just another birthday in the city

we celebrated my birthday for days. the mr. did good! i wasn't super excited for this birthday. mostly because i was missing family and because i turned 25. for some reason turning 25 really freaked me out. the week leading up to my birthday i was a bit down.

cute mr. stepped in and made this the best birthday ever! it started the day before my birthday. spence took me to yolk, our favorite breakfast spot. we stuffed our faces and enjoyed being downtown together. after that i met up with some girlfriends for a little celebratory lunch. i am kicking myself that i didn't get a picture. 

after my girls lunch the mr. and i headed to my favorite little bakery, sweet mandy b's to pick up my birthday cake. its our new birthday tradition in chicago. i made spence take a picture of me in the same place as last year. something about creating memories and traditions in chicago is helping it feel like home. 

my birthday was on sunday. it was actually a really nice day. the mr. spoiled me of course and i heard from lots of family and friends. that night we had a bunch of friends over for cake and games. my friends even humored me and agreed to play one of my favorite group games. it was like we were all back at efy. 

monday the celebration continued with another girls lunch. man am i spoiled with incredible girlfriends. and again i'm kicking myself for not taking a picture. i need to work on that.  that night spence took me out to hub 51, our favorite restaurant in the city. we stuffed our faces with nachos and the most incredible carrot cake (and i don't usually like carrot cake). we finished the night walking hand in hand through nordstrom. 

even though i was dreading this birthday it turned out to be my best one yet! thanks to my incredible husband, many friends and awesome family! i was so spoiled and felt so loved. 

so maybe being 25 won't be so bad......

crappy phone picture but check out that cake...to die for! 

 spoiled at lunch with pumpkin pancakes....i'm still craving these!

 i have no idea what we're laughing about but i love this pictures!

 i struggled big time with these candles. the mr. had to step in and save the day.

love this man for making my birthday perfect!

a fun surprise

this weekend was full of fun surprises! the best was seeing matt and megan at church today. megs was one of my college roommates and best friends! we love her and matt and miss them like crazy. it was a busy weekend but we managed to skip a lot of church to chat and catch up. it's okay if your at the church and your meeting with old friends right???

even though it was only 15 minutes or so just seeing matt and megs warmed my heart. for some reason seeing friends (who are basically family) from home makes me feel less alone in the world. i love how small the world is! yay for byu football games that bring good friends to chicago.

any other friends want to come visit?

a dc visit

i met suz fall of 2010. she was in one of my political science classes. she was always so bubbly, outgoing, sassy and smart. i didn't think i was cool enough to be her friend. the next semester we were interns together. she was my life savor. she created a social calendar for the interns complete with pot luck lunches and dessert runs. i would go into her office when i needed a break. we'd chat, down our cokes and eat chocolate. 

i flew into dc super early yesterday. the day was full of to do lists and fires to put out. it was a long day. i had about had it by the time i got in a cab to meet up with suz. but just like old times she was my life savor. we spent the next few hours catching up, sharing stories, complaining about the government and eating way too much food. 

there is just something about a good friend. someone who knows and cares about you. and last night i needed a good friend! i love that dc holds some of my most favorite people. i just wish my trips were longer ;-) 

a baby shower

i love baby showers! there is just something about new little things for babe. i was able to help host a baby shower for cute cassie. cassie and her husband moved to chicago this summer and i couldn't be happier. they are so much fun and we hit it off from the start. love them! 

anyway, with the help of lots of cute girls we put together one fun shower. we kept things simple with lunch, dessert and a few fun games. i attempted to make a pinterest "rain shower"....lets just say it somewhat turned out. who knew hanging balloons in bunches would be so hard. it's not much but i have a few of my favorite pictures below.

 like i said...balloon bunches are hard. gosh pinterest...make everything look easy.

 our food spread. we also had two yummy soups but they didn't fit on the table...haha! 

 my most favorite thing were these straws. i've always wanted to have a party with cute straws. who knew they were so cheap. thanks to bianca the whole thing came together so cute!

i forgot to snap pictures during the shower...ugh so bad at that. but we caught this at the end. a few girls had already left but we grabbed the few at the end and set up the self timer. gotta love a self timer! 

can't wait to meet small fry. let's hope he comes soon! i love new little ones and love that i get to cuddle them during church! 

a utah game

oh man i really need to play catch up on my blog. when i went to load my pictures from the halloween party i found pictures from august that i have forgotten about...i'll get to those. today i wanted to post pictures from our utah-byu football game party. 

poor med school boys had a test the monday after the game. game day was spent studying for them. luckily we talked them into finishing early to come watch the game with their wives. we had a blast watching the game and stuffing ourselves with typical football watching food. dan and i really enjoyed the game :-) 

people say a house divided can't stand....i say a house divided is more entertaining! 

and here is us. i was trying to cover the y on the mr.'s shirt i the second photo. he caught me just as we were talking the picture. it's an awkward picture but i just had to post it! 

take me out to the ball game

after living in chicago for over a year we finally made it out to our first cubs game. we used to live just blocks from the stadium. we could hear the cheers from our little patio. so when we finally move a little north we decide to go to a game...go figure!  i can't believe it took us so long to get to a game!

we met up with our good friends gabby and jordan to enjoy the game. lets be honest...i watched probably about 10 mins of the game. it was more fun to just chat and catch up with gabby. i think the boys enjoyed themselves though...haha!

i did love our $7 seats, the guys walking around shouting "peanuts...get your peanuts", and just walking around looking at everybody. it was a great night. 

maybe next summer we'll go again...and this time pay attention ;-)

 (gotta love selfies where we try and get all 4 of us in, with crappy lighting, and even crappier camera....i'm too lazy to bring the good one anywhere with us anymore)

so even though the mr is way crazy busy with school, he still takes time to take me out and enjoy our little city. we're slowly but surely making it through our "chicago to-do list". good thing we have at least 3 more years here.