3rd time's the charm. Yes, I'm a little crazy. 
For the iPad2. 

Rewind 3.5 months. I'm at our Company Holiday Retreat in Snowbird. I get handed my Christmas gift, which was in the form of an envelope. Imagine my surprise (and excitement) when I open up a note that says, Merry Christmas! You will get an iPad! Wahoo!! We decided as a company to wait until the new iPad2 was announced so my waiting began...

I watched the news feed when they announced the new iPad2. Have I ever cared before? No. I was online on March 11, the first day available to order it, and I got stuck trying to decide what to engrave on the back...I went back to work and two weeks later I forgot to order it.

All of a sudden it was a 5-week wait to order it online. Ugh. I do not have the kind of patience.

A week goes by, and I still haven't ordered it. I don't want to wait 5 weeks. I finally decide I will go wait in line at the Apple Store in Lincoln Park. With all the crazies who actually go wait in line before the store opens.

Monday:
I was not going to go at 3am like the Apple people said people were doing. Instead, I went Monday morning at 7:45. At 8:15, Apple employees came out and informed us they received 0 iPads in their shipment today. Bummer.

Tuesday:
Since Monday only had 12 people in line in front of me, I figured I could show up at 8:15 and still be OK. Nope. I was wrong. There were at least 50-75 people in front of me. Yikes. I was just 3 people away from getting a ticket.

This picture isn't the best, but there are tons of people in line.

Thursday:
I show up at 7:15, with a book in hand. Finally I am prepared. By 8:15, we are inside of the store. Only 20 people in front of me. I got my choice of iPad. It felt so good to have a ticket in my hand. Finally!

I chose a pink cover, white iPad with 3G. Super excited about it. And still can't believe I went 3 different days before the store opened to go and get one. I never thought I would be that girl. Well, today I was and I got what I wanted.

I love it!

Sometimes we get a little Fussy.
Spring please hurry up and get here.

It's March 28th and it's still 30 degrees, feels like 20 outside. I'll try to be positive and name off a few good things about the weather today:

1. It's SUNNY. Like, super sunny. I mean HOT in my office right now with the curtains closed because the SUN is beating down on me and it feels so good. It's makes me think that maybe, just maybe, it's the same 70 degrees outside as it is inside of my office.

2. The cold air wakes you up. I went outside this morning bundled up in my down coat and 180's (ear warmers) and it was a tiny bit refreshing, but only for 2.5 seconds and then the wind hit my back and i was freezing and realized, why is it so cold?

3. Snow Free. So, at least there isn't any snow outside. That's a plus.

4. I have a warm place to live with lots of blankets to keep me toasty. Wow, that should be higher on the list.

Ok, that's it.

SO here are the negatives:

1. It's freezing outside.

2. EVERYONE is cranky because of it. Although I did meet this sweet hispanic woman from the Chicago 3rd ward the other night who brightly said "I love the cold, and I'm from Guatamala!" -- I wish I had her spirit.

3. Wind. The wind totally makes it worse. As if it isn't bad enough that it's 30 degrees outside, it has to feel like 20 degrees with the wind chill.

4. I still need to wear gloves and ear warmers AND my down coat to keep me warm. Who wants to still be bundled up like this on March 28? Not me. Can I pack up my crazy winter wardrobe yet? 

5. There is no sign of re-birth yet. No wonder Easter isn't until April 24th this year-- we need a whole extra Month to see the trees start budding again and flowers to peak out from the ground. It's totally depressing to still see the bare branches on the trees.

6. Remember last year at this time how I was blogging about our new BBQ, the sunny 50 degree St Patricks day we had, and how i was running on the trails every day with Katie Robinson? Yeah, that makes this Chicago cold even worse because I remember what an awesome LONG spring we had last year.

I could probably go on and on but I'll stop there. If anyone has any positive energy they want to send my way or remedies, please do. Let's just say I'm excited to travel to Texas next week to see the Sun accompanied with some warm temperatures. Wish my hubbie could come with me.

Friday Night Date Night. 
Location: Our neighborhood- the West Loop. 


