We Made It!!!

For those of you who were worried, we made it! We have officially purchased our home, had our stuff delivered and I am down to a handful of boxes to unpack. Rock on! Other than unpacking, my last week has been filled with removing wall paper and painting. I want to hop on my soapbox for a minute and just say that if the maker of wallpaper is still alive he should be shot, because wallpaper is the devil. The people we bought our house from had a wallpaper border on Gman's room. When I went to remove it I discovered that there was an old border there that they simply painted over and glued new wallpaper on top of. Argh! It's okay, 2 days and no finger nails left the room is paper free and repainted.

Gman is adjusting to our new life. He is loving how much space he has to run around. The first couple of days he kept getting lost so he wouldn't venture too far from my side. Now he owns the place and we generally don't mind. He cna't get enough of our empty boxes and pushes them throughout the house. He will be a very sad man when the movers come to pick them up. I guess I will just have to buy him a laundry basket.

Our ward here is amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better welcome. The last two Sundays we have been fed and this Sunday is already booked. A way awesome lady in the ward who lives in my neighborhood also came by the day the movers were here and just took Gman for me so I could get some unpacking done. I had only met her once so I was shocked and grateful for her willingness. I am trying to make new friends. First, I guess I am simply trying to remember names. We had enrichment (but really simply a Relief Society meeting) the first week I was here so I was really able to meet some cute ladies. Then a few of us went out for frozen yogurt afterward and I got to know them better. It was a huge blessing to have that opportunity right away.

For the most part things have been fantastic, let's pray they keep going that way!

Now, I want to do a little backtracking a post some pictures of our last days in Illinois

Our trip to Chicago included a stop and the infamous bean. It is a chrome bean and you can see a reflection of the entire Chicago skyline. Pretty cool.

This is a picture of the entire bean. The other side is the side that you can get a picture of the skyline. It was a little crowded and I've already seen it. Sorry

After the bean, Gman decided to chase the birds around the park. These birds are like the birds at Disneyland, no fear and they just want food.

After the park we took a little walk down Michigan Ave to the delicious retaurant we all know and love, Gino's East. ps - they have a sausage pizza where the sausage is really a big disc of meat placed right in the pizza. Tha'ts right, there is one piece of sausage the size of the pizza. Crazy, crazy good!

Us leaving Ginos'. For those of you who know your famous British golfers, this photo was taken by Sir Nick Faldo. That's right, he was in town for a tournament, came to eat pizza for lunch, and The Man got him to take our picture. It was classic. We didn't want a picture with him, we just wanted him to take one of us. Aren't we the classy Americans? :)

Chicago we will miss you, your culture, your food and our friends. Hopefully we will be able to reunite again one day but in the mean time you know we are making our new state one rockin place to be!

On our way....

Well, it is done. The house is packed, loaded on a truck and is sitting somewhere in Minnesota right now. We are in our hotel in Illinois anticipating tomorrow's drive. Everything has gone so great. I have to profusely thank my dear friend Katie E. for watching Gman for the last two days. I would have never been able to clean my house and gotten everything organized for our trip if he had been around. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
I am most definitely sad to have left my dear sweet friends and the amazing young women that I not only taught but shared a tight bond with. We are trying to look forward to our new adventure. I am going to make some new friends so I can introduce them to my old friends one day. That way we can have one GIANT party somewhere in the middle, I am thinking Missouri. Not sure what's there but we can turn anywhere into a riot zone.
For now I am going to be grateful for the internet and cell phones so I can keep in touch with those I am not around anymore. Question for all you forty somethings out there, how did you keep close with your friends far away before e-mail, texting and blogs? I can't imagine how it can be done. :)

Saturday Adventure

This Saturday the Man and I decided that we are taking one final adventure downtown. For anyone interested in joining us we are taking the 9:20 train leaving from Rte 59 Station. The day will consist of sight seeing, Gino's East pizza for lunch, more sightseeing and then the train home whenever we are done. If you are looking for a rockin time with really cool people come with us cause you know it's gonna be a partay.

ps - I know I have lots of blogging updating to do but there's a good chance it won't get done until after the move. For a little update GMan is TOTALLY walking everywhere. He decided about 2 weeks ago that he wanted to walk on his own and he hasn't stayed still since. I will post a cute video when I do all of my magical updating. :)

Happy Birthday - Belated

Well oops! Last week was GMan's birthday and I did not post about how awesome he is. In my defense we did celebrate but we were too busy celebrating and preparing to leave town the next day to sit down at the computer and type. So here it is....

