Go Aggies, First Home Game

We of course had to go to the BYU v. USU game especially since it was up in Logan again, finally. We made our way up to Logan, man that is a long drive.  We finally made it and just in time for lunch which was fabulous because we were all starting to get a little hungry.  Since Richfield area lacks in a wide variety of restaurants we decided to go to sushi.  We love us some good sushi.  Krista came and met us for lunch.  We filled our tummies and headed up to get some Aggie Ice Cream before the game even though it was freezing.  It was so cold.  We had to go buy Jaylee proper shoes before the game because sandals were not going to cut it. 

Travis went and to save us some seats since the game was sold out.  He had to wait in line so the kids and I went and did some shopping and found a parking spot. We had to pack the bags for the game too though, all of the warm stuff that had been in storage since last winter. It seriously seemed like we were moving in getting ready to go to the game.  When the time got closer Travis came to get us at the car because all the kids and the stuff was just a little much for this little mama.  

The game started out a little shaky but it was fun to watch. Jaylee is not as good of a sports spectator as Sawyer was.  We took him to almost every home game and he did great for the first two years of his life.  Jaylee was a bit restless and loud.  When is she not though.  I spent a lot of time up top walking around with her.  We put her coat on and she was not happy, she could no longer put her thumb in her mouth because coat was too fluffy.  She was like the little brother in "A Christmas Story".  She also got a fat lip because she fell down and hit her face on the concrete.  She was having a bit of hard night. 

We stayed at Kiffin's house for the weekend.  It is nice to have a place to stay up there and he is always a great host.  On Saturday Travis went to help Rory and Kiffin on Rory's new house.  I on the other hand went to the Pepperidge Farm Factory for goldfish and any other cookie they had.  I miss that place dearly. We went back to get Travis to head over to our friend's and old neighbors house Kenzie and Matt's.  It was so much fun to remisce and let the kids play.  We moved when their baby was just a few weeks old and they had never met Jaylee.  I miss living in that little neighborhood.  We had such great friends/neighbors.  We headed back to help more on the house and this time Jaylee and I left the boys to go shopping.  We were in desperate need of flats for family pictures. I will never take for granted that I live in the same town as stores again. 

We met everybody at Chuck a Grandma (Chuck-A-Rama)- according to Sawyer with everybody.   That is the best little kids place, there is something for everyone but if not then there is always the rolls.  We headed back out to Kiffin's to continue our talking without kids climbing on the the tables and all over the floors. We all stayed up pretty late but it is fun to catch up with everybody.    

Bear Scat......

Oh the perils of hunting season.  I told ya'll about the awful trip of hiking down into an abyss of scrub oak to set up the trail cameras to see if there are many deer in Travis' secret location.  Well then the problem is retrieving them to see if we got anything on the cameras.  This time we wised up a little and the kids and I just hiked with Travis to the top of the ridge, AKA the edge of the abyss.  Travis went down into the bowl by himself and left me and the kids with the gun because.......we saw bear scat on the hike up.  That was definitely not there the last time we hiked up.  I may have had a little freak out.  I know bears are in the mountains but I like to keep my distance.  

While Travis was retrieving the cameras the kids and I hiked along the ridgeline.  It was awesome.  It was so pretty up there and Sawyer was loving being a mountain goat.  We watched as Travis hiked to the three cameras.  As he was hiking up he was mad, so upset because some other hunter turned his cameras and broke one so he wouldn't be able to see the deer.  He was fit to be tied.  Well as it turned out, it wasn't another hiker at all.  Nope, it was a bear.  It thought the cameras were a great back rub and then apparently he couldn't stand the smell of humans so he had to rub some dirt on it.  Travis was freaked when he found this out and he didn't have gun with him.  Apparently, we need to invest in more hand guns. 

We had planned to have a hot dog roast on our way out of the mountains, because lets face it, that is the only way a hot dog tastes good.  Some of Travis' friends joined us. They were actually up there too scouting for deer.  We had a great little adventure and hopefully we never meet that bear. 

Hello Mr. Bear

Bear scat AKA bear poop

Dirty Thirty

That is right ladies and gentlemen, I turned the big 30 this year.  I thought I would have a harder time with it than I did.  I know when I turned 20 it was weird because I could no longer say I was in my teens and for some reason that was a bad thing?  30 is not as old as I once thought it was.  I can still run as fast as I did when I was 20 and I have had 2 kids.  I feel like I am still 18.  I look like I am still .....well I don't look 18 anymore lets leave it at that okay. So really 30 is not that bad at all.  

