Chicago Road Trip

My parents finished their mission in October. My sister Jenny and I got the opportunity {or were forced} to fly out to Chicago to help my parents pack up and move home. Although it wasn't the most enjoyable trip {mainly because of the hours and hours we spent in the car}, it was quite the adventure! One of my favorite parts of the trip were meeting and visiting with people my parents had taught or had an impact on. It was amazing! My parents are pretty incredible and have to be some of the greatest examples I know.

This is Agent Joseph Hope. He was an investigator my parents were working with and he was baptized by my Dad the week after this picture was taken. My parents gave him a Quad with his name on it. He couldn't stop beaming!

After visiting with Joseph, we headed to the Chicago Temple to do an endowment session.

Me with my Mom and Jenny.

{I look like a giant}

Me with my Dad

After an amazing afternoon spent in the Temple, we went and crossed off one of the items on my Dad's Chicago Bucket List. He wanted to visit Chicago's Leaning Tower and take a picture.

Check.

After driving {what seemed like forever} back to the city, we decided we needed some grub. We grabbed dinner at Ed Debevic's. Ed's is famous for their not so great service. They even insult you.

Here's my Mom in her cute hat. As our waiter was putting on our hats, he put mine on and it didn't fit. He then called me Chubby Head as he adjusted the hat to be bigger. :( It was actually pretty funny because Jenny and my Mom were talking earlier in the day about my huge head. It just proved their point.

Me and Jen at Ed's

While the atmosphere was fun, the food wasn't fantastic. We did eat the cutest desserts ever though. Ed's serves the World's Smallest Sundaes.

And that they were!

After dinner we met up with a few other converts my parents had taught for some ice cream. We ended up staying for hours and had a lengthy religious debate. It was an interesting experience, but I was glad I could be a part of it and share my testimony.

Our last day in Chicago we started off with some shopping. We stopped at H & M for a little hat shopping...

Then it was off to Navy Pier where we had some really neat CTR rings made.

Then we were off to Eduardo's for some delicious Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. After we got back to the apartment we got to work. We finished packing up the apartment and began loading the truck. Luckily my parents whole district and a few ward members showed up to help. It was quite the moving process. We had to load everything on luggage racks, then haul them to the freight elevators, go down 29 floors, then onto the loading dock. And repeat {100 times!}. Although my parents lived in a tiny apartment, it took us 3 hours to get everything out.

This is a picture of 10 people and a luggage cart crammed into an elevator. You can barely see my eyes in the top left corner. You can't even see Jenny who was squished behind me. It was hilarious to see the look on people's faces as the elevator doors opened on different floors.

After cleaning the empty apartment, we loaded into the car and truck and began our journey home. It was almost 8pm and we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. It was a long drive {especially after a long day of shopping and packing}, but we made it to our first stop in Moline, IL. Good thing because if we had to go any further, I probably would have fell sleep at the wheel.

The next morning we were off again! This time Jenny was behind the wheel and it was nice to just be the passenger. We listened to "The Help" to make the time go by faster. There wasn't a whole lot of scenery to look at along the way. Mainly farmland and truck stops every once in a while.

"World's Largest Truckstop"

Our second stop was in Omaha, NE. We picked Omaha so we could visit Winter Quarters, a historical Church site.

My little Mom in a big chair

After checking into our hotel and freshening up a bit, we headed to Winter Quarters.

Me and my parents in front of the beautiful Temple!

We decided to check out the Cemetery and Visitor's Center before heading to the Temple.

Statue in the cemetery

View of the Temple from the cemetery

Statue in front of Visitor's Center

It was incredible to learn about the Saints who lived there and all that they sacrificed. Many lost their lives during the freezing winter months and I admire the courage the others had to keep moving forward. My great great grandmother lived in Winter Quarters. She had her son there and also lost her husband while living there. It amazes me the testimony she had to push on and make it to the Salt Lake Valley. What an amazing example!

After spending time at the visitors center, we headed over to the temple. It was very beautiful and unique inside. We were all so tired that night, but I'm glad we took the opportunity to go and participate in a few ordinances. It was worth it!

After another well rested night, we hit the road again! I do have to say that Nebraska is the most boring state I have ever driven through! This was our longest day in the car and I wanted to die! I drove the whole day and I think we were in the car from 12:30 pm to 11:30 pm. I was so glad when we reached our destination of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Not only was I glad to be out of the corn state, I was glad to be that much closer to home!

We thought this water tower looked like a lego head...or a baby.

This was our view for almost two days. Nothing but corn fields. For miles and miles and miles. No joke!

Our last day of driving was pretty uneventful. I realized that Wyoming doesn't offer much to look at either. I also realized that I take our beautiful scenery for granted. I missed our majestic mountains!

Our last pit stop {somewhere in Wyoming} before reaching home!

Although it was fun getting to spend some one on one time with my sister and my parents, I don't think I ever want to make that drive again! Rob always talks about how fun it would be to take a road trip across the country, but after driving only a third of the way, I think I'll pass! I'm so grateful my parents are home. We missed them dearly and hope they wait awhile before heading out on another mission!