far. 
• No Cafe Rio. No Cocoa Bean. No frysauce.  
• Humidity. Seriously. I don't even know where to start guys. And I've mentioned it to a few neighbors and all I hear is, just wait until August. So that will be interesting.
• I know we've all heard it said that people in the mid-west are nice. Well it's totally true. It's so refreshing and I'm sooo glad. 

Things are are not so different:

• Wildlife. Guys, there are seriously animals everywhere. I mean, there's a family of raccoons chillin in the dumpster. Travis takes out the trash. Obviously.
• They have a Target here. So that's really all that matters right?
• The people are mostly farmers and small town kind of folk so that's pretty great.  
• There's a little town about an hour from here named Victor. So I mean, pretty much the same right?

And a few photos of what we've been up to recently, because honestly, blog posts without photos are pretty boring. Here ya go!

Graham's is a delicious little local ice cream shop. You will most likely have to stand in line for at least 15 minutes to get a yummy treat. So worth it. Plus the people watching is superb.

Dipped and twist please.

I told him to just act normal and this is what I got. Good thing he's cute.

On our way home after a long day at The Beach. Not the real one. Just the fake water park by the river.

This one requires a little explanation-I have tried to make chocolate chip cookies probably every couple months since we've been married and every time I fail miserably. I mean, they're only chocolate chip cookies right? How hard can it be? Well obviously something wasn't right but guys! I just made these on Sunday and I was seriously so proud of myself! So delicious and still chewy! Maybe I always needed to move to Iowa to perfect my baking skills!

Over the weekend...

...just a few days late.

We're the worst at taking pictures and somehow these were the only ones I managed to get the whole weekend. But we got to visit our cousins in Iowa City! Larkin and Cody were so nice and it was so fun to get to see where they live! And Aunt Tammi was there too! It was so great to see familiar faces and we had a lovely weekend eating pizza and going to church.

This was saturday morning at the John Deere celebration.

This is what Trav works on all day!

Yummy homemade ice cream.

John Deere doesn't mess around with the blow up toys. This was only one side of the room!

Homemade kettle corn and caramel corn.

Tammi brought Trav's diploma that had been mailed to his parent's house. It's official!

What an adorable college graduate! :)

And this, my friends, is what happened to my hair. Apparently it's wavy? The humidity is doing weird things.

Maybe I'll try to take some more pictures of us actually doing stuff this weekend! Ha. Well our plans are looking like maybe a movie and some frisbee golf so nothing too exciting. We miss everyone! Love you guys and we can't wait to see everyone in just over a month!

College Graduates

Since it's been almost two months I figured I should post the pictures of our graduation.

This was a huge day. Crazy huge.

We finished a long journey and both earned bachelors degrees. (Mine actually isn't quite finished but when I am done with my internship in August they will send me my diploma.) I'm a firm believer in celebrating accomplishments like this.

We were so happy to have both our families there supporting us. So much love that day! There were so many encouraging words that day. So many hugs and handshakes and elbow bumps. :) A few tears. But mostly just a whole lot of excitement.

Something they don't tell you is that after they line you up in the gym and you stand there for a million hours, they line all the teachers up in the hallway. So when the music starts playing and they tell you it's time to go you walk out into this tunnel of all the teachers you've ever had. And they are clapping and smiling and high-fiving because they know exactly how hard you have worked to get to this point and they are proud.

And it feels great.

*These were just the pictures I had on my phone- I think there are more on Trav's phone and other peoples cameras but this was what I had!