Chicago

Have I told you how amazing MY LB is yet? Just in case I haven't, MY LB is absolutely, incredibly, undeniably amazing!

Last week he was asked to do a presentation at the McCormick conference center in Chicago during a HUGE American Water conference. I am so proud of him and feel like the luckiest girl in the universe. Especially because... I GOT TO GO WITH HIM!!!

It was such a great trip from start to finish. It has been a long time since we have been together for a week just the two of us and I have to say there is no one else in the entire world that I would rather be with (good thing, right?).

The trip was long and wonderful and I could go on and on and on but I decided to just stick with the highlights and than I remembered that there were no lowlights so I decided to give you a crazy collage of our adventures in Chicago, as not to miss a single thing. Sound boring? Absolutely not!

The plane ride was fantastic, I was able to sleep and read there and back. My Spencer wasn't at all impressed that we were going to Chicago he just wanted pictures of the plane. He gave us very specific instructions, he wanted pictures inside of the plane, what outside looked like while we were flying and a picture of our airplane. I think people may have thought we were crazy with all of the airplane picture taking but our little boy is totally worth it.





It was a whirl wind when we first arrived. Because of MY LB's position at his company we had some of the company's that have contracts with AZ American Water wining and dining us. Well they dined us and wined themselves, which actually made for very interesting dinner conversation. So upon arrival we had to get all dressed up in the car to be on time for one of the two dinner appointments that we had during our trip.

Sunday was Father's Day and I think that we would have been sad that the kiddos weren't there IF it wasn't our first official day of vacation (sorry kiddos). This was also my first of four days that I was let loose in Chicago all by myself. It was so exciting being in the city, the tall buildings, people rushing here and there, taxi's, honking, L train, city parks, fountains, and all of the hustle and bustle that comes with the city. It was exhilarating being all by myself doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Shopping, eating, taking pictures, hop on hop off tours, renting a bike, museums, the zoo, a day at the spa, reading by the pool, a walk through the park, and my favorite boat cruises on the lake. I walked A LOT but I also hailed my first taxi.

As much as I enjoyed being by myself I cherish the one on one time I was able to spend with MY LB. Chicago style pizza, temple trip, dinner on the river, city walks at night, and we spent all day Wednesday together. Wednesday was a great day; Willis Tower (Sears Tower), hop on hop off trolley tour, planetarium, history museum, aquarium, the Navy Pier, Bubba Gump shrimp, river boat cruise, a ride on the Ferris Wheel, a walk/run in the rain, and Harry Connick Jr. at the Chicago Theatre. Can you say, WOW!

Here we are making our two plus mile dash back to our hotel after the lightning began while we were up, up, up on the Ferris Wheel. It was very sudden and by the time we finally made it to our hotel we were ankle deep in water, clothes drenched, the wind began to blow, and I can't forget this, the Tornado sirens all over the city were blaring, warning people to get inside. We are smiling in the picture because the sirens weren't on yet and it still seemed fun.

It was such an amazing trip and I must say....

I love Chicago!

And more than anything....

I love MY LB!

Can't forget to give my big SHOUT out to Me-Ma and Pa-Pa for taking care of our girls and Grandma and Grandpa for taking care of our boys. We love you so much and are so grateful for all that you do. THANKS!

Funny of the Day

Yesterday morning at library story time...

He was too old for the stories

He was too old for the songs

He was too old for the craft

He was too old to pet the dogs

He was even too old for jokes about being too old

Last night he slept......

SNUG AS MY LITTLE BUG IN A RUG

I don't think I am going to be spending much time dwelling on the fact that he's getting older.

At least not for now!

Thanks to MY LB for a great sense of humor and capturing this awesome moment in time.

Another Spiritual High

I am going through another one of those extreme spiritual highs. The kind that can only be achieved by two full days of spiritual messages, some of which were given by the General Relief Society President, Julie Beck and a General Authority Dallin H. Oaks. Yes, in person. Yes, truly amazing!

