Big Willy

For those of you who filled your drawers when you saw the little teaser picture on my last post, here it is again:

You're welcome for that. Chilling, right? Our first official Chicago tourist destination was a visit to Big Willy... aka the Willis Tower... aka the Sears Tower (rest in peace). Needless to say, it was pretty awesome and provided some sweeping, other-worldly views of the city.

A little family shot out on the skydeck. Notice the glass floors. You need not take this picture lightly....

I say this because what you don't see here is the trembling, icy-handed mess that was my husband seconds before the shot was taken. While his smile is all charmy and convincing, he was suffering from a severe case of what I like to call "terror rage." The symptoms of terror rage manifest themselves in many ways, but generally include extreme irritability, paranoia, heightened reflexes, potty mouth and occasionally, violent flinches or outbursts.

Sam denied having any issues (typical in terror ragers), but his condition became undeniable to me when I, upon pretending to heave my body weight against the outer glass of the skydeck, felt a fist land squarely between my shoulder blades. And, in what can only be described as the voice of Satan, heard the words, "You better. Freaking. Knock. It OFF."

Sam never so much as uses a stern tone with me so it was almost as if he was another person entirely. I secretly kinda liked it. Just sayin'.

Anyway, these hot little numbers are a few of our new found besties here in Chicago who braved Big Willy along with us. Lincoln and Carina with littles, Brooklyn and Carson:

ANNND.... Mimi and Matt (not pictured, their little guy, Joshua):

We're pretty much in love with them already.

I'm hoping documenting all of the cool things there are to do here in Chi-town will prompt some of you to come visit... so be prepared for some tourism advertising, mixed with lots o' pics of the turkey sub to try to entice you.

*photos taken by Lincoln and Carina

Blue Moon... You Saw Me Standing Alone.............

Two weeks, folks. It's taken two measly weeks for my intrigue and elation with this place to turn into slobbering, sniffling homesickness and disdain. Well, not really disdain... cause I still really love it here... just mostly the homesick part. Many of you told me, "Oh yeah, you'll be fine until winter hits." Well, you severely overestimated my tender, little, wuss of a heart.

A small caveat; I'm PMSing and just started my post vacation diet... which means endorphin decrease + hormone increase + favorite thing in the whole wide world (food) decrease.... so don't be judgy.

Oh yeah, and I've also been feeling miffed this morning because I got out of bed all shivering and quivering and checked the weather... 56 degrees out. Not that bad for 6:30AM, right? Then I notice it says "feels like 42." WHAAAT?? How 'bout 56 degrees going ahead and feeling like 56 degrees. Thanks.

The truth is, there's really only one reason I'm feeling all blue and lonely today:

These beauties: My marme and daddy

And these beauties: My sister Meradith, hub Jason and their little beaut, Lucy

And these beauties: My sister Bethany and her 4 munchkins Ally, Elyza, Olivia and Isaiah... oh and Meradith... who is taking the place of Beth's mysterious hub, Walid... who has never been captured on camera...

And let's not forget my two brothers, Abe and Jesse, and their respective broods (Tiffany, Kinley, Cal, Ethan and Carson)... who have no decent full family pictures to speak of and therefore are remaining "unpictured" as punishment for not being better picture takers. Don't screw with me.

I guess that's more than one reason... but that doesn't change the fact that they are to blame for my feeling so disenchanted. Come to think of it, it was most likely the phone call I got from my two sissys, laughing and cackling away together, that really sent me over the edge. The reality is, I will never really love a place unless it comes fully equipped with all the bells and whistles.... my fam.

********

In the mean time....

We have been doing all sorts of really cool and exciting things. More on that later....

A Night to Remember...

So... I had a "you're in a new place with lots o' weirdos" experience the other night. Not that I'm not used to it... I've been living in San Francisco for the last 3+ years. And by San Francisco, I mean Weirdo Mecca. BUT, this was my first intro to the Chicago brand of weirdo. And it came in the form of the cable guy.

To start, Sam was off at a friends house watching BYU get spanked so I was all alone. Which makes having a strange man in your house especially invigorating. I knew I was in for a treat when I got a frantic call from an unknown number:

***I'm typing this in my very best eastern European accent, so read it like that***

Ahem...

Cable Guy (CG): Ummm... miss Vanessa? I can't find parking ANYWHERE! (stream of expletives) YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! I'M GONNA WRECK MISS VANESSA! OH (expletive) I'M GOING THE WRONG WAY DOWN A ONE WAY STREET! (honking) YOU GOTTA FIND ME A PARKING SPOT!

Me (trembling in fear): Uhh, ok, let me go to a window and see if I can see a spot.

I lead him to a spot pretty much directly in front of our building.

CG: Oh man I am such an (expletive)! You are my SAVIOR Vanessa! I'm so stressed out. Today has been a very very bitter day.

At this point I was super excited to hang out with this guy, so I said a quick prayer that I'd know not to let him in if he was gonna kill me, and opened the door.

