Chicago=FUN!

I had a great trip to Chicago in June. I went to an American Medical Association Alliance Conference as a Resident Spouse Representative for Utah. It was a lot of fun. The Conference was really interesting but the best part was hanging out with my Mom, and my sister Laurissa and her husband Brad, who happened to be in Chicago that same weekend. And of course seeing Chicago! It was such an awesome city, full of energy, great food, amazing architecture, and beautiful landscapes. The only think that would have made it better is if Jeff could have been there with me.

We went to the Art Institute of Chicago the first evening we arrived. All the other ladies went to Hard Rock Cafe, and boy did they miss out! We had fun walking around the city too.

I took this picture for Marcella who is loving learning to dance.

Here we are outside the museum. Laurissa, Brad, Mom and me.

It took us 30 minutes of looking at a guide book to decide on this dive, but the "double cheese" really was quite tasty.

Brad and Laurissa let me spoil their romantic walk down to Navy Pier by letting me be the third wheel. It was a lot of fun, and we even made it to the premier opening of Beer Garden. The band was so funny and not all that talented, but since they played classics it was fun to listen to.

Beautiful city!


The next day we went on an architectural tour of the city. There are a lot of amazing mosaics done by Tiffany inside the buildings. If you want to see more, you can visit my sister's blog where she does an excellent job at describing everything.
Yummy Chicago Pizza at Lou Malanti's. So yummy!! Later I ate at Pizzeria Uno and it was not nearly as good. Plus we had to wait forever!!!

Here are the wonderful ladies I was privileged to hang out with. Mom, Kathy, Melissa, Lana, and Ann.

We had to wait to cross the bridge one day, and we were in a hurry, but jumping into that icy water just didn't seem like a good idea.

fireworks at Navy Pier.

And of course I had to have a Chicago dog before I left! If you ever have the chance to go see Chicago, GO! It was so fun!

San Francisco 2

We went to Coit tower to check out the spectacular views of the city.

Then after driving around looking for free parking for 15 minutes, I found a spot. It was on a STEEP hill, but I had to have my spot. Amazingly enough I parked it. By the way we made the whole trip without a parking ticket, and only paid to park once!We then took the cable car down to the wharf.

I love this shot with the Hyde St. sign behind those two.

I decided to go tour the ships on Hyde St. Pier. It was really amazing to see these old ships still in good condition. This wheel is amazing. I wonder who carved it! What a work of art.

Those look tangled to me.

This room looks cozy. And I love all the wood.

Me on the wooden ferry.

Jeff met up with us later and we toured pier 39. We stopped to see the sea lions.

The next day we slept in late enough to see the fog lift.



We decided to go walk the San Francisco bridge.


Jeff and I kept wondering what the cables looked like inside. And lo and behold after we got off the bridge to stumbled upon this. Miriam is showing off it's size.

Our last day we had to go back to Pier 39 so we could get a crepe. Jeff was the brains behind this. I have to say San Francisco was really great!

San Francisco 1

So I know it's been three months since I've made a blog post. But it's been a nice break. I think I'm back and ready to post more frequently! Anyway I wanted to post some pictures from the trip Jeff and I took to San Francisco. We were lucky enough to have Miriam and Chris join us!

We camped at half moon bay. It was beautiful, especially the first few days we were there. It fogged up later on.
The cable cars were totally as cool as they looked. We enjoyed riding them around the city, especially at night. Cute newlywedsChina town. The best part were the fortune cookies we found.


Jeff took me to prison. But I put him in a cell.
We totally stumbled in on this place (the mussee mecanique) but I'm glad we did, because it was totally fun. Come on Chris!
Shoot those Indians Miriam

The games were so old it was crazy!

This ended up being a draw, maybe when it was restored they missed some parts.

Why does posting to blogs take so much time? I leave you with my SF at night shots, and I'll have to post the rest later!

taking a break

For Valentine's Day this year Jeff taught me how to snowboard at Snowbasin. A few weeks later Jeff took some vacation time so we headed up to Brighton on Wednesday (thanks Jackie for watching the kids). We got home that evening and packed everything up and took the kids up to my mom's house (thanks Mom and everyone else who helped watch our kids there. Seriously we really appreciate it). We slept until 4:00am and then drove up to Targhee and snowboarded there. It was definitely worth it as it snowed all day so we had fresh powder to play in. And I think it's safe to say I really like snowboarding.

Jon and Kanien were nice enough to invite us up to the cabin with them. We cross-country skied in at 12:30 am. It was super fun, until we had to break trail. But we made it and in the morning they cooked us a delicious breakfast!

Skiing at Luckydog. Ahhh, so relaxing.

Yummy. I love eating fresh snow off the trees. No city pollution to worry about.

Dad's little cabin all buried in. That's a door there in front.

Jon's friend from High School married one of my friends from High School, so it was fun to have a little reunion. Thanks guys for leaving your twins to come hang out with us!

On Saturday we all went for a ski. Jon took us on some hills that freaked me out. But we made it back alive and we had an awesome trip!

blooming blossoms

So with no effort, except letting in a little sun, viola. Here are the blossoms about 10 days after I cut them.

A normal 4 petal blossom.

And an unusual 5 petal blossom. The only one I could find. Good luck maybe?!?!

And moving on, I started some seeds today. Not the fanciest set up, but everything the plants need. Just a normal shop light with cool fluorescent bulbs, and a heating pad since they have to hang out in the cold basement. I started lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and basil. In a few weeks I'll fill up the rest with warm weather vegetables.