A Taste of Chicago

Andrew and I are pleased to announce the arrival of our camera! We thought that it had been stolen from my luggage. As it turns out, I was scatterbrained and left it in the basement of our friends house in Chicago. Whoops. I think I will need to cancel the many different complaints and police reports that I have filed. We're glad to have our camera back. So, consider yourselves forewarned- there will be lots of pictures.

Chicago was such an amazing place to visit. There is so much to do; I can't imagine that anyone would ever get bored in that city! The first day we spent out on the town. It happened to be the Forth of July and the "Taste" was going on. There were thousands of people crammed into a relatively small area, but we had tons of amazing food.

There were several blocks near Millennium and Grant Park blocked off! Tons of restaurants from all over Chicago come and set up little booths where you can sample or "Taste" food from their menus. You pay for the food with tickets that you buy (A little bit like a carnival). 11 tickets cost 7 bucks. A taste usually cost 3 tickets. When you calculate how much everything costs- you realize you're totally getting ripped off, but it is worth it for the experience. Crazy! I think our favorite foods from the Taste were samosas and cheesy garlic bread. The tall building behind Andrew is the Sears Tower!

On our way back to the hotel we found this really pretty spot overlooking the river.

Some of the fun art downtown

Andrew could hear music from this outdoor amphitheater from his apartment. (Whether he wanted to or not)

This is the"Bean" above the Park Grille Restaurant.

We eventually made it up to Libertyville to stay with some old friends from GA. We are SO thankful to them for everything they have done for us! They are a really good example of generosity, and we hope that we can share that same generosity for others in the future. Thanks Austins!

They have some Chinese E-bikes (electric powered) that we rode through the Des Plaines River Forest Preserve which backs up to their yard - a recipe for fun!

Birthday Pictures

Chicago!

There have been quite a few changes in our little family over the past few weeks. As most of you know- Andrew has been on an internship in Chicago for the past 2 months. Unfortunately, the internship wasn't all that we hoped it would be so he is coming home. This is good news! It will be very nice to have him home again. Before he came home we had the chance to tour the city of Chicago, and we can't post any pictures of this because our camera was stolen out of our luggage. ERGH! Beware of checking anything valuable on Southwest airlines. I'll try and get Andrew to write more of a blog entry when he comes home tomorrow.

The Big 22!

I guess that my months worth of updates should be a little longer so here are more pictures from June. Since Andrew is still in Chicago I persuaded my mom to come to Utah for my birthday. Our busy but fun day started with some shopping at university mall- then to Park City for my cousin's wedding reception and then back to Provo for some Italian food. I think going to Ottavios was my favorite part of the day. There was an older gentleman who played the accordion (he played phantom of the opera!) AMAZING. My mom had a touch of the stomach flu so I don't think she enjoyed the dining experience as much as I did. Hey, you win some you loose some! All in all, it was a wonderful day and I'm so blessed to have such an amazing family!