Adventures in the Midwest

August 4th feels like it was months ago. I am having a hard time believing that it was just over a week ago. I met up with Matt and Scott in Chicago and thats where the adventure started. I should have known that it would be a week that I'd never forget. We walked up and down Michigan Ave. for a while, ate some pizza and enjoyed the scenery. Somewhere along the way, I must have sat down in something because when we stopped at the gas station on our way to Milwaukee a few hours later, Matt and Scott spotted something on my bum:

Good thing that Matt and I close enough that I let him try to remove whatever was there before this picture was even taken. I'd post that picture but its slightly inappropriate; or at least it looks that way. I should have known that this was only the beginning.

The next day at church I had the wonderful pleasure of hanging out with Tracy, the infamous 3rd cousin(once removed). What a great guy! I really was sad that we were leaving for Nauvoo so soon. It would have been awesome to hang out with him more. But such is life; so after a good Sunday afternoon nap and some good home cooked food, we were off to Nauvoo.

Here are some pictures of the sights along the way, via my camera phone. Lots of beautiful farmland.

Lucky for me, my friend Jacque who has been a 'sister' to me since we were knee high to a grasshoper happened to live in a town along the way. So since she loves me so much and since I hadn't seen her in a year and a half, she and her husband met up with us at a rest stop and gave us some tasty rolls. They were delicious and thanks to Jacque I had a little breakfast the next day. Obviously we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time together, but it was nice just to hug her since that doesn't happen so often these days. I really miss hanging out with her!

photo via flickr

On Monday morning we went to Carthage so that Melissa & Aaron could get their marriage license, and we hit up some touristy stuff as well. Aaron & Scott hadn't been there before, and it had changed a little since I had been there about 13 years earlier, so it was really neat to visit. My favorite memory from Carthage was when the sister missionary there told us that her brother went to USU, but we wouldn't know him probably since he was so old, having graduated from high school in 1997, and all. We all just smiled and didn't say anything, but I was laughing pretty hard on the inside. After getting back from Carthage, we decided to go play around Nauvoo a little bit. I'm still suffering a bit from the chiggers that I got while the above photo was being taken, but it was worth it.

Then we found some dress-up clothes. We took a few smiley pictures, but this serious one is really hilarious. Melissa looks like she's ready to kill someone and I look like I stole a hat from a 5 year old. Notice Scott, holding the sheep. Whatever you do, don't ask to milk it.

It was stinkin' hot outside, but Matt and Scott were having such a grand time, they skipped all the way to the Printer's Store.

We went to see the Young Performing Missionaries show at the Nauvoo Visitors Center where Matt was also a missionary during the summer of 2000. It definitely brought back a lot of memories for him. We ate a quick dinner with Melissa & Aaron's families, and then we were off like bunnies to decorate for Melissa & Aaron's wedding reception the next day.

Scott and I set up about 100 paper lanterns. Here are just a few of them. They were everywhere. I tried to find some pictures online of what the room looked like before, but I couldn't unfortunately. The transformation was amazing.

There was fabric, ribbon, umbrellas, and laterns all hanging from the ceiling in a random pattern. Awesome.
We got to bed late, but the next day, we had all morning to finish the final preparations and then head to the temple for their sealing.

Melissa looked amazing. Her dress was gorgeous, her bouquet was beautiful; The new Miller family is one good looking couple!

This isn't the greatest picture of Melissa but it shows her flowers and dress a lot more.

Scott called Melissa's niece Lauren "Apathetic Baby" because we had a hard time getting her to smile the first few days we were around her and she would let everyone hold her without batting an eye. She is just the cutest thing ever.

Here's me and Scott before the reception started. He's leaving for school in Brooklyn in a few weeks; I'm so proud of him! He's one of the best guys I know. Solid to the core, hilarious, super talented, and what a hottie!

Melissa & Aaron's first dance was to "Everything" by Michael Buble. It suited them perfectly. They are just so happy! I love that about them.

To be honest, I don't even remember what song Matt and I were dancing to, but if you zoom in a little, you can see how "radiant" we are. One of my all-time favorite things to do with Matt is dance. Not that we're that amazing at it, but we sure have a great time. Another favorite thing about this picture is my hair. If I hadn't gotten my hair straightened, I'm not even kidding...it would be a huge fro considering how hot I was at that very moment. Really, its a miracle in case I haven't told you before.
These two pictures are worth a thousand words. We left the wedding reception, went back to Nauvoo to shower and get our things, then we hopped back in the car and drove 5 hours straight to get to Chicago in time to make our flight to Salt Lake. Definitely one of the best road trips I've ever been on. It was good to just talk and laugh, and because we were a little loopy and slap-happy at 4am, we couldn't resist texting Melissa & Aaron to tell them all the things we'd been up to on our car ride. :) I got these pictures of Scott and Matt sleeping at the airport. I think I would have joined them but I'm really afraid that I wouldn't have woken up based on how I slept when we got on the plane.
Ok...my Utah pictures will be coming up Wednesday if you're lucky. And with that, I'm signing off. I'm still tired from this trip, wouldn't you know. (in my fake Minnesota accent)