I am one week and some change from returning home from Women's Conference in Utah and still going spiritually strong. To avoid being a preacher and instead being a women of shared knowledge I will give you bits and pieces at a time. But first and fore most I must tell you who I shared this journey with. My sister in law Ashlee shared this fine and wonderful experience with me. I feel so blessed to know her!

Here we are at the service opportunity making Tu Tu's for little princesses in the hospital.

This is the storm that Ashlee protected us from, bless her. I was so glad that I was not the one driving. We ran into snow on the way there and on the way home. Both times there was a vehicle flipped over on the side of the road. Very scary, thankfully we had the protective shield of prayer on our side. Upon seeing this picture MY LB said he was pretty sure that he DID NOT sign up for allowing me out in this weather. Who knew, the weather forecast said rain and some sunshine. Which is why we signed up to run in the Provo Run13 5K.

Here we are soaking wet from the rain and yes, snow that fell during our race. Of course with all of the rain, snow, running, and exhaustion it was easy to forget the temperature was in the 30s. That is until we stopped, now we were wet and freezing. It has been a long time since I have found so much satisfaction from a hot shower.

The entire Wonmen's Conference experience including the shopping, minus the driving conditions was amazing as always. Only this time I promise, really I promise, I am going to keep that spirit alive.

My first story I will share with you now....

Of course being women that the talks were designed for we heard a lot about, fighting guilt, staying strong amidst adversity, overcoming failure, celebrating our achievements, and lots of other you are worth more than you think topics. So, with all of this fresh in my mind I knelt down to pray before my 5K race. I felt the spirit so strong (that's what happens when you have time away from the kids. I KID I KID) and I had a strong feeling that I needed to "Smile and Run". Whatever else happened I needed to keep on smiling throughout my entire run. I was determined!

Oh what a challenge. It was cold (DI thrift store saved our hides from freezing to death, dumb unprepared warm weather runners), I smiled. It rained, I smiled. It snowed, I smiled. I wanted to walk but pushed through with a smile. I was being passed by lots of people, I smiled. I thought it was going to be easier than it actually was to keep smiling but goodness knows there was plenty to NOT smile about. I had to keep reminding myself to smile. By the end I wasn't sure if I was really actually smiling anymore, I had to feel my mouth to make sure. I REALLY wanted to be smiling when I crossed that finish line.

My fantastic sister in law Alison came to watch us and snapped this photo of me crossing the finish line. I think I was trying to smile but I can't really tell (maybe I am crying instead). I know that in my head I was saying, Smile, Smile, Smile.

Either way, I learned a very valuable lesson during that race, one that I am trying to carry over into my actual living. You know the everyday matters of life. The rain, snow, cold weather, exhaustion, and feeling like you are being passed by everyone around you. I am trying my best to keep reminding myself, just "Smile and Run", just "Smile and Run".

Oh how I truly hope that at lifes finish line I will have a smile on my face, one that I didn't force to be there. A genuine, I am so glad to be home smile that will be returned ten fold by a loving Heavenly Father.

To all of you my friends I encourage, despite what everyday has to offer you try your best to just.....

"SMILE AND RUN"

Two Girls and a Bike

How do you get to school?

Do you go by boat?

Do you go by plane?

How about a horse?

Or even a train?

Do you go by car?

Do you go by van?

How about a bus?

Or maybe you ran?

My girl and I,

We have something we like.

Together we ride,

On mom's new bike!

Do you ever come across an everyday occurrence that you want to stamp on the book of time? This is one of those things that I never want to forget. It is something that Maggie and I share, girl time.

On our bike rides to and from school we have shared many little talks, advice about school, warnings to make good choices, and more than anything "giggles". I know I have said it before and I shall say it again, I want this girl to know good wholesome fun. To recognize it, to delight in it, to bring it to others, and above all to know how to create it. Fun is good!

