.Noise in Illinois (part II)

On our third day in Chicago we took Elisa and Alexis downtown to Navy Pier while the rest of the family went to the children's museum.

When Air came to visit me in Chicago in 2007, Navy Pier was the only attraction in the city that we didn’t have time to see—so I was pretty excited for him to finally see it! It’s so cool.

We caught a ride on a pirate ship through Lake Michigan. Some lady came up to us and said she bought an extra ticket and she gave it to us for FREE!! It was so awesome—we hardly paid anything for this ride.

A pirate asked Alexis to pull up one of the sails! Here she is waiting for them to tell her to start pulling:

She pulled and pulled with all of her itty bitty strength and was doing pretty well! But then this big old guy just jumped up and grabbed the rope from her! HAHA I guess she wasn't pulling fast enough for him?

The photos we got of this are priceless:

Alexis is so funny

After the boat ride I took a picture of the picture they tried to sell us for 20 bucks! haha

We drove around the city through that crazy Chicago traffic and saw some fun stuff… We found out later that this was the day that Barack Obama was in Chicago so there were a lot of closed roads and security everywhere. Cool right?

We played at the park with the family all night… Did I mention that I love my family?? Cuz I do!

I especially love the cute little people in my family!

Hailey and Jayden

We had a lot of fun with Elisa and Alexis every night at the house too. We played Rockband, watched YouTube, movies, and lots of the Twilight Zone. Best show ever.

More to come... again!

.Noise in Illinois (part I)

My favorite covered bridge in Gurnee

I am aware that I've been posting way too many pictures this week. Is it freaking you guys out? Do you kinda feel like you've been in Nauvoo too now? That's what I was going for. You know… I haven’t even posted half the pictures we took.

I was going to try to hold back for a bit; but Chicago was so spectacular! How can I not post these??

Here we are arriving at my sister Megan’s home in Gurnee, IL:

I hadn't seen these guys in TWO YEARS!!!! I miss them every day.

Reuniting with my Hailey-bear. She was a little scared of us all walking into her house at first but she totally got over that within minutes. She said she remembers me too. :)

Alexis and Elisa measuring up. A favorite past time for the women in my family. I am the tallest girl by the way.

Our time in Gurnee with my family was perfect. It was just what I needed. I can't describe the feeling I had being back there with my sister Megan and her family. It used to be my home. I used to drive around on those streets, to sleep in the bedroom I decorated, to play at those parks with Hailey. Going back was fun to say the very least. I miss it so much!

On our second day, Air and I went out to a Cubs game!

The rest of the family opted to stay home and watch the game on TV. I can’t blame them! It was an extremely HUMID and rainy day! We had fun anyway!

Wrigley field is just awesome. It’s busy and huge and has the original old scoreboard:

We were pretty excited that the Cubs actually won for us! Go Cubbies!

More to come!

.Nuevo Nauvoo

Do you see us in there?

We made it down to Utah with the Potters in four pieces; but that was good since we happen to be four people. Did I mention it was about 3am too? eek!

My nephew Nate’s baptism and my nephew Alex’s baby blessing were the next morning and we barely made it there running on no sleep.

As soon as we got home from the baptism celebration we packed up my parents car and hit the road…. AGAIN!

I was probably the most delusionally tired I’ve ever been in my life. I had a couple of dazed and confused moments that morning.

You know what got me through this drive?

Some riveting Sudoku competitions. My Mom and I are both addicts. Oh, and I won most of the time. Just sayin’.

Here we are at a pit stop in Nebraska:

And our hotel in Sydney, Nebraska:

And then we saw some stuff in Iowa…

going across the Mississippi River

And we knew we were getting close when we saw this sign:

And then we were happy:

We got to Nauvoo around 8pm on August 1st. We picked up pizza and went to bed.

The next day we toured. We toured and tourismed until all of my internal tourist was just about tourn out! But I loved every minute.

After a day and a half in Nauvoo, we drove down to the Carthage jail.

Our time in Nauvoo with my parents was heavenly. It really meant a lot for me to be there with my parents and Elisa and to be able to spend so much time with them again. I never see them anymore.

Being in Nauvoo was a very spiritually uplifting experience. I was very much in need of a spiritual lift. This year in seminary Air and I are teaching Doctrine & Covenants. I think this was the perfect prep course for us to see and experience before going into the school year. I have a renewed appreciation for the early saints of the church and especially for the Prophet, Joseph Smith. I know that we can do anything if we have faith. The Lord is on our side. I can even make it through another year of seminary with the Lord on my side. I know it.

Next up! Hello Chicago!