Apology

For those of you who have become frequenters to our blog, I am sorry. I've been reprimanded by Kristen who is very consistent with updates, please forgive me. I'm not very good at this yet. Well our month has gone as follows:

We had some friends from So Cal drive through for a night on the way to a funeral. It was great fun to see the Jutila's, we enjoyed a nice sushi dinner and they came with us to the dedication of our new chapel. It is a beautiful building and we are so excited to get to have it.

Jarron, Rosalyn, Joshua, & Noah Jutila at our new chapel

We were able to go to Chicago over the last weekend in October. We met up with Riley and Jill (Chris' brother and wife). We stayed at her parents place in downtown Chicago. SO FUN. It is a spectacular location with a fabulous view, Oprah lives in the same building, we didn't see her though. We enjoyed shopping, a comedy club, a taping of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" (NPR Sat 10:00am), and lots of food (Giordano's deep dish pizza, classy North Pond, Garrett's popcorn, Walker Bros. apple pancake) just to name few of the delectiable eats. We had a great time together. On Sunday evening Chris and Riley drove me out to New Lenox (suburb about 45 min from downtown) to stay with my old roommate Whitney. I stayed until Wednesday morning. We had so much fun together. The last time we saw each other was at my wedding 4 1/2 years ago. I had never met her little Ivy who is now 2 1/2. I loved the late night chats, shopping, eating, sewing. It was a much needed vacation. Thanks Whit for the good times. Thanks Justin for letting me take your wife for a day or two. I truly enjoyed seeing Ivy dress up for Halloween as a "wion". Kids are so cute. I highly recommend a trip to Chicago for anyone that can. Great city.

Riley & Jill on the bridge in Chicago

Chris and I checking out the fall Leaves

The view from our room downtown

Ivy Fredin as a lion

It is so nice to visit with friends and family. Unfortunately, while in Chicago my grandfather got really sick. I was so grateful to be able to reroute and go to Oakland to see him. It is hard to see your grandparents age. He is doing better now, which we are so blessed for. It encourages me to make the effort to spend more time with my family. When I got home from all the travels, back to work as usual. I've enjoyed two Saturdays off in a row to throw 2 baby showers for friends. It was fun. Love all the little baby things. We are now gearing up for the holidays which seems to be approaching more rapidly than expected. We are excited to be going to So. Pasadena for Thanksgiving and can't wait to see everyone. Lots to get organized before we go though. I have to teach in RS this Sunday so I need to plan my lesson before anything else. Well it is a semi brief update, but brings you up to speed. I will be better. I think I get impatient with the computer, but I am figuring this thing out. Thanks for your patience.