Chicago Day 3

I need to finish this trip before my next one in 11 days!!

 

Day 3 started off with us going to visit the Chicago Temple

Very beautiful temple that is surrounded by beautiful greenery.

We walked around a bit, enjoyed the peaceful feeling that is there

 and of course Dave snapped a ton of pictures.

 

After the serene place of the temple we went to the chaotic place of Wrigley Field

Cubs fans are out-of-this-world!

They are a whole other breed that I was completely entertained the whole time

I'm not really a fan of baseball but Ryan is a Cubs fan so that is one thing he wanted to do.

And bonus, they were playing the Dbacks. Go figure!

And we, meaning the dbacks, lost.

During the game there were these 3 guys sitting in front of us that were playing a betting game. Dave and I were trying to figure it out and once we think we got it they would do something completely off that we were lost once again. We never saw who ended up with the money but I guess it didn't matter.

It did rain during the game but not enough for them to call if off. And luckily we were under the "roof" so we didn't get wet but that didn't last long. It was pouring by the time the game ended that we were soaked yet again.

The infamous sign

This just goes to show how crazy these people are.
They need more seating that they added bleachers to the top of buildings outside of the stadium.

Goes to show that we were at the very top of the stadium

Look at us :)

After the game we headed up back into the city to do more sight seeing

 and eat the famous Chicago style hot dog.

We parked at Navy Pier since that is where were going to end our day.

They have fireworks there during the summer so we couldn't miss out on that.

We finally got to see Cloud Gate aka the bean.

It was seriously so neat that we were there for a good hour taking pictures.

We are seriously such nerds.

 

The front of Navy Pier

These hot dogs were so good!
In fact that sounds good right now.

Finally riding the 'L' red line

Anyone seen 'Adventures in Babysitting' and recognize this building?

The Bean!

Those are fingerprints all over it! That's why it's so dirty

I love this picture for the fact that the skyline is in the picture even though we are facing it.

Beautiful skyline at night

Us waiting for the fireworks at Navy Pier

 While we were waiting for the fireworks we found out that Ryan has never been on ferris wheel!

We found that a bit outrageous and luckily there is a ferris wheel at the pier so we bought our tickets and waited in line like we were at Disneyland. 40 min wait!

I say it didn't count as it was a caged ferris wheel. So in my opinion he needs to go on a legit carnival ferris wheel.

Afterwards we just headed home as we knew we had to wake up early for our last day before flying out that day and we had a jam pack  day!

Ryan and Tori

Dave and Yours Truly

This picture is the last of collages and it does include some pictures from our last day

 Gratitude Rocks!!!
 - My trials, this amazing monsoon season, my amazing counselors that I get to serve with, the blessing of tithing, Mexican food (I can't get enough of it right now)

Chicago Day 2

Day 2 started with us taking the metra into the city.

The homes in the Chicago area are something else.

Every house is different and beautiful with luscious greenery surrounding it.

Seriously I wanted one.

 

We got into the city and went straight to the Willis Tower. Popularly known as the Sears Tower and soon to be called the United Tower.

And yes we went to the top.

Money well spent and recommended for those who go to Chicago.

And bonus, they had a plexy glass ledge that you can walk out on.

I loved it since heights don't bother me at all but Tori on the other hand had a little hard time walking out onto it.

It was quite memorable :)

The views were amazing and they say on a clear day you can see other states!

Waiting in line to purchase tickets

That's how high up we were

All the views were pretty but this was my fav

Us standing over the city

This was a replica made out of Legos!

Afterwards we were hungry and knew we had to have the famous Chicago stuffed pizza.

Words honestly can't express how amazing it was!

Basically you have the crust that is FILLED with cheese and the "toppings" are stuffed into the cheese then topped with the sauce. YUMMY!

I am a huge lover of cheese and it satisfied me like none other.

Giordano's...go there! You won't be disappointed.

 

While we waited Dave and I went outside to snap a few pics

Deliciousness right there!

I could have stood on my chair and stretched it further

After lunch we headed to the park to see the famous bean sculpture.

Alas it started to rain then that turned into pouring.

Lightening and thunder surrounded us.

Got to the bean and we couldn't go near it because of the storm so we stood under a tree for about 15 minutes and then decided to run for actual shelter in this underground bathroom tunnel thing. We were there for quite a while just waiting the storm out.

Took out a chunk of our day but hey, what is a vacation without some mishap.

 

Soaking wet in the tunnel

Once it stopped raining we headed to the river to take the architecture tour.

Which by the way was my favorite part of the trip.

So fascinating and educational.

Well maybe not now cause I don't really remember the stories of the buildings but still.

Homes on the river are super expensive, I remember that.

Once the tour was over it started to rain again!

At that point we didn't care much and just went ahead with our activities.

 

From the tour

We went down to Navy Pier to check it out.
Kinda cool with rides and restaurants and tons of shops.
We would be heading back here on day 3 to eat and watch the fireworks that they have twice a week during the summer.

A quick shot from Navy Pier

from the pier

We walked back into the city to catch the last train ride home.

Before we got to the station we headed to the famous Chicago sign.

The city is very different at night. Not as many people and it was a bit creepy with the deserted streets and sketchy people. Kinda reminded me of 'Adventures in Babysitting' when they are out and about.

