Chicago Trip - Family and Culture

Sean had a chemistry conference in Chicago, so I thought I would tag along. We got to stay with the McBrides (Sean's cousin) and the Nords (my Aunt and Uncle).

Next time we take this trip, we will be going in the spring, summer, or fall.... It was still a fantastic trip. There is just so much more to see and take it. Seeing it - not in the winter -  would be pretty incredible.

We flew into St. Louis and headed over to the McBrides. It was nice spending time with them, and hanging out. Unfortunately, they were in a different state when it was picture time. So! We took a picture with a picture of them. Proof we were there!

Then we drove up to Chicago and spent time in the city with the Nords. I learned I'm not as motivated to take pictures when shopping or when I'm cold/uncomfortable. So, we'll just have to go back there when it's not as cold....

But, this building used to be a library in Chicago. It's not anymore, but can you imagine browsing books and reading in this building??

We stayed in the city a few days, and went to see Young Frankenstein also.

The Nords showed us a lot of the city. They were the perfect locals to recommend food and places, and it was really nice spending time with them.

Thank you family!!! Seeing familiar faces always makes our trips better and a lot more meaningful.

Northwest Trip Part 2: Washington

After saying farewell to the Bundys, we left Oregon and drove up to Washington to see the Maners.

There were a few spots along the road where the air smelled funny. After some investigation, we decided the smell was coming from the mills where they processed the lumber.

The first night, we had a cookout in the backyard. 

The girls had fun taking turns with my camera....

The next day everyone took the day off work and school, and we ventured to Mt. Rainer. It. Was. Beautiful.

While we were in the Seattle area, we tried out three different donut shops, checked out the new outlets, hung out, and Jenn introduced me to Charming Charlies. (We just found out it's expanding to Utah. Be excited!)

Sean and I got to go to the Seattle Temple.

 There were chestnut trees all around the temple. While we walked around, we kept hearing lots of clangs and pings. That was from the trees dropping their nuts.

Sean and I drove into the city to try out and authentic ramen shop. It was pretty tasty.

Us adults got to go on a date night to Seattle. We went to see Second Hand Lions: the Musical. It hasn't been on broadway yet, but it might someday. The performance was a premier and they are still revising it based on audience responses and input. I think it has a lot of potential.

To end our trip, we took the parents and older kiddos to a soccer game: Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake. We didn't realize when we got the tickets we were kind of in a supporters section....It was intimidating being in that stadium with over 55,000 spectators....most of them wearing lime green. Since we were noticeably supporting Salt Lake we got boos and hisses, but everyone was cordial. It probably helped we had some cute kids with us.

Our trip was so nice, it made it hard to leave. There were some stowaways in our car, and after driving them around the neighborhood we returned them home.

Thank you Justin, Jennifer, Brandon, Lindsey, Katelyn, Dylan, and Weston. We loved spending time with you guys in your own place.

Jenn also blogged about our trip here.

Thoughts on Thursday - Musicals

This morning, I made a playlist from all the show tunes and musicals I have. I grabbed one to three songs from each title. I tried to do a good mix of fast and slow, entertaining and serious. Kind of a best-of list. It could be a sing-your-heart-out list. Or an essence-of-the-story list.

Anyway, you get the idea. I've been listening to it for a while (it is over five hours of play time), and it has been a happy listen. It is super happy. 

You should come over and we'll have a party. If you want to sing along, I guess that's acceptable.

Some of the documented shows we've gotten to see over the years:

 

Mary Poppins, Phantom of the Opera, Seusical the Musical, The Lion King, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Porgy and Bess, and Jane Eyre.

Wednesday - What We've Been Up To

We've been up to a bit over the last few weeks. I just haven't gotten over here to tell you about it. With the end of February, brought warmer weather. Warmer weather means to me - time to get outside and enjoy nature!

Park Avenue Trail

Sean was sent out to the plant in Wendover for work, and I got to go with him. It was really nice to be together in the evenings. A lot less lonely. Over two weeks, we stayed in four different rooms. This one was our favorite. I'm impressed how the decorators can combine, opulent and sleazy.

