Happy Halloween

Our friends had a Halloween party Friday night. Our ward party was last night, but we didn't take any pictures because we were too busy running everything. But man, you've never seen such a great caramel apple stand!


Here are pictures from Friday night.



Here is the greek goddess with the GSB student (Mike came late due to a recruiting event)...

Boston & the Harvard Invitational

The winning Chicago GSB volleyball team!

We went to Boston last weekend for the Harvard MBA Volleyball Invitational. Mike played for the University Chicago, who came in second. We played surprisingly well until the very end. Chicago beat (in order of games played) Harvard, Wharton, MIT (barely), but then lost to Kellogg in the very last game. Mike was so upset they lost in the very last game to their own cross-town rivals.

We stayed in Cambridge with Katie and Christian (Erin's cousin) who were so sweet to let us sleep on their floor.

Of course since we were in New England, so I convinced Mike to let me order the $42 Lobster Bake at Legal Seafood ("Mike, you have to get seafood while in New England"). Keep in mind, the Lobster Bake is this GIANT pile of clams, oysters, and lobster.

I have never had most of these seafood items before. I took one bite and it was disgusting. It was so gross having to pick up a whole lobster to dig for its meat. It's like a real animal with eyes and antennae. Yuck. I pushed my plate away and refused to eat any more. So guess who ended up eating my giant $42 plate of seafood in addition to his own food...

Hopefully Mike wasn't too mad that I just wasted $42 bucks because I told him "Think how much money you're saving in the long run--I'll never order this again!" So Mike left overly full, I left hungry, but we were both happy campers (hey, I didn't have to eat the thing with eyes). Oh, the Legal Seafood saga...

The rest of the time in Boston we hung out with the Robinsons (church, etc), visited our old SLC friends the Whiteheads (we love & miss you guys--I can't believe we didn't get a picture), and walked the Freedom Trail.

My absolute favorite part about Boston is Beacon Hill.

We went to the oldest restaurant in America and ordered clam chowder. Now that's seafood I can eat. Yum.

Chicago Friends

(So I am a slacker at putting these pictures up. I have been so busy with work, that the last thing I want to do is sit in my office longer to post blog pictures. But finally I was inspired by Jon and Shae's baby giraffe posting...)

In September we had our new Chicago friends over to celebrate the BYU vs. UCLA football game. I made margherita pizzas for the crowd. We have met such seriously cool people out here--we love to get together every chance we get...Dinner parties. Dessert and game nights. Top Chef. The Office. You name it, we meet up for it.

To our Chicago friends...we love you guys!

Comment about the Elders: We have 8 in our ward. Yes, you read that right. Eight.

I am still missing pictures of us and the Larsens and the Patins. We will have to take some of those pictures and put them up soon.

Go White Sox!

Mike's school took the new class of 2009 to a White Sox game.

They even gave us $10 each to spend on food. We got hot dogs and beer of course...oh wait, no, just hot dogs. We took the L there with Simbo and Ade. Needless to say, it was the first time Erin had been to a baseball game in a long time. The last time she had been to a game was way back -- in CA with the Angels! Oh, the days growing up with "Mormon Night" at Angels stadium.

As you can see below, Mike is clearly the best on the team. Check out that pitch.

Adri and Alyssa visit

Adri and Alyssa visited from Colorado! They came when Mike was still in China, so it was girls-day-out every day. We had a blast: taking the free city trolley, seeing the Chicago sites (including Portillo's hot dogs--wow) and going to the beach. Alyssa is such a little cutie. I miss you both already!

Shanny and John visit (and decide to MOVE) to Chicago

Shanny and John were out last weekend--FUN. We seriously did everything we possibly could fit in--including finding them the best studio apartment Chicago has to offer. It sure is cozy. I can't wait until they move out here in October.




(Okay, this one needs a caption. We went to this greektown festival and wanted to try our hand at dancing like all the greeks. Pretty hot huh.)

The DC superstars visit

The famous superstar DC couple Zach and Alicia visited us two weeks ago. We had fun seeing Wicked, getting deep dish, and playing "Ticket to Ride." I swear, they were practically showing US the city--we are such Chicago newbies. We had so much fun with you two Zach and Alicia! Good luck with your next year of law school.

My Shanghai sweetheart

Well Mike made it to Shanghai. Here are his pictures. His group keeps him busy, but they were finally able to go the "Bund" which is the famous European historical district. He told me this city has over 4,000 skyskrapers. AKA it is BIG.

Here are Mike's words.

8/30: "And check out these pics--this is why Shanghai is such a cool city. The one is the iconic shot from the Bund across the river to Pudong. The other two shots are of the Bund, that old set of buildings from the 19th centry that used to be western banks and is now restaurants and shops and hotels. Cool stuff."

8/29: "I just went to a pretty yummy dim sum place up the street from the hotel. Mmmm. I'll definitely be bringing you here when you and I get to come to Shanghai. This place is way cool, by the way. The vibe is MUCH cooler than Beijing--more like HK, NY, or Chitown. Way cool. BUT, really humid and still pretty hot. The weather ain't great, but I guess you gotta deal with it if you live here. Which we very well may be..."

Here's the update on Mike's trip

Mike and I talk usually once a day. He sounds like he is having a lot of fun in China, although he explains Beijing as: big, gray, full of big gray communist buildings, and millions of people everywhere. I think he is excited to leave Beijing and head to Shanghai. He has sent me a few pictures, and I promised you all (especially you Marianne) that I would share. He has been on his own, but will join with the GSB group tomorrow. I pasted portions of Mike's email to explain the pictures.

Thursday 8/23 - "So here are a couple of pics. The first one is my room, the second is the South gate of the Forbidden City w/the Great Helmsman's portrait, and the third is the street that runs between the Forbidden City and Tiananmen."

8/25 (Sat) - "Today I ran around Tiananmen again, then headed up to the big Lama Temple on the north side of the city, then caught the subway back around to the east side to check out the Beijing Underground City. Check this--so back in the 60s and 70s, China was paranoid of a nuke attack from the USSR (they weren't the best of friends) and so Mao wanted a whole series of underground tunnels built to hold, like, hundreds of thousands of people. They've opened a small section, like a half a mile or so, to tourists. I wandered around in there by myself and got a few pics (even though I wasn't supposed to), then joined up with some Germans and their English-speaking guide. Check out the pics."

Goodbye Mike

Mike's going to China for 1.5 weeks before school starts. He left this morning. We went to an early breakfast at the Bongo Room, and then I dropped him off at the train stop. I am going to miss you Mike...