so this post will be mostly for me. i want to document my mom and grandmas surprise visit to chicago. its long so don't feel bad about skipping to the pictures...lets be honest i'm guilty of that sometimes!
if i'm being honest, i was bummed about celebrating my birthday without my family. this was the first birthday alone. friday night i was playing the baby. i cried the day before my birthday...haha. my actually birthday was pretty amazing. spence did a great job making me feel special even if my family wasn't near. more on that later.
my mom told me my present was on its way. it was supposed to get to me on saturday. i was so excited to come home and find a package with my name on it. but of course it didn't come on saturday. i wasn't super worried because we struggle getting packages. i called my mom and told her it didn't come. she said she would find a tracking number so i could figure out where it was.
sunday morning i got a text from mom. "didn't have time to find the tracking number, i'll look again later. i'm back to back most of the day so i'll talk to you later". no big deal, she's the relief society president for heaven sakes. of course she is busy on sundays.
that night we went to dinner at friends, had a blast and then headed home. i practiced the harp, wrote a few thank you notes, and started getting ready for bed. suddenly spence started cleaning the place. this isn't a huge surprise but when he started really cleaning the kitchen stove, second room and family room i was impressed. my thought "wow, spence is in a cleaning mood. i'm going to stay up and see if i can keep him going". haha, yep that is what i thought. i was so excited to have a clean house for the coming week.
i was slightly bugged that my mom still hadn't called. it was 10:30pm at that point. i pulled out my phone and started a text to tell her i was headed to bed and that i loved her. right then i she called. she sounded worried. she told me my birthday package said it was delivered today.
me: mom it didn't come today
mom: but it says it did
me: we don't get packages on sundays.
mom: will you please just go check
me: mom, i've been outside tonight. there is nothing there (i then looked out to our mail area...nothing).
mom: syd it said it was delivered. will you please just go outside and check
then she hung up on me. how rude
i was bugged, it was raining. i didn't want to go outside. and seriously who actually thinks delivery companies work on sundays? spence convinced me we should just check. i put on shoes and my coat and we headed outside.
once we got outside i saw their umbrellas. my cute mom and grandma stood outside my door, in the rain, singing me happy birthday. i started crying. i couldn't believe they were there, in chicago, to visit me.
we rushed inside and just hugged and smiled. they really pulled on over on me. it had been planned for weeks. spence was in on it. my cute sister in law was in on it as well. (side note, she thought she gave it away earlier when i talked to her on sunday. haha i had no idea. megs, you played it well)
spence had realized that i would want a clean place for my mom and grandma. how cute is he! we worked together to get two beds set up (yep we have two air mattresses...your turn to come visit) and got ready for bed.
we were all worried that i would have to work most of monday and tuesday. because of my dc trip this week i was supposed to be super busy. i got some work done on sunday night and then woke up early on monday. i talked to my boss and he was so great, he let me take some time with mom and grandma.
so we had ourselves a couple of perfect girls days! we did what we do best....SHOP!!!! of course grandma wanted to check out the millennium mile so we started there. we were able to steal spence for lunch at our favorite brunch place "yolk" downtown. after lunch/brunch we started with our tradition...nordstrom.
when i was growing up some of my earliest memories are of my grandma taking me to nordstrom for lunch and shoe shopping. it did my heart good walking into nordstrom with my mom and grandma and starting in the shoe section. grams found a couple of cute pairs and mom and i had a blast looking at all the crazy shoes. seriously who wears some of these?
we explored some more stores and then headed home to rest. that night all three of us cuddled up on our couch and watched downton abbey. i couldn't help but smile, i loved all three of us, cuddled up watching "chick flicks". i think spence appreciated that he didn't have to watch it with me :-)
tuesday i had a bit more work but it was okay. we picked up a car and headed to target to run some errands. my mom always takes care of me when she comes to visit. i felt so spoiled by my mom and grandma. after target we had some time and decided to find a "cutesy" area to walk around. we drove for just a few mins and found some fun shops by surprise on clark. we loved walking in and out of these cute boutiques. mom kept saying "we'll have to come back here when..." i love that she is already talking about coming back!
we went home for some rest, lunch and work and then headed out again! this time we took a cab downtown to see macy's all decorated. oh wow can i just say how excited i am to live in this city for the holidays? macys was AMAZING! fun windows, christmas trees everywhere, lights, ribbons and bulbs! let alone just the building, vintage pillars, huge fountains etc. seriously the most beautiful department store i've ever seen. we had a blast picking out festive jewelry, trying yummy chocolates and trying on hats. like i said i was spoiled rotten by these two!
after our macys adventure we ran to northface to pick up the mr. a warm coat (it's getting cold here in chicago!) and then to our new favorite italian place downtown. after a yummy dinner we grabbed some sprinkles cupcakes to go and headed home.
we ended the night watching disney's brave and eating cupcakes. is there a better way to end a girls trip? i think not!
i tried to get the cute christmas decorations outside of macys....looks like i need to work on my picture taking skills
mom enjoying macys chocolate store
this little guy was a carrot cake truffle. yes grandma bought him and yes we all shared. he was yummy!
mom and grandma while exploring some cute shops
my face looks huge....ahh!
grandma's first bite. she loved our little snowman
hat shopping. we had such a blast trying on hat after hat. they were all too big for grandma...sad day
haha, mom was holding up grandmas hat so it didn't fall over her eyes. aren't they just the cutest!
moms new shoes. check those babies out!
even though it was short those two days with my mom and grandma were two of the best of my life. i have never had my mom and grandma to myself before. what a treat. we talked, laughed and just had a blast the whole time.
mom and grandma, thank you so much for the most incredible birthday present. your time in chicago was so special to me. just what this mrs. needed. i love you both so so much! you both are the most beautiful examples to me. thank you so much! words cannot describe what your trip means to me.
