Illinois

We made it back and had a blast on vacation. I enjoyed getting to know the rest of Travis' family and the dry cold in Illinois. Curling my hair in the morning didn't seem futile when it was still curly late that night! Oh how I miss that.
The trip was relaxing. It was nice not to have the few days we were there jam packed with activities so we could just enjoy it. The first full day we were there we went to Carbondale (sp), where his little sister goes to college and went out to lunch at a fun lodge. We ate family style with fried chicken, potatoes, chicken and dumplings, gravy, corn, beans, biscuits, coleslaw and my new favorite... apple butter. It was all delicious and of course I ate way too much. Thankfully we walked to the top of, well, to be honest, I don't know what it was. Something with a lot of stairs, where we took pictures.
It was fun to go to a family ward again on Sunday. Singles wards just aren't the same or as homey. Sunday night Travis took me for a drive around his old college stomping grounds. Putting the pieces together never gets old. I like putting a mental picture to the stories I hear.
Monday morning was spent shopping with the parents and the afternoon was passed playing card games. There is a place called Fitz's that we went to in St. Louis that is a pop bottling company that has a restaurant in it. You can see the bottling equipment and when they are actually using it, watch the process while you eat. It was scrumptious and I introduced a few of Travis and Sarah's friends to fried pickles.
I didn't want to come back to work on Tuesday, but after a trip to White Castle, we got on the plane anyway. The country scenery is missed though. I am definitely a country girl at heart.
One of the highlights of the trip happened on Monday and didn't even happen in Illinois. My new nephew was born! Poor Travis that had to put up with me using his iPhone to check my brother's blog every 20 minutes to see pictures. He is an adorable baby!

Novel Idea... a MENU!

Thinking of ways to save money, I decided to make a menu and then go shopping once for all the meals during the week. I know, it is not a very original idea and people have been doing this for ages, but it is new for me! Before I would go to the store and decide there what I wanted to make. Inevitably this would lead to more trips to the store later on because I forgot something... and who goes to the store and doesn't see something else that looks good too? So this last week I spent 25 dollars on lunch/dinner food and I have plenty of stuff left over! I love that feeling. The only thing is coming up with meals that sound good before I go shopping. Any ideas?

Miami

Sarah had a mission companion flying from Cali to Chile with a layover in Miami a couple weeks ago. Travis and I had the day off, so we all made the 4 hour drive (stupid tolls) to Miami. We made it there a little early so parked the car in a residential area and walked along a sidewalk that doubles as an ocean barricade. It was fun to see the skyline of Miami and try to figure out which building glows gold on the CSI:Miami opening credits. By the way, I have no doubt in my mind why they picked Miami for a CSI.... more later.

Sarah's friend left her cell phone at home, so her son called from California saying she landed and was downstairs waiting. This is the Miami airport, we need a little more than just "downstairs" to find a person. But we headed over to the airport and when we didn't find her on the first drive by, had an interesting time trying to get back. No, Travis was not driving (neither was I), but he wishes he was when we finally found her after a couple more drive bys the airport and just as many large loops through Miami to get back to the airport. I enjoyed the scenic route, but by the time we found the friend, we only had 2 hours with her.

We headed to South Beach to get dinner. We drove by Miami Ink, I didn't see the sign. But we drove by it! After walking down the streets finding a cheap place we found the food factory. We only had 1 hour before her flight at this point. Did I say it was international? She was not in any hurry though so Travis insisted and put our orders to go. We were able to eat the mediocre food and fight traffic back to the airport. I think she had 20 minutes by the time we got there to make her flight. Since she didn't have a cell phone we don't know how that went. Travis took us to a gas station to fill up for the ride home. It was one of those places where you don't feel comfortable going inside the convenient store. On our way out from the station we realized we must have stepped in gasoline because it smelled in the car. Travis stopped the car in a back alley and we scraped our shoes on the grass. An oversized van started heading towards us as I scrambled to get back in the car. I didn't want to make CSI.

The ride home was uneventful (other than the tolls charging us an arm and leg!), and I can now say that I will never (in this case I can say NEVER) want to live in Miami. No thank you. I'll stay where I am at for the time being.