It's March 26th but it's still winter here in Chicago. The good news is that by 6:30 we still have 30 minutes of solid light before it goes dark-- and that's something to celebrate. On Friday night Ryan took me to this awesome restaurant, Avec. As it is only a few blocks away so we decided to walk in the brisk spring night over there.

Note: we are still wearing our down coats outside -- can't wait to celebrate not needing that!!

Avec is a great little restaurant- and when I say little, I mean little! I didn't take photos myself but here are some from online to give you a taste of this place:
 

The restaurant.

Ok, now with people.

My favorite part of the mean- bacon wrapped chorizo dates. yum!

 I hope you all enjoyed a fun date this weekend! It's so refreshing to get out and try new things. One of my favorite things about living in Chicago is that great new experiences are all around us.

Grandma's Rolls: 
Unbelievable and Life-changing.

Is your mouth watering yet?

I've been hearing about Grandma Pixton's rolls for years now. The first time I met Ryan's family I had her cinnamon rolls, but I had yet to have her famous dinner rolls. Finally at Christmas I got to taste them, and as soon as I did, I realized how much I needed to learn about making good dinner rolls. AMAZING.

So when I was in Utah last week and had some extra time, my sister-in-law and I went over to Grandma Pixtons and took copious notes --step by step on how to make Grandma's rolls. We learned a ton (42 separate steps!!) and got to laugh and enjoy the wonderful company. We now have a list of things we want to learn from Grandma: raspberry jam and grape juice high on the list.

Here are a few photos. And yes, I took an entire pan home with me to share with Ryan!! So delicious.

Isn't Grandma the cutest??

 

Before they go into the oven.

Just out of the oven.

The bottom should look like this!! YUM.

JIMMER.
Need I say more? 

He looks 12 feet in the air in this photo!

Since I have been married my interest in sports and especially BYU sports & the Utah Jazz has increased. This 2011 BYU Basketball season has been especially exciting with our favorite bball player, Jimmer Fredette. He's such a rockstar and I have to admit my favorite song of the season is "Teach me how to Jimmer" -- if you haven't seen it, google it-- it's worth it (ESPN has even been showing it). 


There has also been a lot of chatter around BYU for their Honor Code decision with Brandon Davies-- all you have to do is google it and you'll know what I'm talking about if you don't already. All I have to say is I am proud to be an alumni of a University Institution that is known for LIFTING UP college sports and abiding by its morals and principles. BYU and the BYU Basketball team have become a light to the world of college sports and although not all understand the BYU honor code, many respect it and BYU for standing by it. There's more to life than a National Basketball Championship (although we would love to see BYU win it this year!). 


Let's just say I feel like my BYU pride has climaxed as I wore my BYU t-shirt today just to show my BYU/March Madness pride. 

Go COUGS!

The Royal Wedding
{The Royal Utah Wedding.}

We had the opportunity to join Jason and Lauren Osmond on their wedding day in Salt Lake City, Utah. We love being around family and it was such a great opportunity for us to be in Utah and see both sides of Ryan's family. It was a short and very sweet trip and we can't wait to get back to Utah for more fun family time. 

Lauren and Jason got married on a Monday, and I somehow talked Ryan into getting up at 5:30am so we could catch an endowment session before the sealing. It's a new goal of mine to attend the temple in Utah when we got back to visit. I want to see all of them! They are each so unique and beautiful. Glad we could start this tradition with the Salt Lake City Temple.  The spirit was so strong that day in the temple. Both Lauren and Jason looked so happy in the sealing room, we feel so honored to have been invited to attend that special ceremony. 


The rest of the day was a blur, but included seeing Matthew, attending a wedding luncheon, and then the reception that night at the Provo Library. Such a fun day!!
 

Waiting for the happy couple to exit the temple. We had a little photo shoot- thanks Megan!

 

It started to rain...

How cute are Nanny & Popsie? Love them. 

I love the temple. This temple gives me goosebumps to think about the love and dedication it took to build during those 40 years.

My favorite phrase listed on every temple.

How sweet is this?! Ryan and Nanny.

I know I already posted about my brother, but you gotta love this photo.

At the reception.

Us with Nanny & Popsie.

