Chicago Meeting

Matt was nominated for president elect of the UANA and won the election.  In October, he began his two years as president elect and then after that he'll be president for two years.  Ted's president right now so he's excited about serving with Ted.  The AANA put on a training meeting in Chicago for anyone serving on a board.  There were four people that came from Utah.  Ted and Amber, Eddie and his girlfriend Jenny, and Cheryl and Jordon.  Jenny hung out with Amber and I.  Cheryl's husband only stayed a day.  I really enjoyed getting to know Cheryl.  She's an amazing person!  It was fun to spend some time with Amber too.

At first I was really torn because Chase had a football tournament in Mesquite at the same time and then Shan was blessing Hazel.  I worried about Mom taking care of the boys.  But then things fell into place.  The J's offered to take Chase to the tournament.  Tiff had Chase sleepover at her house on Wednesday and then took him to the J's Thursday morning.  We dropped Bridger and Tanner off at Mom and Dad's Wednesday evening and then Dad drove us to the airport.  Everyone was so sweet to help us out.  We couldn't have done the trip without their help!  We flew out Wednesday evening so we could have one full day together before Matt started his classes.  We played all day Thursday in the city.  Our hotel was about 45 minutes away from the city so we figured out the subway system to get into the city.  Once we got into the city, we realized how dumb we had been because we thought it was going to be warm enough so we left our coats at the hotel.  It was freezing so our first stop was Nordstrom Rack and we bought jackets.  Shan recommended an architectural boat tour.  We went on that at 3:00 and it was really fun.  The sun was starting to set by the end of the tour which made it really pretty on the city.  The Cubs won the world series the week before so everyone was so excited about that.  There were signs everywhere congratulating the Cubs.  

We were in Chicago just a few days after the presidential election.  When we walked pass the Trump building, Matt said "I've got to take a picture of this and send it to your mom."  It made me laugh!  The city of Chicago was very upset about the election and everyday there were protestors in front of the Trump building which made things exciting.  I joked with Matt that I was going to go join them.  

Before our boat ride, we asked a local where to go for lunch.  She recommended a pizza place.  We ordered their famous stuffed pizza and it was really good!  We ordered some garlic cheesy bread that was the best cheesy bread I've ever eaten.  After the boat ride, we stopped by Ghiradelli's for a yummy dessert.  We both got the caramel sea salt sundae and it was delicious!!!  Their chocolate is so good.  We headed back to the hotel around 6:00 and met up with the people from Utah for dinner.  The next day, Amber, Jenny and I took the subway into the city.  We ate lunch first at a pizza pub place that the hotel recommended.  We ordered the stuffed pizza and it was even better than the one I ate yesterday.  Then we went to the National Gallery of Art.  They have the largest collection of impressionist in the US.  Jenny is an artist so she loved the museum and wanted to see everything!  We spent half the day there and it was wonderful to just enjoy the art and not be rushed.

On Saturday, Amber and Jenny wanted to hit some shopping outlets that were close to the hotel.  But I wanted to go into the city and shop there.  I was fine going by myself.  I'm so grateful mom raised me to be independent.  My first stop was the American Girl doll store.  I spent almost two hours there and it was pure bliss.  I kept texting and calling Mylissa. It was so much fun.  Then I walked along Miracle Mile and hit some shopping.  I found the boys a Cubs shirt.  I stopped by a big Disney store and bought Tanner a little Jake and the Neverland pirate figure set.  Everyone was raving about "Garrett's" popcorn so I found a store.  But the line went outside the store.  It was a 45 minute wait.  I waiting in line for about 10 minutes and the line wasn't moving very fast so I bagged it.  Cheryl was on the same flight home so we left the hotel together.  While we were at the airport, we found a Garrett popcorn store.  We were so excited so we each bought a big bag.  I bought the traditional Chicago mix of half cheese and half caramel.  It was so good!!!  But I'm glad I didn't wait 45 minutes for it.