Chicago: Day 1

 The week before Covid my sisters and I bought tickets for a sisters trip in Chicago. But, then..... Covid. So, 18 months later, we were finally able to make our trip happen. Michelle ended up not being able to go, so my mom came- and it was wonderful to have her with us! It would have been great to have Michelle, but I think it all worked out really well. 

We all arrived on Friday at varying times and then took a taxi to our hotel. We checked in to St. Clair at The Magnificent Mile and then went to Millennium Park and to explore a little bit.

This is from the airport- I thought it looked really cool:

The Bean was far more cool than I could have expected. The reflections off of it are just awesome.

Several people recommended we get Gordano's for pizza dinner. We heard it was the best pizza ever. It was....disappointing. I don't blame my friend, though. The one next to our hotel was under construction, so they were cooking pizza at another location and bringing it over. So it was a little overcooked and also cold. It was deep dish style, and it was literally about a half inch of cheese on the cheese pizza. None of us were fans. Oh, well- at least we tried it.

Meyers Park

We went with the Leubner's to Meyers Park for another great fall hike. Ben was able to join us this time which was great.

Family Birthday Dinner

 There are lots of family Birthdays this weekend, so tonight we celebrated. It was lovely.

The kids worked on their "Ant Club" t-shirts, I made a cake (Ben offered to buy one, but I wanted to make one). It was a nice evening with everyone.

Dark chocolate salted caramel. I still can't figure out how to make the frosting smooth, no matter how many YouTube videos I watch. But, the cakes are always delicious, and that is the most important.

Claire bought the t-shirts, came up with the design, and taught the kids how to draw the ant. They all signed the back. It was pretty to cool to watch Claire put her plan into action. When she gets a vision, she goes all in and accomplishes pretty cool things.

Conference

 General conference was a little different this year, mostly because we weren't able to watch any of the sessions yesterday because of marching band, soccer, and homecoming. But today we tried to bring back our traditions.

We did our candy for words we chose, Conference Bingo, our traditional brunch with crepes, lemon blueberry bread, and breakfast casserole. Yes, our conference traditions revolve around food. But it makes it somewhat exciting and helps the kids concentrate on the talks. Once we started doing the candy words that was a game changer for the kids actually listening to the talks.

You can see our prophet pictures in the background. Leading up to conference, we have one apostle come "visit" us for dinner- we learn some fun facts about him and try to guess who it is. After a few years of doing this, the girls can usually guess half of them, which is better than I ever knew as a kid.

The joke is that Ben always chooses a word that never gets said. This time he chose "Priesthood." It was said exactly twice all during Sunday sessions.

Homecoming 2021!

 It has been a wild, full week of HOCO activities, culminating tonight in the HOCO dance.

Audra went with the best group of friends. These are the nicest kids- and kids I absolutely do not have to worry about her getting into any kind of trouble with. 

After shopping for dresses and shoes and deciding on a dress that we borrowed from a friend, today's prep started with fake nails. We did them ourselves, and I messed up a couple of them but it's the first time we have ever done fake nails and both of us were impressed.

Then, she got a hair cut and style:

And then a little make-up, and my baby grew up:

I'm so grateful for these friends of hers! 

I had to get one of the two of us, even if I'm a hot mess:

This is what I see when I look at her. I may or may not be in my room eating Oreos and crying right now:

Birthday Date

For my Birthday Ben and I went to downtown Littleton for dinner and a movie. We went to ViewHouse for a delicious dinner and then went and saw The Fantastiks. It's the first play we have seen in two years, since before Covid hit. Sadly, the theater was only half full- another reminder that it is still going to take awhile before we truly are "back" from the pandemic. The arts have really been hurt.

But, they put on a great show and we still had a great time.

Quote to remember: "There is a curious paradox that no one can explain. / Who understands the secrets of the reaping of the grain? / Who understands why spring is born out of winter's laboring pain? / Or why we all must die a bit before we grow again? / I do not know the answer / I merely know it's true". - El Gallo, Fantastiks

Field Day

 While we were hiking, Audra was at Field Day.

But not just any field day.

Oh. My. Goodness. 

For her high school this is the BIG event with weeks spent planning in secret for each class to compete against each other. The theme this year was Lost Lands. The freshman drew El Dorado! The competition is T-Shirt design, face paint, trash can painting, song, chant/cheer, dance and then there are games all throughout the week- Powder Puff on Monday, where they win points for girls playing football and boys being cheerleaders. Side note: Claire and Camille really wanted to go watch because they thought it was hysterical that boys would be cheerleaders. Audra was playing in the band, so we made it our FHE- to support her and have fun watching the game. And, the freshmen won! Tuesday night was Ruff and Tuff, boys playing volleyball.

Then Friday culminated in the big games- they rented the local stadium so they could be outside (thanks stupid Covid). They cheered, sang, played, cheered some more, etc. Audra had such a great time! And that was good since it was a wonderful but also difficult week- really, really busy and overwhelming. But I think the good won and she loved this week.