The Windy City...

... a most appropriate name for the great city of Chicago. (My hair was in a dang ponytail the entire trip.)
Adam goes to Chicago for work periodically so we decided it was high time AND a perfect opportunity for us the leave our babies behind and go exploring.
Chicago was not a place that I really had on my list of destination spots but after being there I'm not sure why. The place is ginormous, fascinating and with a river running through and Lake Michigan's shores bordering it is beautiful. I felt like country bumpkin.

The trip started out a bit rocky with cancelled and delayed flights, a layover and turbulence to make even the most seasoned flyer's whimper. (Good thing I studied up on all those fear of flying websites. Heh.) A 5 hour ordeal turned out to be 12 hours. The funny thing was, I was ALMOST content despite it all. I had a good book, food and alone time. I was anxious to get to Adam but I also took advantage of that time to myself. I finally landed at O'Hare airport at about 12AM. I was supposed to be there at about 5:30 pm...

The first day we went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field which, due to its historical significance was, really neat. And to top it off, the Cubbies won! We had parked a mile or two from the stadium but we were totally happy strolling the streets and observing how Chicagoans live. (We walked A LOT on this trip but in my opinion its the only way to really get the feel of a big city like Chicago.)
We got all romantic and walked along the Lake Michigan shore. It's quite a view though because you look one way and see the vast lake and in the other direction, a huge city skyline. Quite impressive.

The 2nd day we went to visit Frankie. Frank Lloyd Wright, that is and really we just visited his house. Adam has been a big fan since he visited here as a kid. I read a book about him so it was really neat to be there and see it all for myself.

My new boyfriend. I decided that it wouldn't work though. He was so upset, he fell to pieces...

"Gino's"- the place we "HAD" to go to get deep dish pizza, a Chicago classic. This place was funky. They totally encouraged graffiti. So while you can't see it, Adam put "Adam+Erin". Ahhhhh. Oh and by the way, Adam loved the pizza. I was like, eh.

Taking a much needed water break during our "Chicago Walking Tour".

On the 3rd day we got in free at the Art Institute of Chicago because they were opening a new wing. We did a lot of cheap-skate things like this. Rather than pay 40 bucks to go to the top of the Hancock building, we went a few floors beneath to the bar and got a $6 drink and enjoyed the view from there. We also took a $3 water taxi on the river rather than a $20 guided river tour. It pays to be cheap.

This is a really cool piece of contemporary art at Millennium Park. I love that you can see the skyline in its reflection in the above picture. Its even cooler when you go inside and look up.

The Chicago Tribune is a famous building because it has different rocks from all over the world- Edinburgh Castle, Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Mt. Everest, Notre Dame, Salt Lake Temple- my fav. :) They had significant rocks from every state.

Buckingham Fountain at Millennium Park. There is surprisingly a lot of green space in this concrete jungle.

During our meandering we ran into a line of people. Noticing that none of them looked like tourist we quickly decided we had to jump in line and see what was on the other side of the line. Turns out it was totally awesome popcorn. We asked the people in line what we should get, they suggested the carmel and cheese mix??? Well we decided to be daring and get it and it was worth it. Turns out the popcorn place is a local establishment. Just one of the exciting things we happened upon in Chicago.

We had a great time. There were a few chinks- the RAIN on the 2nd day, wind everyday, scary people to which Adam called himself "Jerry", throbbing knees, wearing a sweat shirt everyday over my new vacation clothes, etc. The good definitely out weighed all that though. It was so good, in fact, that Adam and I plan not to wait another 3 years before going on another adventure.

EASTER 2009

The boys thoroughly enjoyed decorating eggs this year and just about everything Easter. The Easter Bunny left an indoor hunt for the boys. Kyle totally "got it" but Noah just ran around picking up all the candy off of the floor, periodically popping one in his mouth. (Adam and I are debating whether to keep up the Easter Bunny charade. Stay tuned to find out what we decide for next year.) We had our traditional "Easter Bunny lunch" consisting of- no not Easter Bunnies- egg salad sandwiches made with the eggs we dyed and carrots with dip.
We went to church but Noah was suffering some kind of nastiness so I took him home after sacrament. We spent the remainder of the day doing an Easter egg hunt with Grandma and Grandpa and then finishing the night off with dinner at Nana and Papa's house. And to top it all off, the weather was beautiful.

During an impromptu fhe we talked about tithing. After explaining what "Jesus money" is, Kyle said "I don't want Jesus to take my money."

The Wedding of the Year

The baby brother, E.P. Stuey, is officially Amy's "other half". As weird as it sometimes seems, I am very excited for them and even more excited to have a new sister.

