My Kind of Town..... Chicago Is!

Today we ventured downtown to The American Girl Store for shopping and a tea party!
Our American Girl dolls sat at the table with us and a waiter served them tea.

We were served warm cinnamon rolls followed by this appetizer.

Little O and Little D ordered the all American lunch which consisted of a teeny hot dog, teeny hamburger and a small serving of macaroni and cheese. It was so cute!

This was our dessert!

This was the perfect place for girls of all ages!

After our tea party, we took cabs over to the Museum of Science and Industry

The museum is hosting an amazing Harry Potter Exhibit.

We saw clothes and props from the Harry Potter movies. It was so much fun to see Hagrid's house and clothes and walk into The Great Hall.

The RMs Deliver!

Our Caribbean feast was FABULOUS! We were not only treated to wonderful food but descriptions of the cuisine and our ears were treated to the beat of Caribbean music! TM's parents joined us. So fun!

The RMs are in the house!

My Boy and his friend, TM, who just returned from a mission in Puerto Rico, took over our kitchen this afternoon to make us a Caribbean feast! We can't wait to eat it!

Pool Party!

Today we had a blast hanging out at the pool!

Little V and the paddle boats!

Here is Little V on the paddle boats!

Paddle Boating!

Kage had some friends come in to town today so we all headed down to the paddle boats! Little V was on a boat with DTA and me so I don't have any pics of her.

This was an interesting arrangement! My Boy and his friends had two little girls pedal while they sat back and relaxed and played with their phones!

Little O

Little D

I love my life!

Playing "Go Fish" with granddaughters....it doesn't get any better then this!

Family Home Evening!

Tonight we held our Family Home Evening at our town's Riverwalk. We had a picnic dinner and then DTA taught the granddaughters about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. We walked on the Riverwalk and ended the evening with ice cream, frozen yogurt and smoothies!

Sunday at the Super Sam Selebration

Today My Boy gave a talk at Sacrament meeting and shared some of his experiences on his mission. It was an excellent talk. I was so proud of him. The Spirit was so strong as he spoke. After church, we came home and had a big turkey dinner including stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, orange rolls and cupcakes!



After dinner we had a suprise for our granddaughters.

Even though it is July, we had an egg hunt!

The girls had so much fun searching for eggs.

Littlest D was really into it!


They loved opening their eggs and finding surprises!

Day 3 of Super Sam Selebration!

Our day started with a very sophisticated family photo shoot. With Kage as our stylist, we carefully chose our wardrobes and met a photographer at Cantigny Park at 8 AM. My Boy had an appointment with the optometrist at noon and the family split up to have lunch at different locations. Then we were off to the movie house! The adult children saw Harry Potter ( some for the 2nd time) and DTA and I took the three granddaughters (Littlest D had a babysitter) to "G Force"! As we walked into the show, holding hands with our little granddaughters, I told DTA that I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! We ended our day with a pizza picnic on our front lawn.

What do you do the day after your boy returns home from his mission?

You go to a Cubs game, of course!

Finally.....all here!

Linz finally sees My Boy!
My Boy meets Littlest D!

Finally....all here!

Great News!

Linz's doctor called this morning and she is immune to the Fifth's Disease! They are on their way!

Welcome Home Elder Sam!

Welcome Home Elder Sam! What anticipation we had this afternoon at the airport! It turns out that President Obama was landing at OHare the same time My Boy was coming in and he ended up sitting on his plane for an hour before they allowed them to disembark. We were going CRAZY! We found a woman with a cell phone who was communicating with her husband who was on board and she kept us updated. Finally, some people coming down the escalator told us they were on the flight from Miami so we knew we were getting closer to seeing him. We held photos of My Boy and all the people he baptized on his mission. Some people looked at the photos and said "Oh yes! We saw him on the plane" or "Oh, he is right behind us". When we finally saw him we all screamed with delight! We got some great hugs. We are so happy to have him home.

We are ready for our missionary!

The Good News and the Bad News

The good news is our first family member arrived today! Little D flew into Chicago all by herself from her own personal vacation! It was so fun to meet her at the airport and see her smiling face. DTA and I took her out to dinner tonight and right now they are playing Sequence at the kitchen table. The bad news is that Linz is in her first trimester of her pregnancy ( which is good news) but something has come up and her Doctor has advised her not to come to our house at this time. We are heartbroken that she and her family won't be here. But we are looking at the big picture and the gratitude we will feel when a healthy baby is born in January.

More Family Fun!

Yesterday afternoon, our cute niece and her family dropped in for Sunday dinner and fun! They are from Maryland and on their way to a family reunion. We had so much fun with their children and catching up with them. Isn't Summer great?

We are getting ready...

This week all three of our daughters, all two of our sons-in-law, and all four of our granddaughters are coming into town for the homecoming of My Boy. We are calling our gathering "The Super Sam Selebration!" (when he left we called our gathering "The Super Sam Send-off!") I have been baking all week, and yesterday DTA got the bikes ready for the granddaughters. Each of the granddaughters will have a bike they can ride except Littlest D who will be cruising in a fire engine red coupe. We have lots of plans and are so excited to have all our loved ones under one roof. It doesn't get any better then that!