Here is the other collage that Dave made from our second day

Gratitude Rocks!!
- reading D&C, a bathroom that right now doesn't exist (more on that when the fiasco is done), peaches, funny moments with Ollie, moments with all my grandparents

Chicago Day 1

About 3 months ago my friend Ryan and I were chatting about school ending for him and things changing so I came up with a brilliant plan to do one last vacation with my 2 guy friends that were graduating together from school. So I called up Dave and threw the idea to him. He was, of course, down! But where to go was the huge question.

Hawaii and Alaska were on the list but Dave and Ryan's schedule were completely different and we couldn't take that much time off.

So Yosemite is what we had decided and the planning had started.

I had talked to my Dad who recently went. Got some tips and did my research. I was all gung ho until I looked and the price of everything. It was uber expensive, even if we did decide to camp. So after much talk with the boys we decided to scratch Yosemite.

So back to the drawing board.

Seattle?

Vancouver?

Chicago?

After A LOT of research we settled on Chicago

We invited our good and dear friend Tori to come along to complete the vacation.

So happy she could join us.  

Chicago was so much fun and ah-mazing!

I love the big cities and I have been to 3 of them so I needed to add Chicago to the list.

So let the trip begin!

We all met in Denver for our layover to Chicago.

Catching up and picking up right where we all left off.

That's what I love about this particular friendship that we have all developed.

Soon to be graduates
Ryan & Dave

Reunited :D

Tori & Yours Truly

The only thing we decided to this day was the Taste of Chicago

We were very lucky that this was happening the time we were there.

Basically it's a food festival of the restaurants in Chicago.

You buy tickets and walk around to the all the vendors and try sample size portions of their hot menu items. It was all so tasty and filling. We definitely ate good that afternoon.

They also had a free concert there. The day we were there was Death Cab for Cutie.

It was hot this day but nothing that we Arizonans couldn't handle.

Next to the festival was the Buckingham Fountain. Huge fountain that was really pretty so we took some pictures and enjoyed the beautiful city. I was already in love and didn't want to come home.

Some of our tasty samples

This was the crowd

Us in front of the fountain



Free concert? Yes please :)



Here is a collage that Dave made of this day
He now has way too much time on his hands

Afterwards we headed up north to stay with some family friends of mine. They were very generous and let us sleep at their house. It was great to see the Eagar's again and to play catch up. But it was late and we needed to get some sleep cause day 2 was going to be fun/busy.

Gratitude Rocks!!!

- having friends that have a certain hope for my future, seeing two of my best friends graduate, prayer, getting to know and remember people in my ward, my new favorite breakfast (granola, frozen blueberries and coconut milk) YUMMY! 



Holla! Moment

I have been a little gone from here and for those that care, I am sorry.

A lot has happened around here.

But then again not really.

I am in the same house, same job, same car, same amazing life.

Just a few things have changed.

As you know, I was booted from the singles ward

for being too awesome :)

and have been in the family ward for 2 months now.

Let me tell you, this ward doesn't waste any time.

I already have a calling (for 1 month now) and I already spoke in church.

My calling....RS Secretary!

For someone who doesn't know anyone in the ward, this calling intimidates me.

But I am working with an amazing presidency and I am praying a lot that I will learn everyone in the ward.

Speaking in church definitely helped with that.

Not the way I wanted to approach the trial but hey, it works I guess.

Let me tell you about the talk.

Nerves were present, tears were almost present, even embarrasment was persent.

I was asked to speak on forgiving others.

Not so bad, in fact I learned a lot...what I needed.

Anyways, this was only my 2nd time speaking since high school.

I have mad skills dodging the infamous "we would like you to speak in sacrament" line.

When I get nervous, I tend to cry.

My amazing friends quickly stop me from doing that and I was good to go.

Until...I saw the Stake Presidency on the stand.

Great!!!!

Sitting next to the Stake President wasn't nerve racking at all.

Nope not one bit!

Because of my nerves I said "Holla!" over the pulpit.

And I am pretty sure that I even did the 'raise the roof' hand gesture.

Red face emerges and I want to crawl under a rock!

But people loved it!

I met so many people afterwards, it was great!

Now trying to remember their names is another thing, I am so much better with faces.

I've got the faith :)

On to some fun stuff.

So far the summer has been kinda relaxing.

Hanging out with friends is something that I love to do and I couldn't be happier.

My amazing friend Mary Ann had a birthday and she wanted to have a cake fight.

So that's what we did.

Each of us had to bring a cake and we just went at it.

I wore a one piece swimsuit cause I didn't want anyone to put it down my crack.

My lovely friends would do that BTW.

We clean off with a hose, go swimming and then change to watch a movie.

Changing was awesome.

Cake all over my stomach! It was pretty disgusting.

Don't know how that happened...oh well.

(and yes I just shared that little tidbit)

Here are some pictures

This was taken when we went karoking

I am getting ready to leave for Chicago in 2 weeks!

I am ready to leave here for a couple of days

Even if it is to humid weather

If any of you have tips, restaurants to try, things to do about

 Chicago let me know. We have a list right now but will happy to take any information you have, as none of us have been there before.

I promise to try to be better about updating this.

Love to you all!

Gratitude Rocks!!

- instagram, the air conditioner, Sunny Mesa Ward Relief Society, finishing my talk, coconut milk, the Eagar's, a good laugh when it's much needed