Nauvoo

Okay, now prepare yourselves.... Amber was spontaneous!
I know, shocker. Are you quite recovered? I will now proceed to tell what I was so spontaneous about. We took an impromptu trip to Nauvoo, IL a famous historical site for the Church. We got up Wednesday morning and I said to Alma, "Hey babe, what do you want to do today?"
Alma, "What if we went to Nauvoo?"
Me, "I totally thought that yesterday!"
So to Nauvoo we went. We drove just over 4 hours to get there and drove over the Mississippi River twice. (now I have been to Iowa!)

I was a bit surprised by how small Nauvoo is. Perhaps in my mind I just thought it was bigger because of all the history it holds, or perhaps because it was not busy when we went it seemed smaller. It was a quaint little town with little shops lining a little downtown street. And of course, at the end of the street was the magnificent Temple. It is a beautiful sight! We were lucky that our spontaneity took us there on the last week it will be open while we still live in Chicago, it is to close for routine maintenance next week. We were also lucky that we got there in time to attend the temple.

We went to an art gallery next to our hotel (which our room was awesome by the way--massive spa bathtub!). In that gallery we found a photograph of adam-ondi-ahman. We stared and dreamed, knowing we could never afford it. We met the artist who took the photo and expressed how much we loved it- how it is spiritual without being blantantly religious. One of the owners came by to see if we had any questions- Alma complemented their frame choices, and rightly so for they were all gorgeous. He asked us which art we liked, we told him. When he asked us if we had any questions we asked if the photo came in a smaller, more affordable print for a couple living on a student budget. He then proceeded to make the exact piece of our dreams more affordable. We are so grateful. So grateful. And will post a photo of the photo when it is hanging in our new home in a couple of weeks.