Two Years Ago Today....

Two years ago today, My Boy entered the MTC. I love the MTC! Some moms don't like it. I had a spiritual high there. First of all, the Senior Missionaries are amazing! They greeted us so warmly and told My Boy that they could tell he was going to be a great missionary! I would love to be a Senior Missionary in the MTC. Secondly, when you look around and see all those young men and young women.... you know in your brain that this is definitely the true church. Are you kidding me? This would never work if it weren't! The Spirit was so strong there. The presence of all these worthy young people along with the talks and the videos. I loved it. Of course, there is the saying "good-bye" part. That was very tough. Coco and I thought it was funny they had kleenex boxes attached to the exit doors. I can't believe we dropped him off two years ago.

Before and After

Before
After

The Rave of Brigham City

Ougranddaughters call me Grammy. We called my Grandmother... Gammy. Gammy was the rave of Brigham City. The most desired chair was at her table. When she hosted a luncheon, she liked to serve shrimp salad. Every summer, I make her shrimp salad in honor of her. It is photographed above. The salad is plated on one of her plates that I was fortunate enough to inherit. The recipe is really quite simple: pasta shells, shrimp, peas, green onion, shredded lettuce and mayonnaise laced with honey. DTA and I had it last night and it was fab!

One week from today....

Oh my! I don't think they're going to let him go!

Out to dinner with the Z's.

My brother and sister in law are in town so we met them and my parents for dinner last night.

It was fun to be together and catch up.

The words of Isaiah

In May, I finished a reading of the Book of Mormon. While reading it, I really felt the admonition to study the words of Isaiah. I have taught Isaiah twice in seminary, but I really don't understand it very well and honestly find it a bit boring. But I am determined. So with my study journal in tow, I began to study it. The first thing I decided to do was to read aloud. The dog comes out of her bed and stares at me while I do this but that's okay. The next thing I decided to do was use this wonderful book Margo gave DTA for Christmas one year. It is called "The Old Testament for Latter-day Saint Families". It is fabulous. It explains EVERYTHING! It has definitions of words and explnanations of symbolism and quotes from modern day prophets. It is making so much more sense to me now. I highly recommend this book.

My Daughters

1997
2004

My daughters: sheesh, I love these girls!

Our New Obsession!

DTA and I have a new obsession: Poirot and Popcorn! Having exhausted all the Sherlock Holmes' DVDs, we have discovered a new favorite detective. He is Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Poirot is the most endearing French detective you will ever meet. In the pure Agatha Christie style, everyone is a suspect! DTA and I look forward to any night we can spend with Poirot and popcorn!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

This morning I returned from young women camp! What a week! We had rain and thunderstorms and tornado warnings and rain and mosquitoes and hail warnings and dirty bathrooms and shoes that never dried and rain! Did I mention we had rain?! But we also had miracles and bonding and laughing and spiritual workshops and testimony building and nature appreciation. It was a very good week. I got to know some of our little first year campers so well and loved being with our young women president. I love when we come together as a ward on Bishop's night and share our testimonies. I thought a lot about My Boy when I was there and how he labors in heat all the day long with no relief. He hasn't had warm water for a shower in two years and he sleeps under mosquito netting every night. I felt like I had a little glimpse of his life. Having said all that, I am so glad to be home! I had such a wonderful, warm shower as soon as I walked in the door. As one of my first year campers said to me this morning as we walked away from our campsite, "I have such mixed emotions". I said, "Tell me about that." And she said, "I love it here but I also can't wait to get home". Yup...that's the way it is.

Happy Birthday, LC!

Our friend, LC, who moved to Kentucky, returned this weekend to celebrate her birthday! It was so much fun to see her and share in her very special day. How we miss her!

Guess where I am headed?

You know how people say that there are "seasons" for doing things. Well, I certainly thought my "season" for going to young women camp was past! But, alas, here I go again! I will be at young women camp from Tuesday through Saturday morning. The forecast is for some 90 degree weather. They are saying the mosquitos are at a record high due to all the rain. But it's okay. The Spirit will sweep over this camp and we will be filled with it and we will bond, laugh, and hardly sleep and have a wonderful time.

4th of July 5K

Our ward had the best activity this morning. It began at 7:30 with a 5K. DTA and I ran it. It was followed with a flag raising ceremony and breakfast at 9:00. It was so much fun.

Happy 4th of July!

Last night we went to the Taste of Oak Brook and the Oak Brook fireworks with my sister and brother in law and my parents. Good eats! Good fireworks!

Oldie But Goodie

Happy 4th of July!

Well, Look who rode into town!

Coco is here for the 4th of July weekend!

Cupcake Quest #4

Monday, I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Delicious! These cupcakes had it all: moist, delicious cake; fabulous and beautiful frosting. My taste testers really liked them!