Hotel Room in Casino

In between trips out to Wendover, we got to go on another hike. There was an arch at the end!

Canyon Hike

 When we got back from Wendover, we had some visitors come into town! Wahoo! It was so nice relaxing together and enjoying the days we had.

Moonflower Canyon

As you can see, many pictures were taken of the cute little one, the fellows enjoyed watching soccer, did an experiment involving curry and Oxy Clean, and there was lots of playing. (Thanks Travis, Jessica, and Emree for spending some of your Spring Break with us!!)

Last weekend, we spent less then 24 hours in Salt Lake County to see Utah Opera's production of The Magic Flute. We met up with some Wendover coworkers to see the show and grabbed a good amount of sushi before. It was rushed, but an excellent and enjoyable performance. (Thanks Rick and Laura for letting us introduce you to opera!)

I think that sums up what we've been up to in the last month. We're looking forward to Easter and General Conference!

October Overiview

For us, October was a good month and a very long month. We went out of town once every week, so it kept us busy.

First off, we had a hike to do for work! Corona Arch and Bowtie Arch in the evening:

We documented our driving. It's sometimes a way of entertainment.... This is mostly taken between Price and Spanish Fork. And yes, we are singing at the top of our lungs in some of these pictures.

The first weekend in October was General Conference! It was wonderful. There were a lot of great words and some exciting announcements. We also got to meet baby Emrree.

There was an extra hike we could do for work, and we picked a perfect evening for it. Delicate Arch. I mentioned it earlier, here.

We went up to Salt Lake to see the first Opera of the season, Verdi's Il Trovatore. Fortunately, a friend's reception was also happening that weekend, so we got to see a lot of happy and familiar faces.

We spent some time down at City Creek and Temple Square before the opera. (Store clerks treat you differently/with more respect when you step up your grooming and even comment on it. Noted.) Everyone got a box of chocolates after the opera since it was the opening night.

The next week, Sean had a training for work in Texas. Since he was flying out of Salt Lake, I came and got to play with my mom for a day and work on projects with here. It was a nice break for both of us. While Sean was in Texas, he got to see these fabulous people! Lucky.

He got back, and there was a Gowen cousin reunion at Nathan and Brenda's. Natalie and kids were out visiting too!

We decided to stay over for Sunday to spend more time with family. It was a good choice!

The next Tuesday night, we drove up for an RSL game. It was cold with rain/snow the whole time. We lost, but it was a fun game to watch with the boys. 

Sean took the next day off so we could drive during the day, so we got to have lunch with our friend Cassi. Who knew it would be a "hello" lunch and a "congrats to your new job, Cassi!" lunch.

A little bright out...

We did a short hike for work the following Tuesday night. Apparently, we were getting in the Halloween mood....

And finally, Halloween came. We didn't pass out candy due to other events, but our neighbors said they counted around 685 trick or treaters. It was quite busy on our street, and fun to see.

Sean, was a Scientist, and I was US soccer player Mia Ham. It worked.

Hope you had a fantastic October! Whew.

DC Day 7

NEW YORK!!!

Day 7 we took a bus up to New York City. With transportation and timing, we had limited time in the city. We had to make the most of it! Time to see our whirlwind trip. (Please note, we had our carry-ons and bags the entire day.)

We started with seeing Porgy and Bess on Broadway. AMAZING! It definitely deserved all the Tony's it won this year.

Japanese food! Not quite genuine, but Sean was excited.

Times Square

 So much history here!

I had my carry-on in one hand and the camera in the other. I was constantly taking pictures while walking. (I didn't quite feel like I could stop and take a picture every time I wanted to, since there were so many pedestrians.)

Whew! We hurried back to our bus and made it back to our same hotel in Alexandra at 1:30am.

Auto Show

It was actually the Car Show, but Auto Show has a fun sound to it.

They came from all around, and parked in a lovely shaded park. In the evening, they left the park and cruised Main Street until about 10:30 at night. It was quite the event and quite congested, but there were a lot of fun cars to see:

This is only a small sample of the pictures we took, and we took pictures of only a small sample of the cars at the show. There were hundreds!!