Well, You Got Me!

It was so neat to watch the L-trains!
This is the restaurant Petterino's where we ate dinner.
Wicked Awesome 'Wicked'!
Yeah, we were talking and Dave's all, 'Here's the womens' room" so I walk in without paying any attention....right into the men's room. The men in there and I all had a great laugh. How embarrassing!
This is our room.

This was Friday night and the kids gave me some sweet gifts they made (well, Tommy owes me an hour long pedicure...looking so forward to that!)
This is us outside our hotel....do you like my 'Shelley' face?
This was the coolest art sculpture!
This is some of the 'culture' in Chicago!

Most of you know...Dave and I love to surprise each other with trips. I don't know why, but we think it is just so fun! So, this Saturday was my birthday and Dave had asked me what I wanted to do. Well, I remembered having such a great time going out to lunch with all my friends the last couple of birthdays in AZ (there was no Heidi here to plan this year), so I decided to throw my own birthday luncheon. I invited 6 lovely women to join me at Claim Jumper, and I was so excited. Then Dave and I were going to dinner and see the new Batman movie later on.

So, I'm get all ready to go out with my friends and Dave says he has a house we need to go look at, so we jump in the car real fast. (We have some great friends in our ward staying with us while they finish the renovations of their house, so they volunteered to watch the kids.) Well, after driving for a few minutes, I'm like, "Dave, where are we going?" Because he was totally going the wrong way. Dave drew it out for a while, but finally told me we were going to Chicago. It's about an hour and a half from where we live. At first I was mad because I REALLY was looking forward to an outing with my girlfriends! He told me we were going to take the train in, but I didn't have my ID on me, so we drove. I have to admit, I got a little teary-eyed and choked up about leaving Jane behind. After the initial upset, (as I get older, I realize I'm not as spontaneous as I like to think!) I cheered up. We stayed at the W hotel which is supposed to be all 'posh' or something. Dave had roses and chocholates and a sweet card on the bed waiting. Very romantic! Then he told me we were going to see 'Wicked' which I was so excited about. He had bought me a new outfit for the evening, so we changed and walked downtown. It was so beautiful! The outskirts of Chicago can be kind of sketchy, but the actual downtown is clean and lit up, so it was great to walk through. There is some crazy art sculptures and muesems and cool buildings everywhere. We ate at a neat steak house, got some fancy gormet popcorn, and then went to see the show. I absolutely loved it! I'd seen Les Mis and Phantom in Phoenix, but this is just a different type of show. I definately recommend going to see it if you can. I slept beautifully and soundly...thank you, Kelsi, for taking care of Jane!

The next morning we did a little more sight seeing and then headed home. It was a great birthday. I'm so glad that Dave takes care of me and keeps me on my toes!