What weekend? What Easter? What busy? Not me!

I don't know why but for some reason I very much dislike when people give me a hard time about being busy. I hear it all of the time, "You are always so busy." So what? Is that a bad thing?

Here is the answer; Yes I know I am busy and in some ways I hate it and in other ways I love it. It's not a bad thing to be busy doing good. If that good doesn't take away from the peeps that I love.

Especially this one that I love the MOST;
(hate to burst your bubble, but this one is ALL MINE)

Do I purposely make myself busy? No! Does anyone? Do I enjoy being so busy? Depends on what I am busy doing. Do I want to slow down? Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe so.

The Lord has blessed me with a huge platter of good things to choose from. There are so many good things that I am beginning to get "FULL". To bad I am not sure which of the good things I want to keep and which I want to discard. Sounds like a matter for serious prayer and reflection.

Well, in the mean time I guess people should just not worry about how busy I am. Or better yet people should be more willing to except that I just can't do everything and sometimes, YES, that even means saying no to you (speaking to no one in particular, just saying).

On that note, how busy was your Easter weekend?

Ours started off like this...

Saturday looked a little like this....

Conference

Maggie T-Ball

(Doesn't she look so cute)

Easter game and hunt with Grandma and the cousins.

Rush home to decorate our monster eggs and do a little "surprise for dad" while he was at Priesthood session of conference.

We are so blessed to have a dad and husband that works so hard for us. We decided to show him how much we appreciate him by filling eggs with words of love and candy. He had to find them in the dark without a flashlight. One thing each of the kids wrote that was the same as mine was along these lines, "Thanks for making the money". Love you MY LB!

Easter Sunday looked like this....

The Easter bunny came left goodies and hid our monster eggs.

After a wonderful omelet breakfast a la MY LB we watched the Sunday morning session of conference.

I just love this picture!

You can never get enough of hiding Easter eggs. We went to the park for an egg salad picnic and more egg hiding (The great egg games will be featured in my next post).

Back home for the last session of conference.

After conference we took naps. We were waken up by an Earthquake, did you feel it? I did!!

We were all so beat from a crazy two days and the kids were coming down off of a candy high so we opted for a quick stir fry and ended with a nice evening walk.

So now the question, where did Easter go? I think it is off hiding with Christmas, New Years, and Valentines Day.

Home-Cool

Pretty funny don't you think?

HOME-COOL

I made it up!

Want to know something not funny?

I found out today that I am not

HOME-COOL.

Can you imagine "ME", not being home-cool?

WHATEVER!

Let me explain, today the boys begged me to take them to the skate park. I being the awesome learning coach that I am said, "Only if you bust butt and get all of your morning work done by 10:30." So they did and we did.

When we got to the park I was so excited to see lots of kids there age skateboarding and playing. I got out of the car and immediately walked over to chat with some moms (I am not shy). I asked them if they were home schoolers and they said, "yes." I asked if they come to the skate park every Monday and they said, "no." I asked if they came often and they said, "no." I shouldn't say they because only one lady was giving passive asnswers while the other had already wrote me off as an intruder and gave me "THE LOOK".

After a couple more questions I realized they wanted to be left alone so I took my blanket over to our "spot" and began visiting with two other home school moms who after a very short visit decided to go sit with the other two moms. I watched while they talked and laughed (to bad they will never know how funny I am).

MY LB showed up to have lunch with us and I gave him the bad news, "I'm not home-cool." I told him my story to which he replied, "It's because you are so attractive." WHAT? Seriously!

Eventually I decided to agree with his theory seeing as though it was much more appealing than the ones I was making up in my head.

There you have it the story of how I am just too

"attractive" to be "home-cool".

Tee-Hee

Thinking inside the picture.

A picture within a picture!

I think it is so much fun to go through past pictures. Every once in awhile something new sticks out and VIOLA, you have an entirely knew photo.

BEFORE

After