To start the day off Travis brought his surprise present to me in bed.  It was the sweetest present.  He made a book on Shutterfly and asked my family and friends to be a part of it and send in pictures and memories of our times together.  It was a great idea, it may or may not have made me a little emotional. He also gave me the song, Sweet Lorraine.  It definitely brought a few tears to my eyes.  Travis is so thoughtful.  I couldn't have snagged a better husband. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDi4hBWsvkY- Seriously watch the video and try not to cry I dare you. 

After a great run, that I got bit by a dog on- not the highlight of my day, Travis had arranged for people to come bowling.  I had no idea who was all going to come.  We had a few surprises like Krista all the way down from Logan, and Mariah who wasn't going to be able to make it but did.  It really made my day very special to be surrounded by everybody.  My mom, Grandma, and Aunt Leslie were also able to come. I am so blessed to have everybody in my life.  

Windy City, The End

Tuesday Vanessa and I had another day of exploring together.  We started the day off by doing a session at the Temple.  The temple reminded us of Portland OR temple.  It was gorgeous inside but we couldn't expect anything less.  It was a pretty small session but that was okay with us.  After we got done we toured the temple and made friends with the workers.  We walked around the outside of the gorgeous temple and took in the beauty of the grounds. If only I could get my flower gardens to look like theirs.  

There is a door there can you find it? 

After the temple Vanessa said she would like to add Wisconsin to her list of states she has visited so we headed North again but not before we ate at Pot Belly's Sandwich shop.  They were amazing.  I love a good sandwich.  We found a Pot Belly's in a cute little strip mall.  I wish we would have had time for more shopping.  I decided as well, I could live in Northern Chicago it was so pretty and homey. 

We traveled up I-94.  We stopped at a place called the Mar's Cheese Castle.  It lied, there was more beer than cheese.  I forgot about that part of Wisconsin, Beer and Brats.  I should have eaten more Brats while up there.  We also, stopped at Wal-Mart for snacks for the plane ride home the next day and a new big bag to pack the snacks in. Wal-Mart is always quite an experience. 

We continued our adventures until we got to Milwaukee.  We headed west then south again.  I want to say again how gorgeous Wisconsin is.  I could totally live there.  It was breath taking.  We loved traveling around and looking at the cute little farms.  We had to stop at the state line and take a pictures of course.  We got quite a few honks and thumbs up from those heading into Wisconsin. We made it back to Itasca in time to head to Lou Malnati's, another pizzeria with Chicago deep dish. It was so good. We liked the crust better than Giordano's  but the toppings better at Giordano's.  It was a hit though.  A nice going out of town meal. 

We flew back to Utah on Wednesday.  We had to hit up the famous Gene and Jude's  for more Chicago Dogs.  They were okay but they were a lot of onion, we got amazing fries with it though.  We picked up Travis and made the long trek to the Southside to turn our rental car in and head to the airport.  It was bitter sweet saying goodbye to the Windy City.  It was fun week but we missed our kids.  Our plane ride home was not as crazy as on the way out, we did however, have a crazy landing in Denver that was experiencing some weather.  I was scared and that doesn't happen often.  The plane was shaking and the landing was so rough.  We said our goodbyes to Vanessa and headed to our plane to Salt Lake.  It was a great vacation but we were so glad to be back as a family together. 

Windy City 4, yes there is still more

Sunday started out raining and cold.  It was supposed to be summer but it felt like early spring.  I forget what a real rain storm is like outside of the desert. It rained all day long, and not just a little drizzle, it seriously rained.  We had to check out of our hotel room this dreary day, go pick up our rental car at the airport that we flew into that was in South Chicago, go to church in North Chicago area, check into our new hotel, watch the big Bears game, and go to Wisconsin to visit some friends.  We had a lot scheduled in a short amount of time. 

We caught the train to head to the airport.  It was a short wet walk to the train station.  The ride to the airport didn't seem to take near as long as the ride to our hotel from the airport the first day.  When we got to the airport we realized we had to take a shuttle to our rental car place.  Not impressed, however, it was the cheapest place.  We got to the rental place and they kept trying to sale us all of these extras and all we wanted was to get going because it was a long drive to the other side of the city and we were hungry. Nobody wants to talk to me when my stomach is empty. 

We finally made it out of the rental car place feeling a little ripped off but happy to have a car and headed to Dunkin' Donuts for some quick breakfast.  We were headed to Arlington Heights area for church.  We had a hard time finding a church that was at a good time.  The church was in a great neighborhood.  Everybody was really welcoming and there were actually some people that were familiar to us that were going to school out there.  Small world. After church we found a nice little place to eat and watch the Bears game.  Apparently, the main religion in Chicago is the Bears.  There were so many Bears fans.  Everybody was wearing their apparel and cheering them on everywhere we went. We stuff ourselves and were ready for a nap after lunch but we still had to head to our new hotel.  The rain had really started to come down after lunch.  Since it cost more to put multiple drivers on the car we just put the car in my name and I was the only driver.  I was not happy about this.  I rarely drive in the city, not that I can't but Travis is such a better city driver and I like to observe my surroundings. I am so happy we had Siri and GPS because my navigators both fell asleep and left me to navigate the toll roads and blinding rain alone.  I was a little nervous to say the least but we made it in one piece and I am an amazing big city driver.  I just channeled Cameron Diaz from "My Best Friends Wedding".  Our new hotel was huge and amazing, it was in Itasca. 