Ethan and Amy were married in the Salt Lake temple on March 27th, 2009. The day ended up being beautiful even if the day before was blizzarding. Lucky kids.

Will and Kyle goofing off at the temple and making up for lost time.

Christian Hind and Tracey Hind, Ethan's Best Men... hmmmm, not sure that's appropriate...

Nice pic, eh? Poor Amy...


Kyle was the winner of the garder toss. Oh, I'm so proud.

Adam and Nichole's handy work. Dang, this post is starting to go a little PG-13...

It was seriously a LONG day for the little ones and Noah is demontrating that here. I think it was around 10PM when this pic was taken.

Sledding

It was a perfect day for sledding. We headed up to Donut Falls, the sun shining, no clouds or wind and with all of our gear including Tommy...big mistake. Before we even got a chance to breath in the sweet mountain air a cop was there giving us a warning for bringing our sweet, pooping and peeing dog up the mountain. Yeah, NO PETS ALLOWED. We were in a "water shed" area where they don't want animals using the lakes and rivers as toilets. *sigh* Who knew?! So while I stayed, Adam took Tommy ALL THE WAY down to his parents house in MURRAY! Well, we weren't going to let this ruin the most perfect sledding day of the year. It was seriously gorgeous and Kyle, who got a sled for Christmas that still hadn't been used, was anxious.

Speaking of Kyle, this kid is CRAZY. As you can see, we have no pics of the kids actually going down the hill on the sled. This is because Kyle insisted on going down on the tube by himself at warp speeds. During this time I am doing my best to keep up with the human bullet by running next to him while Adam waits for impending doom at the bottom. This kid was catching major air and giving his mother a heart attack. He did biff it pretty good once but it never stopped him. Poor Noah was a casualty of the Kyle's craziness. *BAM!* The kid was flat on his face before we even realized what that blur was.

All in all, we had a great time and look forward to another outing.

Kinda ticked!

If you are reading this you probably know that I have changed my blog address. Well, in the process of doing so, ALL my blog links were wiped clean!!! A nice little warning would have been useful. So again, if you are reading this and you have a blog, please post your address or email it to me erinmeg@hotmail.com. Hurry please. I don't want to get too far behind in my stalkings! :)

Funny kid

kyle

****

The above is from Kyle. He wanted to show everyone that he can type his own name.

Its funny because I am constantly finding his name typed in random places on either my computer or iPhone. It cracks me up. He has caused much confusion doing this- sending emails with just his name or typing on Facebook leaving only his signature, "kyle". So if you get weird emails or the like with just the name kyle you'll know who its from.

Curious George Land

I've discovered that getting away in the winter really helps dispel the winter time blues. So thanks to some beautiful scenery, a cozy condo and great company, I did just that.

I'm a sucker for a good ghost town and just my luck, we did one called Silver Reef. There were some pretty interesting things to see including mercantile store and silver storage vault. We also did a hike at Red Cliffs which I don't think I have done before. There was a beautiful water fall and stream but unfortunately it was not warm enough for a dip. Next time I'm there during the heat I'll be wearing water shoes.

Despite the cooler temps we did end up taking a dip in pool. It really wasn't bad and I was happy to pretend that summer was here.

We hiked around over by the "Dixie" sign. Its a fun place to play around on slick rock right in town. Some were "disappointed" that we didn't couldn't "Fat Man's Challenge" but I could see the relief.

The bummer of the trip was finding out that I couldn't get any delicious candy due to the fact that the British shop had closed. I was so looking forward to a "Ripple" or "Double Decker"...

We did eat well though. We tried a new mexican restaurant (Eh. Not a big fan of Kraft singles topping my burrito...), had pizza at the Pizza Factory and partook of CeeCee's yummy taco soup.

Of course, the cousins had a great time. Will, Kyle and Taylor couldn't get enough of each other. And even Noah and Reagan took a liking to each other (holding hands with big grins on their faces).

Can't wait to do it again!

Oh and the title of this blog is the name Kyle gave St. George. Cute!

I love LOVE

This gives me goose bumps every time I watch it. It's only a couple minutes and so worth it.

Cold Turkey

No, I'm not speaking of my favorite lunch meat. I speak of the method in which I used to deprive my poor unsuspecting baby boy of his beloved "dee-dee" (binky).

We had been planning to remove the plug one day really soon but we just weren't in the mood for the pathetic crying and pleading that would ensue. As it turned out, however, Noah did some of the work for us and went and lost his binky. It was about 2 weeks ago while Adam was out of town (of course). It was his one and only so I decided it would also be his last. I dread this transition (I cried more than Kyle when we took his binky away) but I always do it cold turkey because for me there is no other way. I hate dragging out the inevitable and making it just more painful for me...I mean...my child. I've tried just giving the binky to him during bed time to kind of wean him but its much too easy to give in and plug up a crying mouth.

