Another Trip to Chicago

Drew was invited to attend a real estate function in Chicago which was a great networking opportunity for him so we made a 2 day trip out of it. The summer semester is over now and Drew really deserves this 2 week break before fall semester starts. He will probably be mad I posted this cuz but I'm proud to say he got all A's this summer! This is amazing considering all that was crammed into 3 short months and he was still able to play video games everyday! I gave him crap until he started coming him with good grades.

Here's Drew and Kaden practicing some tricks in the hotel room.

After Drew's event we went to dinner with Dave and Blythe who live in Chicago. Dave is in the program with Drew and is currently living in South Bend during the week for school. They are awesome people and we had a great time chowing down on some famous Chicago deep dish pizza with them.

The next morning we walked down to Lake Michigan on the edge of Chicago.

The water was a little cold for Kaden!

Drew went golfing with one of his friends while Kaden and I did some exploring/shopping in Chicago for about 5 hours! We walked about 20 blocks to H & M but is was so worth it!

Home to South Bend!

It was hard to leave friends and family behind but so great to come home to Dad! South Bend really feels like home and it's good to be back. I think Drew looks hot all scruffy and he was so excited to see us.

The next day Drew pushed Kaden in the stroller while I biked up to campus and watched the football team practice for the upcoming season.

Go Notre Dame!

Coolest Girls in Utah!

I have some awesome friends and I miss them so much! I was stoked to be able to be around for Bunco at Kelli's house.

I was excited to see Andrea a few times on my trips to Logan and here we are at one of the model homes she was working at. I think this photo will definitely help with sales.

Some of my favorite people....the Tanner family! They are so great and it was great to see little Joy who was in from San Francisco where she works. Joy is in the middle with her sister Arowyn on the right and her aunt on the left.

I stopped in Davis County to see friends at work and go to dinner at, again, Chili's. Here I am with Erin, Shelisa, and Pam who I really miss seeing everday!

We really miss our awesomest neighbors, Marci & Ryan and their cute little guy Cohen who is about 3 weeks older than Kaden. As you can see, getting a good picture of them was a bit difficult but I love this because Kaden is drooling all over Marci's arm!

Here is another attempt. At least we got them looking forward!

More from Utah!

So maybe it's just me, but when I create my post it shows up in all the wrong spots when I post it so it takes me about an hour to make a post! If anyone has any suggestions for me and my amateur blogging skills, please send them my way. In the meantime, I'm just going to make them more simple! So like I said, I have tons of pics from Utah so bare with me.

This post is mostly all about my sisters and families whom I don't know what I'd do without!

Kaden got to meet Jill and her kids for the first time since they live in California. He absolutely loves her and thinks she is so funny!

One of the first things we did on one of our trips to Logan was head to Great Harvest and pick up some lunch to eat at a park in Mendon (where we grew up). Here's Suz and I with my little man and Jill's kids, Janson, Addy & Marlee.

We walked through Cotter's Trail in Mendon that we used to love to hike when we were kids.

Back at Julie's house we had a barbecue with the Bytheway cousins who were excited to meet Kaden. It was so great to see them and we have done this classic photo from shortest to tallest since we were kids.

As it should, this trip involved a lot of eating and our favorite place is the Hungry Bear in the Quilted Bear store. They have the best sugar cookies in the world and we used to go there for a sugar high about every saturday.

Kaden and I at the "QB".

Mom is so funny!

Here is Addy (on the left) who is pretty much the funniest person in the world with her Hannah Montana glasses on, and Brin (on the right) who is pretty much the smartest girl you'll ever meet and is 8 going on 27.

Here we are at Chili's with Jill and Julie's kids. Julie's kids are Brin on the left, Emri in the middle, and little Maleia on my lap!

After dinner we took the kids back to Suzy's house for a slumber party. Dave (Suzy's husband) took them all out on the "Patriot" for a ride around the block. Here is funny little Emri and Kaden below chillin on the grass praying?

And for my final night in Utah, I had to go to Winger's. Dave and Suz and Julie and Elliott's family were kind enough to come with me!

Back in Utah!

We spent some time up in Logan and Kaden sure loves my uncle Jim. My grandma makes a mean Sunday dinner and she made all our favorite desserts we requested (mine is her white cake with coconut frosting)! We also celebrated Marlee's birthday.

We stayed with Mel and Helen (Drew's parents) for some of the time and as you can see, Kaden was happy to be there (above)! He also had a great time at Suzy and Dave's and was a big fan of this furry blanket.

This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip. Here's Kaden with his cousin Landon (Sean & Jessica's boy) and his squiggly eyebrows. Yes...we have a son with squiggly eyebrows and a mustache!

Shelley had her cute little baby Tayson while we were in Lake Powell and we were so glad we were in Utah to see him. Shel is super impressive and delivered that big baby without drugs!

Spudman Triathalon

A proud moment...Tim, JL, and Drew all finished the Spudman Triathalon and pulled off some pretty sweet shorts. We all headed up to Burley, ID for a few days and us girls had a good time watching them work their bums off.

I felt really bad for Drew because he got a pretty bad cold a few days before the race and at this actual moment, he told us he was going to die.

But he finished with a smile....

Which faded as the day wore on and his cold worsened!

Lake Powell 2008

I have so many pictures from my trip back home so bare with us! We went to Lake Powell a few days after we arrived back in Utah and I've decided it's the best place on earth. Drew's brother Chris is so great and every year we're able to spend a week on their houseboat, go out on his boat and ride on Thomas and Haley's jetskis. Sean designed some great t-shirts this year, as you can see, and took all these great pictures. We eat a lot of great meals and snack on a lot of crap and just have a good time.

So I've included some of the highlights....

Drew spent some quality time making a replica of his dad, Mel, in the sand and I think it looks pretty good!

Here we are doing some serious cliff jumping!

I think Drew looks pretty bad 'a' right here at the highest point of the cliff and here is my impressive jump!

Yes....he jumped and next to him is his brother Chris.

We also got in some quality wakeboarding time.

And of course, we played a little Mario Kart and I pretty much dominated...on one game.

And these are the pics I took...

Kaden kind of liked the water but was not a fan of the bright sun. He should be happy next to all these cute cousins!

Kaden had an awesome time with his awesome Grammie who took care of him a lot while mom played!

And finally...me with my Cubs fans. I'm embarassed to say this but with all these pictures, we were actually only there for two days!