Love this picture of Ryan's Dad & Cousin Kaylee! The band was awesome that night! Lots of dancing.

End of the night in front of the Provo Library.

 

St. Patrick's Day Parade & Da Bulls
How many drunk people can surround us in one day?

Chicago celebrates St Patrick's Day early-- the Saturday before the Holiday. So when Ryan's cousin Cameron decided to visit us that weekend, we were so excited to show him all that Chicago has to offer. Unfortunately the good came with the bad :)

Friday night we spent in Wicker Park walking through the boutiques & eating at Piece (BBQ and Mashed Potato Pizza=YUM!). We even got to spend some time with Shaniqua, one of my young women :)

Saturday we walked the entire city. From the Bean, to the Green River, to Grant Park for the Parade to River North to meet up with Cameron's old rommate for lunch. It was a little more challenging to get around with the extra thousands and thousands of crazy St Party's Fanatics flooding the streets. They were dressed in all kinds of Green-- it was awesome, but also smokey, yuck. Check out some of our good times below:

After a day of walking we rested up and hit up the United Center for the Jazz vs. Bulls game. The only time this year Ryan's team would be playing in Chicago. Sadly, the Jazz played terrible and the Bulls played spectacular so it was a rough night for Ry. We also had the pleasure of sitting in front of a group of 16 people there for someone's birthday... let's just say they couldn't hold their drinks or their tongues. The 2nd half of the game was much better after they got kicked out.

The highlight of the game was the halftime show when they honored the 1991 Team who won the World Championships -- Scottie Pippen and MJ were in the house.

Thanks for the great visit, Cameron!! Come again soon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
Chicago likes to really celebrate this holiday. 

For starters, they dye the RIVER green. Like lime green. Check it out.

Add caption

 

I had big plans to cook a traditional irish meal and make Shamrock Sugar cookies but I just don't think its going to happen this year. Enjoy the Holiday!

SLC
There are perks to serving a Mission in Salt Lake City. 

We were lucky enough to fly to Utah for a few days to attend a family wedding this week. The wedding was gorgeous and it was SO GREAT to spend time with our wonderful family. One of our favorite memories & the one I want to post about first is getting to see my my little brother, Matthew while he is serving in SLC! His new area is downtown SLC, so he got permission to meet us at the temple. He is such a stud & it was so great to get to see him, even if it was just for a few minutes!! We got lots of photos, but here is the one from Ryan's phone:

Also, here is an excerpt from his last letter:
The work is going well when we started working together on Wed we had no people on date and now we have two people on date for baptism. The work is really moving forward. Both were miracles. Last night i finally met Chanelle and wow she is prepared. She has been taught before and when we told her that she could be baptized in two weeks she was stoked!! Its truly amazing to see how the lord works and how he prepares people. My companion is young but amazing he is a great missionary and we are working hard. We get along great and work well together so its just a great fit. 

Yesterday in church they had a speaker fall through and asked me to speak last minute i didnt really know what to say until i stood at the pulpit and the spirit told me what to do. It was a faith building experience. I taught of Christ rejoiced in Christ and testified of Christ. I know it touched my heart and those who listened because the spirit was the speaker. What an amazing experience to be an instrument in the lords hands. I hope we all can have similar experiences this week.

i am going to see kiley at 12 and excited it will be great to see her. The work is going great and getting even better. We added 5 new investigators this last week. That is one per day since i came into the area what a miracle. It wasnt me but the lord. All i did was put for my faith. My companion did as well and we pushed each other. I cant wait for miracles to see because i know they are on their way.

March=Spring.

March 21 is the first day of spring. Well, we are only 2 short weeks away from that and it is NOT spring! On Saturday it was snowy and freezing and resembled nothing of Spring, so I decided to buy my own spring. Yes, I just said, BUY. I saw some Tulips and I just couldn't resist. They make my little heart smile every time I look at them. They remind me that Spring will come. One day.

Spring Tulips- Day 1

See how brutal it looks outside?

By Day 4 they totally opened up.

Don't you just hear them screaming "Hello, Spring!"

Loving these tulips. Can't wait to find Ranunculus at the store next ...