I was proud of myself this time, no tears. Noah on the other hand struggled a little but really only at bedtime. Naps were rough or non-existent. All in all though, he has done really well and a mere 2 weeks later he is upstairs in his bed napping away- binky free.

Face-Lift

Adam and I are in the throws of remodeling/decorating our bedroom and bathroom- something we have never done. The first thing we did was give our bed a face-lift. Its been through a lot of moving and not a lot of TLC. So we painted it and bought it some new clothes. I must say, it looks fab. The best part is that the bed is a wedding gift from my dad MADE by my dad. He is a talented guy. Just thought I'd show it off a bit. :) I can't wait to get everything done!!

Oh and I should also mention that my hubby made the night stand you see next to the bed. Ain't I a lucky girl?

Fine Jewelry?

I have never felt so officially white trash as I did the night Adam and I bought a wedding ring at *a-hem* Wal-mart. It was so romantic... This was to replace the one Adam lost about a year and a half ago. He lost his nice, expensive wedding ring that had the inscription "I love you, Baby 9-27-02" to the *gulp* bottom of Palisades Lake. It still makes me sick to think about it. But as much as I didn't like him living life ringless I didn't want him buying some cheap-o ring from...like...Wal-mart. So what do we do? Yep, you guessed it. There it was, gleaming underneath the bright, flourescent lights. It was a mere $38 bucks, resembled his previous ring AND came with a fancy card board box. How could we resist? We snickered through the entire purchase while trying not offend the lovely employee assisting us.
It had been so long since I had seen a ring on his finger and I was tired of him always being hit on at the bars we frequent...kidding. I'm so happy to have a husband that is so un-snobbish and easy to please despite his extreme distaste for good old "Wally's".

Tagged by Mary

Five Things I Was Doing Five Years Ago (2004):
1 - Still working at UOC and putting my hubby through school
2 - Working on my associates degree
3 - Living in Cottonwood Heights in a basement apartment (only for a couple more weeks though)
4 - Teaching the 12-17 year old Sunday School class
5 - Being clueless about what life is really all about

Five Things on Today's To-Do List
1 - Visit my ailing sister :)
2 - Fold laundry *sigh*
3 - Go grocery shopping and get some Crisco
4 - Work on my blog
5 - Watch LOST and the Office

Things I Would Do with a Million Dollars
1 - Travel!!!
2 - Finish the basement
3 - LASIK
4 - Go hold and rock babies in Romainia or any where they need me!
5 - Invest it

Five Places I've Lived
1 - West Jordan, UT
2 - London, England
3 - Cottonwood Heights, UT
4 - Midvale, UT
5 - Best Valley, UT

Five Jobs I've Held
1 - Lawn care service with my big brother, Tracey
2 - Paper route with my little sibs, Mary and Crispy
3 - Chick-fil-A
4 - Direct TV (for about 2 seconds)
5 - Orthodontic Tech.

Five Things I Want in Five Years
1 - A happy and content family
2 - To be in a new house
3 - Starting my bachelors degree
4 - Better overall health
5 - Pregnant with my last child

Five People I Tag
1 - Kerri
2 - Jessica
3 - Amy
4 - Molly
5 - Melissa

My Funny Valentine's

Adam was out of town for Valentine's Day but that didn't mean I was left Valentineless. In fact I had TWO and boy are they sweet.
I won't lie to you though. This was probably my least favorite V-day. Okay, not probably. It WAS...by far! As much as I LOVE watching "Mickey Mouse Playhouse" on the night for lovers well... My honey who has been my Valentine for the past 6 years was nowhere NEAR me on the 14th of February. When I told people that Adam was going to be out of town for V-day, I was loaded with sympathy and plenty of "Ohhhhhhhh!" 's. I shrugged them off honestly feeling it was no biggie. I was wrong. By the time evening rolled around I was feeling pretty pathetic and lonely. Keep in mind that Adam had been gone for 4 days by this point. A long time for me! And to top it off we had barely managed a "hello" by phone all day. It also didn't help that everyone's status on Facebook stated that they had had the "most wonderful Valentine's EVER." Well, that's funny because mine was the WORST ever. Okay not really.
So now that a few days have passed and Adam is home I've decided that I'm just grateful that I have a wonderful husband who is my Valentine year around. Who needs Valentine's Day anyway? Not me...I think...
BTW- Adam made it up to me when he got home.
You can go ahead and get your mind out of the gutter now.

How bad could V-day be with these two monkey's?!

You know you're getting old when...

...you're child (Kyle) says that you have "big hills on your forehead" (like when you raise your eyebrows...) *sigh*