ChiCaGo wEekEnD

For weeks I have been looking forward to my weekend with family in Chicago. I'm always looking for excuses to go back to my hometown to be with them, and this particular weekend was the perfect one. Nana was turning 85, and my mom and my Aunts were throwing my cousin Jillian a bridal shower. She and her fiance, Todd are getting married this June, but since the wedding is too close to my due date, so I won't be able to go :( I felt a teeny bit better knowing I could attend her bridal shower, at least.

Todd & Jillian

This picture makes me feel old...not only is my "little" cousin getting married, but my cousin, Crystal (2nd from the left) was the flower girl in our wedding, and she was only 3 or 4 years old at the time! Where does the time go?!

It was a quick weekend, and we packed a lot in, but I was so glad to be there. Dave has been in a heavy travel season for work, so he held down the fort at home while I was away. My mom and me and Aunt Cathy stayed with my Nana & Pop, and I loved having all that time with them.

Aunt Cathy, Nana & Pop, and my mom

Since I didn't have the responsibility of the little ones, I took advantage of the opportunity to sneak away on Saturday morning to meet up with an old friend from grade school days (we've known each other since 5th grade!). We haven't seen each other in years, and I LOVED having the time to catch up with her! I wish our 1.5 hours could've been stretched into about a week!

Candice & me

Saturday afternoon was Jillian's bridal shower, and then all men-folk came over later that evening to celebrate Nana's birthday. We ate lots, and lots and LOTS of yummy food, and then all us cousins tried to burn off the calories on the Wii (I will spare you all from the embarrassing video footage, but will retain it for blackmail purposes)!

Jillian with my mom

The newest member of our family, Aristyn

Nana opening her gifts

Looking through a photo book that Aunt Tracy put together

My cousin, Karlie painted this for Nana :)

Pretty tulips from Todd & Jillian

Pop & Jaxon having a very intense conversation

I grew up in a small Presbyterian church full of wonderful people. I always love going back to visit. My grandparents and a few other family members still attend there, so we all went together on Sunday morning. After lunch, my mom and me and Aunt Cathy ventured onto Midway to catch our flights. We had some time to kill, so were able to hang out a little longer. A fun surprise, though, was that Dave was traveling to Orlando this week for work, and he had a layover at Midway on Sunday afternoon...our time overlapped for about 45 minutes, so we were able to have dinner together before we both went in different directions :)

Dave's mom was with the boys during this time, and the other fun tidbit is that my mom flew back with me to Omaha. She's here for 10 days, and me and the boys are loving our time with her so far. Dave's flight lands any minute, and we're looking forward to having him home! To make it even better, his work trip for next week was cancelled - woo hoo!