Every 2+ years.

I have a thing for cities. 

One of my dreams is to live in the heart of NYC for 1 year.

Car-less.

We will walk everywhere.

(maybe when we are empty-nesters?)

Taking in all the history and skyscrapers. 

I will be in Christi heaven.

Bryce will endure because he loves me. 

We go up to Chicago every few months if not every, to attend one of the temples of our church.

However, it is not located anywhere convenient to downtown.

And since we are whimps,

and slightly terrified of Chicago drivers,

we have yet to brave it alone as our little family of four.

Luckily, a certain brother and sister-in-law come into town 

and we go. 

We went back in October 2010.

You can see it here. Now, the weather that day was PERFECT! I'm still in awe...

2 kids and almost 3 years later, we returned this past July.

I plan it.

Bryce drives. 

He loves that part. 

The weather called for beautiful, sunny, high 70s.

A nice break from the 100s a week before. 

My brother comes from Arizona.

This is thus, their highly anticipated "cold" get-a-way.

AND it delivered.

Rainy, cloudy, and low 60s. 

I was super bummed

but we still had an awesome time.

The Art Institute of Chicago fun.

Slight alteration to what we had on hand.

The bean is a must. Of course.

My adorable niece, Laila!

:)

Jenn LOVED my photography skills.

ROFL! (I must've taken 10 pictures) Can't believe I just typed that...

Victory!

Not pictured: Delicious Chicago deep dish pizza for dinner. We called ahead and took it back to the hotel. For the kids, it was best.

Swimming on the top floor of the hotel was cool. In every way.

Hotel Corner Room. I love love love this!

The Shields brought Brycen and Cian new shirts from Aunt Laura and Uncle Josh.

Next day lunch at the Hancock building. Cost the same amount of money for lunch as it was to go to the observatory a floor lower. We'll take it!

Next time---I want to go when I am not already starving so I can wait the extra 45 minutes for a window table. Or just make a reservation. Yup, I'll do that.

Kid smoggies on the lenses= a nice heavenly glow. Who knew?

She is soon going into the archives.

That's our childhood!.....And drink from Jamba. It happened to be free Jamba day for the kiddies. Score!

The beach. My (should've been warmer...) trip was officially complete.

Trying to get the tree to block the wind for him. It was cold! (despite what the shirtless man and shortsleeve shirt girl behind him would have you think)

One of my favorite little families.

I can't wait to go again!

Sleep Problem

Cian hates sleeping. I love sleeping.
I love blankets. He hates them.

Not uncommon for Bryce to find us like this.

Every morning.

Revisiting: Our Special Days

These delicious Dairy Queen treats have somewhat become a tradition to get on my birthday. No one seemed to be complaining.

The 1st Tuesday of May (my birthday!) was discount day at the Indy Zoo. The Dolphin Show was a hit.

And I managed to get ONE good picture. WITHOUT any dolphins. Such talent!

My awesome photography. Cian's face is priceless.

Can you tell that we like free stickers?

Baby elephant! SOO cute.

Can I sleep on one leg too?

LOVE. Love. Love.

I will always treasure the quiet rides.

That night, we started a 4 week dance class together--the Mr. and I. SOO much fun. 

And I had my Tuesday night volleyball, complete with surprise treats and homemade bread from my friends. 

It was perfect.

Pictureless: The day break (May 8th) between our special days, we invited friends and neighbors over for a BBQ. It's our second year doing it and may just become a tradition. 

I love celebrating on a day that is not our own---it's actually our nephew's birthday! 

Close enough to our day but without the stress ON our day. You know? 

We also had a birthday party for just Brycen's friends, the day after his birthday (May 10th)--birthday ALL week long! 

More because he had joy school on his birthday and we wanted to do a morning thing with his friends.
Pizza, cake, games, presents--it was hard work but Brycen loved it all.

And we crashed hard that night.

But back to the 4 year old's special day:

Just opened the BYU Jersey and plane ticket to Utah, from Grandma.

Counting down to his birthday from January was exhausting. He was so excited, he woke up at 5am. A nap was needed.

LOVE this picture. That night he was sung to at Texas Roadhouse.

These cowboy hats are going to be perfect for Halloween. Stay tuned!

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Update: Totally found more pictures after publishing the above:

Birthday donut. Blowing out the candles was his favorite part. We re-lit them 5 times.

Birthday Gifts after dinner.

Birthday Party with Friends.

Crazy fun.

 

He loved his birthday money from Grandma Great. And wrote his own Thank You cards. Oh man, I love that he can write!