Bye Bye Chicago!!

Our summer of selling is finally over and to celebrate we spent a few days in the windy city before we came back to Utah. I think we did as much as possible in two days - bike tours and boat tours, shopping, baseball game, Sear's tower, museums, etc. But the best part of our whole trip was having Reno all to ourselves!! I am so happy that he is finished selling so that we can spend time together as a family

.

Riding the train into town - we became pros at public transportation

Us and Sue, the largest T-rex

Cubs game and Wrigley field. As always, we were there about two hours early.

This bike tour was one of the highlights of our trip. You ride bikes through all the different neighborhoods of Chicago. Chicago seriously has it all, we felt like we went through 5 different cities on this tour. It has the big city feel, quiet quaint neighborhoods with the cutest townhouses, nice parks, and beaches!! I felt like I was in a movie half of the time. Marli of course loved the ride. She made herself quite comfortable resting her legs on Reno's seat so he had a hard time sitting down most of the ride. She even took a nap along the way.

Beautiful Chicago skyline

Another highlight of the trip was the American Girl store. I don't know who was more excited to be there - me or Marli. Marli loved looking at all the dolls, especially when we got to the Bitty Baby section. We probably spent an hour in there watching Marli try to maneuver both strollers. Lucky for her Santa is bringing her her very own doll this Christmas:)

Here we are standing out on the Sear's Tower Skydeck!!

We loved all the fun experiences we had in Chicago this summer and hope we can come back to visit again soon!!

3 of Marli's Favorite Things

Sitting in her carseat when it's not in the car.

Being Naked while sitting in her carseat when it's not in the car.

Eating chocolate chip cookies when she's being naked while sitting in her carseat when it's not in the car.

It doesn't get much better than that!

good read

Have you ever read the Nie Nie Dialogues? I am a little late to hear about it I know, but I had never heard of this blog until some of my friends were talking about it a couple of weeks ago. To get the full story you need to go to her archive and start from August 2008. I hope you have a lot of time because if you are like me you will be hooked reading this amazing story for like the next three days! I love her insights to the simplest things in life and her incredible strength as she has been recovering from a traumatic plane crash. Just reading her blog has made me want to be a better wife and mom. If you have never read it, you should check out this blog I promise you will love it!!

Wedding Day!!

Cory and Lyndsey got married last Friday and it was a beautiful, fun, and exhausting day. Marli did not feel like cooperating in pictures so she is crying in almost every picture we took. This first pic is her reaction when she saw the temple - she thought it was so great! But it was all down hill from there. The yellow skirts turned out adorable and so were the little girls wearing them.

The beautiful bride and her faithful flower girls. I don't think they let her dress touch the ground all day.

I got too carried away taking pictures of yellow skirts that this is the only picture I have of the handsome groom. (With my sweet grandma)

Marli and Macie

Carsyn, Sabrina, Cate and Jocelyn

All the girls

My whole family (minus Reno). It is a miracle that we even got a picture this good.

Besides all the wedding festivities, Marli had fun playing with cousins, riding bikes, and playing at the new splash park. We loved our trip home to Utah and cannot wait til we can move back for good!!

This month has gone by crazy fast!! I have not posted for long time so here are some pics of what we have been up to. Marli is seriously getting so big and so old!! She passed the 19 month mark last week! I feel like I have a little shadow and echo walking around with me at all times. She is so observant and picks up on everything I do, it is kind of scary! She is also talking so much and tries to copy everything I say. Some of her new favorite words are "gross", "banana" (which actually sounds more like balalala), "ball", "shoes" and "elmo". Her favorite foods are "rolls" - any kind of bread, sandwich or muffin is a "roll", baked beans, and bananas. She definitely keeps me entertained and there is no one I would rather be 'stuck' with 24/7! (except for maybe her dad:))

One day when Marli was finished eating she gathered up everything on her tray and handed it to me and said "all done". She had even put the crusts from her bread in the yogurt cup. Thats a step up from the usual throw-everything-onto-the-floor that she normally does.

The other day I was fixing dinner and I could hear Marli playing, but I couldn't see her. Well, she had found a new hiding place - inside the dryer!! This was after she had dug through my bag of flour like it was a pile of sand.The reason I haven't posted in a month is because every spare minute of my day I have been doing this:10 hours a day, 70 yards of chiffon, and 5 trillion ruffles = The cutest skirts ever!! I have been sewing pettiskirts for all my nieces for Cory's wedding. They turned out so cute, but I would not be sad if I never had to sew another ruffle in my life.

My little copy cat

San Diego

Marli and I flew to San Diego for the annual Mendenhall trip. Of course Reno couldn't come because of work and we were so sad to leave him behind. This trip pretty much consists of beach, beach and beach. Marli did pretty well in the sand and loved the water! She had so much fun seeing Grandma, Grandpa and Sutton. Thanks you guys for such a fun trip! The Mendenhall clan

Marli loved watching Cutter, Breaker and Raeder on their boogie boards. I didn't realize how observant she was until she pulled this board down to the water and tried "surfing" all by herself!!

Marli got a taste of the salt water and did not like it one bit!

Marli, Me, Julie (grandma) and "G.G. Nore" (great-grandma)

Four generations!

This is how Marli ate breakfast every morning at the hotel. She was so excited to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse since she is never awake early enough to watch it at home.

Bubs, Marli and Breaker

Marli LOVED playing with all her cousins. Even though they are all at least 5 yrs older than her. I think Bubs won the prize as her new best friend because Marli was always asking for her and would follow her wherever she went!

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July this year. We started out going to the parade in La Porte and it was fun, but lets just say it wasn't Provo on the 4th of July thats for sure! You know you are in a farmtown when the whole parade consists of police cars, fire trucks, horses and tractors. There may have been 1-2 marching bands and a cheer/dance group, but that was about it. Marli loved it, and as you can see she was happy just dancing in the street with her balloon. After the parade we had a lunch with all the wives and then Reno actually got off early so we could go to dinner! The whole office went to Cheesecake Factory downtown Chicago, but unfortunately I didn't take any pics.