Chiacgo & Iowa in 6 days

Tuesday evening-
After work we did Taco Bell and I helped Spencer do some home teaching. Then we did the dishes. I hope I can organize and not forget to pack anything. I am so ready for a vacation.

Wednesday-
I woke up around 6:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep so I decided to start getting everything ready for our trip. I headed to the laundry mat to do all our dirty clothes and watched Pretty Little Liars!!! I can’t believe Toby is the other A. Then I got home and got ready for the day. Afterwards I started cleaning up the house and packing everything we needed. Around 1130 my mom came over to keep my company. I was done by 12 so we went to Denny’s to eat some lunch and talk for awhile before 2. We picked Spencer up around 215 and headed to the airport! The flight wasn’t too bad but I had a headache and was pretty bored and tired. Steve Salisbury picked us up and we saw a few sights before heading to his place.

Thursday-
I didn’t sleep very well but that was to be expected. I got up around 615 and we ate breakfast and headed to Enterprise. They were out of cars so we got an upgrade. We got the car right off of the truck, with 19 miles on it. Red Dodge Avenger! Then off to Cedar Rapids, IA we went! Part way we stopped at the American Picker’s place and we bought an old key from them (I love it). Then we met by Uncle Kirk around 2pm. We then went to see Pop, my dad’s dad. He has lost a lot of weight and didn’t remember me (which is understandable). I didn’t know much to say but it was nice to see him and catch up a little bit. He kept asking for Neva, his wife and that he hadn’t seen her in years. But in reality he saw her a week ago, his sense of time isn’t the best. He still has his sense of humor though! He’d say do you know my son Steve, and I’d say yeah he is my dad. He would say oh oh! Then we were all sitting down and out of no where he goes your eyes are REALLY blue (to Spencer). But what a great grandpa I have. Then we went to see Grammy, my dad’s mom. She lives in a cute little place and her room is like a dollhouse. I love it! Her memory is just sharp as can be. Then we took her out to Aunt Cathy & Uncle Kirk’s place to get together with the rest of the family. My cousin Sarah and her kids Jakob & Makenna came to swim and so did my cousin Chris and his boys Alex, Jonah, Aiden, and Tristin. They all had a fun time in the water since it was such a hot day outside. It was nice to chat with them all for a little while. We had pizza and talked about a few things. Then they all left and we caught up with my Aunt & Uncle (My aunt is my dad’s sister). Spencer had allergies/a cold but other than that he was doing well. Me on the other hand TMI but once again it’s my blog so I will talk about it if I want to. I knew I was probably starting to get a yeast infection and those are never fun or convenient.

Friday-
We got up and went out to breakfast with Uncle Kirk and around 11am headed out to Waterloo, IA. We got to my Uncle Gene’s place around 1pm, we headed for some ice cream. Then Grandma Moore, and Aunt Pam stopped by. We all chatted for a little while and Uncle Fred stopped by too. Grandma (my mom’s mom) seemed to be doing fairly well. She knew who I was and talked a little but she is more of a listener. We stopped by to see Uncle Larry and then we headed to a pizza joint for dinner together. My uncle’s are just a hoot (my mom’s brothers). We all usually have a lot of fun when were together. Aunt Linda & Uncle Gene, Aunt Pam & Uncle Larry, Aunt Terri & Uncle Fred, I have an Uncle Bobby & Aunt Bonnie but they live in Washington. After dinner we said our sad goodbyes and went to the store to get Iowa Dip that my family loves. Then we played sequence and some dice games with my Aunt Linda & Uncle Gene. It was really fun to play games with them. By this time my yeast infection was getting worse but there wasn’t too much I could do about it yet.

Saturday-
We had to get the rental back by 1130 at the latest so we rolled out of bed left around 5am. It was a fairly nice ride and we got a lot of rain! We arrived back around 11am to drop off our rental. By now it had about 690 miles on it. =]
Then we got ready for the day and I just wasn’t doing so well. I was swollen, red, and uncomfortable. We walked to 5 guys for a delicious lunch and stopped by a few more places. It also rained a little bit but not much. We picked up some groceries and headed back to Steve’s place. By this time I realized walking was just not going so well for me so we decided I should go to a clinic to get some stronger medicine. By the time we walked ALL the way there (he doesn’t have a car so we walked and took bus’s and trains) they were pretty much closed and don’t treat the infections I had. I was about ready to start bawling I just wanted to feel better so I could enjoy my vacation. So we took the train back I took another kind of over the counter medicine. For dinner we went to an Italian place and then played some games to pass the time. Before bed I decided I could use a blessing. I don’t recall everything it sad but I felt a little better knowing things would work out some how.