Happy Birthday Little Man!

We started the morning by opening presents which consisted of books, a mini football, a key ring that plays music and other stuff I can't remember. Most were purchased to be good entertainers on the next days flight. After our morning nap we went swimming with our dear friends Katie and Mark. It was a good time and thoroughly wiped out my child for his afternoon nap. Instead of cake we just did a birthday cookie. GMan didn't seem to mind one bit and polished off any crumbs.

We also got his one year check up on Monday. He is a healthy normal baby. The doctor says he developing great and actually is speaking at a 15 month old level. No wonder I feel like he is talking all day, he is! I was actually relieved because I thought he was behind on speech so she calmed my fears. Here are his stats

Weight - 23 pounds (50%)

Height - 31 1/4" (90%)

Head - Humongous (90%)

GMan has also started walking this week. The other day he wanted me and just let go and took 5 steps to get to me. The Man and I try to get him to walk between us a couple times a day. Gman plays along a time or two but then refuses to stand up, the little stinker.

He also has four teeth now and we can see another four trying to make their way through. It makes for a grumpy baby but that is why we have invested in Motrin, the stuff rocks.

I think that's it for our Little Big Man. He grows up so much everyday and gets funnier and funnier. Those that don't see him much, be jealous, very jealous.

Hope GMan's birthday was as good for you as it was for us!

ps - Family members will get a 1 year photo, if anyone else wants one just let me know, thanks!

Things I will not miss

To soften the blow of leaving good friends and great experiences I have been thinking of things that I will not miss.

1. Chicago traffic

2. Construction all summer

3. Nasty humidity

4. 6 inch snow storms

5. Goose Poop everywhere

6. Expensive gas

7. Finally, nasty restaurants aka - White Castle

I know I probably should explain that last one. I have gone my entire life without trying a White Castle slider and I was okay with that. The Man felt that since we were leaving and I may not have the opportunity again that I needed to go to this fast food establishment. Not seeing any reason to argue I agreed and we ordered our mini burgers. Now, for those of you who have never seen a slider, it a is a mini paper thin piece of what I think is beef topped with an equal amount of sauteed onions and 1 pickle chip (yes just one) all on a dinner roll. It looks nastier than it tastes but that's because there is so much bread and onion you can't taste the meat. In order to even out the ratio of bread to meat I took the top of my roll off and guess what I discover. Not only is it the worlds slimmest piece of meat, they actually cut holes out of the center of it so you're getting even less! Agghhhh. I am not a McDonalds person but even I would go get a McD's burger over a couple sliders because it's the same cost and 100 times more meat. Anyway, the experience was not all roses and chocolate and I would not be sad if I never saw a White Castle again. The entire experience just leaves me wondering, what are the crazy White Castle fanatics thinking?

Dancing King

Since I am the only girl in the house, and you will never see a video of me dancing, we only have a dancing king. Every time music is playing whether it's from a toy, the tv, ipod, anything The Little Man starts doing his own little jig. I was taking this particular video to try and get more crawling shots but he started dancing and I just thought it was so funny. He definitely didn't get any rhythm skills from my side of the family, come on siblings, admit it. :) If anyone wants lessons let me know, we'll arrange it.

We're Moving

Yes you read that right. We found out on thursday that we are moving to the dry prairie land of Oklahoma City. Feel free to sing the Oklahoma OK song anytime, heaven knows we've sung it dozens of times already.

All I know right now is that The Man's effective date is September 7th. He will be at a training from Aug 29 until September 4th and I will be at my sister's from Aug 27 until September 5th so I hope that we don't have to move until after that. If we are supposed to move before I will just rearrange my trip, no biggie.

We are flying down on the 15th to check out houses. We have a day and a half so hopefully we find something we like. We then fly home the 17th first thing in the morning so the man can fly away to Tennessee for a meeting with his new territory that afternoon. Pretty much The Man will only be in town a week and a half before we move. Dear friends, if you see him assume it will be the last time. Sorry.

In case you're wondering we are excited and sad. Excited when we think of our new adventure but sad when we think of who we're leaving behind. Thank goodness for e-mail, blogs and facebook so we can all stay connected. Be happy for us, it makes the thought of leaving easier. So for now, farewell to pizza and hello BBQ!