So I've been super busy lately (wedding plans are done, but there is still so much to do), but I figure I really need to get caught up.
It's been almost two months now, but I did take a trip back to visit my college roommate Camille who was gracious enough to be my tour guide around Chicago. I happened to have a free ticket on southwest, had never been to Chicago, and figured it would be a good reason to see Camille and her cute little family. The day that we went into the city it was a little cloudy and cold, but we did really well (even with both the kids) and saw a ton of the sights. Our first stop was to pick up a Chicago dog at Portillos Hot Dogs. I think that if Chicago is known for one things it's their food (and I definitely had some good food while I was there) Our next stop was the infamous Bean statue. Honestly I've never heard of it, but apparently it's someplace you "have" to visit when in Chicago. It's kind of cool to see the city reflect back off the sculpture.
From there we ventured down to the river where we hopped on a boat to take the Chicago architect tour (recommended by my mother). Basically you float up and down the river past all the buildings. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about the city, so it was kind of a cool way to see it. The longer we were on the boat the colder and more cloudy it became.
Fortunately for us the clouds cleared just enough, at just the right time so that we could see all of the Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower). I'm not sure why they would rename such a well known landmark, but they did. From our tour guide we learned that the naming rights to the tower had expired and were bought by the Willis company in 2009. It was amazing to see how much taller than the rest of the buildings Sears Tower really is.
As we continued along our tour we saw these guys and I was suddenly very happy for my desk job. They are CRAZY!
They were washing the windows, but basically only being held up by what looked like rope. We ended our boat tour a warmed up a little bit before heading to see a piece of the Salt Lake Temple that is in the Chicago Tribune Building. Apparently there are pieces of famous buildings from all over the world in the building.
From there we walked around the corner to get some fresh Garret's popcorn. It was pretty amazing. I got the Chicago mix, which sounds weird at first, but tastes amazing. They Chicago mix is cheese and caramel corn. There is something about the way that the salty and sweet mix together. There is also something to be said for fresh popcorn. YUM! After our popcorn we decided we needed a place to warm up for the afternoon so we headed over to the
Art Institute of Chicago. It is a beautiful art museum that has a very impressive collection. It would probably take a couple days to truly appreciate all that is there, but we definitely appreciated what we saw. On our way out of the city we meet up with Camille's husband to get some Chicago style pizza from Lou Malnati's Pizzeria. It (like all the Chicago food I had) was AMAZING! So glad I got to experience Chicago!
It truly is a beautiful beacon on a hill. I also love all the little red brick buildings that make up Nauvoo. We visited some of the homes in Nauvoo. Our first stop was to the Scovil Bakery. 
Honestly I think was amazes me the most is the size of the homes and how many people lived in them. Our next stop was to the Nauvoo Printing Office and Nauvoo Post Office. We were shown and taught about how the newspapers would be printed and how the post office would receive and send letters. 
Next we wondered across the street to the Jonathon Browning Home & Gun Shop. At each of the homes that we stopped at there were senior missionaries there to give history and background about the homes. While Camille took a break with the kids I wondered into the Brigham Young Home. Compared to some of the other homes in town it was relatively large. Yet it still amazed me the number of people that would fit in what today would be a small home. After that we decided that the last two places that we would probably be able to visit in Nauvoo were the Blacksmith shop and the Brickyard. 
We even got a praire diamond from the Blacksmith and a little Nauvoo brick from the Brickyard. I think that the Blacksmith and the Brickyard are the only areas that I actually remember from last time I was in Nauvoo. Although from what I understand they have changed it a ton since I was there. It is a beautiful little city and was fun to learn a little more about church history. On our way back home we stopped at Carthage Jail. We made it just in time to go through the last tour of the night. The tour through Carthage Jail is a pretty spiritual tour. They go over the last days of the Prophet Joseph Smith's life. He truly was a great prophet and gave his life for that which he knew to be true. I so thankful that he was willing to give his all for the gospel of Jesus Christ so that I could have it in my life.