Sunday-
For my yeast infections are worse at night it’s hard to explain but they are. I was excited to go to church with Steve but it was a 30 minute walk there and I was worse then before, the medicine wasn’t working. So sadly we decided the best route to go (since it was a weekend and a holiday weekend no less) to the ER. It was about a 2 hour wait before we got called back. I was right and it was a yeast infection. Then another hour later we finally finished paper work and could go to Walgreens to get the prescription filled. They said they would call me in 2-3 days for the test results (still waiting on that phone call). When I finally took the medicine I had to wait up to 24 hours before I really saw a change. I mostly sat around and watched YouTube videos or dozed off while Spencer and Steve would do a few little things here and there outside. We mostly played a lot of games until I was better to go out and do things. I was ready for the yeast infection to be over with.

Monday-
I woke up around 7pm 60% better! I wanted to shout it from the roof tops! I was ready enough to head out to our Segway Tour! It was a LONG tour but it was a lot of fun to see a lot in only a few hours and learned how to ride a Segway. My back kind of hurt and my feet hurt but it was worth it. Then we headed to Clarke’s for a much needed lunch. After that we walked back to rest for a few minutes before heading to The Bean aka Cloud Gate. It was a very crowded place but what a beautifully structure. Then we walked down Michigan Ave. to see a few shops and also a few street performers. Then we stopped at a Lego store, The Marble store and picked out a cool game, and of course a candy store! We then had Chicago style pizza, it was good but nothing beats Pizza Hut for me! We came back because we were all exhausted and Spencer and I did some needed laundry and played some games. I was glad I was finally seeing sights and getting out of the house but we were leaving the next day. =[

Tuesday-
This morning I felt fantastic! After we got ready for the day we got on a bus and headed towards The Willis Tower also known as The Sears Tower. It was such a beautiful building! We went to the 103^rd floor also known as the sky deck. You could see LOTS of buildings and it was a fairly clear day but still a little foggy. They have these glass section that extend a little farther out of the building so you can walk on them and stand on a glass see through floor… it’s really cool but also really scary. Your stomach drops when you look down and I feel like it could fall (like a crazy ride at parks) and so I tried not to look down but I wanted a cool picture on them. We headed back and stopped to get some yummy popcorn. Then when we got back Spencer and I went to The Museum of Science and Industry, it’s a HUGE museum. Some of it was pretty cool but other things were kind of boring so we just skimmed or skipped over them. We took some pretty cool pictures and learned a few new things but my feet were killing me by the end. Then we went back and ate the rest of the Baroda Mud Pie and packed up all of our belongings. I was really sad to leave Chicago also mainly because I missed a lot of our time there to explore because of my infection. But I was glad Steve could show us around and we enjoyed each other’s company but it was time for us to return home and back to our normal routine.
Our flight was pretty good and I kept busy and Spencer slept some of the way. My mom picked us up and we got home around 10:30 and I decided to unpack and put everything away so I wouldn’t have to worry about it later.

Wednesday-
I was exhausted by the time we went to bed but sadly I didn’t sleep well at all!! Once I got up I organized a few insurance things and made some appointments. My doctor isn’t available until December 3^rd, how crazy is that!! If there is an opening that comes up they will call me but that’s so weird. Then my next dentist appointment won’t be until like October 18^th which is also kind of far away. Other than that I got all the insurance things done and thankfully every place I got to take’s our new insurance so I won’t have to change that. Also looking into other places that I want and they take our insurance too! =]
Then I watched a few shows and organized and got ready to go back to work!
I’m not completely back to normal from my infection but hopefully everything will heal up completely soon because then I can go back to being my normal self.
It’s been a fairly good day at work, sadly my knots are back and my massage appointment had to be moved farther back =[
A lot of people at work missed me so that makes me feel pretty darn good! I’m just doing a few little projects here and there but not too much.
I love my job but I also didn’t miss it when I was on vacation but I still need to keep it for now and I can live with that.
Now back to our normal everyday life. Nothing planned for this evening!

Our Rental Car

The Tripp side of the family

Grandma Moore

Grammy & Makenna

Pop

Segway's

Nielsn/Gray side of the family

LOVE this picture of Spencer

At the SLC airport headed to Chicago

Chicago lights at night

Steve eating Iowa Dip

BMP: Baroda Mud Pie

Cloud Gate aka The BEAN

Our reflection in the Bean

My favorite reflection of the buildings

Spencer goofing off while doing laundry

Our new game i'm excited to play

Scary but pretty few

Stomach drops

Zip Car that Steve drove us in occasionally

Sadly at the Chicago airport on our way home to SLC

The key we got at Americna Pickers place

If you want to see more pictures they are posted on my Facebook page! Enjoy

Countdown-

77 days until Thanksgiving in California