A Typical Day

I've spent the majority of my time since I've gotten back to Utah with my nieces and nephews.  I'm constantly with one family or another.  Recently, I have been trying to put together things for my classroom this coming year.  I've always had my mom to help me, but since she is in the Philippines, I've been doing it by myself.  So, combine nieces and nephews and classroom preparation, and you get this:

I did a superhero theme a few years ago and Connor saw my posters from before.  He wanted to keep them, so we compromised, and I said I would draw a few.  However, it turned into a reward system, and every time he helped his mom do what she asked, I would draw him another superhero.  Thankfully, we finally ran out of room on the paper.  The amazing thing is Connor knows who every single one of these characters is, and then some. (For my future reference: Violet--Incredibles; Superman; Dash--Incredibles; Wonderwoman; Robin; Batman; Captain America--Avengers; Iron Man--Avengers; Hawkeye--Avengers; Wolverine--Avengers; Silver Surfer; Spiderman; and Elastigirl--Incredibles)
By the way, my theme this year is Chicago, and big city life. (public transportation, skyscrapers, etc.)  I'll share more about it when I have my room a little more ready.

4th of July

The 4th of July has been a huge family holiday ever since I can remember. I love it!  However, with my parents gone, and without a place to do cotton candy, the entire day was a little different this year.
We got together with family and had a barbeque and did fireworks, but it was a much smaller ordeal than usual.  Most years I'm completely exhausted by the end of the day.  This year I got to spend a lot of time enjoying being with my family.  Both are good, but it's different.

Lizzy in Chicago and moving home

My twin sister, Elizabeth, flew to Chicago to help me drive home.  She had never been to Chicago before so we spent my last day in Chicago exploring some of my favorite things.  We got to see Millennium Park together, go to the Art Institute, and for our last evening, we went to Beauty and the Beast.  We packed my car Friday morning (July 1) and drove all day.  We stopped in North Platte, Nebraska at midnight, then drove all of Saturday and got to Liz's house by 6:00 Saturday evening.  The kids and Jeff were all excited to see Liz.
I loved that I got to spend one-on-one time with her throughout the trip.

And we ended the night by getting cheesecake at the Hancock Tower Lounge. It's on the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Chicago, and has amazing views of the city--although the funniest thing is that the absolute best view is from the women's restroom. The whole wall is a window that looks down on the city. And we were lucky enough to get to see a lightning storm over Lake Michigan while we were up there which was absolutely gorgeous!

Lucie's last day--Monday, June 27

Sunday the weather was perfect all day.  Monday...not so much.  I was sad because there were so many things that are so much better to do when the weather is nice.  We woke up and it was pouring rain though.  it cleared up, but the weather on-line said there would be severe thunder storms starting around 2:00.  We decided to go for the architecture boat tour during the couple of hours of not stormy weather since that was one of the things Lucie really wanted to do.  It was foggy, but we didn't get rained on at all.  And to everyone's surprise, the weather turned nice in the afternoon, so even though I was wearing rain boots, we went down to the Taste of Chicago Festival (it was supposed to be tornados in the evening) for lunch, then headed to Wrigley Field to see if we could catch the Cubs game.  I bartered with a scalper and got our tickets down to $20 each.  (They would have been $36 dollar tickets, and the cheapest tickets you can buy are $18 tickets.  I was pretty proud of myself.)  We saw three home runs during the game and the Cubs won, which hasn't happened a tons during this season.  We walked back to my apartment, ate dinner, then headed back to Taste of Chicago for a concert which showcased a few musical numbers from several different musicals that will be in Chicago in the next couple of months.  After, we walked back through Millennium Park and stopped for another concert of a local band.  It was supposed to be raining and stormy, but it was a really good day overall.

Lucie--Sunday, June 26

This was my last Sunday in Chicago, so after going to church, I hosted a lunch on our rooftop deck for all the members in our branch.  It was great to be able to see people one last time and talk with them.  Lucie got to meet a lot of my church friends this way as well.  Later in the evening we took a walking tour around Old Town and along the Lake Michigan beach.  I loved being able to explore a little more in the areas so close to where I have been living all year.

Lucie--Saturday, June 25

Lucie and I met up with my friend Doug to go out to Oak Park on Saturday to see the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio.  Because Frank Lloyd Wright lived in the area, there were many homes designed by him.  I have loved this style of architecture especially since I spent lots of time in the Dana Thomas house designed by him in Springfield as service hours during my mission.  We stopped by Greek town for lunch on our way back, then after dropping a few things off, we walked through a neighborhood festival near my house, went to the Magnificent Mile and explored, did some souvenir shopping and went to a free classical concert at Millennium Park.  It was finally a nicer day weather wise for Lucie.  We finished the day at the Hancock Tower Signature Lounge.  It has a great view of the city, and instead of paying for the view, you buy dessert for less than tickets cost for the Sears Tower.