The first thing he proceeded to do was snoop around in the kitchen. I was surprised, but I thought for sure there was a cable related purpose to his snooping so I didn't intervene. When he emerged, he shouted in a whisper that he needed a soda and asked if I had any. I got him a drink and he stood there in the middle of my living room, head thrown back, guzzling like a drunk, gasping and smacking his lips in satisfaction after each swig.

He busied himself with the cable wires, etc. in a very dramatic, frustrated fashion, peppering his expletives and grunts with small talk about his life growing up in Serbia and his transition to the States. He asked me where I was from and I immediately regretted telling him I had just come from San Fran. This sent him off on a tirade about homosexuals. He shook his fist in the air and told me, "If you try to be gay in my country, my people will bloody you!!" Then he asked if I was gay...

Don't you worry, there's more. My very FAVE part....

Just before my Serbian Stallion was about to leave, he told me he wanted to run one more test on the cable outlet, which was located in one of the coat closets. I sat back, anxious for him to be done. He disappeared into the closet and reappeared suddenly in the doorway, arms clasped and stretched out in front of him in a Charlie's Angels pose, pointing his power drill at me like a gun. I gasped and wet my drawers.... he threw his head back IN LAUGHTER and gave the drill two revs to show me what it was. Even now, as I type this, my heart is pounding out of my chest remembering the feeling that washed over me when I thought this maniac had a gun.

Needless to say, I was a bit jumpy and a little irrational for the rest of the night. I checked on Leah like 10 times.... I called Sam and witched him out for not being more protective and allowing the cable to be installed when he wouldn't be home.... pretty standard post think-you're-gonna-get-shot-or-at-best-maimed behavior.

Now that it's over and I'm past the trauma of it all, I'm probably gonna get myself a power drill and pull that little prank on some of you. It was a pretty good joke.

THE END

Chicago, Yer Treatin' Me Good

*******UPDATE SEE BOTTOM FOR ADDITIONS*******

I'm not sure exactly what I love so much about my new home... Maybe it's that every morning I look out my window and see this:

Or it could be that I live in a HUGE apartment in this cool, old building:

And that it's graduate student housing so every tenant is mange-free and a potential BFF.

Or maybe it's that the manager is a jolly man from Croatia who, no matter what emotion he's feeling... excited, frustrated, startled, amazed... turns beet red and shouts, "Wot de hick!? You son offa beach!" I'm pretty sure he doesn't know it's not exactly polite...

Possibly it's that pretty much every building on the University of Chicago campus looks like this:

It could be that everyone here is seems to be especially jovial and friendly. Or that every single street is covered by a canopy of lush, green trees and speckled with vine-covered brownstones. Or that I've been checked on by like 10 people in my ward already to see if we're doing OK and getting settled in.

Or perhaps it's that my bishop is from Blackfoot (near Idaho Falls) and during our introductory meeting with the bishopric posed the question to his two Utahn couselors, "why is Idaho so windy?" and then replied, "cause Utah sucks!" and high-fived me across his desk. I jumped up for a chest bump but I don't think he planned on taking it that far and it got a little awkward.

Maybe it's not Chicago at all... maybe it's just that I have a bebe who looks like this:

And another bebe who looks like this:

Hmmmm... I'll have to think about it....

In the mean time... MORE PICTURES!

I'm sorry, I love this pic. She got ahold of an earring and was standing just like this for like 5 minutes straight.... inspecting and buffing...

Nothing quite so glorious as when your child gets to the age that you can turn to the tube for some free babysitting.

And a little final Utah recap:

I can't even begin to describe how much I love every single thing about this photo.

Luckily Leah stopped being so threatening and Mera stopped being so terrified and they made up.

I can't really say anything about that little face.

Leah really hated getting her diaper changed. Lucy really loved Leah getting her diaper changed. This was the scene every time.

This little sequence pretty much sums up our entire relationship:

What could have caused such a dramatic change? Maybe I licked his face, maybe I didn't.

Oh little Loofy, Leah is going to miss you almost as much as I'm going to miss your mother.

Thanks to everyone who made our summer in Utah/Idaho/South Dakota the best!

******UPDATE******

I forgot to include this little tid bit above because the pics were on Sam's phone. But really, it would be a sacrilege not to document....

We went to the US vs El Salvador world cup qualifier at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy.

I was feeling so supportive I even wore a little red hat. Truthfully it was Kathy's, too big, and wool so it made an exit immediately following this picture.

We were sitting among what seemed to be a sea of El Salvadorians. And it was nice and cozy because they like to roll like this:

That's right. You are seeing overlapping glutes. There was a family of six sitting in front of us... crammed into 4 seats. Don't ask me how they got through the front gates. Maybe it's a cultural thing because I ended up asking the gentleman sitting next to me if he was trying to sit on my lap (not kidding) and gave him a good elbow shove.

Sam was so thrilled to be attending that he wasn't even phased by the $90 speeding ticket he was issued on the way there. I guess, all in all, it was worth it. A night Leah-free with the hub, getting hoarse from so much "in yo facing" directed at the little puke pictured above on the left, and beating El Salv 2 to 1. Worth it, indeed.