We unloaded the car and laid down on the bed for what we thought was going to be a few minutes.  Two hours later we were waking up.  Travis and I rushed up to Wisconsin to visit our friends, Kellie and Brian Boston.  Driving up to Wisconsin we had to go through more toll roads and more rain.  This time Travis stayed awake the whole time thank goodness.  

The ride up to Wisconsin was amazing and beautiful.  They may not have majestic mountains but the lake, the corn fields, the amazing little barns and farms were great. I told Travis I could live there, he said no there aren't mule deer or elk. It was fun to visit with the Boston's.  We haven't seen them in a long time.  Their kids have gotten so big.  I felt bad though because they thought we had our kids with us so just us adults were quite a disappointment to the little kids. On our way back to Chicago we had to stop to get some cheese.  Who can go to Wisconsin and not get cheese?  There were so many different kinds.  Why oh why don't we have more cheese out here in Utah? 

We did have quite a bit of an adventure on the way back.  We followed the directions that Siri gave us on the way up and didn't pay much attention.  Well on the way back they closed the interstate and didn't give detours to get back to the freeway.  We followed some cars in head of us but soon they turned and we lost them.  Apparently, it was really their exit.  Needless to say we were a little lost and Travis' phone had now died and we forgot the charger.  So we drove and tried to make our way back to where we thought we needed to be. We ended up stopping at a gas station and the cashier only spoke Spanglish.  Good thing that Travis speaks spanish, it didn't help much though because the guy didn't know where we were either it seemed.  We looked at a map and found where we needed to be, which was not that far away.  Yep, that is right Travis and I successfully navigated ourselves in the dark back to where we needed to go. There is nobody I would rather be lost with than Travis. 

Monday Travis had to start his convention so Vanessa and I headed into the city.  We didn't want to drive all the way in and deal with parking downtown so we headed to the nearest train station and rode the train in.  It took FOREVER to get into the city. It was fun to people watch though.  These people weren't near as entertaining as the Southside people, but they were still interesting.  We had a few goals for the day and our first goal was to rent bikes and ride up and down the lake shore sidewalk and see the sights.  This was by far a much needed break from trains and walking.  It was so much fun but it was pretty winding.  Good thing the wind was at our backs for the first part.  We headed south first because there were more sights. The Fountain was our first stop. It was beautiful. We also hit up the Bean, you can't go to Chicago and not see the Bean. It was cool but super busy.  We continued down the walkway and ended up down by the Planetarium.  The waves were huge and coming up on the walk way as we rode our bikes along.   

When we decided to turn around we realized how windy it really was.  We were going so slow but working so hard to move. We went pretty far North to see the different beaches.  It seriously took us about 45 minutes to get to where we turned around.  We stopped and rested for a bit before turning back.  It seriously took us like 15 minutes to get back to the Pier where we rented the bikes since the wind was helping us along. 

We grabbed some lunch and tried to head to the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum.  The maps we had had been pretty accurate so we followed them to our supposed destination.  When we got to where the maps showed us to go we couldn't find the house anywhere, so we did the thing we should have done to begin with we Googled it. Turns out we were in the wrong part of town, seriously, one of the only things I wanted to see and we were going to miss it because the tours stopped at 4 and it was 3:30 and we were miles away. I was so bummed.  To help the mood we headed back to the Art Museum and toured a little.  We got there about 4 and the place closed at 5. Needless to say we felt cheated again.  If only we wouldn't have wasted so much time going to the wrong place.  The Art Museum was really cool and we just had to breeze through it. Vanessa was even surprised at her reaction that she was really upset we didn't get to see very much of the museum.  We ran into a very testy lady who with ten minutes til closing would not let us into her gallery, she was all "Uh- uh turn right around and go make your way to the exit." Bummer.  We tried to cheer ourselves up by getting some Pink Berry.  Why oh why do we not have more in Utah?  Their Fro-Yo is awesome. 

To end the day we headed back to pick up Travis to head to dinner.  We went to dinner at Benihana's  and it was awful.  Such a waste of a dinner.  I hate when that happens.  There were so many cool places to eat and we wasted it. All in all though the day was cool and we had fun.  Lots of stories.