Chicago Highlights . . .

Tiffany and I took in a lot of sights - Madden was willing to go for hours and hours in his stroller - such a mellow kid.

Here we are at the Bean in Millennium Park

It is a pretty cool piece of modern art. It reflects the cityscape and everyone around it.

This is the optical illusion you see from the underside.

It is such a beautiful city.

I love taking the water taxis.

The architecture is just amazing.

Getting back to why I love Chicago . . .

The food was amazing . . .

we ate at some awesome brunch places

I thought I took more food pictures but apparently we just were scarfing it down - this dessert was heaven - the italian version of beignets.

I loved the different neighborhoods and the unique shopping -

I loved the architecture everywhere.

And of course best of all was this little guy -

too cute for words . . .

Chicago is the best!!!

Here's the reason I went to Chicago:

Madden is now 15 months old now and needs to get to know his Grandma better - so I decided going to Chicago while Landon and John were on their HIgh Adventure trip would be the perfect time.

Madden is quite the Mama's boy - so it took a little while to get him to warm up to me.

It was fun just hanging out with Tiff, Randy and Madden - what a cutie!

We enjoyed Sunday together and went for a beautiful walk in their neighborhood that afternoon. I LOVED that it was warm (what the heck happened with our summer weather in Calif?) and they have the most beautiful neighborhoods - I love the architecture there.

Madden is so sweet and so much like Tiffany was at that age. I could just watch him all day -

but that is not what we ended up doing. Madden was so mellow - we could take him anywhere - and we crammed in all kinds of exploring together. Can't wait to tell you all about it - stay tuned :)

August 1st!! Where did the time go?

I can't believe it is August already! The month has flown by and I've been so on the go that nothing has been blogged about either - so here is what I have been up to -

(the abridged version)

Spent a week in Utah - a few days helping Michele get ready for her big trip to Ethiopia and the rest of the week playing with and watching her 2 adorable kids. We kept very busy.

We played blocks . . .

We went for walks in the neighborhood, went to the park, colored on the driveway with chalk . .

had picnics in the backyard (under the shade of the trampoline since it was over 100 degrees) -

another good reason to run through the sprinklers . . .

.

played play dough . . .

watched movies and read LOTS of books . . . .

Like I said we were busy - but look how adorable these two are:

Another bonus - was my best friend from my college days at BYU - Hawaii was in Utah visiting her daughter. Jayne is from Australia and married Frank whose Air Force days had them living all over the place - but always far away. She was my Maid of Honor at my wedding - we've shared so many good times it is hard to believe it had been 13 years since we've seen each other.

And we figured out it had been 25 years since I'd seen her husband Frank (also an old friend from the college years). Wow - time has gone by so fast - but I feel lucky we got to squeeze in an evening reunion and do some catching up. Nothing like true blue friends that always remain. Jayne is one of those :)

I enjoyed the rest of the week with the kids - they are so funny together . . .

It's like "Grandma Heaven" to sit on the front porch on a warm summer evening with your two grandkids enjoying their popsicles - I could do that every day - there's something so sweet and nostalgic about it and brings back memories of my own popsicle days when my kids were little

It was awfully hard to say goodbye to these two - but I had to get back home and be off again . . .

I was home long enough to un-pack and re-pack and head off Monday morning for a week at girl camp where I got to spend time with some very fun ladies . . .

and wonderful girls. I went 7 years in a row - but I haven't been back for 8 years so it was fun to see what traditions remained and what was new.

Back home again the next week so Landon wouldn't forget me. Our big project - loading up all the big toys and extra donations that came in for his Eagle project that we couldn't ship to Ethiopia. We had 11 boxes of toys that made a Children's Shelter in East Oakland very happy. Thanks again to everyone - still giving Michele a chance to catch her breath and then get pictures of the toys going out to the orphanages in Ethiopia.

Throw in some wedding planning and shopping for bridal gowns with Josie (which I am totally enjoying) and it has been a busy month.

Tomorrow Landon and John head off on a High Adventure trip and I head out to Chicago to see Tiffany, Randy, and Madden. Can't wait - my only complaint is the summer is disappearing much to quickly

Michele is in Ethiopia - I'm in Utah

Michele headed off early Wednesday morning for her trip to Ethiopia. I'm so excited to hear all about it. Here she is in D.C. with the other volunteers before they continued on their 24 hr long trip to Addis Ababa.

I came out on Sunday night to bring out all the toys Landon had collected for his Eagle project to ship off with Michele and other volunteers.

Naomi thought all the toy were great fun!

We sorted and packed and weighed and re-weighed until we had all the suitcases as full and as heavy as the airlines would allow.

I just want to thank everyone for all their help. We certainly could never have done this alone. Thanks for the toy drop offs, the cash donations (I had a lot of fun shopping for this project), and all the time the scouts and young women donated to pick up, sort, count, pack, and weigh at home. We ended up with over 2900 items.

The girls were so excited as they re-packed to think about being able to give these to the orphans they would see in just a few days. I am sure pictures will be coming soon but just wanted to tell everyone thanks so much. Michele got super excited about the trip - I guess seeing all these toys made what they were going to do seem real.

Thanks so much everyone !!!

It's Official!

Tanner and Josie are officially engaged! We couldn't be happier :)

So save the date - December 18th -

when Tanner will add the wedding band to this engagement ring.

We're so happy for Tanner and I'm happy for me too. My first daughter-in-law! I couldn't have picked anyone better - Josie is incredible. Thanks Tanner - and welcome to the family Josie! We love you!