A Weekend to Remember

Shortly after graduating from college, Brandon and I ventured to the north suburbs of Chicago to start our careers in our first post-college jobs. We settled in Gurnee, found a church we loved, and soon after formed friendships with many people at that church. We only stayed in Gurnee for two years, and have been gone for five years, but still value those friendship dearly.

Brandon and I decided a while ago that we wanted to venture north and visit with our friends that have never even had the chance to meet our girls. So, we scheduled some personal days off from work, booked a hotel, and off we went.

We had a fantastic weekend! Aside from a hotel nightmare that included us switching hotels in the middle of the night with two sleeping little girls, we really enjoyed ourselves. We ate plenty of good food, did lots of shopping at outlet malls, and reconnected with our friends. Looking forward already to the next reunion!

Dinner at Rainforest Cafe was a big hit

Checking out the fish with her friend

A lot of money went down here this night

The fondue tradition has been successfully passed on to the next generation

She means business!

Arizona: The Beginning

Well, yesterday our little family of three joined with my grandparents to head off to Chicago's Midway Airport. We left the house at about 10 am and arrived at the airport around 12:30 Chicago time. We found a parking lot across from the airport, which was a short walk, but not made easy due to the 3 inches of snow that had freshly fallen that morning. Senior citizens + toddler + luggage + snow = bad combination! Luckily we all survived the walk, albeit with a little complaining, and made it safely to the counter to check-in. And that's where our "fun" adventure stopped. Our flight ended up leaving an hour late due to the weather. It was just a short flight to St. Louis, but Brynlee decided she had had enough for the day and was "that child" on the flight. Due to the delayed flight, we arrived in St. Louis with 10 minutes to spare before our connecting flight left. Needless to say, I was freaking out! Luckily our gate for the next flight was about 10 feet from where we arrived so we were safe. And then Brynlee continued demonstrating her hatred for flying on the 3 hour flight to Phoenix :( We all made it safely to Phoenix after shedding a few tears along the way (both by Brynlee and her mama) and finally got to see my sister, Tia Bria! It was one of the worst days of my life, but so worth it to finally get to visit my sister and be in the warm(er) Phoenix outdoors. We were exhausted but looking so forward to a fun day on Wednesday :)

Showing just how "fun" the airport can be!